Rule Five – Cultivate Campus Allies

This webconference discusses the fifth and final principle of our New Rules of Engagement research initiative: Cultivate Campus Allies. As alumni continue to desire more substantive and skills-based experiences, we will discuss strategies and structures to reflect the relationship between central advancement and the decentralized academic and student services units.

We predict that academic and student services units will someday provide the majority of alumni volunteer experiences because we can't do it alone. Building strong alumni affinity requires cross campus collaboration because alumni are increasingly tied to an academic area, identity group, or co-curricular activity. Alumni want to know about the university's role in addressing social and global problems in addition to their work in multidisciplinary and cross-functional projects.

For instance, several colleges and universities have created a volunteer management structure that prioritizes leadership level volunteers and mass volunteers. It's important to consider how to organize decentralized collaboration and whether the strategy focuses on high-profile volunteer groups. Listen to our on-demand webconference for strategies and best practices from those institutions. 

More on this topic

This resource is part of the Reimagine Constituent Engagement for the 21st Century Roadmap. Access the Roadmap for stepwise guidance with additional tools and research.