Getting Alums Involved

[boz130]

Hey, guys: As you may know, I’m doing a workshop this month @ the Leadership Seminar in College Park, MD. The title is, “Alumni Associations & Housing Corps. 101”. This is a variation on one of the workshops held @ GA 2004 (“So Ya Wanna Start an Alumni Association…How Do Ya Do It?”).

I’ve got some ideas about why members do/don’t come back to campus once they’ve graduated, but I thought I’d pick your brains and use some of the replies on this thread in the new program. With that thought, let me share a perplexing conundrum w/you (I suppose I could've put this into the "Alumni Involvement" thread in General Forums, but I just want to hear from fellow LCAers).

Earlier this year my home chapter held its annual Founders Day weekend. We had to shift the date from late March (closest weekend to 3/22) because the university was on Spring Break. The new date was a weekend in mid-April.

As part of the official festivities, we always include the usual stuff (Saturday meetings for HC & AA w/a dinner that night for alums and actives @ a “grill it yourself” steakhouse). In addition, our association president (who serves on the university’s alumni board) invited the university president to speak about our relationship w/the school. This was the first time we’d ever had someone of that stature visit the chapter, so it was a big deal.

On the previous evening there was an “unofficial gathering” of somewhere between 20-30 alums for a pub crawl @ various establishments…I say 20-30 because I’ve heard varying reports from people on the actual attendance, and some probably dropped out after a time.

Concurrently, the chapter members had done a remarkable job of getting the house cleaned up (possibly even better than for Parents Weekend, I heard). New landscaping had been done outside, the floors were shiny…it was a great sight to behold.

When Saturday arrived, we only had 6 alums on hand for the scheduled meetings, including the reception for the university president. There would’ve been more, but once springtime hits in this part of the Midwest, our homes need attention & the kids have baseball/soccer/etc.

We had to scramble through the house to get UG’s to come downstairs & fill seats for the reception. Only 1 or 2 of the people who’d cruised the tavern district showed up for the meetings & other activities. Other actives that helped do the cleanup in the AM mysteriously disappeared after lunch (that’s another subject for another rant…).

This leads to my questions for you loyal GC readers…

Why is it so hard to get alumni to come back for the activities that need the most effort (Housing Corp., Alumni Assn., Alumni Advisory Board, help w/NAFD, etc.)? I’d wager that most of us are involved in these “heavy lifting aspects” and are in the vast minority @ our respective alma maters.

Are many people joining just for the “pleasurable aspects” (e.g. drinking, parties, etc.)? If that’s the case, they could’ve just stayed in the dorms…but the dorms don’t lend themselves to partying.

If we’re supposed to be holding ourselves to a “higher standard” by becoming members, why do we continually give the public shovels to bury our brotherhood by acting like “stereotypical frat boys”? Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved “Animal House” since it came out (BTW, we actually DID have a member ride his motorcycle around our AM class during I-Week), but that doesn’t mean we should all emulate Bluto.

These are some thoughts that have been rattling around in my brain since the rather embarrassing showing for the presidential reception. I’d like to find out what you guys think. Thanks for your time…

Yours in ZAX,
BF

[Tom Earp]

Our two Major important gatherings are, Home Coming and Founders Day, one each Semester.

Home Coming:
Fri. Night, simple gathering.
Sat. Tail Gate cook out before the Big Game. Dinner and dance.
Sun. Morning House Corp. meeting.

Founders Day:
Fri. casual get together.
Sat. morning, Ritual at Church.
Casual Gathering afterward.
Dinner and dance.
Sun. Morning, House Corp. meeting.

Both of these are big draws for Alums to come back in not both, at least once. Ritual for some that have not seen it in a while is always stirring even for those that are there yearly!


Alum Association meetings are something different. Trying to get Alum Association members from all over is tuff.

The K C area Alums have a Monthly Social gathering. But as far as a total Assoc. meeting, wow? Wehave tried to find pockets of Alums who can do the same thing as we do. So far, has not really worked. Jono might be able to shed more light on this part of it for The BN Z.

[ee744]

First off, D-Day was the one who rode the bike, Bluto was just the booze-hound (I only have a VHS copy of Animal House but it's not even viewable anymore). But I digress, it is hard to get alums out, especially because most of them do have kids/jobs now and are occupied as such.

The fact that they may only come out for pub nights doesn't mean that their time as an active member is meant to emulate such stereotypes.

Not to sound as a dissenting voice, but my guess is that most recent alums are simply looking for a break and seeing their old friends in a very "social" atmosphere is the best. Formal occasions may just be slightly outside of that realm.

Just speaking on experience from my chapter, there is much better attendance at the golf tournament and steak dinner, than there is at more formal occasions we try to hold.

When you get to their point, there's not much left to enjoy in life

[JonoBN41]

Originally posted by boz130
Why is it so hard to get alumni to come back for the activities that need the most effort (Housing Corp., Alumni Assn., Alumni Advisory Board, help w/NAFD, etc.)?

Because 99.994% of alumni are perfectly content with having fun while letting the other .006% take the leadership roles and do all the work.

Before anyone accuses me of being cynical, let me just say this is not my opinion. In my chapter, it's a fact. People find it much easier to be followers than leaders because leadership takes thought, work, and committment and is subject to criticism - and that scares people.

Plus, if the important meetings are held "the morning after" a pub crawl, that may explain part of it too. I wish I had a magic bullet but I don't. At least you know you are not alone.

In ZAX,
Jono

[Tom Earp]

Originally posted by ee744
First off, D-Day was the one who rode the bike, Bluto was just the booze-hound (I only have a VHS copy of Animal House but it's not even viewable anymore). But I digress, it is hard to get alums out, especially because most of them do have kids/jobs now and are occupied as such.

The fact that they may only come out for pub nights doesn't mean that their time as an active member is meant to emulate such stereotypes.

Not to sound as a dissenting voice, but my guess is that most recent alums are simply looking for a break and seeing their old friends in a very "social" atmosphere is the best. Formal occasions may just be slightly outside of that realm.

Just speaking on experience from my chapter, there is much better attendance at the golf tournament and steak dinner, than there is at more formal occasions we try to hold.

When you get to their point, there's not much left to enjoy in life

LOL.



True That! But what does that have to do with Thread

Bought DVD off of ebay, and watched it! God Dang Memoriers to be sure! Ran My Tape into the ground.

[Tom Earp]

Originally posted by JonoBN41
Because 99.994% of alumni are perfectly content with having fun while letting the other .006% take the leadership roles and do all the work.

Before anyone accuses me of being cynical, let me just say this is not my opinion. In my chapter, it's a fact. People find it much easier to be followers than leaders because leadership takes thought, work, and committment and is subject to criticism - and that scares people.

Plus, if the important meetings are held "the morning after" a pub crawl, that may explain part of it too. I wish I had a magic bullet but I don't. At least you know you are not alone.

In ZAX,
Jono

Unfortunally, Jono is Correct.

But, with Alums All over the Country, it is hard to concur, conduct and have meetings of Alums as I refered to before.

Granted, Alums Spread Like The Wind all over the Country, now, the problem is How do You as a Chapter Alum, Email Keeper, or an Advisor Keep in touch with them and encourgae them to Keep In Tune and Updated?

Basically, it is only vie email or Voice Talk as Jono did and set up.



The only Reason Alums come back is Homecoming or Founders Day. Ergo, that is when you have House Corp or Alum Assiation Meetings when Most are there!

UNLESS, there are a Lot of Alums in an area it might work, but how many can be left out?

[boz130]

I've done my best to follow Dean Wormer's advice and not go through life "drunk, fat and stupid". I'm well aware of Mr. Blutarski's place within Delta House and that D-Day had the 'cycle. I'm getting older, but THAT stuff I do remember. Sorry if my writing was misconstrued.

My point was that just because the film was popular didn't mean that we had to live our lives that way, even if Mr. Blutarski did become a senator.

Back to the other items brought up by Brothers Earp & Hren...if I remember the quote from "Spider-Man", "With great power comes great responsibility." I wonder if formerly active undergraduate members fear the responsibilities involved w/running a HC--after all, the stakes are higher.

As a case in point, my alma mater's alumni board now has 3 members who've been out of school less than 3 years. Most of the rest of us are all grads w/between 10-28 years as alums. However, this is the first time we've actually had younger alums dive in headfirst, and it's great!

Many of the pub crawlers attended the recently-held alumni golf outing...once again, an event that's got nothing to do with holding office or being...responsible. Brother Jon a.k.a. Bjorn, you may have hit on something.

Perhaps I've been thinking that anybody who's been involved w/this great brotherhood as an undergrad officer is aiming for the same sort of status as an alumnus, and that's just not the way it is.

Or, maybe it's because I've been on various AA's/HC's for almost 10 years now and I'm just waiting for the "youngbloods" to take their spots...and it's not happenin' (with the exception noted above).

At another chapter I know of, there's very little alumni participation from the younger grouping because it's not a state school. Most members move back to their home state when they're done.

Oh, well, that's all I've got for now--let's keep this dialogue rolling, guys. Thanks--

ZAX,
BF

[Tom Earp]

For years, I have tried and tried to get the chapter to place more emphasis on the Office of High Rho.

The reason being that there is more interaction between the Active Chapter and Alumsand hopefully the interest will be kept alive. Keeping news flowing can be a major factor in participation we can hope.

As Jono said it is the old % game. We always used the 80-20 % but I am sure Jono may be a lot closer than is actually thought. It is the world wide empathy and no one seems to know really what to do about it. LX Z has a strong Alum Core group, but the few cant do it all

[lifesaver]

Random thoughts here...

Rho is probably the most neglected office - by both chapters and the general fraternity. The only office I can think of that is in more need of a reworking is the High Kappa (but that also is another thread...)

I believe we need some leadership from the GF here. As I told the GHZ in February, we spend THOUSANDS of dollars on membership development and leadership training with nothing more for the members upon graduation that a fare thee well. Unlike the NPC sororities and NPHC groups, we have no inter/national mechanism for taking graduating seniors and plugging them into 'new alumni' groups. We're all brothers, but brothers are going to want to hang out with guys they went to school with or at least brothers their own age, while they develop the skills of a valueable alumni. Now, we graduate these brothers and expect them to dive right in with alumni they might have only met a few times that might be in some cases, 40 years older? We need to create a program of 'junior alumni associations' that can be city or region based and focuses on alumni development of our members aged 22-35. At 35 they go on to a regular alumni assn. - chapter or metro.

If you give members a chance to leave the fraternity, you will have a much harder time bringing them back. Why not just transition them into an alumni group that is a step between their beer soaked undergrad days and marrage and family life? At that age they are still highly social, yet are in professional jobs or grad school and still have an identity that is very closely tied to the fraternity. There's a key opportunity to tap into that underserved market, provide some services in the form of a junior alumni association and develop the army of alumni volunteers that will serve for life.

The general fraternity says they are doing a great job with this transition by implementing the mentoring program. Thats BS and I dismiss it. The mentoring program is great - but its a professional development program and nothing more. The GF seems to have this selfless view that all we can do is member development. Whats wrong with hitting our members up to fufill their obligations on their involvment post graduation?

Marty Smith (Past GHA) told me in January of 03 that inter/nationally we only have about 75 really involved alumni. For an organization of nearly 250,000 initiated members, thats insane. Why? Primarily because we arent offering services to our alumni members. We expect them to give back purely out of obligation, yet not really get anything more than the C&C randomly throughout the year. If the GF was able to say, for example, we are offering the following services to our alumni; brother locating service, alumni association training and development, new grad mixers, creation and sponsorship of junior alumni associations, etc, there might be more alums willing to give cash and time. Hell, the GF might already be doing this stuff - they just dont market that they do it.

It seems to me that the only real outreach is the regular pleas for cash, the C&C's and the new emails that come out weekly. I realize all this stuff costs, and thats been the barrier lately, but we can start to make the changes. If we dont, we wont have to wory about involvment. Cause we'll all be ATO's.

It isnt all on the GF tho. It's foolhardy to think that just because they graduate they are supposed to know how to be good alumni - especially when often we (as current alums & GF) dont give them the tools to be good alumni, or set the best example. How often as an undergrad did I see the alums come in for homecoming (at my initiating chapter - at my transfer chapter the alums never showed up for anything, they just always told us how great they were.) show up, get hammered, pass out on the chapter sofas, drop off some cash and dissapear untill the next homecoming? We have to continue to set the expample.

I hope staff will be willing to work with the alumni towards workable solutions. Together, we might come up with some solutions that will get the results we all want. I know that Holloway is ready to roll up his sleeves. The question is, are others at 8741 willing to roll up their sleeves and work with us on a solution?

[Tom Earp]

Extremely well put lifesaver.

As many of us know,this is read by Members of GHZ and IHQ, therefore, this might give some ideas that could be brought up at the Up and Coming Meeting.

Thanks for putting this so well!

[lenoxxx]

Man if the IHQ can think of way to get more alumni involved I'd like to see it, I cant think of a way that is practical and feasible.

If we had an unlimited budget and people what would we do, be creative and lets see some ideas people. We can trim it down from bullshit from there.

Shippensburg has about 8-10 truly active alumni at any given time. We have to fight to get new ones all the time to replace ones that hang it uip though, if we didnt we would have no alumni group. Also I would say services like BILL FOLTZ are a good start for all chapter s and alumni groups for consistent communications. Bill sell what you got bro.

Jason Lenox

[LXAAlum]

Boz....

So you had great turnout for the cookout and pub crawl, but not for the president's visit? Dare I ask why you might be surprised at that?

Most alumni that attend reunion weekends are there to rekindle old friendships, relive glory days, tell battle stories, etc.....

That being said, there may be a simple fix should you try again - have the presidents speech immediately prior to the cookout/pub crawl. Engineer the event in such a way that the alumni wanting to attend the cookout have to show up for "tickets" to the event at the house at a certain time, and, "oh by the way, the University President is speaking to the chapter - come on in and watch for yourself" - it might be a bit sneaky, but then again, sometimes you have to disguise certain things for turnout to be there.

[boz130]

Looks like we still need to "Lead by Example And Precept" (sound familiar?). I'm glad I've gotten you guys stirred up...keep a'goin'.

ZAX,
BF aka Boz

[Tom Earp]

As of course We have limited resources at IHQ, I just wonder if the listings of Alums are kept somewhere? It must be as is in when a Directory comes out. Is it saved? Of course it is as a previous IHQ email was sent letting us know that the Zeta Listing is available on CD.

Also wondering if there wold be the ability to put it in Zetas Site on LXA Web Site.

This might facilitate getting in touch with Alums so that each Zeta could help set its own Alum email listing up as I have done with LX Z.

Granted, again the problem is empathy if Alums do not keep their Data updated with either the Zeta or IHQ.

It could be a starting place?

With addition of JB of BN added to the list of PC Techs, it might be able to start.

JB, any input on you end?


Boz, lifesaver,JohnG, what if anything can be brought up on this at July Meeting in Baltimore?

From what I have read the main thing is contact with Alums and how to keep them interested after Pre Grad Life. First is contact.

[boz130]

From what I've heard there will be some GHZ folks in College Park, but the representation won't be as large as we had in Orlando.

As Brother Lifesaver has pointed out, the current GHZ members were all in one meeting room @ the Council of Presidents. The assembled alums had an opportunity to ask any and all questions, and some good stuff was brought up.

Perhaps we'll have the chance to ask questions this month...

ZAX,
BF