One of the areas of concentration for the Alumni Attitude Study_© (AAS) is how effectively universities and alumni associations communicate with their alumni through a variety of mediums.  AAS benchmarks suggest that certain topics are particularly important to alumni as they form their opinion about how well the university is performing overall.  We believe those institutions that effectively address these issues will increase alumni loyalty, participation and giving.  With this in mind, we have undertaken a preliminary study of how much alumni magazine space is allocated to the topics and issues alumni say have a high impact on their opinion of the university.

In the interest of helping institutions better connect with their alumni, we wanted to go beyond anecdotal or perceptional evidence and see how alumni magazine content “stacks up” when compared with their preferences.  The point was to go beyond the usual considerations about what alumni read most, or even what they say they like the most.  We wanted to focus on the topics alumni rank as impactful to their relationship with their alma mater.  Based on our national research of over 120,000 alumni responses, we know that this includes the success of current students and faculty, value and respect for the degree, success of scholarship programs, and the development of the buildings and look at campus.  (more…)

University of Southern California, January 2008

It had been a while since the last time the University of Southern California did a campus-wide survey of its alumni. So when the results of a recent alumni survey came back, Scott Mory, the new associate vice president for alumni relations, sent out an e-mail inviting anyone who was interested to come hear the results. Scott elected to use the Alumni Attitude Study_©, a cooperative program through which universities uncover, assess, and compare the core motivators for alumni to engage with and support their alma mater. The Study_© is co-sponsored and partially underwritten by the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).

Scott is obviously - and understandably - excited about the results. His excitement stems not only from insights revealed by the survey findings, but also from the unexpected focus of campus leaders and partners on the implications of those results. He explains that prior to the Study_©, there was a healthy skepticism regarding the value and benefit of such an undertaking. Colleagues and alumni leaders at USC had been frustrated planning alumni programs based on wide-ranging opinions and anecdotes regarding alumni perceptions and the issues thought to be important. USC’s alumni agenda is moving in a different direction now that the results of the Study_© have been shared. (more…)

Select Findings From The Alumni Attitude Study’s Survey of Advancement Professionals:

The Perceived Impact of Association Status (Dues vs. Non Dues) on Overall Alumni Involvement, Giving and Programs

As part of the Alumni Attitude Study’s ongoing research efforts, we recently brought together a working group of past participants and advancement leaders to assess the impact of association status–either dues or non dues paying alumni association–on the overall university-alumni relationship.  Specifically, the survey was designed to identify and compare perceptions of how well dues paying and non dues paying alumni associations support alumni involvement, giving, and programs.  Findings and results were segmented a number of ways, among them were institution size, public/private, association status, and advancement function. (more…)