1. Alumni Relations 3 April 2014 Kendall
Hello, my name is Kendall Abbey. I am so pleased to be here today for Zone 28 and 29 team training. As an alumni relations specialist I support the alumni associations, alumni awards, and outreach to global grant scholars and alumni from the “classic” Rotary programs.
I am going to go over some ideas for engaging alumni and creating a sustainable relationship between alumni and Rotarians.

2. Alumni concept is changing Connect alumni with Rotarians
Alumni Basics
Alumni concept is changing
Connect alumni with Rotarians
Identify alumni in your region
Kendall
What is a Rotary alumnus?
- As you may know the concept of alumni is changing. By this summer alumni will include not only those who participated in the “classic programs” like GSE and Ambassadorial scholarships, it will include participants from youth programs like RYLA, Interact, Rotaract, and Youth Exchange. This is an exciting time for us because it opens up opportunity to expand the Rotary family and engage in more humanitarian service projects.
Why do you want to engage alumni?
Alumni can assist in Rotary service projects
They provide a pool of individuals who can participate in orientations and programs as speakers and as selection committee members.
They are a great resource of positive public relations for Rotary.
- Alumni are a possible source of new members and contributors to TRF who already understand the values of Rotary.
How do you engage alumni?
The first step is to identify alumni in your region. We can pull list of alumni by residing district and sponsor and host district. This list will contain contact information. It is then up to you to initiate communication and try to reconnect them with Rotary.
Mike’s going to talk a bit more about engaging alumni.

3. Only a small number of alumni are actually Rotarians
Opportunities
Only 2.9% of Rotarians were alumni prior to joining Rotary
Most clubs don’t recruit alumni for membership.
84% of current program participants are interested in membership.
66% of alumni are interested in membership.
Natalia asked me to talk about developing alumni as members and donors. I’ll get to that, but I’m going to focus on engagement.
Alumni offer a tremendous untapped resource for Rotary for membership, fundraising, and project consultation. Unlike a person off the street, Rotary alumni understand and appreciate Rotary and are interested in being a part of Rotary over the course of their lives.
Only a small number of alumni are actually Rotarians
Most clubs don’t recruit alumni for membership. But they SHOULD.
84% of current program participants are interested in membership.
66% of alumni are interested in membership.

4. Missed Opportunities
Clubs and districts fail to develop a relationship with alumni
Alumni aren’t qualified to be Rotarians
No one has responsibility for maintaining alumni relationships
Alumni have reservations about the time and monetary commitment involved in joining Rotary.
Alumni are concerned about the perceived age differences between themselves and current members.
Unfortunately, often alumni are simply not asked to take part in Rotary or, worse, are completely forgotten.
We’ve done a lot of polling of both alumni and Rotarians and we’ve found that alumni are interested in joining Rotary and that Rotarians are interested in having alumni join Rotary, but there is a disconnect between the two.
So what’s happening? Based on our research, we’ve found:
-Clubs and districts fail to develop a relationship between themselves and their program participants
-Rotarians have a hard time viewing alumni as future Rotarians because they are not qualified to become Rotarians when they are program participants
-No one in a club or district has responsibility for maintaining alumni relationships
-We can help you with the data.
-Alumni have reservations about the time and monetary commitment involved in joining Rotary.
-Alumni are concerned about the perceived age differences between themselves and current members.

5. Recommendations
Build strong relationships with current program participants
Develop an action plan for keeping alumni involved in Rotary activities
Promote alumni so that other Rotarians understand their importance
Ask alumni to join Rotary
Involve alumni in club and district activities
Help and mentor alumni to find clubs that meet their needs
Build strong relationships with current program participants
Start before they leave on their scholarship or VTT or exchange. When I started at my alma mater, the first thing I heard was, “you are a part of the university and the university is a part of you.” It’s the same for Rotary. Rotarians need to reinforce this message.
Develop an action plan for keeping alumni involved in Rotary activities
Who will connect with alumni when they get back from their scholarship?
What activities can alumni participate in? If they don’t exist, how can you build them?
These people are going to be alumni for longer than you hold any of your positions within your zone team. How are you going to work with your successors to continue to recognize the value of alumni?
Promote alumni so that other Rotarians understand their importance
There are a few who do, but most people are not likely to promote themselves. As leaders in your zone, you are in a unique position to talk about the value of alumni to your colleagues throughout the zone.
Ask alumni to join Rotary
This is simple. Alumni won’t join if they aren’t asked. But don’t just ask once. If an alum isn’t ready when he or she is 30, maybe he or she will be when she’s 35. And if they’re not ready to join…
Involve alumni in club and district activities
Just because an alum isn’t ready to be a Rotarian doesn’t mean he or she doesn’t want to be connected to Rotary. It doesn’t mean he or she doesn’t want to offer his or her service to Rotary. It doesn’t mean he or she doesn’t want to take part in a project or speak at a meeting or just lend a helping hand.
Help and mentor alumni to find clubs that meet their needs
I’m sure you’ve talked about strategies for cultivating Rotarians to make gifts. It’s no different to cultivate an alumnus (or anyone really) toward joining a club. You wouldn’t just ask a Rotarian for a big gift without first understanding what motivates him or her to give and identifying the way his or her gift will do the most good. Help alumni understand what clubs fit best with their means, their interests, and their lifestyle. Even if an alum isn’t ready to join right away, help him or her understand the variety of clubs that make up Rotary.
So, here’s the part I promised about developing alumni as members and donors. Not every alum is going to jump on the bandwagon, but if you engage alumni by doing these things first, you will have a group of alumni who are much more likely to become members and are more likely to make a donation when you ask them.
Now Kendall’s going to talk more about one great way to engage alumni and bridge the gap between program participation and potential membership, Rotary Alumni Associations.

6. Organize an alumni event Identify alumni who are motivated
Alumni Associations
Organize an alumni event
Identify alumni who are motivated
Establish leadership
Complete charter application
Thanks Mike. Once you have developed report with alumni in you district you can find out if there is interest in starting an alumni association.
Currently there 121 alumni associations. As of now there are no active alumni associations in Zones 28 and 29, however, Zone 29 has just submitted an application for an alumni association in District 5950 and they have been busy organizing a Chicagoland Rotary alumni association. We are looking forward to working with these groups in the future.
So, what is the best way to start an alumni association?
As I mentioned earlier, you need a list of alumni in your region and connect with them.
Organize an event to bring alumni together
Next you identify those who are motivated and interested in the alumni association. They will become the leaders of the group.
Once leadership is established, they should complete a charter application. Please let me know if I can share these documents with you.
Once the association is chartered we encourage to have an online presence and develop projects and events with alumni and Rotarians.

7. Identify distinguished alumni Cultivate relationship
Alumni Awards
Identify distinguished alumni
Cultivate relationship
Nominate for Global Alumni Service to Humanity Award
Another way to engage alumni is to get involved in the Global Alumni Service to Humanity Award.
- We can create lists of distinguished alumni in Zones 28 and 29 and share them with RRFC Galitz and McBeth
From there you can cultivate a relationship with the alumni you have identified and encourage them to speak at Rotary club meetings and other events
This year the nomination forms are due on 30 June. The nomination forms have already been sent out but I would be happy to send materials about the nomination process to anyone who is interested.
I know that both zones submitted strong candidates this year and I hope you submit candidates for this year’s award. You can either resubmit your candidate from last year or find another Rotary alumnus.
That’s the end of our presentation. Does anyone have any questions or comments?