Inside Alumni Attitudes:

As we talk with possible participants for the 2009 study, several have noted concerns about the economy and their budget.  While these are difficult times, many of our clients believe that they are also times of opportunity where clear attitudinal data is most critical.  As Kate Shaheed, Director of Alumni Relations at CSU-East Bay said after we reviewed the CSU-East Bay findings with her advancement team:

“This is the perfect time for us to have done this research.  With budget cuts looming, we can use our alumni input to eliminate programs that are less productive or of less interest to our alumni.  More importantly, we can focus our efforts directly on the things that have the most opportunity to engage our alumni during these critical times.”

“Over the years we have done some things to better understand what our alumni want but never with the level of sophistication and skill as this process.  I wish we had done this work 10 years ago. “

We look forward to talking with you about our findings and the opportunity to work with you on your own results.  The AAS was originally created to provide institutions of all sizes high quality research at a rate that makes it available to them on a recurring basis.  The AAS is priced well below similar research because multiple universities and colleges participate each year. 

The AAS has completed 147 survey projects since 2001 of which 23 are follow-up survey processes.  We are compiling the 2009 comparable database, which should include all of the institutions that participated in the project from 2004 through 2008.  We are also making a few changes to the survey but it is still more than 85% consistent with the original instrument launched in 2001.  In addition to the base instrument we have added a shorter version for situations where there are concerns about response rates, and four additional surveys that include the core questions from the original AAS but add a focus on giving, communication, programs, or membership. 

Rob Shoss
Managing Consultant
www.AlumniAttitudeStudy.org

Career Guidance - Helping Future Alumni Know Where They Will Best Fit into the Job Market

What is the goal of an education? There are many answers to this simple question, but after surveying over 150,000 alumni from colleges and universities across the nation, one of the answers has to be -- "To get a good job."   Over the last 7 years PEG, Ltd. has performed extensive research with alumni from over 130 universities and colleges.  In that work, one of the items that almost always rises to the top of what alumni want from their alma mater is support in job and/or career related-activities.  Alumni say they wish they had gotten more skills training for their career and want to know what the university is doing to create better career-related skills development for current students.  They want more networking opportunities and think that one of the most important activities an alumnus/a can do is assist other alumnus/a in career development.  Further, they want the university/college to do more to support this effort. 

Given this clear finding from our research, we looked at 20 randomly selected university and college career services departments from institutions across the country.   One common theme emerged.   All 20 career service departments believe that a core purpose of an education is to allow each student to discover how his/her unique personality and abilities can be best suited not only in an academic setting, but also in the work place.

To read more please visit our blog:
www.alumniattitudestudy.org/s6/blog:

Career Guidance - Helping Future Alumni Know Where They Will Best Fit into the Job Market

Coming Soon:
CASE Online Speaker Series

Managing Effective Alumni Relations in a Down Economy

Are you worried about the current economy?  Do you wonder about its impact on your advancement efforts and how others are managing?  Is this a time to baton down the hatches and weather the storm or is this a time to innovate and eliminate of some old “sacred cows”.  

Rob Shoss, an owner of PEG, Ltd. will be joining Scott M. Mory, Associate Senior Vice president for Alumni Relations at University of Southern California, and Sherri Schmidt, Associate Executive Director, NDSU Alumni Association at North Dakota State University in a CASE Webinar on February 3, 2009 from 1:00PM to 2:30PM ET to facilitate a discussion on these issues.  Take advantage of your CASE membership and join us as we talk about the upside of a recession.  Don’t miss this crisis! 

For more information about the Webinar and to sign-up:
CASE Online Speaker Series

Some interesting reading on this topic:
"Recession: the Mother of Invention"

What others are saying about the AAS...

Richard Engel
UC Davis

Assistant Vice Chancellor for Alumni and Constituency Relations and Events

“The Alumni Attitude Study provided our institution with useful data that helped restructure our membership and alumni programs as well as allowed us to create and implement a strategic plan to fulfill our alumni’s needs.”

Col. (RET) T. Raleigh Mann
Mercer University

Senior Associate Vice President for Alumni Services

“There were several benefits realized: the first and most important benefit is that it gave our alumni an opportunity to respond to a University request for feedback on how we can improve the educational journey at Mercer thereby emphasizing to alumni that we care about their feedback. This strengthened alumni support of the University and showed that we really care about how they felt about their Mercer experience. While we have always said we appreciate alumni input, this demonstrated that we really do care about their input. It reinforces that there is power in partnership. It provided valuable information on a variety of topics to a wide range of alumni in an affordable and efficient process- something that would be very difficult for us to do.”

For more information about the Alumni Attitude Study, contact Aaron Osborn, Director of Sales and Marketing, or Rob Shoss, Managing Consultant, at 866-471-8600.