Your lost alumni have become untethered, drifting away from their beloved campus, and you're not sure how to bring them back. Some don't update contact information when they relocate; others ignore your correspondence because they think you only want money. Still others might like to reconnect but don't know how or are too busy to realize they haven't heard from you.

Grinnell College alumni love talking about their alma mater, but that enthusiasm hasn't always translated into high reunion attendance. Advancement staff members at the Iowa college saw a way to increase alumni engagement by creating more opportunities to help out at reunion, beginning with revamped training for its 50th reunion volunteers. With better structure and more-detailed tasks, the program led to an overall higher level of engagement.

About 10 minutes into class, all 25 students are tapping on their smartphones, not even trying to conceal the devices from the instructor. A contagious case of bad business etiquette? Nope. It's a requirement for Managing a Social Media Presence, one of 18 free courses offered through Duke ProComm, a professional development program for communicators at Duke University in North Carolina.

We thought we were on the right track. After months of preparation and construction, Friends' Central School in Pennsylvania launched its revamped website in fall 2014. The responsively designed site aimed to show off the Quaker school's offerings and give us an advantage in a highly competitive market: The percentage of students enrolled in the greater Philadelphia area's more than 130 private schools has decreased by 5 percent in the past 10 years. We needed to focus on the first impressions of prospective parents and make our value proposition clear.

Where's the proof? With growing concerns over student debt, rising tuition, and the perceived high costs of higher education, prospective students and their families are clamoring for evidence. It's a reality that's forcing institutions, long accustomed to touting their academic strengths, to emphasize career preparation, job placement, value, and return on investment.

Unhappy students arrived at Clifford Zimmerman's office, ready to speak their minds. The Northwestern University School of Law had announced that talk show host Jerry Springer would be its 2008 commencement speaker, and Zimmerman, the law school's dean, soon learned that some students and parents weren't thrilled.

La mayoría de las organizaciones educativas y sin fines de lucro, que generalmente se encuentran a años luz de sus pares en la mercadotecnia de consumo, aún no tienen los activos y no tienen la posición financiera para utilizar las técnicas más recientes con los mismos resultados.

Las encuestas en línea son una herramienta popular para medir el estado de ánimo de los exalumnos. Sin embargo, los índices de respuesta para estas encuestas han ido disminuyendo con los años, haciéndola potencialmente menos útiles.

This research explores the role of "advancement-enabling" technology in helping institutions meet their development and alumni relations goals.

The online resource for development and fundraising activities in education.