There are many sources of information on community and alumni relations including ways to organize new programs. Here is a selection of articles that may be useful to you. This page will be updated regularly so please visit often!
Jump to a topic of interest or scroll to browse all the articles.
Other sources of information are available from these entities:
Alumni Relations
Edersheim, Kathy Connect, Engage, Thrive: The Art of Alumni Relations AlmaShines, April 2024.
Edersheim, Kathy ARTS series (selections) on the Impactrics blog and AlmaShines:
Build a Successful Alumni Ambassador Program 10 April 2024.
10 Benefits of Alumni Events 5 April 2024.
10 Ideas to Make Homecoming Memorable 14 March 2024.
8 (More) Creative Alumni Event Ideas 6 March 2024
10 Creative Alumni Event Ideas 27 February 2024.
Engaging Alumni On Social Media (Part 1) 15 February 2024.
8 Ideas for Engaging ‘Senior’ Alumni 28 January 2024.
8 More Helpful Hacks to Engage ‘Millennial Alumni’ 17 January 2024.
10 Helpful Hacks to Engage ‘Millennial Alumni’ 13 January 2024.
Social Media Challenges for Alumni Relations 22 December 2023.
Online and In-person: A blended approach to alumni engagement 13 December 2023.
15 Ways to Engage Alumni Online 9 November 2023.
Creating an Alumni Newsletter for Today 3 November 2023.
The Power of an Alumni Portal (vs Social Media Groups) 26 October 2023.
10 Reasons To Go Digital With Your Communications 18 October 2023.
Challenges and Opportunities for Alumni Engagement 5 October 2023.
14 ways to connect with your alumni 3 October 2023.
Essential Features of an Alumni Data Management System 25 September 2023.
Manage your alumni data seamlessly 18 September 2023.
Agarwal, Tushar 5 Virtual Alumni Meet Ideas to Boost Alumni Participation LinkedIn, 18 February 2022.
Agarwal, Tushar 5 Best Practices To Build Forever-lasting Bonds With Alumni LinkedIn, 16 January 2022.
Burt, Chris The 5 key strategies to keep alumni active, engaged and giving University Business, 5 October 2021.
Edersheim, Kathy Back to the Future of Alumni Relations Academic Impressions March 2, 2021 (may be behind paywall, available on request.)
Patel, Tanvi Alumni Engagement Strategy & Best Practices: 9 Ways to Nurture Your Network CallHub, November 11, 2020.
The YaleGALE Guide to Alumni Relations and Volunteer Engagement Slotznick, Ben, Editor, and Kathy Edersheim, co-Editor 2015 (Download on Amazon)
Toyn, Gary
Principles of Practice for Alumni Relations Professionals at Educational Institutions CASE, March 11, 2020.
Scott, Robert A. Why are universities neglecting their global alumni? University World News, 12 October 2019.
Taylor, Deb Cultivating a thriving affinity group culture 360Alumni, May 21, 2019.
Poore, Nin The View from Alumni Relations: Creating a Culture of Giving and Engagement Association of American Colleges and Universities, Spring 2018.
Klamm, Dan Running a Successful Alumni Program: What They Don’t Tell You EnterpriseAlumni February 13, 2018.
Edersheim, Kathy Alumni Affinity Group Case Study Academic Impressions January 4, 2018.
Trends in Alumni Relations The Napa Group, January 2, 2018.
Smith, Parks Don’t be afraid to test your engagement strategies LinkedIn November 28, 2017
Edersheim, Kathy How to Engage International Alumni Effectively Academic Impressions August 9, 2017.
Ellis, Curt and Stuart Davidson Rethinking Alumni Programs for Greater Impact Stanford Social Innovation Review June 29, 2017.
Hanrahan, Kieran Why You Should Be Investing in Alumni Lifetime Value Switchboard April 26, 2017.
Shaindlin, Andy Alumni Networks: Allies for Institutional Reputation Alumni Futures April 13, 2017.
Cohen, Ronald. “Time = treasure: let’s pretend higher education fundraising is suddenly illegal. Do you still care about your alumni?” Currents 39, no. 7 September 2013: p. 32-35.
Metrics
Edersheim, Kathy. Measures of Alumni Athlete Engagement (Part 1), AlmaShines and Impactrics February 20, 2024.
Edersheim, Kathy. Measures of Alumni Engagement: A deeper dive, AlmaShines and Impactrics December 6, 2023.
Edersheim, Kathy. Measures of Alumni Engagement, AlmaShines and Impactrics November 30, 2023.
Edersheim, Kathy. Benchmarks and Goals in Measuring Success, Impactrics November 7, 2023.
Allenby, Dan. “Measuring alumni engagement,” Annual giving network May 25, 2016.
Hanrahan, Kieran. “Inputs vs. outcomes: are you using the right data to measure ROI?,” Switchboard May 24, 2016.
Coolman, Jason. “The good the bad and the easy: what you should know about metrics and measuring alumni engagement,” Currents 41, no. 9 December 2015: p. 44-48.
Doyle, Gwen; Fusch, Daniel; Swietlik, Erin. “Beyond friendraising: the shift to metrics-driven alumni relations,” Higher ed impact March 27, 2014.
“Is ROI a four-letter word?,” BriefCASE 11, no. 5 May 2013.
Brant, Keith E. Regan, Patrick J. “The spectrum of alumni involvement: finding ways to measure the variety and intensity of connections with graduates,” Currents 28, no. 2 February 2002: p. 22-28.
Member/Volunteer Engagement
Agarwal, Tushar Essentials to Build an Online Athletics Alumni Community AlmaShines August 23, 2023.
Madison, Michael and Martin Skladany. Alumni associations should help tackle humanity’s big challenges Times Higher Education November 18, 2021.
Yuen, Courtney 5 Steps to Boost Your Alumni Volunteer Engagement Academic Impressions January 11, 2019.
Spinney, Katherine How We Keep Blowing it With Volunteers (and How to Fix It) Katherine Spinney Coaching. January 28, 2018.
Shaindlin, Andy Three Engagement Breakthroughs for 2018 Switchboard January 4, 2018.
Take a look at these 25 volunteer statistics…they will blow you away VolunteerHub December 5, 2017.
Hrywna, Mark Volunteer Time Value Pegged At $193 Billion The NonProfit Times April 20, 2017.
Brooks, David How to Leave a Mark on People The New York Times April 8, 2017.
Betancourt, Leah 10 Rules for Increasing Community Engagement Mashable December 16, 2009.
Leadership
Kathy Edersheim Navigating Leadership Selection AlmaShines June 10, 2024.
Kathy Edersheim Leadership and Management: A Dynamic Duo Medium.com January 11, 2022.
Conversation with Tracy Barlok and Janis Martinson Effective Leadership in Advancement The Woolbright Group April 8, 2015.
Recommended by Lynn Johnson, Impactrics Consultant:
Andrew Dubrin, 2016 (8th ed). Leadership: Research Findings, Practice, and Skills. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Michael Hitt, J.S. Black, and L.W.Porter, 2012. Management. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall/Pearson Education.
Richard Hughes, Robert Ginnett, and Gordon Curphy, 2015 (8th ed). Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience. New York: McGraw Hill Education.
James Kouzes and Barry Posner, 2017 (6th ed). The Leadership Challenge. San Francisco: Jossey Bass/John Wiley.
Cynthia McCauley and Ellen Van Velsor (editors), 2004. The Center for Creative Leadership Handbook of Leadership Development. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/ Wiley.
Robert Quinn, Sue Faerman, M.Thompson, M. McGrath, and D. Bright, 2015 (6th ed). Becoming a Master Manager. Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley.
Communications
Edersheim, Kathy. Engaging Alumni on Social Media (Part 2) AlmaShines and Impactrics February 20, 2024.
Edersheim, Kathy. Engaging Alumni on Social Media (Part 1) AlmaShines and Impactrics February 15, 2024.
Edersheim, Kathy. Social Media Challenges for Alumni Relations AlmaShines and Impactrics December 20, 2023.
Edersheim, Kathy. 15 Ways to Engage Alumni Online AlmaShines and Impactrics November 9, 2023.
Agarwal, Tushar. The Digital Shift in Alumni Relations Alumni Footprints August 25, 2023.
Alumni Athletes
Edersheim, Kathy. What is essential to build an Online Athletics Alumni Community? AlmaShines February 15, 2024.
Edersheim, Kathy. 8 (More) Ideas for Engaging ‘Senior’ Alumni Athletes AlmaShines January 25, 2024.
Edersheim, Kathy. 8 Ideas for Engaging ‘Senior’ Alumni Athletes AlmaShines January 17, 2024.
Edersheim, Kathy. 10 Helpful Hacks to Engage ‘Millennial’ Alumni Athletes AlmaShines Janaury 11 2024.
Edersheim, Kathy. Events for Alumni Athletes (Part 2) Impactrics blog December 22, 2023.
Edersheim, Kathy. Events for the Athletics Alumni Community Impactrics blog December 13, 2023.
Edersheim, Kathy. Challenges and Opportunities for Alumni Athlete Engagement Impactrics blog December 7, 2023.
Edersheim, Kathy. Essential Features of an Alumni Data Management System for Athletes Impactrics blog November 30, 2023.
Edersheim, Kathy. How Alumni Athletes Can Support the University Impactrics blog November 9, 2023.
Edersheim, Kathy. How to build an Athletics Alumni Community Impactrics blog November 4, 2023.
Edersheim, Kathy. The importance of an Athletics Alumni Community Impactrics blog October 26, 2023.
Edersheim, Kathy. Getting Inspiration from the biggest University Athletics Communities Impactrics blog October 18, 2023.
Fundraising
Axelrad, Claire. The Donor Pyramid and Marketing Funnel Have Changed Guidestar blog May 6, 2019.
Alumni Interviewing
Edersheim, Kathy 12 Keys to Making Alumni Interviews in College Admissions Effective Academic Impressions May 6, 2019.
Mentoring
Edersheim, Kathy The Significance of Alumni Mentoring for Student-Athletes, AlmaShines, 6 March 2024.
Alumni as Mentors, Future First Kenya Newsletter, March 2019
(Ginnifer) Cié Gee “5 Fairy Tales People Believe About Mentoring in Higher Ed,” Academic Impressions, 30 October 2017.
The Case for Alumni Mentoring Graduway March 2017.
Career development
Cook, Lisa 3 Ways to Rethink Career Services and Post-College Outcomes, Academic Impressions – Higher Ed Impact December 7, 2016.
Education
Freeland Fisher, Julia Three steps to unearth the hidden curriculum of networking Times Higher Education 12 October 2023.
Three part series on a new study-abroad paradigm:
Edersheim, Kathy and Gretchen Dobson Fostering cross-cultural participation in ‘semester online’ University World News, 3 April 2022.
Edersheim, Kathy and Gretchen Dobson A flipped higher education internationalisation model with impact University World News, 19 February 2022.
Edersheim, Kathy and Gretchen Dobson A new model for international higher education provision University World News, 16 January 2022.
Four part series on international education:
Dobson, Gretchen and Kathy Edersheim Future directions: International education and the SDGs University World News, 23 October 2021.
Dobson, Gretchen and Kathy Edersheim Networks can improve international student experience University World News, 16 October 2021.
Dobson, Gretchen and Kathy Edersheim The emergence of global universities University World News, 9 October 2021.
Dobson, Gretchen and Kathy Edersheim Using SDGs to gauge success of international education University World News, 2 October 2021.
Bosio, Emiliano The need for a values-based university curriculum University World News, 28 September 2019.
Community
Edersheim, Kathy Community, Education, and Well-being: A Dynamic Trio Impactrics December 2, 2024.
Edersheim, Kathy and Gretchen Dobson Diaspora and the SDGs: Creating a Community of Impact Tetra tech October 17, 2023.
Dobson, Gretchen and Kathy Edersheim Diaspora as Community of Impact Tetra tech September 13, 2023.
Edersheim, Kathy My Community Membership: How’s It Going? Medium.com October 8, 2021.
Edersheim, Kathy Finding My Way – Belonging Medium.com September 29, 2021.
Edersheim, Kathy Finding Your Time for Fun Medium.com September 23, 2021.
Edersheim, Kathy Should You Level Up in Your Community? Medium.com September 17, 2021.
Edersheim, Kathy The Real You: Finding Your Community Medium.com September 10, 2021.
Edersheim, Kathy New Paths to Community: Finding Your Way Medium.com September 1, 2021.
Edersheim, Kathy Finding Your Path: Opportunities for Communities Medium.com August 18, 2021.
Edersheim, Kathy Finding Community: Next Steps Medium.com July 28, 2021.
Edersheim, Kathy Start on Your Path to Happiness with 5 Questions Medium.com July 20, 2021.
Edersheim, Kathy Community or Network: What’s the Difference? Medium.com July 7, 2021.
Edersheim, Kathy About Community and Belongingness Medium.com June 30, 2021.
Edersheim, Kathy Finding Connection and Belonging Medium.com June 23, 2021.
Walker, Meghan Creating a Community Engagement Plan bangthetable.com July 14, 2020.
Hanrahan, Kieran Why Alumni Who Don’t Give Matter More Than You Think Switchboard January 31, 2018.
Dillon, Jay Le Roux Alumni Engagement: What We’ve Gotten Wrong And How To Fix It, Salesforce.org January 9, 2018.
The Art of Community, Vogl, Charles, Berrett-Koehler Publishers 2016. (Download from Amazon)
COVID-19
Edersheim, Kathy Leveraging alumni power to adapt to COVID-19 disruption University World News, June 7, 2020
Catherwood, Ryan With in-person events nowhere in sight, alumni and donor teams should focus on content strategy LinkedIn, April 8, 2020
Vlahos, Christopher Alumni Relations Forecast 2020 Reboot LinkedIn, April 4, 2020.