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. 

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.

Fundraising today has become increasingly digital. In the last few years, more advancement teams have created roles devoted specifically to digital engagement. Digital gift officers (or the similarly focused donor experience officer) aim to connect with mid-level donors through email, video, social media, virtual meetings, and more. Here’s a look at what teams have learned so far about the challenges and promise of digital engagement with donors.

The 2022 Circle of Excellence Award-winning fundraising campaigns took creativity to a new level, using ingenuity to create targeted campaigns, events, annual giving appeals, and more that engaged audiences. Here's what made these projects effective.

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.

To celebrate Singapore Management University’s 20th anniversary, its alumni, students, and staff put their best feet forward. In September 2020, the university launched a monthlong virtual race fundraiser with the goal of raising SGD$400,000 for students impacted by the pandemic. 

All Day Hall Day offers 24 hours of activities and giving opportunities.

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.