Dozens of alumni from the 1940s to the Class of 2007 gathered this week for an Alumni Summit. During the two-day event, graduates brainstormed on ways Elon can enhance alumni programming, increase alumni involvement with the university and identify the next generation of alumni leaders. Details...
On Thursday, President Leo M. Lambert welcomed the group and thanked them for participating in the summit, which he said would lay the foundation for critical enhancements to alumni programming and engagement with Elon. “This is a conversation that is going to reverberate for a long time to come,” he said.
Lambert asked the group to help identify future alumni leaders. He displayed a pie chart that illustrated the youth of Elon’s alumni population — 54 percent of alumni have graduated since 1990.
“Alumni shape the future course of this institution,” he said, adding that identifying young alumni now to help steward Elon’s future is “a critical priority.”
He identified as a model of alumni leadership longtime trustee and summit participant Wallace Chandler ’49 (pictured below, right), who has been a guiding force for Elon for nearly 40 years. “Where would Elon be without Wallace Chandler?” Lambert said.
The president also asked the group to recommend ideas for enhanced alumni programming, including initiatives that would appeal to young alums, and strategies to increase alumni participation in annual giving to the Elon Fund and Phoenix Club. Twenty-four percent of alumni make annual gifts to Elon, which is below that of many of the university’s peer institutions.
“We have to ensure that young alumni understand how critical that $25 gift to Elon is,” Lambert said.
Nan Perkins, vice president for institutional advancement, told the group that Elon is more than beautiful buildings. “Elon is a community of students, faculty and staff, and most important and the largest group, is alumni,” she said. “There is so much love for this place among our alumni. No one cares as much about Elon as alumni. No group is more important to the health of Elon.”
Alumni worked in small groups and made the following recommendations:
Enhancements to regional events
• Include more career networking opportunities
• Plan more social events in clubs and restaurants
• Include faculty and staff more in chapter events
Ways to bring alumni to campus
• Opportunities to speak to classes or mentor students
• Charter buses to bring alums to campus events
• Plan an Alumni Day in the fall and spring
• Invite alums to hear prominent speakers and attend major events
• Plan affinity group reunions on campus
• Offer giveaways, including a free trip to campus
Enhance alumni travel opportunities
• Include alumni in study abroad trips
• Plan affordable trips with Elon faculty, including to NASA, CNN, and Broadway
• Plan service trips and cruises
• Make London flats available to alumni
Developing students into engaged alumni
• Create annual program to educate students on life skills, financial planning and how Elon uses gifts from alums
• Develop student-alumni mentoring programs, including speaking to classes
• Host on-campus networking events that bring together students and alumni who are working in the students’ home cities.
Career Services
• Increase education to alumni on Elon’s Career Center services
• Educate alums on job trends, resume writing and interview skills, and graduate school preparation
• Expand E2, Elon’s new online social community, to include career networking
Increase alumni participation in annual giving
• More in-person gift solicitations
• Educate alums on the types of gifts (including planned gifts, restricted and unrestricted gifts, and endowment)
• Offer more incentives to make gifts
• Improve online giving program
• Offer opportunities to give at Elon events
Communication
• Expand The Magazine of Elon
• Allow alumni to further prioritize their e-communications from Elon
• Post more alumni profiles on the Web site, including alumni journals
Developing alumni leaders
• Identify local, regional and national community and industry leaders, including alumni chapter leaders
• Encourage faculty to identify alumni leaders
• Examine senior members of the National Alumni Executive Board and Young Alumni Council
Ways to keep alumni leaders connected
• Implement ideas they recommend
• Give them opportunities to make a difference to Elon
• Ensure meetings are relevant
• Clarify leadership roles and keep leaders informed
• Create personal relationships with leaders
Ways to recognize alumni
• Plan on-campus events honoring alumni
• Publish alumni accomplishments in The Magazine of Elon
• Give alumni increased levels of responsibility, including service on boards
• More personal communication from Elon recognizing accomplishments
• Send more hometown news releases highlighting alumni successes
On Friday, Sallie Hutton ’92, alumni relations director, said she was pleased by the recommendations.
“We clearly have a shared vision of where we want to take the Alumni Association,” she told the group. “We are all on the same page.”
Hutton said the National Alumni Executive Board and Young Alumni Council will review the recommendations and work to create a strategic plan that is expected to be ready next spring.
“I thought it was great,” said David Moore ’72 of Elon. “Being a 35-year alumnus, it is amazing to see the different perspectives offered from the different age groups. This is a good start.”
“This was huge,” Josh Felix ’00 of Atlanta said of the event. “This is the only way we are going to change. The biggest thing that has to happen is it needs to be implemented.”
Additional summit coverage will be included in the winter issue of The Magazine of Elon.
