<b>Welcome to the All Districts 2023</b> <b>Conference and Session: "What's Love Got</b> <b>to do with it? Moving Alumni Affinity to</b> <b>Philanthropic Engagement". On the right</b> <b>hand of your screen you will see a window</b> <b>with a Chat, Q&A, Feedback and Notes tab.</b> <b>You can use the chat box to chat with</b> <b>other attendees, but please use the Q&A</b> <b>box to send questions to the presenter</b> <b>will. You can also upload questions in</b> <b>the Q&A panel if you'd like to see the</b> <b>question answered. At the end of the</b> <b>session, we will answer as many questions</b> <b>as possible. The Notes tab is there for</b> <b>you to keep your own. Notes during the</b> <b>session, if you'd like to. Please join me</b> <b>in welcoming our presenter, Carla Henry</b> <b>Hopkins. Thank you, Myra for that</b> <b>introduction. I appreciate it so very</b> <b>much and I appreciate CASE for giving me</b> <b>the opportunity to present on a</b> <b>topic that is near and dear to to</b> <b>my heart, certainly, and my role at Bowie</b> <b>State University. But I know for so many</b> <b>of us who struggle with the</b> <b>concept of moving the love that</b> <b>our alumni have for their</b> <b>institutions and to the philanthropic</b> <b>engagement that we desire in the words</b> <b>of the great late Tina Turner, What</b> <b>love? What's love got to do with it?</b> <b>Love has everything to do</b> <b>with how our universities will</b> <b>be in perpetuity, how our</b> <b>universities will thrive, how our</b> <b>universities will continue to have long</b> <b>standing commitments to future</b> <b>students through our alumni pool. And so</b> <b>today, for these three moments that I</b> <b>have, I hope that we can engage</b> <b>in what we have been doing here at Bowie</b> <b>State University. But also, what I have</b> <b>seen over the course of my time being</b> <b>here and as my in my own</b> <b>role as an alum of a</b> <b>university, how the engagement and the</b> <b>love are not always parallel, but how</b> <b>they can be parallel with creative</b> <b>strategies. So let's start here.</b> <b>3rd Saturday in October is only one way</b> <b>to start this road.</b> <b>Tire Roll</b> <b>Homecoming is always a wonderful time</b> <b>here at the Capstone. For many of you,</b> <b>it's your once a year visit to the</b> <b>university to see what's new on campus,</b> <b>and there's so much that is new. You also</b> <b>get a chance to rekindle your friendships</b> <b>that you've made over the years,</b> <b>Homecoming, Alabama style. There's just</b> <b>nothing like it. Had the</b> <b>time to renew the bonds of friendship and</b> <b>scholarships and to celebrate the</b> <b>excellence and growth that have moved us</b> <b>forward, we will celebrate the legacy</b> <b>and spirit of the Tide as its wave</b> <b>propels us into new opportunities.</b> <b>It's a special time to be able to come</b> <b>back and visit the university on</b> <b>homecoming. You know, we have the best</b> <b>fans in the land. You all have done a</b> <b>great job of supporting our team this</b> <b>year and every year. So thank you very</b> <b>much and we'll look forward to hearing</b> <b>you tomorrow in Bryant Denny Stadium.</b> <b>Thank you.</b> <b>I think it's great to see a crowd coming</b> <b>out, Wonderful weather. There's so many</b> <b>people out here and they're all dressed</b> <b>in, they're tired. It's really cool to</b> <b>see everyone together and what goes on</b> <b>from coming week and stuff like that. So</b> <b>this is actually my first parade. I'm a</b> <b>junior, so it was cancelled my freshman</b> <b>sophomore year, so it's really awesome to</b> <b>see everyone here for both teams. This</b> <b>exciting. It just reminds me of why I</b> <b>chose Alabama and why I wanted to stop</b> <b>there.</b> <b>Good evening, everybody. Welcome to a</b> <b>raucous Brian Finney Stadium, the</b> <b>Alabama Crimson Tide and the Tennessee</b> <b>Volunteers here on this homecoming</b> <b>Saturday night. Sit back, relax and</b> <b>enjoy as we're. Looking</b> <b>to the left side? Everybody's covered</b> <b>here. Now. Bryce will run each of the</b> <b>54321 Touch.</b> <b>Play action fake play throws caught.</b> <b>Quarterback throws interception. Alabama</b> <b>down the near sideline. J Armor Davis is</b> <b>shoved out of bounds inside the 20 at</b> <b>the 18 yard line. Price looks, throws.</b> <b>He's got the man across the middle of his</b> <b>thought by mixing down the right side.</b> <b>He's into the end zone. Touchdown,</b> <b>Alabama. This one is done.</b> <b>Alabama wins it 52 to</b> <b>24.</b> <b>And if that didn't give you a great warm</b> <b>and fuzzy feeling, because it surely gave</b> <b>me one. Just looking at the excitement of</b> <b>of the alumni, the University of Alabama,</b> <b>In the words of HB CU who say they have</b> <b>the greatest homecomings, here's some</b> <b>thoughts about their affinity. It's like.</b> <b>Lack of love, honestly, it just it's</b> <b>all love. Like homecoming just is</b> <b>really a time where I'm proud that I went</b> <b>to an HB CU.</b> <b>It makes me feel like, you know, all my</b> <b>friends, all my, you know, my brothers</b> <b>and sisters are just doing well. And it's</b> <b>good to know that, you know, we we</b> <b>learned a lot that we were able to go out</b> <b>and be very successful after school. Like</b> <b>you're a part of this, this dynamic group</b> <b>that you know has accomplished so much</b> <b>and it just feels so, so good to come</b> <b>back and you know, see everybody that's</b> <b>on there, you know, every.</b> <b>How much love, A type of love that you</b> <b>don't really get in the real world. So to</b> <b>go back and to be embraced is just</b> <b>awesome. It's family oriented. Given that</b> <b>HBC US are usually smaller, they're more</b> <b>community, so you tend to know more</b> <b>people. HBC Homecoming experience is so</b> <b>different because of all the traditional</b> <b>aspects to come together and just see</b> <b>how much we've grown and how much we've</b> <b>changed. But but also keep</b> <b>answering this call that particularly</b> <b>Morehouse has on his students and</b> <b>Spellman. And anywhere else you go,</b> <b>that's an HB CU to to keep making your</b> <b>mark on the world.</b> <b>Hamptons Homecoming is.</b> <b>I mean, honestly, it's only one real</b> <b>homecoming. I mean, when you talk about</b> <b>Spell House, like it's it, it's so</b> <b>little. We we share homecomings. Not too</b> <b>many schools get to do that. And so you</b> <b>get to see the Spellman girls and then</b> <b>you also get to see a Morehouse Bros And</b> <b>it's just like a beautiful experience</b> <b>once you get on campus, if you don't have</b> <b>a family reunion to go to, but you went</b> <b>to an HP, CU, you always have homecoming.</b> <b>It's like, and So what have we seen</b> <b>here, Whether you're at a</b> <b>PWI, whether you're an alum of an</b> <b>HB CU, The keyword was</b> <b>love. And both of those videos I used</b> <b>University of Alabama because it is a big</b> <b>state school and for those who don't</b> <b>know or not familiar.</b> <b>Their alumni participation rate. In the</b> <b>ways that we have traditionally counted</b> <b>alumni participation rate, we're less than</b> <b>10%. But you saw their homecoming.</b> <b>In terms of Hbcus, we know that the</b> <b>national average of alumni participating</b> <b>through gifts is 10%, but many of our</b> <b>HB CU's fall below that as</b> <b>well. And so when we</b> <b>talk about this topic of.</b> <b>Alumni loving their institutions, coming</b> <b>back once a year or twice a year in</b> <b>droves and really</b> <b>magnifying the love and affinity that</b> <b>they had, not just for their school, but</b> <b>for the relationships you heard that that</b> <b>they made while they were at their</b> <b>schools, their roommates, their</b> <b>fraternity brothers, sorority sisters,</b> <b>the teams that they participated on,</b> <b>their faculty members, quite frankly, and</b> <b>the programs academically that they</b> <b>participated in what we know. Is that</b> <b>alumni across the board of our</b> <b>universities and colleges, they love</b> <b>their institutions. We also know that</b> <b>alumni giving on average counts for about</b> <b>23% of annual funds</b> <b>raised by all of universities. And what</b> <b>does that mean? About 1/4 of</b> <b>what we raise comes</b> <b>through the portal of our alumni in one</b> <b>way or the other. We also know that the</b> <b>national average of alumni participation</b> <b>through all gifts, it's about 22%.</b> <b>And we know that we have some shining</b> <b>stars across our universities and</b> <b>colleges that do well above these</b> <b>numbers. But we also know that many of</b> <b>our universities and colleges and those</b> <b>that are working in development alumni</b> <b>giving stewardship, are</b> <b>struggling with this notion of how do we</b> <b>translate. The affinity,</b> <b>the love that our alumni show</b> <b>up again and again for at our</b> <b>universities, but in terms of</b> <b>their treasure giving and when I</b> <b>say treasure giving, our alumni, you</b> <b>know, giving. For me, philanthropic</b> <b>giving is time, talent and treasure. We</b> <b>see the time that our alumni give when</b> <b>they come on to campus in various roles</b> <b>as coaches, as mentors. We</b> <b>see their talent in terms of being able</b> <b>to use what they have. Been able to do in</b> <b>their professional lives, returning to</b> <b>campus or engaging current students in</b> <b>their work, but oftentimes we don't see</b> <b>it in the treasure part of their</b> <b>philanthropic giving. And so you know as</b> <b>we move through this presentation, Ihope.</b> <b>Problem but or the challenge</b> <b>and the opportunities. But what</b> <b>are some of the strategies that we can</b> <b>use to combat that? And So what do</b> <b>our alumni love? What do they love about</b> <b>our institutions? And if I was in front</b> <b>of you, I would have asked that question</b> <b>and had you all to respond and you all</b> <b>would have said many of these things and</b> <b>you heard them in the videos. They love</b> <b>the fact that they had a constructed</b> <b>friend or friend group that. They</b> <b>developed while they were in college</b> <b>or they love their fraternities and</b> <b>sororities, athletic clubs, organizations</b> <b>that they were became members of for a</b> <b>lifetime. They also talk</b> <b>about loving their student leadership</b> <b>roles. They were orientation leaders,</b> <b>resident assistants. They were members of</b> <b>the SGA. Our</b> <b>alumni also love traditions,</b> <b>right? They love the fact</b> <b>that they adhere. At Bowie</b> <b>State, we are the Bowie Bulldogs. And so</b> <b>we talk about the bulldog being strong.</b> <b>We use the bulldog and all of our</b> <b>speeches. The bulldog shows up at the</b> <b>pivotal point in campus life. Those are</b> <b>some of our traditions.</b> <b>Our alumni also love their school of</b> <b>study. Of course. That's where they spent</b> <b>a lot of their time. That's where they</b> <b>learn to navigate the institution called</b> <b>the Academy. That's where they had some</b> <b>of their first and early mentorships of</b> <b>professors and faculty chairs. And</b> <b>so their schools of studies are what</b> <b>we find pulls them back over and over</b> <b>again. It was that intimate time with</b> <b>cohorts of students and</b> <b>administrators, the secretary and the</b> <b>chairs. Office that we find that our</b> <b>alarm mostly resonate with. Certainly</b> <b>the social life. Our alumni love that</b> <b>social life. You saw it, you saw it in</b> <b>those videos and we know it on our</b> <b>campuses. Have a meet and greet and you</b> <b>will get alumni to come back. Go to the</b> <b>baseball game, visit the aquarium at our</b> <b>alum, our front and center, any</b> <b>place where they can engage with one</b> <b>another and have any type of</b> <b>networking among each other. Our alumni,</b> <b>they love that and what else do they</b> <b>love? This is what is pivotal. They love</b> <b>the stories and. Reflections. They are</b> <b>stories. They are reflections.</b> <b>Every alarm has a story, and it's.</b> <b>Meant to them and how their time at the</b> <b>institution has propelled them and</b> <b>leveraged them in the light that they are</b> <b>leading now. Do we give alumni time to</b> <b>tell us their stories? Where are the</b> <b>places in our programmatic</b> <b>structure that alumni can come back over</b> <b>and over again and share their stories</b> <b>and reflections about their time to be</b> <b>inspiration to the current students and</b> <b>also provide institutional history for</b> <b>those of us who were not at the</b> <b>institution when they were at the</b> <b>institution? And so I'll talk a little</b> <b>bit about that in terms of the stories</b> <b>and reflections and how we can infuse.</b> <b>Our alumni in that.</b> <b>One of the ways in which we have</b> <b>and finally I'm sorry, bragging rights,</b> <b>the alumni to brag on our institutions.</b> <b>Our institutions are doing well. Many of</b> <b>us have new corporate partnerships and</b> <b>community friends that have joined our</b> <b>story telling in terms of</b> <b>wanting to see our universities grow.</b> <b>They like the bragging rights of knowing</b> <b>they can come back on campus and our</b> <b>universities are physically growing that</b> <b>we have construction and new buildings</b> <b>that didn't exist when they were there.</b> <b>They like the bragging rights. When one</b> <b>of our students, our faculty members or</b> <b>someone associated with the university</b> <b>ends up in the paper or on the news on</b> <b>CNN or in some other</b> <b>pop pop culture type of</b> <b>way, our alumni like to brag on</b> <b>the institution whether they are giving</b> <b>or not, and that is something that is</b> <b>key. So what we have</b> <b>done is a few things here at Bowie State</b> <b>University. To kind of</b> <b>capitalize what our alumni</b> <b>love and to see if we can translate it</b> <b>into their</b> <b>ability, their commitment and</b> <b>their desire to give.</b> <b>What are the universities love? We talked</b> <b>about what alumni love, but what are the</b> <b>universities love about our alumni?</b> <b>The universities, we love the passion</b> <b>that they have for their animata. And</b> <b>I I turn that. I turn that as alumni,</b> <b>passion alumni are passionate.</b> <b>Whether we hear it or not. They are</b> <b>talking about us and their circles of</b> <b>influence at their family reunions on</b> <b>their jobs. They were talking about their</b> <b>university. And so that passion is what</b> <b>we love as institutions. We</b> <b>love the fact that they leave legacy</b> <b>behind. There are many of our</b> <b>universities where our alumni have sons</b> <b>and daughters and nieces and nephews or</b> <b>they came behind a parent. The</b> <b>grandparents. And we love the fact that</b> <b>we can point to families that have a</b> <b>generational tie to our</b> <b>universities. What else do we love? We</b> <b>love the message that they spread about</b> <b>the institution. Why does that matter?</b> <b>Well, in the age of social media, our</b> <b>alumni have great reach. They have their</b> <b>own platforms. They have other streams of</b> <b>income and businesses. And so when they</b> <b>talk about the institution, has hashtag</b> <b>the institution or any way note the</b> <b>institution. In the things that they're</b> <b>doing on a daily basis, our reach gets</b> <b>longer and wider. We also love</b> <b>the impact that they make in the</b> <b>communities, because why institutions</b> <b>like to brag as well. We like to brag on</b> <b>the alumni that are making a difference</b> <b>in their communities, in the in the</b> <b>cities that they are living and in the</b> <b>world. We like to brag on our alumni who</b> <b>just took a presidency at another</b> <b>university or is the head of a company.</b> <b>We like to brag on an alumni who's</b> <b>running for public office. And so we</b> <b>love the impact that our alumni have</b> <b>as they leave the institution. And they</b> <b>and they further the institution's name</b> <b>in their work. And then finally, we love,</b> <b>you know, let's just talk about it. Sure,</b> <b>we love the funds and resources. We love</b> <b>the money. We can't leave without the</b> <b>money. We're going to be honest and here</b> <b>we love that alumni time, talent and</b> <b>treasure that I talked about earlier. We</b> <b>love when they come back and they share</b> <b>the best of us, best of themselves with</b> <b>the institution that helped to prepare</b> <b>them to be the best. We love the fact</b> <b>that they come back and that they help</b> <b>them move in day or they help with</b> <b>orientation. We like the fact that they.</b> <b>Utilize their skill sets and</b> <b>entrepreneurship or another discipline</b> <b>so that our current student studying it</b> <b>has a real life version of their future</b> <b>self. And certainly we love when they</b> <b>write a check, don't we? Yes, we love</b> <b>when they write a check and a</b> <b>consistent check</b> <b>back to the university to show that they</b> <b>are committed for future advancement.</b> <b>That's what we love.</b> <b>So I have here on the strain the BSU</b> <b>at a glance, and I speak of this because</b> <b>this is one of the ways in which we</b> <b>thought that we needed to reach our</b> <b>alumni in a way that we hadn't.</b> <b>Five years ago, before I came to Bowie</b> <b>State University, we had no online alumni</b> <b>newsletter and.</b> <b>Their news was through our website</b> <b>and through the many, many, many, many</b> <b>many emails. Too many. I'm sure you all</b> <b>will agree that Alum have said we send</b> <b>them way too much information that they</b> <b>were receiving.</b> <b>During right before the pandemic, we</b> <b>decided to do a couple of things. We</b> <b>decided to compress and</b> <b>to greatly decrease the number of</b> <b>emails that we were sending our along.</b> <b>And to look at how we could compile that</b> <b>information in a way that was</b> <b>interesting, in a way that</b> <b>was engaging, in a way that tried to pull</b> <b>them back to the everyday life of Bowie</b> <b>State University. So we</b> <b>reduced our emails that were on</b> <b>average when I came to Boise State</b> <b>University about.</b> <b>12 to 13 a</b> <b>week and that was just from this</b> <b>department. We reduced that</b> <b>at initially to two a week.</b> <b>And what we found with that is, I'm sure</b> <b>you all won't be surprised is that our</b> <b>open rates increased because.</b> <b>They saw that there was a decrease. Where</b> <b>did all those BSU emails from alumni and</b> <b>development go?And they saw that when</b> <b>they did open it, it was much more</b> <b>robust, it was much more interesting,</b> <b>and it was always a call to action. And</b> <b>so BS you Had a Glance was born out of</b> <b>that. It turned into a weekly</b> <b>electronic newsletter. That drops</b> <b>every Saturday morning at 7:00 AM.</b> <b>It is compiled and edited by</b> <b>our Editor in Chief which is our</b> <b>Communication Specialist who not only</b> <b>looks across campus where content from</b> <b>other departments and divisions, but also</b> <b>creates content and one of the content</b> <b>areas is our Alum of the week.</b> <b>So that's an opportunity for an alum to</b> <b>tell a story, for us to profile</b> <b>them in pictures and video</b> <b>and in storytelling. What is our</b> <b>fundamental question?Tell us how you got</b> <b>to be SU. That's really all it</b> <b>takes because you know that our alumni</b> <b>could go on for days and days if you ask</b> <b>them that one simple question. And So</b> <b>what is a pivotal piece in</b> <b>this newsletter is our</b> <b>alum of the week and it</b> <b>has been brought with great success</b> <b>at our last, when we came five</b> <b>years ago, the open rate was</b> <b>in single digits. It was hovering around</b> <b>8 to 9%. I am pleased to say that</b> <b>over this year we have had a steady</b> <b>36% open rate</b> <b>with our BSU at a glance and I I credit</b> <b>my team for their</b> <b>creativity and making sure that it is a</b> <b>newsletter that people are actually</b> <b>looking forward to. When we have</b> <b>technical difficulties and it does not</b> <b>hit at 7:00 AM, we get many phone calls</b> <b>and emails. So that's a testament that</b> <b>we're on the right track. The</b> <b>next thing I'd like to share is that.</b> <b>BSU Virtual Alumni Health was born out of</b> <b>COVID. As many of us</b> <b>struggled in March of 2020 to figure out,</b> <b>how do we now connect with this base of</b> <b>people that primarily we connected to</b> <b>over happy hours and engagements and</b> <b>and homecoming activities that we are now</b> <b>sequestered. How do we connect? Well,</b> <b>what we always say here at Bowie State is</b> <b>that everything we need is in the House</b> <b>and as we launched into a</b> <b>uncertainty with COVID not knowing what</b> <b>COVID was not. Knowing the particulars of</b> <b>this disease and how we should take care</b> <b>of ourselves, what we did know is that we</b> <b>have to have alum who are in fields of</b> <b>public health. We have to have alum that</b> <b>knows something about what is happening</b> <b>in our everyday world. And so</b> <b>I thought, let me take it to Facebook</b> <b>Live and we invited an</b> <b>alum. Doctor Daniel</b> <b>Ampad, who is an epidemiologist</b> <b>at New York University and a professor</b> <b>who is a Bowie State University alone who</b> <b>actually helped the first few weeks come</b> <b>on to Facebook Live and to help us</b> <b>kind of understand what are the what is</b> <b>the state of public health? What are we</b> <b>in, what should we do to take care of</b> <b>ourselves and our families? And it was</b> <b>information, it was the news that we</b> <b>could use in real time, and it was</b> <b>from our alliance. Well, when</b> <b>Doctor Ampak came on that first</b> <b>Facebook Live, which launched March 2020.</b> <b>We were surprised to see that hundreds of</b> <b>people tuned in and then hundreds</b> <b>more after on the rebroadcast,</b> <b>which got me to thinking, maybe this is</b> <b>the thing. And so we started to seek and</b> <b>find mission on alumni who</b> <b>represented different</b> <b>locations that were in different</b> <b>locations and spotlighting them</b> <b>with tell us your BS story and then</b> <b>also talking about the news of the BSU</b> <b>day. This Alumni</b> <b>House every Wednesday at 5:00</b> <b>o'clock has been</b> <b>something that took. A mind of its</b> <b>own, it's something that we thought would</b> <b>be temporal. And we're happy to say that</b> <b>we are three years in that we have</b> <b>professionalized our show to the to the</b> <b>tune of collaborating with our school of</b> <b>communications, helping students who are</b> <b>working on their community.</b> <b>Floor on my health show and</b> <b>professionalize it with real sets. It</b> <b>will be relaunching in the fall under the</b> <b>School of communication, and we</b> <b>also are going to be adding a live studio</b> <b>audience of alumni to come into some of</b> <b>the tapings that we will be doing to keep</b> <b>and our collateral chest</b> <b>for when we are on hiatus, when we're on</b> <b>vacation, when the school is shut</b> <b>down for Christmas break and those.</b> <b>Those type of things. We have an average</b> <b>weekly audience of 1300. We have</b> <b>done 12 broadcasts off campus in our</b> <b>larger community at some of the</b> <b>establishments that are partners to Bowie</b> <b>State University and actually we have</b> <b>more than 212 alumni to this date that</b> <b>have been interviewed. That was in</b> <b>March of this year. How has that</b> <b>translated? We've got more gifts to the</b> <b>university. We have people to set up</b> <b>endowments. It has increased our.</b> <b>Volunteerism, it has increased student</b> <b>engagement and so we're very proud.</b> <b>Has now translated to</b> <b>Instagram and will be having its own</b> <b>YouTube channel in the fall. I</b> <b>have this picture up because some of you</b> <b>all.</b> <b>Observers are great. A</b> <b>graduating senior in December from Bowie</b> <b>State University. One of our students, he</b> <b>is he let me have the only</b> <b>interview the weekend before the Tonys.</b> <b>That's why I said Tony Award nominee. He</b> <b>is now the winner and so that is our one</b> <b>of our points of pride and even though</b> <b>he's not an alarm, he's he's getting</b> <b>ready to be an alarm in the next four</b> <b>months. And so part of engaging and</b> <b>having alumni who love their institution</b> <b>to their very end. Is how we</b> <b>engage our students.</b> <b>We also participated in the oral history</b> <b>project and some of you know about this</b> <b>already.</b> <b>Project and I will tell you, it was a</b> <b>labor of love. We were one of the first</b> <b>schools, and when this company was</b> <b>pivoting from again in COVID,</b> <b>pivoting from their annual</b> <b>alumni directories to a</b> <b>more sustainable</b> <b>model that was about</b> <b>alumni telling their stories, we thought</b> <b>it would be a simple little project. I</b> <b>didn't think that I would have more than</b> <b>maybe 2-3 hundred students. I'm sorry,</b> <b>alumni telling their stories. We had</b> <b>almost 5. 1000 alumni to self select to</b> <b>tell their story. The</b> <b>5000 are all included in the audio</b> <b>version of this book. However,</b> <b>the way that we condensed it because we</b> <b>couldn't have a book that was 5000 people</b> <b>is that we condensed it with</b> <b>the stories of the people who made a</b> <b>donation to the university</b> <b>during the time that they self selected</b> <b>to tell their story. And so</b> <b>we are very proud of this project. For</b> <b>those of you who want to know more about</b> <b>the project, you certainly can reach out</b> <b>to me and I can kind of walk you</b> <b>through exactly.</b> <b>This company, but we also</b> <b>are using this project beyond just the</b> <b>engagement tool, right? Yes, our alumni</b> <b>told our story, but at Homecoming, we</b> <b>will be having a book signing where we</b> <b>will invite everyone who told the story</b> <b>to come back to campus. During Homecoming</b> <b>week, we have a special program where</b> <b>they will have the audios of their</b> <b>stories playing in the background. People</b> <b>will sign each other's books. We will</b> <b>have the president and other university</b> <b>leaders come. And have that opportunity</b> <b>to kind of have a book launch of this as</b> <b>we turn it over to university archives.</b> <b>In addition to that, we are having our</b> <b>development teams in our Division</b> <b>of Philanthropic Engagement formerly</b> <b>Institutional Advancement to look at the</b> <b>book in terms of prospects</b> <b>prospecting and also our researchers in</b> <b>terms of gaining additional information</b> <b>in terms of what our lumber doing</b> <b>currently. So this this project has a lot</b> <b>of life not just engagement tool. But it</b> <b>can also be a development tool as well.</b> <b>This is a little bit about this project.</b> <b>We had a lot of mileage. We updated our</b> <b>alumni database. Of course, we shared the</b> <b>points of pride with the lung when they</b> <b>called in. And again some of the other</b> <b>things I talked about informed</b> <b>development and research. We identified</b> <b>more notable alum and prospects and we</b> <b>interviewed alum for other university</b> <b>programs. So out of this project I've got</b> <b>my last two founders day of speakers</b> <b>and also</b> <b>we got our convocation speaker.</b> <b>As well. And so this is kind of just a</b> <b>little bit about what happened with our</b> <b>story project. And again, if you like to</b> <b>know some more about exactly what our</b> <b>process and what our thoughts are about</b> <b>working with this company, we'd be happy</b> <b>to let you know. I</b> <b>have a little thing that I call the life</b> <b>cycle of alumni participation and my</b> <b>colleagues here, they laugh at me, but I</b> <b>have a thing that I work with student</b> <b>life and I call it day one alone. That is</b> <b>my little saying. What does that mean? It</b> <b>means that the day that you step onto the</b> <b>week campus, Boise State University</b> <b>campus as either an undergraduate student</b> <b>or a graduate student, that is the day</b> <b>that my work begins of cultivating you as</b> <b>an alone all of the experiences that you</b> <b>have inside the classroom. And certainly</b> <b>outside the classroom with our business</b> <b>practices in terms of parking, in</b> <b>terms of being able to communicate</b> <b>with offices that are</b> <b>moving your scholarship forward.</b> <b>All of those things are going to</b> <b>create what type of alarm that I will</b> <b>have when that when that person. Sorry</b> <b>about that. When that</b> <b>person graduates and matriculates.</b> <b>And so I call it</b> <b>something to think about as we're</b> <b>thinking about our offices in terms of</b> <b>what do we do with the alum that we have</b> <b>creatively, young alumni. Which</b> <b>I'm calling 10 years or less. Umm,</b> <b>I'm thinking those are the alarm who are</b> <b>starting out. They are, you know, new.</b> <b>Our newest graduates. They are moving</b> <b>forward into developing and</b> <b>identifying their next steps. They may</b> <b>not have a lot of residual income, but</b> <b>they have something. And what we know</b> <b>about alumni, even our young alumni,</b> <b>our generations. I don't know all the</b> <b>letters, but our latest of generation of</b> <b>alphabet. We know that they give, they</b> <b>give to the things that they can see.</b> <b>That are working in real time. They give</b> <b>to things that have social justice.</b> <b>Ties to it. They give to things that they</b> <b>can see making a</b> <b>difference, fundamental difference not</b> <b>just in the life of their college, but in</b> <b>their community. So we might want to</b> <b>identify them as annual fund givers. We</b> <b>might want to have programs and</b> <b>opportunities for them to give an annual</b> <b>way in any amount,</b> <b>letting them know that philanthropic</b> <b>engagement is not about how much, it's</b> <b>about the consistency by</b> <b>which you are attached to your</b> <b>institution. The consistency of your</b> <b>giving is what</b> <b>your commitment will build upon as you</b> <b>move through your life cycle, evolving</b> <b>alone. Those are our alum who</b> <b>they have identified right where they</b> <b>are seated in terms of their</b> <b>profession. Maybe they have met</b> <b>a love interest, maybe they are starting</b> <b>a family, but they</b> <b>might have something that they would like</b> <b>to think to give. Back to the university</b> <b>every year. Maybe it's $500 a year, maybe</b> <b>it's $1000 a . yearMaybe it's to their</b> <b>department, maybe it's to their</b> <b>fraternity or sorority. But these are the</b> <b>conversations that we can have with</b> <b>evolving alumni and their life cycle that</b> <b>maybe, you know, you have a little bit</b> <b>more than you did when you left school 10</b> <b>years ago, but maybe not</b> <b>so much where you're at the endowed part</b> <b>and so are evolving along. We want them</b> <b>to let them know we're thinking about</b> <b>your life cycle. We know that you are</b> <b>still in the building. Stage. But as you</b> <b>are building, the university is also</b> <b>building and there's a place for you in</b> <b>terms of your giving there. Then we have</b> <b>our established alumni, Those are who</b> <b>have moved on a little bit. They are</b> <b>solidified in their their</b> <b>profession. Their families</b> <b>are a little older that they are raising</b> <b>perhaps, but they have a clear</b> <b>plan of where they're going and where</b> <b>they are professionally.</b> <b>We might want to be talking to them</b> <b>about, in doubt, scholarships. We might</b> <b>even want to be talking to them about</b> <b>planned giving. I mean I think many</b> <b>of us on this, on this</b> <b>call would agree that if</b> <b>someone had told us about maybe some plan</b> <b>giving and and and estate planning things</b> <b>when we were in our our 30s and</b> <b>40s that maybe we</b> <b>be a little further along. And so why not</b> <b>start the conversation, establish a</b> <b>llama also looking about there they're</b> <b>thinking about you know</b> <b>how they're the ones that are coming</b> <b>back. Homecoming in droves that that age</b> <b>group of people. And right now we're</b> <b>talking about our, you know, our forties</b> <b>, 50s, early 50s, yeah, they're coming</b> <b>back. They're bringing their families,</b> <b>they're bringing their wives and husbands</b> <b>and partners and they're bringing folk</b> <b>and they're they're they're recollecting</b> <b>the stories of their time there. And so</b> <b>we might want to be talking to them about</b> <b>that in terms of our season alarm. These</b> <b>are our alarm who maybe are</b> <b>retired and maybe</b> <b>they've retired early, maybe they're in</b> <b>second. Rears, we want to talk to</b> <b>them about leaving a legacy.</b> <b>What is your legacy? And we speak about</b> <b>that a lot here, but we State University</b> <b>legacy is really big at HB, CU, but</b> <b>I'm sure legacies are big, big as well.</b> <b>I've been a professional at</b> <b>PWI. Legacy is big there as well. How do</b> <b>we talk about people who we see year</b> <b>after year after year coming back to not</b> <b>only the social things but coming to</b> <b>our our seminars</b> <b>and our vision and and and serving as</b> <b>visiting professors? How do we?Talk to</b> <b>them about, we see that you have a love</b> <b>for this institution. Let's talk about</b> <b>your legacy and what do you</b> <b>want that legacy to look like. We've had</b> <b>a lot of success with plan giving</b> <b>program here and also we've</b> <b>had a lot of success with families, our</b> <b>legacy families coming together to do</b> <b>endowed scholarships. And then</b> <b>alumni families, yeah, they're like the</b> <b>cycle level. Alumni participation is the</b> <b>cycle of life. This is, you know, maybe</b> <b>not the the most joyous thing</b> <b>to talk about. But, you know, one day</b> <b>none of us will be physically here</b> <b>in life. But isn't our institutions</b> <b>aren't our institutions? Aren't they a</b> <b>part of our family's legacy? Don't we</b> <b>talk about that at the dinner table?</b> <b>Don't we tell our kids as we're driving</b> <b>past our schools or we go back to</b> <b>homecoming?Yeah, I lived in this</b> <b>residence hall, Ohh, that was my friend</b> <b>that used to be my roommate. And so</b> <b>this segmented way of how we think about</b> <b>the institutions that we've been a part</b> <b>of and we serve not being a part of our</b> <b>whole life, we need to dismiss that.</b> <b>What we tell our families here is that</b> <b>once a bulldog, always a bulldog that is</b> <b>our mascot. And that even after your</b> <b>loved one who was directly connected to</b> <b>the institution, that your family will</b> <b>always be connected to the institution.</b> <b>We send our bereavement cards, certainly,</b> <b>but we also do more than that. We invite</b> <b>our families of our departed Bulldogs</b> <b>back for homecoming. We have special</b> <b>engagements of families who have</b> <b>lost Bulldogs and what has that</b> <b>resulted in? It has resulted in those</b> <b>families wanting to perpetuate their</b> <b>memory of their loved one through current</b> <b>youth scholarships and Dow scholarships,</b> <b>annual funds and plan giving. And so I</b> <b>think that we if we think about the</b> <b>cycle. Of alumni participation</b> <b>and just literally pair it to the cycle</b> <b>of our lives. And then</b> <b>create programs and</b> <b>opportunities. As a result of</b> <b>that alignment to life, I think that it</b> <b>will, it will take us a long way. Our #</b> <b>BSU for life is just that we are BS for</b> <b>life. It is something that we teach our</b> <b>incoming students, whether you're a</b> <b>transfer student, whether you're a first</b> <b>year student or whether you're a graduate</b> <b>student. And it's something that we</b> <b>espouse to and so I'm going to go ahead</b> <b>and. And with how we espouse that?</b> <b>Joining the Bowie State University</b> <b>community links you to a proud 150</b> <b>yearlegacy that expands</b> <b>every day with the achievements of</b> <b>students, faculty, staff and</b> <b>alumni. When we depart the university, we</b> <b>take what we learned here and extend the</b> <b>impact of Bui State around the world.</b> <b>Our connection to BGSU is for life. We</b> <b>commit to returning our time, talent and</b> <b>resources to assure that future</b> <b>generations can join us to continue</b> <b>building. The Buoy State legacy we</b> <b>are, we are, we are</b> <b>BSU for life and so the</b> <b>RBS for life joining them, we certainly</b> <b>can stay connected with us. For those of</b> <b>you who want to take a look at my virtual</b> <b>alumni show that has many, many,</b> <b>many episodes on</b> <b>Facebook at the SOE or on</b> <b>Instagram at Bowie Alarm and we</b> <b>do have also a</b> <b>Twitter. Social</b> <b>media platform on the SC</b> <b>alumni office and if you just want to</b> <b>talk to me personally as</b> <b>colleagues and share your</b> <b>practices or what you might have thought</b> <b>about the things that I have shared, this</b> <b>is how you can reach me my platforms all</b> <b>across all platforms of Carla Henry</b> <b>Hopkins. That is my e-mail and certainly</b> <b>LinkedIn is my primary for professional</b> <b>engagement. And so with that</b> <b>I want to say thank</b> <b>you. For the opportunity, I also would</b> <b>like to say that I am an</b> <b>alum of many institutions and I get back</b> <b>to all of my institutions. I have five</b> <b>children who are now alone of their</b> <b>institutions and I I transparently shared</b> <b>when I did this presentation, a case in</b> <b>person that I am still working on half of</b> <b>the children to be the engaged</b> <b>alum that we talked about on today.</b> <b>And what I what I do, what I've</b> <b>shared here, is what I share also</b> <b>personally. That love has everything to</b> <b>do with it, and it has nothing to do with</b> <b>it. If you don't translate that into a</b> <b>real commitment, that helps to sustain</b> <b>your institution. And so with that, I</b> <b>want to say thank you.</b> <b>There are a few questions,</b> <b>so can you comment more on the decision</b> <b>to send weekly newsletter on a Saturday</b> <b>morning and the impact? Our institution</b> <b>usually defaults to weekday business</b> <b>hours. Emails to our alumni.</b> <b>Yes, so.</b> <b>I I'm not sure why we just we chose</b> <b>Saturday morning at 7:00, but what I</b> <b>think happened is we were trying to find</b> <b>a time where.</b> <b>People were not</b> <b>encumbered by a lot of different things.</b> <b>We thought about weekday, I think</b> <b>momentarily, but we moved to Saturday</b> <b>because we thought if we send it early on</b> <b>Saturday, that's the time at least,</b> <b>you know, as we talked to in the office,</b> <b>that people just start checking their</b> <b>personal things that maybe they haven't</b> <b>checked all all week. Those are the</b> <b>things that maybe they start scrolling on</b> <b>social media a little bit more often than</b> <b>they would have when they were working,</b> <b>picking up children. Making meals, going</b> <b>to school, doing whatever it is that they</b> <b>were doing. And and it has</b> <b>worked for some reason that our</b> <b>Saturday and it is a talking point for us</b> <b>when people say I didn't know about this</b> <b>or that, we say, hey, did you check your</b> <b>newsletter on Saturday morning at 7:00?</b> <b>It comes with such precision that when it</b> <b>doesn't hit because of technical,</b> <b>technological issues, we do have calls</b> <b>of people saying, hey, it's 3:00,</b> <b>o'clock, I didn't get my newsletters. You</b> <b>know, is it happening this week or what</b> <b>have you And that is a good benchmark. Us</b> <b>to know that people are actually looking</b> <b>for it. It did. We we haven't</b> <b>tried anything differently in terms of</b> <b>the week because they were getting so</b> <b>many emails during the</b> <b>week that it was a cause of frustration</b> <b>for them. And so we thought let's try a</b> <b>weekend and it has worked for us as I</b> <b>shared with the open rates</b> <b>tripling in terms of people</b> <b>really reading the information and the</b> <b>connection rates that they click on to</b> <b>the links to take into other things.</b> <b>This is the final question. How do you</b> <b>identify the alumni you highlight?</b> <b>Good. That's a great question. And so</b> <b>some of it is happenstance and some of it</b> <b>is strategic. And by what what I mean by</b> <b>that is that sometimes I, you</b> <b>know, I wear Bowie State Insignia apparel</b> <b>a lot in my community while I'm running</b> <b>my errands, I run into alumni, you know,</b> <b>just getting gas or what have you. We</b> <b>stuck started chat. I find them</b> <b>interesting. I ask them if they want to</b> <b>be on the show and they come. But then</b> <b>some of it is very strategic. I sit down</b> <b>and I actually we have a team of 6.</b> <b>And alumni engagement and stewardship.</b> <b>One of the members of my team</b> <b>actually sit in a weekly prospect meeting</b> <b>with the development officers as they</b> <b>have strategies around</b> <b>their their portfolios and sometimes they</b> <b>need a warm touch, sometimes they need</b> <b>before they're wanting to have a</b> <b>conversation or broach the conversation</b> <b>in terms of.</b> <b>Monetary and financial contribution. They</b> <b>want to engage their prospect under</b> <b>different way and that's where we come</b> <b>in. We'll say oh wow, didn't know that</b> <b>they were the new chair of this whatever</b> <b>you know. And then we've reached out</b> <b>and and say you know we heard</b> <b>congratulations or you know we understand</b> <b>that you're a legacy and that you have</b> <b>deep roots that BSE we'd like to profile</b> <b>you would you be interested. And so you</b> <b>know it is a combination of</b> <b>by accident and you know. When we</b> <b>run into alum or if alum say you know, I</b> <b>really want to be engaged, what we have</b> <b>found is that the alumni, we have</b> <b>profiled over 50% of the ones that have</b> <b>had some kind of video engagement,</b> <b>interview engagement or newsletter on</b> <b>recognition, over 50% of them.</b> <b>Have given consistently over these</b> <b>last three years and a smaller</b> <b>percentage, about 12% of them were people</b> <b>who had never given. So what we know is</b> <b>that alumni really want opportunities</b> <b>to reflect. And if you can get alumni to</b> <b>reflect back on their experiences and if</b> <b>you can align that with the life that</b> <b>they have now, they they're that love</b> <b>that you see that they have in the</b> <b>physical oftentimes will translate</b> <b>to finances.</b> <b>Thank you, Carla for a great presentation</b> <b>and thank you to all of our attendees for</b> <b>joining. Before you go, if you haven't</b> <b>completed your session evaluation, please</b> <b>do so. You can return to the agenda to</b> <b>find your next session. Thank you.</b>

Alumni Affinity

Philanthropic Engagement

Alumni Giving

Engaging Alumni

Electronic Newsletter

Virtual Alumni Show

Oral History Project

Tailored Approaches