Alumni Relations. Alumni Relations Assessment and Planning Report Missouri Valley College

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1 Alumni Relations Alumni Relations Assessment and Planning Report Missouri Valley College Year: FY11 Service Program: Alumni Relations Supervisor: Jodi White I. Mission The mission of the office of Alumni Relations is to build and maintain strong relationships with alumni and encourage their involvement in alumni and college activities. Staff members plan and host numerous alumni social events and gatherings to foster alumni s involvement with the college. II. Goals 1. Plan and host annual Homecoming Weekend. 2. Increase involvement in the Alumni Advisory board and assist the Alumni Advisory board in all of its efforts. 3. Facilitate the development of Missouri Valley College by generating alumni awareness, loyalty and monetary gifts. 4. Plan and host events to keep alumni engaged. 5. Maintain communication with alumni. III. Service outcomes 1. Homecoming Weekend brings back many alumni 2. Involvement in and support of the Alumni Advisory Board is increased 3. Alumni awareness, loyalty and giving increases 4. Alumni are kept engaged through socials and other events and communication.

2 IV. Service delivery map Functions Service Outreach Public Alumni Database Communication Event Solicitation Outcomes Relations Relations Management Planning Homecoming brings back alumni Involvement/Support x x x x x x x of AAB increased Awareness/loyalty x x x x x x x and giving increased Alumni engaged x x x x x x through events x x x x x x V. Assessment tools 1. Service Outcome: Alumni awareness, loyalty and giving increases a. List of those receiving alumni newsletter and alumni magazine (DIRECT) b. Attendance to events (DIRECT) c. Perception that MVC alumni are becoming more loyal as they build relationships with staff members (INDIRECT) d. Reports showing donor giving pulled from database (DIRECT) e. Reports showing first time donors as well as repeat donors pulled from database (DIRECT) 2. Service Outcome: Alumni are kept engaged through socials and other events a. Attendance to alumni events (DIRECT) List of Alumni Events July: 13 Chicago Social, 17 St. Louis Cardinal Social, 19 Saline County Social, 26 Golf Tourn. August: 17 AAB Meeting, 21 Alumni Water Tent, 26 Dallas Area Social September: 11 FB Tailgate, 17 Arizona Social, 25 MVC Family Weekend/FB Tailgate October: 1 KS Speedway Social, 9 FB Tailgate, 15 MHS Pink Out Game, HOMECOMING November: 13 FB Tailgate, 20 Men s Soccer Play offs December: 15 KC Holiday Social January: 14 AAB Dinner, 27 BB Social February: 16 AAB Hot Chocolate Pass out, Trustee Retreat March: 5 New York Social, 19 J. Huston Tavern Open House, 29 MACC Open House April: 5 Senior Day, 9 President s Gala, MIE Socials 16 AAB Meeting 25 Senior Send Off May: 6 Faculty/Staff Banquet

3 Alumni Events do NOT include personal visits to alumni; those visits are generally handled by the Development office. VI. Summary of findings The Missouri Valley College Alumni Relations Office planned and coordinated eight major socials in FY11. Below you can see the attendance compared to FY10: Social FY11 Attendance FY10 Attendance Arizona Social 19 n/a Basketball Social Chicago Social Dallas Social KC Holiday Social New York Social Saline County Social STL Social With the new campus database management program, CampusAnyware, the Alumni Relations office was able to track donations that were given as a result of attending a social. In just six months (December June) and three socials, $3,390 was gifted to MVC. The gifts were given by five different donors; two of those donors gave for the first time. Homecoming RSVP numbers are given below: Homecoming Alumni Banquet 50+ Breakfast In 2009 staff members added a new activity to Homecoming, a special dinner for the 50 th anniversary class. The class of 1959 dinner had 35 people in attendance; the class of 1960 dinner had approximately 25 alumni in attendance. The tailgate area for Homecoming sold out for both the 2009 and 2010 Homecoming. Two new members were added to the Alumni Advisory Board in FY11. The two members were graduates of the classes 2006 and Over half of the AAB members

4 graduated in the 1960s and 1970s, and adding young alumni are important to the future success of the organization. The new database allows MVC to obtain more information from its donors than was available before. This will assist in matching the philanthropic interest of donors with the institutions needs. The new system includes an interest field, which will allow MVC to note the interest of donors and match their interest for giving purposes. Social media campaigns to track down alumni are continually successful. There is still room for improvement in finding lost alumni. An emphasis in direct communication with top donors via a monthly newsletter has proved to be successful in keeping them connected with the institution. Overall donor giving increased from FY10 to FY11. VII. Level of achievement of goals It is hard to put a goal on the number of attendees to Alumni Socials, however staff members hope to see an increase in attendance of each social. Several factors play a role in the increase or decrease in attendance. For example the FY10 Basketball Social was held in conjunction with the renaming of the gymnasium to the Grover C. Redford gymnasium. As a result several alumni who played under Redford attended the event. The Kansas City Holiday Social in FY11 saw a drop in numbers due to extreme weather on the day of the event. The Dallas, Saline County, and New York alumni socials saw an increase in attendance. These three socials are among the most important, and attendees are some of the most affluent and influential alumni. The Arizona social alternates locations between Tucson and Phoenix, so it is hard to compare year to year attendance. Two of the socials that seem to struggle are the baseball socials one in St. Louis and one in Kansas City. The office continues to see a decrease in interest from alumni to attend these socials. Most of those who attended these events are alumni from Marshall or staff of the Institutional Advancement office. Staff members are pleased with the revenue collected as a result of alumni socials. Since the office was only able to track six months of activity, next year s information will more

5 accurately reflect how much money is donated due to socials as well as how many alumni are repeat donors vs. first time donors. After a full year s worth of information can be obtained staff members can begin setting monetary goals. Homecoming attendance is affected by several factors and as a result it is hard to place a goal on attendance. Alumni attendance is affected by who is being inducted into the Hall of Fame, who the Outstanding Alumni are, and what organizations schedule reunions. Attendance alone doesn t accurately reflect the perception of success of a Homecoming. Although numbers were down in FY11, last year s Homecoming is perceived to be one of the best and wellattended Homecomings in the past several years. Even though numbers were down the overall Homecoming experience exceeded the office s expectations. Direct assessment tools allow us to quantitatively measure the donor participation and total giving. A comparison report for the year to date through June 30 indicated that MVC received more unrestricted and restricted gifts in FY11 than FY10. It is the goal of the Alumni Relations office to work with the Development office to increase giving at MVC to secure the future of the College. The office exceeded its expectation s as giving was up $150,000. An emphasis in direct communication with top donors/alumni via a monthly newsletter has proved to be successful in keeping alumni connected with the Institution. Approximately 30 donors were added to the distribution list in FY11. Social media campaigns to track down alumni are continually successful. The winter 2010 Viking Views included 30 alumni updates, the winter 2011 Viking View included 45 alumni updates. Over 100 alumni ed the alumni account to update their contact information in FY11. There is still room for improvement in tracking down unknown alumni. VIII. Staff/Clientele/Program information Jodi White Director of Alumni Relations The Alumni Relations office falls under the Institutional Advancement umbrella which includes development and marketing and media relations, rather than grouping it as a separate entity. Members of the Institutional Advancement office include: Cindy Carnes Institutional Advancement Office Coordinator

6 Eric Sappington Vice President of Institutional Advancement Chad Jaecques Director of Media Relations April Stottlemyre Marketing & Communications Specialist Allan Cantrell Institutional Advancement Graduate Assistant Ralista Gospodinova Institutional Advancement Graduate Assistant Table 1. Staff Profile Full time Part time* Total number of program staff 5 2 Number of program staff by gender female 3 1 male 2 1 High school 1 Highest degree for program staff Associate s Bachelor s 3 2 Master s 1 Doctorate Years of professional experience in area GA Full time GA Part time* IX. Analysis/Interpretation In summary, the Alumni Relations office has drawn the following conclusions with respect of program function and success. Positive alumni attitude continues to increase. With all of the improvements, and communication alumni perception of the college is favorable. Seven of the eight main socials are successful in attracting and engaging alumni, and those socials should continue to be planned and evaluated each year to ensure they maintain their prominence. The two socials that really struggle are the two baseball socials; one in St. Louis and one in Kansas City. The St. Louis event in primarily attended by alumni from Marshall as well as faculty and staff members of Missouri Valley College. The socials isn t attracting many alumni from the St. Louis area, which is its target audience. The Kansas City Royals social struggles for attendance as well. The social is always held in conjunction with the Royals and Cardinals playing each other with the idea that this will generate a greater response. This game is usually played in mid June or July, which is the hottest part of the summer, and this could be

7 hurting attendance. Due to lack of interest the Alumni Office decided to forgo hosting a Kansas City Social for FY11. Homecoming attendance is affected by several factors. Attendance to the Alumni Banquet is linked to the location of the Outstanding Alumni winners. When the alumni live close to Missouri they bring friends and family members, however if they have to travel on several occasions (FY11 both Outstanding Alumni were unable to attend the banquet) the alumni themselves don t get attend, which results in a drop in attendance. Non school sponsored events, such as fraternity and sorority reunions also affect the attendance. There is really no cost effective solution to solving this problem. The office expects a significant increase in attendance to Homecoming events for FY12 because all three Outstanding Alumni have ties to the Marshall community or reside in Missouri, and there are two teams being inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame. New reports generated through the new database allow MVC to target its alumni more effectively. Being able to identify alumni giving potential and interests has resulted in an increase in donor participation and giving. MVC continues to engage more and more alumni through its direct communication and socials. The Alumni Office is in significant need of a refresh of its donor mailing/contact information. X. Action plan Continue with alumni socials and events that have previously been successful. Look for a way to increase attendance specifically to the St. Louis Cardinals game, perhaps purchasing fewer, more expensive tickets. Taking the emphasis off MVC faculty and staff members are trying to engage more alumni from the St. Louis area. Staff members will look for an alternative social to replace the KC Royals social, which was cancelled due to lack of interest. Staff members will investigate the possibility of adding socials in additional locations throughout the United States.

8 Staff members will continue to add activities to Homecoming or improve upon existing activities. From the last assessment report the office added activities for the 50 th anniversary class. Continue work with the members of the AAB, as staff members would like to see the organization become less dependent on MVC staff members and take more responsibility in planning and executing their activities. Record attendance to tailgating events. In last year s action plan the Alumni Relations office wanted to start a class representative program that would help identifying alumni from each graduating class and engage them with the college. A program has not been set up, however the office tested the effectiveness of such a program when planning the class of 1960s 50 th anniversary celebration. Staff members will evaluate how effective the program was and choose to move forward or start over. The Alumni Office will work with the Development Office to work on cleaning up the donor mailing/contact information. An outside agency may be contracted to help with this. Staff members will continue to cultivate relationships with donors in an attempt to engage them into the happenings of the college.