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CASE All Districts Online 2023
What’s love got to do with it? Moving Alumni Affin ...
What’s love got to do with it? Moving Alumni Affinity to Philanthropic Engagement
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<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>
Video Summary
The video transcript is from a conference session titled "What's Love Got to do with it? Moving Alumni Affinity to Philanthropic Engagement" presented by Carla Henry Hopkins at the All Districts 2023 Conference. The session discusses the connection between alumni love for their institutions and their philanthropic engagement. Hopkins emphasizes the importance of alumni giving in sustaining universities and the need for strategies to encourage alumni to translate their affinity into financial support. She shares insights from Bowie State University's efforts to engage alumni and increase philanthropic participation. <br /><br />Hopkins highlights the success of the university's weekly electronic newsletter, BSU at a Glance, which improved open rates by reducing the number of emails and delivering engaging content. She also discusses the impact of the virtual alumni show, where alumni share their stories, on alumni giving and engagement. Additionally, Hopkins shares the university's involvement in the oral history project, which allows alumni to tell their stories and helps with development and research efforts.<br /><br />The session highlights the different stages of alumni participation, including young alumni, evolving alumni, established alumni, and seasoned alumni, and suggests tailored approaches for engaging each group. Hopkins also encourages the identification and highlighting of alumni through chance encounters, strategic prospect meetings, and alumni recognition initiatives. Overall, the session emphasizes the importance of fostering alumni love and providing meaningful opportunities for philanthropic engagement.
Asset Caption
CASE Career Level: 4
CASE Competencies: Strategic Thinking, Industry/Sector Expertise
Keywords
Alumni Affinity
Philanthropic Engagement
Alumni Giving
Engaging Alumni
Electronic Newsletter
Virtual Alumni Show
Oral History Project
Tailored Approaches
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