It’s a perennial question for advancement teams: what are the latest activities (that actually work) to engage this generation of young alumni? In the CASE Communities online discussion boards, alumni relations professionals shared these ideas. 

Armed with a photo booth, stickers, and more, the team at Taipei American School set out to revive annual giving in 2023. Fundraising at the pre-K–12 international school had been paused since the pandemic. Its 3 Weeks to 300 campaign aimed to raise 300 annual fund gifts, but ended up raising more than double that.

In its fall 2023 annual fund campaign, Reed College’s team showed donors how recurring giving is a convenient, powerful way to make a difference. The Portland, Oregon, U.S., college won a Circle of Excellence Award in fundraising for its revitalized campaign, which focused on consistency and impact. Here’s why it worked.

What kind of philanthropist are you? That’s what McGill University’s annual giving team invited its community to discover through a fun, Buzzfeed-style quiz for Giving Tuesday 2023.

Creating a comprehensive ask for annual fund gifts is beneficial for both schools and donors. By doing so, families can understand the reasons for giving and schools can reduce staff time by having one ask instead of multiple throughout the year. Having conversations with donors regarding the ask can also inform future giving success. 

The most recent classes of graduates, shaped by pandemic interruptions to their campus experiences, present a unique set of challenges when it comes to reconnecting with their alma maters. Find out how alumni relations teams are rising to the challenge, with innovative programs and strategies for engaging their newest young alumni.

Institutions’ Circle of Excellence Award-winning projects used nostalgia to engage alumni in fun, new ways. Explore how advancement teams broadly balance looking back and looking forward, why nostalgia works well to engage alumni, and what takeaways advancement teams can apply to their own work.

Sharing tips for tackling TikTok and ideas for magazine special editions.

To engage Buckeyes of the past and possibly the future, Ohio State University created Brutus’ Summer Reading Challenge, which first launched in the summer of 2020. Alumni registered their children (or grandchildren, nieces, or nephews), after which they received a “passport” with stickers and bookmarks to record their minutes read and earn prizes.

The seeds of alumni support are sown even prior to enrolling in college.  Formative pre-college experiences play an important role in shaping pro-social habits, mindsets, and dispositions that predict later-life support for one’s alma mater.