Modern Day Heroes: We Are Family — A Conversation on Connection, Community, and Collaboration in Advancement-Recording

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The webinar launched the “In Good Company” virtual book club and featured John Fido, Vice Chancellor for Advancement at UMass Lowell, discussing his book <em>We Are Family: Integrating Alumni Relations and Development for Advancement Success</em>. Host Nicole Blackwell introduced the series as part of an ongoing “Modern Day Heroes” conversation focused on belonging, inclusion, and authentic leadership.

Fido shared his 40-year nonprofit career, mostly in higher education, and explained why he wrote the book: to bridge the long-standing divide between alumni relations and development. He emphasized that both areas should share goals and work together to support the institution’s mission. He also described how “family” means treating alumni, students, faculty, and staff as one connected community.

He discussed barriers like silos and differing success metrics, noting that development is often measured by dollars while alumni engagement is harder to quantify. He suggested using engagement data, follow-up notes, and anecdotal feedback to track impact. He highlighted examples of successful collaboration, including industry-based alumni groups and strong partnerships between alumni relations and fundraising.

Fido encouraged new professionals to build relationships across departments and always ask, “Is this in the best interest of the university?” He closed by advising readers to approach the book from a colleague’s perspective to better understand cross-functional collaboration.

Keywords

virtual book club

John Fido

UMass Lowell

alumni relations

development

higher education

belonging and inclusion

cross-functional collaboration

authentic leadership