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 CASE Library maintains this collection of young alumni samples. It includes samples from awards programs, advisory boards and councils, young alumni giving initiatives, and events and alumni programming. Materials from the CASE Circle of Excellence Awards are included as available.

The CASE Library maintains this collection of online samples for all CASE members. It includes examples of homecoming and reunion planning and communications materials as well as CASE Circle of Excellence Award winning examples from the alumni relations and special event categories.

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.

There’s no doubt that communicating with your alumni (especially recent grads) on social media is effective. Alumni are already familiar with their alma mater, but they may lose their immediate connection once they have graduated. Keeping you alumni community engaged on your institution’s social media channels helps connect them to your institution, while keeping them in touch with fellow alumni. Connect with alumni on social media and you will engage with them on platforms where they already spend time.

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.

What members are thinking and sharing: gifts for graduates, beloved campus locations, and more.