How exactly do you engage with your young alumni? We spoke to Dr. Glenn Kosse in a recent LinkedIn live session to answer this question.
Billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg made his first donation of $5 to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University, at the age of 23. Since then, he has donated close to $1.8 billion to support research, teaching, and financial aid at the university.
What if one of your young alumni is the next Michael Bloomberg? You see them every day in the hallways, on campus, and at events. They’re your future donors and advocates! And yet, we all know that engaging young alumni can be challenging. It takes time, energy, and resources to build lasting relationships with these future donors.
But exactly HOW do you engage with your young alumni, you ask? To answer this question, we spoke to Dr. Glenn Kosse in a recent LinkedIn live session. Dr. Glenn recently published his dissertation on “The Relationship Between Young Alumni Participation and Giving”, and he shared some expert insights on what it takes to get your young alumni engaged.
The average age of a young alum is between 22-32 years. However, this can vary depending on the type of institution. For example, a young alum from a business school would typically be older than a young alum from, let’s say, a university.
However, what remains constant is that most institutions classify those who’ve graduated in the last decade as their young alumni. In other words, they’re usually Graduates Of the Last Decade (or GOLD for short).
Between 2001 to 2014, alumni participation went down from 14% to 8.3%. Here’s what’s more alarming – although there has been a rise in the total gifts received, there has been a steady decline in the number of new donors.
With institutions struggling to build a fresh pipeline of new donors, this trend will only continue if we do not put the time, effort, and resources to meaningfully engage the young alumni.
If you take a quick look at all your major donors, you might notice that their first gift was probably a few dollars when they were just out of college. Young alumni engagement is a long-term game where you sow the seeds while they’re young, nurture them consistently, and reap the benefits down the line.
💡A young alum donor is 5.6 times more likely to give in the future than a young alum non-donor.
The student experience has a strong influence on future alumni giving. Positive experiences like developing deep relationships with faculty and staff, receiving financial aid/scholarships, and having a holistic learning experience can play a vital role. After all, those who strongly identify with their institution are more likely to give back in the future.
Being an alum means you're part of something bigger than yourself – you belong to a community that can help shape your future. Those with enriching alumni experiences are more likely to give back to their alma mater. That’s why it’s necessary for your institution to create alumni-centric programs that cater to your alumni’s needs at various stages in their lives.
Here are a few low-effort, high-impact ideas to elevate alumni experience:
Motivation to give can also stem from a personal affinity for a cause or mission. Whether this originates from past or present experiences, people develop connections with the institution and become inspired to lend support.
Demographic characteristics such as age, proximity, income, and gifts to other organizations are predictors of giving as well.
Bellarmine University pioneered a young alumni mentorship program in collaboration with the career services department to connect students with alumni based on their career paths and shared interests.
🔥95% of the participants said they felt a deeper sense of connection to their alumni association and 99% of them said that they would recommend it to their friends
Focus on interactive and skill-enhancement workshops - Resume reviews; Workshops on Office etiquette, Soft Skills, and Professional Skills.
Every institution has an alumni base that they can boast of. So, why not leverage it to create opportunities for both the alumni and students?
Learning needn’t end after graduation. Help your alumni pursue personal interests, passions, or professional ambitions by creating a repository of courses that help with upskilling. You could also host webinars and create content repositories that provide value to your alumni.
For institutions with different segments of alumni (based on interests, purposes, life experiences, and social identity), affinity groups help create a safe space for alumni where they can communicate freely and collaborate on ideas.
If there’s one thing alumni around the world will always love, it’s to get together for a social event and reminisce the good old days. Why not leverage this and create fun events that will help your alumni connect with each other? From cocktail parties and sporting events, to live game screenings and happy hours – the possibilities are endless!
A young alum who attended an event gave 2x more compared to those who didn’t attend.
So that wraps up our take on why young alumni engagement is the need of the hour. We thought we'd leave you with Glenn's thoughts on young alumni engagement and its impact on giving and participation.
“We have found that young alumni look for engagement that goes beyond social events. While social activities are important, initiatives that provides career advice, mentorship, and potential career opportunities can help leverage the alumni association’s role with new graduates, and create a positive association with engagement and giving.
”Studies show that those who get engaged and give at a young age are more likely to give and remain engaged throughout their career. Engaging alums with current students keeps the mission and the outcomes of the university on top of their minds and reinforces engagement.”
Glenn F. Kosse, Ph.D. is Vice President of H2R Consulting LLC and focuses his expertise on fundraising development, non-profit management, and strategic planning. Prior to joining H2R, he enjoyed a 35-year career in development and non-profit leadership experience with Bellarmine University, University of Louisville, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in increasing levels of leadership.
Source: Glenn Kosse's dissertation
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We’re already deep into the first quarter of 2024, and this year promises to be nothing short of exciting for Alumni Relations and Advancement. From transitioning towards a hybrid event model to placing emphasis on alumni and their needs, educational institutions across the country have slowly started rethinking events, and the way they engage with their alumni.
We’ve seen so many outstanding engagement ideas ever since the pandemic began in 2020, and so many teams have implemented out-of-the-box events that successfully engaged with alumni around the world. That’s when we realized we should compile some of these ideas that your alumni will LOVE.
Here are 12 alumni-centric engagement ideas for higher educational institutions that will inspire you in 2024.
Marietta College is a private liberal arts college in Marietta, Ohio. They managed to raise over $190,000 for their Giving Day in 2020, from over 1,200 donors!
They achieved this magnificent feat through their #Luv4MC campaign on social media. The hashtag encouraged the College’s alumni community to come forward and show their support by sharing their most cherished stories and pictures of their alma mater.
We were inspired by the efforts of Kathryn Gloor (Senior Director of Annual Giving at Marietta College) and their amazing team, for rallying so much support to make their Giving Day immensely successful.
Willamette University is a private university in Salem, Oregon. The University’s Advancement team managed to successfully engage with their alumni through a virtual content repository, called the WU Stream Initiative.
The initiative was based on the idea of providing an array of content to every alumni member in their community to choose from. This included virtual lectures, videos, podcasts, and an archive of content that serves the likes of every alum, no matter where they are and what they prefer.
A huge shoutout to Tyler Reich and their team for implementing such an incredible alumni-centric idea to engage with the University’s community.
Wesleyan College is a private, liberal arts women's college in Macon, Georgia. The College managed to keep their alumnae engaged and entertained through their unique “Lunch & Learn” series.
The College’s Office of Alumnae Affairs wanted to do something memorable to engage with their constituents during the pandemic. The series features one-hour Zoom sessions where the President or Provost and a faculty or staff member engage in meaningful discussions about relevant topics like diversity and inclusion on campus, and athletics during the new normal.
We love how Cathy Coxey Snow (Director of Alumnae Affairs at Wesleyan College since 1993) and their team have been creating meaningful engagement opportunities for the College’s alumnae during the pandemic.
Madonna University is a private Catholic university in Livonia, Michigan. Ahead of the University’s St. Felix Day of Giving, the Alumni Office created a touching communication plan to encourage participation and raise more funds.
The pandemic forced the Office to rethink their strategies for the campaign, and they decided to keep the messaging behind the appeal simple and from the heart. By focusing on the immediate needs of current students, and the impact each gift would make on their education. The heartfelt communication clearly left a mark on the University’s alumni, as the campaign was a huge success.
A huge shoutout to Katie Dougherty and their team for putting together such an inspiring campaign in such a short timeframe.
The Evergreen State College is a public liberal arts and sciences college in Olympia, Washington. Their Return To Evergreen event featured an array of events that helped engage with their alumni, while also creating discussions and raising awareness on important societal issues.
The campaign included a few breakout sessions like Art in a Time of Resistance and Change, which served as a beacon to bring racial, cultural, and social justice to the forefront. Topics like wealth disparity, immigration, racism, climate change, and gun violence were a vital part of the conversations.
We love how Correan Barker (Associate Director of Events, Alumni & Donor Relations) and their team put together an event that managed to keep the College’s alumni engaged.
University of the Ozarks is a private university in Clarksville, Arkansas. Their Virtual Homecoming 2020 merged three distinct events – alumni weekend, family weekend, and homecoming, into one iconic week of virtual events.
The University’s Virtual Homecoming contained a plethora of fun-filled activities for alumni around the world to partake in, such as Virtual Campus Tours, Spirits Wars Launch, Virtual Bingo, and Ozarks Reunion. The new format enabled the University to engage with its large international alumni community, thereby making the event more accessible. Winners of certain events were also awarded with Ozarks gears and merchandise.
Putting together one virtual event can be a lot of work, so imagine putting together an entire week of virtual events for alumni! A huge shoutout to Justin McCormick (Associate Director of Alumni Relations) and their team for pulling it off.
Whitman College is a private liberal arts college in Walla Walla, Washington. Amidst the pandemic, the Alumni Relations Staff wanted to engage with alumni meaningfully, which was how the idea for “Virtual Whitman” was born.
Essentially, “Virtual Whitman” is an online resource repository built with the intent of staying connected with each other during the pandemic. This initiative enabled the College’s alumni to have easy access to relevant resources such as recordings of past virtual events, historical archives about the college and the city, and kid-friendly science experiments for alumni to try out at home.
We love how Jennifer Dilworth Northam (Director Of Alumni Relations) and their team put together such an amazing initiative.
Wartburg College is a private Lutheran liberal arts college in Waverly, Iowa. The College’s Alumni and Parent Programs Office turned to their alumni to raise funds for various ongoing infrastructural projects, which turned out to be a huge success.
Wartburg College’s “Fund the Fortress” campaign was essentially an affinity-based campaign to raise funds for projects that alumni cared for. Some of the projects involved raising funds for exercise science equipment, and for a living classroom in honor of a late faculty member. The campaign turned out to be very successful, owing to how targeted and specific the asks were.
A huge shoutout to Robert Ruchotzke (Director Of Annual Giving) and their amazing team for putting together such an awe-inspiring fundraising campaign.
The Stephen M. Ross School of Business is a business school operated by the University of Michigan. Their unique “Alumni in Residence” mentorship program focused on engaging with their alumni, while also creating value and opportunities for current students.
The “Alumni in Residence” program focuses on the concept of 1-1 flash mentorships, where each session lasts for about 30 minutes. While current students have wonderful opportunities to learn from their seniors, alumni also get to showcase their achievements in their respective fields and share their talents with the next generation.
Kudos to Caitlyn Johnson (Director of Alumni Engagement) and their incredible team for putting together a program that both current and former students of the School get to benefit from.
The University of Georgia is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia. The University’s Bulldog 100 celebrates top businesses operated or owned by the University’s alumni.
Every year, the Bulldog 100 ranks the top 100 businesses, based on CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) over the last three years. The list comprises businesses from over two dozen industries, including non-profits, healthcare, and software. The Alumni Association usually hosts a grand celebration for the Bulldog 100, where they count down the businesses that made the cut, until finally revealing the overall winner.
We love how Meredith Johnson (Executive Director of Alumni Relations) and their team are engaging with alumni by shining the spotlight on amazing business ventures.
California State University, Chico, commonly, Chico State, is a public university in Chico, California. Their “Wildcat Connect Webinar Series” was immensely successful in engaging with their large alumni community across the world.
Essentially a simple idea, the “Wildcat Connect Webinar Series” consists of a series of informative webinars that would benefit the University’s alumni. Topics for these webinars ranged from entrepreneurship and startups to career advice, to tips on financial planning. The series was a huge success, as over 1,200 alumni poured their appreciation and support. The initiative also won the coveted CASE Platinum Award in 2021, in the Best Practices in Alumni Relations category.
A huge shoutout to Tania Miranda Rueda and their incredible team for putting together an award-winning campaign to engage with so many alumni across the world.
Pittsburg State University is a public university in Pittsburg, Kansas. Their “Great Gorilla Tour” enabled the University to (quite literally) meet their alumni where they were, through an elaborately planned road trip across the country.
The most recent “Great Gorilla Tour: West Coast Edition” featured the advancement team in an amazing road trip where they met with alumni in different cities along the way. The trip lasted for over two weeks, and the team toured across nine cities in nine different states, not to mention the hundreds of alumni they got to engage with along the way.
We love how Danielle Driskill (Assistant Director of Alumni & Constituent Relations), Jon Bartlow (Director of Alumni & Constituent Relations) and the rest of their team put together this incredible road trip.
That wraps up our list of ideas to inspire you this year. Hopefully, you enjoyed these ideas just as much as we did. We can’t wait to see what this year has in store for us!
12 Higher-Ed Alumni-Centric Engagement Ideas To Inspire You in 2026
Here are 12 amazing higher-ed engagement ideas that will improve alumni engagement and inspire your engagement strategy in 2024.
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Last year was disappointing for many, especially milestone classes longing for reunion programs and special events to commemorate their grad year. However, many institutions mitigated the situation by pivoting to virtual events so their members could connect from wherever they were. Going forward, many institutions plan on focusing on virtual and hybrid events instead of going completely in-person, given the flexibility they offer — alumni can choose to attend in person or hop on a call no matter where they are.
If you are looking for ways to engage your alumni in 2024, consider the following virtual and hybrid event ideas, we have got your back. Let’s dive in and discuss some virtual and hybrid alumni engagement events you can plan for your alumni.
Organize a speaking event involving a public figure or influencer who is an alumnus. This event can be entirely virtual or hybrid to create a homecoming experience for those interested in attending in person. When choosing the event speaker, consider an individual with a strong personality who can pull the targeted crowd of alumni and use their platform to publicize the event. Your team may need to book your famous figure early. It’s best practice to reach out to the potential speaker about six months in advance to lock down a date with them.
Consider compiling a list of upto three key people and contacting those of top priority first. Once you’ve secured a speaker, other event logistics such as securing a virtual event platform or mobile event app can follow. Consider also allowing the speaking event to be an opportunity for networking and fundraising.
Bring the expertise of industry-leading professionals to alumni in a virtual setting. These webinars are ongoing alumni engagement events that are geared toward the professional development of members. They could be monthly or bi-monthly, but they must cover a variety of topics that delight attendees. The content related to alumni’s career and personal well-being can be delivered as live webinars, pre-recorded streaming, or uploaded as on-demand content.
To have interactive webinars, use a virtual event platform to host these webinars so that attendees can connect and contribute with their profiles and continue to engage with one another on the platform after the events.
A homecoming or reunion weekend is an opportunity for alumni to connect with faculty, students, and staff. This annual event usually features a variety of programs such as:
When organizing a homecoming alumni event, focus on content strategies that will provide meaningful engagement opportunities for all attendees. Make event sessions, offers, and experiences contextual to create personalized experiences for attendees.
Homecoming and reunion events are the best fit for hybrid experiences. Therefore, you should put considerable effort into engaging online attendees in every aspect of the event. It is critical to choose a versatile event platform and app that can provide the required engagement level.
Create a fun experience for your alumni to connect, network, learn and give by organizing a virtual or hybrid alumni variety night. As the name implies, you can be creative to include anything that offers fun engagement and fosters interactions among members. Consider the suggestions below:
You can also make the variety night a fundraising gala with silent auctions that target wealthy alumni groups. The auction items should be distinctive and enticing to encourage bidders. You can make them more special by getting famous alumni like renowned scientists, celebrities, and athletes to sign the items that are up for bidding.
The auction can also involve naming rights to a building or facility within your institution’s campus so alumni can secure their legacy at the school.
Another way to engage your alumni is by organizing game activities as stand-alone events. You can do this virtually and include some fundraising elements in the games as well. We suggest the games below for the best event possible:
Picture Zoom
Present alumni with zoomed-in images of popular places on campus and ask them to guess what the full image is. To organize this game, gather some pictures and create a quiz slide with the zoomed image included. Then have players guess where the photo was taken. Set a time limit and award points based on speed and accuracy of answers. After the quiz is taken, show the whole image in the quiz leaderboard slide and display the top winners.
Scavenger Hunts
A virtual scavenger hunt consists of individuals or group hunters racing to find items or solve challenges. The event host creates challenges that members can complete within their homes. For example, the host can ask members to hunt for a list of items that connect them with their alma mater and set a time limit to find them. The host approves the items that are submitted and determines the winners.
Alumni can play the game in groups based on alumni classes and each group can assign tasks to the other groups in succession to make the game more fun.
Mini Balderdash
This game is about putting up an uncommon word from the English language and asking your members to guess the meaning. You will likely get different, fun guesses.
Melody Match
Select a collection of tunes that your alumni can relate with and play each for about 10 to 20 seconds. Ask members to identify the song and the artist to win.
Most likely to...
This game is suitable for smaller rooms with a class of alumni who know their fellow mates well. Name some “most likely to” scenarios and ask participants to vote on who's most likely to do or get involved in a particular thing, whether good or bad.
There are other games and fun activities like virtual jeopardy, virtual yoga, and endurance exercises that you can plan for your alumni. During game activities, encourage members to put their webcam on to make things more exciting and interactive. With an effective virtual event platform and mobile event app, you can host all kinds of alumni engagement events within a calendar year. It will make planning future events easier because you’ll now be able to measure your ROI and engagement success as you begin hosting events.
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5 Virtual & Hybrid Alumni Engagement Events For 2026
Looking for ways to level up your alumni engagement program for 2026? Consider the following virtual and hybrid event ideas to connect and delight your members.
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If you’re someone handling alumni engagement for your school, you know that engaging recent graduates is one of the most challenging aspects. So, before diving right in, let’s take a closer look at why young alumni need to be engaged and its long-term impact.
Young alumni have the potential to turn into future major donors. But, they must be approached the right way. Billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s first donation to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University, was at the age of 23 and the amount was $5. Since then, he has donated close to $1.8 billion to support research, teaching, and financial aid at the university.
Yep, that’s accurate.
Chances are this segment of your alumni population won’t respond to your fundraising asks for the next few years. They are just starting a career and personal financial problems such as paying off student loans or relocating to a new city for college are likely to get prioritized over donating to or engaging with their alma mater.
While young alumni may not be the biggest contributors over the next few years, they can be of great help to your school by offering you their valuable time, in the form of volunteer work and internships.
Here’s a look at the 6 most effective strategies employed by schools to engage their young alumni.
While this is something that is recommended irrespective of whether or not your school is catering to young alumni, having a responsive alumni website is especially great for capturing the attention of the younger generation. As the younger generation is more inclined towards using mobile devices, being able to easily access all the websites and their resources on their devices helps provide more opportunities for them to engage with their alma mater.
Take a look at Nicholls State University’s up-to-date and easily accessible mobile-friendly website below.
As recent graduates, your alumni already have a lot to worry about. The key to building a lasting relationship is to address these issues and provide them with valuable support. This could be in the form of workshops, job prospects, mentorships, social networking mixers, or even emotional support.
A time-tested technique for finding out what your young alumni would be most interested in, alumni surveys are great at saving time and effort. Creating a short survey asking alumni what they would like to hear about from their alma mater is an effective way of grabbing attention and delivering value. There are various tools such as Typeform and Survey Monkey that can help you create short surveys. For example, The College of Idaho took a short survey that revealed ‘Financial Planning’ as the most pressing concern for a majority of young alumni. Based on the results of this survey, the college organized a free workshop on Saving Money & Paying Off Debts, as a way to support its young alumni.
Instead of the usual marketing email blasts, focused emails targeted at specific segments of alumni are bound to yield better results. The most effective way to keep young alumni engaged with emails is to provide them with consistent value, right from the start. If you are trying to engage alumni who recently graduated, targeting them with emails that showcase relevant job opportunities is the best way to do it.
Take a look at how T. Howard Foundation, a non-profit organization based out of Silver Spring, Maryland, shares job opportunities with its young alumni via emails.
According to a recent study published by Broadband Search, 79% of college graduates use at least one social media site.
Social media is a great tool for engaging young alumni not just because of its high accessibility and adaptability but also because of the flexibility it provides. There is no limit to how creative you can get and that’s what resonates the most with young alumni. Incorporating more video content and trying to create campaigns that urge alumni to take action are ideal components of a great social media strategy. Here’s how William Peace University drew the attention of its young alumni and got them talking about their upcoming reunion.
While having a digital engagement strategy in place is pivotal, completely depending on it is not recommended. In-person interaction is a fundamental part of fostering lasting relationships with young alumni. Here’s how our customer, Charlotte Christian School got this right.
As a way of extending support to young alumni, Charlotte Christian School sent out a video featuring beloved teachers wishing alumni good luck ahead of their exams and conveying to them how much they care. The video also acts as a special appeal for alumni to come back to school for a wonderful time with their teachers and friends.
6 strategies for increasing engagement from young alumni
Engaging recent graduates of alumni engagement can be a challenging aspect. Here’s a look at the 6 effective strategies peers use to engage their young alumni.
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Alumni are the backbone of any institution and maintaining consistent alumni engagement is crucial to building a great institution and ensuring continuity.
While alumni engagement has come a long way from traditional direct mail campaigns and annual student reunions, we've witnessed a tremendous shift in the way alumni relations has evolved. While advancement teams will still continue to engage alumni via traditional channels in 2024, the previous year has shown us enough evidence to suggest that institutions can no longer be restricted to them.
2024 is undoubtedly going to be a challenging year, given the evolutionary phase that alumni relations is currently in. However, where there are new challenges, there are also new opportunities. Alumni engagement this year will offer tremendous possibilities for universities to engage with their alumni on a deeper and more meaningful basis – even in these times of uncertainty and chaos.
Here are five alumni engagement trends for 2024 that you should watch out for to achieve your alumni engagement goals.
As the pandemic made it impossible to host in-person events in 2020, we witnessed a host of creative virtual alumni events by institutions, big and small. While the COVID-19 crisis doesn't seem likely to die down any time soon, recent reports indicate that social distancing guidelines are going to be further relaxed in 2025.
Alumni event strategies this year are set to evolve depending on COVID-19 state regulations. Some schools may continue to host all alumni events virtually, while some may open up their campuses to in-person events. Either way, advancement teams in 2025 will need to take a hybrid approach to keep their alumni engaged.
For a majority of institutions, alumni engagement has been restricted to monthly newsletters, traditional events, and yearly fundraising appeals. But, the pandemic has prompted advancement teams to look for creative solutions to penetrate a wider segment of their alumni population and maintain consistent engagement year-on-year.
The past few years and its unprecedented challenges have allowed institutions an opportunity to review and rebuild their alumni programming with alumni at the core of it. This year, advancement teams will find a way to provide more value and on-demand programming to build meaningful relationships with their alumni. Schools, colleges, and universities will work towards creating easily accessible programs to maximize outreach, facilitate greater flexibility, and enhance alumni relations.
From focused workshops to career networking and mentoring programs, institutions will ensure the easy availability of all these programs to all alumni.
During the pandemic, William Peace University launched a Virtual Book Club focused on professional development and career advancement for the university students and alumni. The group helped set and realize career goals for all participants. Via this initiative, the institution made valuable resources and knowledge easily accessible to alumni and students from the comfort of their homes during a crisis. Read more →
Thus, focusing on alumni needs is the key to forging strong, meaningful relationships in 2025.
Traditionally, alumni engagement data has mostly been limited to measuring event attendance and fundraising revenue. However, these metrics failed to provide any insights during the COVID-19 pandemic, when institutions had to cancel all in-person events and dial down on fundraising asks.
The past few years have provided advancement teams with an opportunity to identify massive gaps in alumni engagement data and work towards creating a better structure for alumni engagement reporting.
As a result, engagement data today can do so much more – from social media interactions, email engagement, mentor-mentee engagement, to volunteer participation and a lot more. Digitization of all this data will offer advancement teams the essential knowledge they need to make the right decisions and develop stronger relationships with alumni.
2020 set a landmark record for one of the highest unemployment rates in the United States. This alarming trend directly affects institutions as a lot of their major gift donors have taken a huge hit on their fortune. Studies indicate that 88% of all funds donated to schools come from 12% of donors, and these donors constitute major gift donors.
Fundraising in 2025 is going to be largely different from what we have saw back in 2020 and 2021. Institutions will shift their focus towards mid-level donors, working towards converting them into long-time donors. Additionally, advancement teams will also be on the lookout for creative ideas to expand their current donor base and drive up engagement with more diverse alumni segments.
The importance of alumni networks for professional networking and career growth has only increased in recent years. With unemployment steadily increasing in the US, institutions have stepped up to provide an additional resource for finding and pursuing career opportunities.
Additionally, these career services also foster alumni engagement by allowing them to provide opportunities while simultaneously tapping into their alma mater's fresh talent to nurture an ever-growing community.
Alumni engagement is a crucial part of advancement and alumni relations efforts for a reason. An effective alumni engagement strategy:
2025 is likely to witness advancement teams rebuilding their alumni engagement programs to cater to the evolving needs of their alumni. This evolving alumni relations landscape calls for the adoption of more modern, technology-driven strategies for effective alumni engagement.
With the amount of changes that alumni relations has gone through in the past few months, we've already witnessed some amazing new trends emerge in the last few months.
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5 Alumni Engagement Trends You Need To Watch Out For in 2026
Discover 5 alumni engagement best practices to boost participation and meet your engagement goals in 2026.
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If you’ve never heard of the term “on-demand alumni programs or services”, don’t be alarmed. The term in itself is relatively new but, in practice, on-demand services are rapidly becoming a part of alumni programming for advancement teams across the country.
An on-demand alumni program is one that can be accessed by any of your alumni wherever they want, whenever they want to.
There are two aspects of this, as you can see:
1. Accessibility: Available to everyone
2. On-demand: Available anytime
Both factors are important, but accessibility comes first. The idea here is to avoid building walled gardens when it comes to alumni programming. For example, if you have an alum delivering a guest lecture on campus, how many alumni can actually access it ? Very few. Can other alumni benefit from it if they’re not available at that time ? No. What if you recorded it and made the recording available for any of your alumni to watch, whenever they want. That’s what an on-demand alumni program looks like.
When was the last time you drove to a Blockbuster store and rented a DVD to watch the latest movie? I bet that thought doesn’t even cross your mind anymore. Today, we access the latest movies and shows on our television, whenever we want to, with personalized recommendations. Netflix’s programs are designed to be accessible and available on-demand to all its consumers. It’s not just the entertainment service industry that has caught on to this trend, this is now a universal phenomenon.
Over 50% adult Americans have used on-demand services in the last year. Every industry is changing. From hailing cabs, to ordering groceries, to even educational courses, we live in an on-demand economy.
Your alumni are the same people who access all those services and programs wherever they are, whenever they want to. So, are on-demand services a part of your alumni programming yet?
Making your alumni programs accessible and available on-demand needs a mindset shift from the alumni office. Rather than starting from the staff and programs you currently have, you have to start from thinking about the needs of your alumni.
With alumni at the center, you need to create services and experiences that are available to all your alumni wherever they want, whenever they want to. Think of your staff and programs as resources primarily meant to facilitate these experiences and services.
Let’s go through a couple of examples of how to think about transforming your programming to become available on-demand.
1. Move away from the traditional mentoring programs:
A traditional mentoring program where alumni visit your campus on a couple of days during the year and answer questions that your students have is great but it is not really available on-demand for all your alumni as it excludes those who cannot come to your campus. To make your program more accessible, consider moving the process online. In addition to hosting the mentoring sessions online, you can also publish stories of how different alumni helped different students on your website and make this information accessible to all alumni and students. Digitizing your mentoring program means increased flexibility for both alumni and students as they get to avail the benefits of this program right from their homes at their own convenience.
2. Make useful resources accessible on-demand
If you’re starting an alumni guest lecture program, think of ways to make the resources shared during these lectures - videos and study materials, available for all your alumni and students to consume whenever they want to. You can even organize these resources by topics your alumni care about and market them accordingly. This will now create a valuable set of resources for your alumni to access on-demand.
While on-demand alumni programs are definitely a step up, you shouldn’t expect that 100% of your programming will become available on-demand to all your alumni. There is always space for those events which bring in a limited set of people that are able to drive deeper engagement and so the idea is not to convert every single program.
However, it is important to think about your alumni programs in a truly global way as a default, thereby encouraging more alumni to participate. With the pandemic, everybody has become more comfortable with online participation, and that has created a huge opportunity for alumni shops around the country. Don’t let your institution be late to react lest your alumni start engaging with other organizations that are more accessible.
What are on-demand alumni programs and why can’t they be ignored in 2024?
Read more about on-demand alumni programs & learn how they help in making your alumni programs accessible to all your alumni.
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