Recent alumni engagement is critical to keeping this key group engaged with their alma mater. In this session, we'll share results of our national survey on how recent alumni expect to engage and discuss the link between involvement in student organizations and engagement after graduation. We'll then share examples of how the University of Oklahoma engages students while on campus and connects with recent graduates to foster and grow their engagement and support. Participants will leave this session with data to inform their strategies and ideas of next steps to grow recent alumni engagement.

Connecting alumni with students has driven new donor acquisition, via the telephone, for decades. The trouble is, the traditional “phone” as we know it, no longer exists. But the alumni to student connection is still important and can still drive significant fundraising activity. In fact, schools that have shifted from traditional phone to multichannel, video-driven, student-led engagement are seeing increases in alumni participation.

In this session, learn how “Student Engagement Teams” are revitalizing annual funds by rethinking the traditional “phone” model and meeting alumni and donors where they are – on their smart phones.

Special events are fundamental to advancement work. Also foundational to advancement is data, both quantitative and qualitative. How can we envision, plan, execute and extract maximum value from our events by using data better? From lunch with a prospective donor to a black tie donor gala, events of all shapes and sizes need to be informed by data. While we are usually good at counting data (quantitative), there is often the most room for improvement in listening to data (qualitative) and the story it tells. We have to effectively engage data both before and after events to maximize advancement outcomes.