Christy Badu is a deputy registrar at the University of Ghana and head of its new alumni relations office. Moving from several senior administrative positions in the university, Badu was charged to set up the alumni relations office in August 2017 with a focus on building alumni affinity, fundraising and strategic communications.

Here, she shares her takeaways on setting up shop and what she wishes everyone knew about advancement in Ghana. 

How did you come to your role in advancement at the University of Ghana?

I honestly started with practically nothing. I had been working for the University of Ghana as a senior administrator in several capacities when I was tasked to establish the alumni advancement office, and it sounded like it would be a challenge so I accepted it.

Walk us through a typical day in the office.

For now, my typical day is not really a "typical" day in the office. Each day comes with its challenges and so I usually take each day as it unfolds. I normally have meetings in the morning with my staff to catch up on our activities, and also plan activities for the week. Later I may take a trip into town to meet with alumni or with a prospective donor and then back to the office to catch up on what has been accomplished in the day.

What are your goals for the future?

We are reaching out to as many alumni as we can. We have many across the globe, so we are hoping to reach out to build a relationship with them and give them opportunities to give back to their alma mater. We're looking to expand our number [of alumni contacts].

We are also collecting information we need from alumni through our online survey to ensure we are able to segment them into viable groupings so to be able to reach out to them [effectively]. We are hoping our database would allow us to group them by age, career, gender, etc., for effective mobilization.

What advice do you have for someone starting from scratch in advancement?

Keep going despite the obstacles. I think that would be my advice for anyone starting from scratch. The challenges are many but once you are determined, you will achieve your objectives. So my advice is keep going!

As you meet with advancement professionals, what do you wish they knew about advancement in Ghana?

I wish they understood a bit more about the culture of Ghana, and where we come from, and the culture of giving and soliciting for funds. Generally we don't have a culture of regular giving and soliciting. Some subjects could be difficult to brooch e.g., bequests and other such giving. Having these conversations can be quite difficult.

Sometimes [fellow advancement professionals] may find it difficult to appreciate where you're coming from, as a culture where regular giving and soliciting for funds—especially for higher educational institutions—is relatively new and had not been the norm since they were previously fully funded by government.

This article is from the April 2018 BriefCASE issue.