Notre Dame Young AlumniGetting Young Alumni Involved

Table of Contents

3 Identifying Your Young Alumni Population

4 Identifying a Young Alumni Coordinator

5 Planning Young Alum Events: Be Strategic with Locations

6 Best Practices – Communications

7 Facebook Pages versus Facebook Groups

8 Translating Young Alums Into Dues-Paying Club Members

9 Gamewatches: Should I Organize One?

10-14 Best Practices from 2010 Annual Reports

Start with the Basics: Identifying the Population

Understand your club’s Young Alumni population before beginning planning YA events!

Each alumni club across the nation has a unique identity. Some may be in areas where there are many senior alumni. Others may be in areas where there are heavy professional or military presences. Just like identifying each of these unique segments of your club, it is important as well to identify who your Young Alumni (YA) are.

Question: What is considered a Young Alum of the University of Notre Dame?Answer: Any alum who graduated within the past ten years from the university

Note that just like any other alumni club event, your young alumni events should NOT be restrictive to only these alumni. Young alumni often are looking to connect and network with older alumni and with friends and family as well.

How do I know how many Young Alums live here?

Go to Irish Online Admin

and Select Individuals

Go to Adv. Search to Query for

Class Year

Restrict “ND Class Year”

Custom Field for Pref. Class

Run query for Young Alumni

Sign into Irish Online Admin

If you do not have access, work with the person(s) in your club who do have access

Once you select “Individuals” to begin the query, “Advanced Search” should be near the top right corner

Under “Profile,” you can select “Custom Fields,” one of which is “ND Class Year” and under which “Preferred Class” is the 1st choice

When added, use the option “Between” and use the ten-year range

Run the query Review the number of

young alumni you have in your club’s area

Young Alums Identified, Who Will Lead?

Identifying Young Alumni leadership who is vested in the success of your Young Alumni will allow your club to be successful!

Find a Young Alumni Coordinator

From your queried list, you may already recognize some of the names. Some may already be active leaders in your club. Some of you may be starting from scratch. Here are some recommendations in identifying leadership to assist with Young Alumni planning:

Identify Young Alumni who have attended past club events

Review Young Alumni who have joined as members of your club

Send an email or call Young Alumni who appear on the queried list referenced in “Identifying the Population”

Schedule a special “call for volunteers” cleverly disguised as a Young Alumni happy hour or other event and invite those identified on the queried list

Retain a spot on your club’s board specifically for at least one Young Alumni

Contact seniors who are graduating who are moving back to your club’s area or moving to your club’s area to get involved quickly, as since students and work with students new to the area to provide guidance

Once you have a Young Alumni Coordinator, please make sure to update the information in Irish Online and give it to your Regional Director so that the Young Alumni Directors can work directly with your coordinators

Set up a Young Alumni Committee and find multiple coordinators to drive the success of your YAs

Planning Young Alum Events: Be Strategic with Locations

Planning events near where your Young Alums live may encourage more to come out to events

Problem: The Notre Dame Club of Atlanta, formerly an Outstanding Club of the Year, had struggled with event attendance. The Alumni Association showed that almost 500 YA lived in the Atlanta area, but rarely would any participate in events. Atlanta leadership needed to discover a way to increase YA participation to ensure a pipeline of leaders for the future of the club.

Solution: If the YA will not come to the events, bring the events to the YA!

Using the queried data from Irish Online, Atlanta leadership performed demographic analysis to determine if there were key areas of town where events should be planned to attract more YA

Demographic data from

Irish Online

Taking the ZIP from each YA record, create a pivot table and

graph results

Select locations for events near YA populations and watch your event attendance grow! (Taken at NDAtlanta Happy Hour, Feb.

2010)

Export the query from “Identifying the Population”

to ExcelUsing a tool like mapme.com,

create a high-level map of where your YA live to identify areas of

town where events could be planned

Gather Data Graph ZIPs Map ZIPs Plan Events

Best Practices – Communications

Determining the best comprehensive communication strategy for your YA takes trial and error

Young Alumni are often seen as being on the cutting edge of many forms of technology. Many have their own preferences. Some are constantly using Facebook. Others prefer to receive messages via text. Others gather news from Twitter. Thus, to engage your YA, it is recommended that you explore various forms of communications until you find a mix that works best for you.

Club Webpages

EmailText Messaging

News/ Ideas/ Events from

Clubs

Page Group

Appears in Member News Feed Yes Only when poster is friends with member

Allows Messages to Be Sent to Members

No Yes

Allows for Creation of Events Yes Yes

Allows Photos/Video/Links to Be Posted

Yes Yes

Direct Interaction with RSS Feeds (Useful for Web Pages)

Yes No

Feeds Twitter information posted

Yes No

Should I have a Facebook Group or Page?

Facebook pages now are the recommended route for clubs starting on Facebook

Recently, Facebook has made some changes to the way pages are administrated that allow for mulitple page administrators and changing page administrators. Thus, the following is a comparison tool to allow clubs to determine which is best for their interests.

In general, Facebook pages have slightly more interactivity with members, especially as the majority of Facebook members start their interaction on Facebook by looking at their News Feed. The message to members ability for groups can work, but only if you have members who are inclined to open the emails sent by these messages. However, if your current group strategy is getting your members to your events, there is no need to switch tools.

Translating YAs Into Dues-Paying Members

Use creative ways to incentivize YAs to join your clubs

Most Young Alumni have budgets that are stretched a bit further than many other older alums; thus, for them to feel compelled to give money in the form of dues to a club, many won’t become members without some sort of incentive to do so. Here are a few ideas on how to incentivize your YAs into joining your club:

Offer a football ticket raffle with a pair of tickets that your club has received for dues-paying members only (you can add additional chances if the dues-paying member pays at a higher tiered rate (e.g. – 1 chance at the $20 level, 2 chances at the $40 level, 3 chances at the $80 level). BONUS: You can also offer additional chances if the member joins a social media platform your club supports (so you can ensure that they’re learning all about your great club events!)

Offer a “member gift” for paid members. For Boston’s highest level of membership, those who are members at this level receive the annual Alumni Association ND Christmas Ornament

Offer discounts at club events. Atlanta has often paid for the first drink for paid club members at happy hours (this requires the happy hour coordinator to have a list of paid members or for your club to create some sort of club membership card)

Work with local bars, restaurants, services, and local alums who have businesses to implement a “member rewards” program. This also requires having some sort of membership card and buy-in from businesses that the Yas would want to frequent in your area, but some places (e.g. a gamewatch location) may see it as a great way to add to their business.

Host networking events or dinners with discounts for members

Gamewatches – Should I Organize One?

Gamewatches can be a great way for YAs to make connections with each other!

As the majority of YAs still look back fondly on the camaraderie and tradition around football games, gamewatches can be a great way to engage your YAs! Some tips from clubs who have had success with their gamewatches:

Atlanta: Analyze where your YAs live and find a convenient spot nearby! To do this, Atlanta took all of its YA member zip codes from Irish Online, put them in a database and then use a free mapping tool to look at where the YAs live visually. This allowed them to find a bar near where many YAs reside in town. They held all of their YA gamewatches there, built great rapport with the bar, and for some games had over 120 people in attendance!

Columbus: Build loyalty with a bar that provides the attendees free food (attendees pay for their drinks); they were able to find a smaller location that wasn’t already busy and wasn’t tied up with Ohio State football. They benefitted from a unique sitation because the bar approached the club, but this could still work for other clubs if they approached restaurants/bars that are smaller/not-as-busy who could also use the traffic and business

Seattle: They change their locations with different venues for different segments; sometimes they target a venue for YAs, sometimes they target a venue for young alums with families

Other ideas: You might ask a restaurant for assistance in helping with your local club scholarship by creating a drink or food special from which all the proceeds will go to your local club scholarship. You can also do ND football trivia, have raffles for ND memorabilia. Creativity and excitement around the gamewatch will help make your event successful!

Best Practices - Camaraderie

Events that bring Young Alumni together allow them to increase their ND networks in social atmospheres

Host a monthly/bi-monthly/quarterly happy hour Invite new graduates to first gamewatch and offer lunch and have officers on hand to answer questions

about involvement in club Host a tailgate party, either at ND or in your own local community When financially feasible for club, offer free or reduced rates for attendance at club events for YA Host YA gamewatches (not just for football, but basketball, hockey, professional sports, etc. are also

options!) Collaborate with other nearby clubs and their YA on co-hosting events Host an orientation for new graduates/new YA to the club area Don’t forget your YA families! Hold a YA family picnic day or a YA family pool party or another family-

oriented event to encourage YA in different stages of their lives to participate Encourage YA participation in club golf outings Form YA teams (softball, soccer, basketball, broomball, dodgeball, kickball, flag football or any other

sporting leagues that might exist in your club area) Participate in your local St. Patrick’s Day Parade Organize an afternoon/night at your local major/minor league or other college’s sporting events Host a Bookstore Basketball tournament at a local park or school Go on a hike with local YA Take a rafting/boating trip with local YA Hold a pub crawl Host a beer/wine tasting Host a bowling night Encourage YA support of visiting ND teams/students through dinners, meet and greets, etc. Invite YA to get involved in local MAN events and with ND Women Connect events

Best Practices – Catholic Christian/Spirituality

Finding opportunities for YAs to embrace their faith similarly to how they did at ND can be a struggle, so clubs should look for opportunities to facilitate

Hold a monthly mass and breakfast service Look for opportunities to recreate the Dorm Mass experience Form YA prayer groups or Bible study groups Invite YA to participate in club’s Communion Breakfast Host a Christmas mass and breakfast/luncheon/dinner Host an event to watch Tender, Strong and True series events with other YA Encourage YA use of pray.nd.edu

Best Practices – Community Service

ND students are engaged in Community Service, so YA Community Service could potentially be a strength for your club!

Host a community service event (partnering with already existing agency or hosting one of your own) and specifically ask for YA participation

Run/walk in a local race in support of a charity Host a Hesburgh Month of Service event for an event that targets YA involvement, e.g. a park clean-up Host a trivia night fundraiser for a local/ND-related charity Connect with pre-established senior alumni activities, such as Bat for the Cure; God, Country, Notre Dame;

Hospital Support Network, etc. Ask YA to sponsor a food drive on behalf of a local food bank Invite YA to adopt a family for Christmas Partner with your club’s local ACE Fellowship Group (typically in cities with larger populations of ACE grads)

to support ACE efforts in your community

Best Practices – Current Student Support

Your YA are closest in age and experience to your students, so use this creatively to your advantage!

Involve the YA as representatives for your ASC activities – they are sometimes able to more easily relate to the students who are applying and students may feel a closer connection with alumni who are closer to their age

YA volunteer as bartenders for annual scholarship dinner Approach YA and students and allow YAs to serve as mentors for current students who are interested in a

mentor relationship with a recent grad Let the YA plan and host your club’s student sendoff Let the YAs hold a scholarship fundraiser at a local restaurant/bar/event venue

Best Practices – Continuing Education

Embrace networking as a form of continuing education, especially to engage your YA as they transition into careers

Host a Dinner and a Dialogue Series of events periodically, focusing on a book, current events, or lecture that will provoke thought and communication between your YA

Host a Hesburgh Lecture on a subject targeted towards YA Host networking events, allowing YA to learn from more seasoned alums Host an event to introduce YA to Onward, LinkedIn and other career resources that the university offers