2010: Alumni Relations Issues for the Year Ahead

Unlike many higher ed bloggers, I wasn't moved to do a year-end overview for 2009. But (at the risk of sounding pessimistic) I will look ahead at some of the large issues facing many – perhaps most – alumni associations. 

My belief that these issues are becoming central to our profession was reinforced last week at the meeting of the Association of Private College and University Alumni Directors (PCUAD) in Atlanta*. Many discussions among the thirty or so alumni executives present touched in one way or another on points that I am already concerned about. So what am I concerned about?

• I'm concerned about "mattering."

Senior administrators are questioning the relevance of alumni relations in the face of external and internal changes (i.e., competition for scarce resources). Will alumni organizations matter? 

• I'm concerned about our role as conveners.

People can and will self-organize into groups, so will we have a key role beyond brokering people's mutual interests? 

• I'm concerned because we've lost our monopoly on data. 

Search engines and social networks make people findable with little effort. Do we have information that alumni need, and that they cannot easily find somewhere else?

For all these questions, the answer may well be "yes." But we must still ask questions like these, and plan on long-term solutions that allow us to contribute to the success of alumni and their alma mater.  

With these concerns in mind, here are two additional questions to consider.

• Instead of doing many little things, as we have mostly done, should alumni associations focus on delivering a few larger programs and services, more central to the institution's core mission?

And...

• Should we focus more on supporting and connecting to the academic side of the institution? (Look for a guest blog post about this topic in the coming weeks.)

I've already mentioned several of these topics here in the last year, and most were originally raised first by others. I'm not claiming to be the first person to ask every one of these questions, I just want to generate in-depth conversation about them.

Please leave a comment or email me and continue the discussion. 

* Emory University did an outstanding job of hosting the PCUAD meeting. Shown here is the beautiful Miller-Ward Alumni House. Photo by Bill Ruhsam used with permission.