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Student Societies: Working with
Alumni and Supporters
Development and Alumni Relations Office (DARO)
Aims of this session
• To highlight the benefits of staying in touch with
alumni, old members, and other interested
supporters
• To discuss how you can involve alumni in your
society
• To introduce you to the Campaign and how it can
support your alumni relations work
• To offer hints and tips for fundraising from alumni
• To provide examples of best practice
Why should you stay in touch with your
alumni?
Alumni are a fantastic tool for societies – they have
knowledge and experience to offer:
• Careers advice and opportunities for members
• Events – alumni speakers, hosts, sponsors
• Global – alumni live in 190 countries
How can you stay in touch with alumni?
• Send them an initial email through DARO
• Encourage them to get involved through your
social media
• Invite them to events you think will be relevant
• Share any newsletters you produce
Things to think about
• Why – why do you want to get in touch with alumni?
• Resource – do you and the future committee have the
time to maintain a relationship with alumni in addition to
your members?
• Who - is it just alumni who were part of the society or any
alumni with similar interests/working in a relevant field?
• How – how are you going to engage them? Are there any activities you can involve alumni in that already exist? Is
there anything new you’d like to develop to engage alumni?
Contacting alumnidos and don’ts
Dos and Don’ts
DO plan your communications at
the start of term – consistency is
key!
DO respond to alumni enquiries in
good time
DO leave handover notes on
alumni activity for incoming officers
DO think carefully about how to
involve alumni – what would
interest them, how could they help?
DO let DARO know if alumni
volunteer for your events etc.
DO contact us before inviting
alumni to speak
DO come to us for advice!
• DON’T send a one-off
communication and wait two years
to send another
• DON’T bombard them with
communications
• DON’T create unrealistic
expectations
• DON’T email alumni asking for jobs
• DON’T create your own database –
contact [email protected] with
updated details
• DON’T use data which is several
years old
Finding UCL Alumni
UCL Alumni Online Community (AOC)
All current UCL students have free access to AOC.
Please only use AOC for professional advice. Approach Alumni Relations about
speaker invitations and getting alumni involved more generally.
Why should you care?
Because AOC is where you can directly contact hundreds of Alumni
Mentors…across the world…for free.
Sign me up!
• Register online at https://uclalumnicommunity.org
• Identify mentors in the Directory, click on their name to access their Profile
• If you want to get in touch click ‘Request Mentor’
For instant access we recommend registering with your UCL email and the name on your student record. You can then
amend details and sync with social media once logged in.
Finding UCL Alumni
Whether you’re searching for an interesting speaker or mentor for your
society, you can use LinkedIn to find UCL alumni.
BUT once you identify people please contact Alumni Relations BEFORE
reaching out, we can let you know if we already have a relationship with
them and if we will be able to introduce you. This is usually much more
efficient than reaching out via LinkedIn.
Within the UCL profile there is a tab called Students & Alumni. You will be
able to search on various fields including:
• Where they live
• Where they work
• What they studied
• What they’re skilled at
What is the Campaign?
In September 2016, UCL will be introducing a bold
new global Philanthropy Campaign. The focus will
be on four themes:
• Students
• Health
• Disruptive Thinking
• London
Why should clubs and societies care?
The Campaign will generate funds for projects that directly
affect the student experience at UCL:
• Scholarships and Bursaries
• New Student Centre – opening in September 2018
• Provost’s Campaign Fund– a flexible resource which is
likely to have already had an impact on your time at UCL
How you can get involved with the Campaign
Fundraising and Engagement – help us spread the message about UCL’s
truly global impact and how EVERYONE can be involved:
• UCL is in Campaign – we’re raising funds and engaging our
community to help deliver UCL 2034.
• The Campaign has four themes – Students, Health, London and
Disruptive Thinking.
• The income the Campaign generates and the engagement that it
develops will drive our outstanding research and innovative teaching to
find solutions to the world’s major problems.
• Philanthropy has shaped our past and it will help secure our future for
generations to come, as one of the world’s leading universities.
Society fundraising
– The Friend’s Trust
– Crowdfunding
– How DARO can help you
The Friend’s Trust: Helpful Tips for Grant
Applications
• Highlight how your bid will benefit the maximum
number of students
• Make a good case for support and cost your bid
carefully (smaller amounts are more likely to be
supported)
• Don’t expect to be funded every year
The Friend’s Trust: Helpful Tips for Grant
Applications continued
• What kind of projects are supported?
– sporting equipment
– grants/underwriting for theatre and music
– support for key events
– materials for theatre productions
• Guidelines, grant deadlines and application forms
can be found here: http://uclu.org/clubs-societies/resources/friends-trust-applications
Doing your own fundraising: Crowdfunding
Pitching a project on a crowdfunding platform like Kickstarter
or undertaking a fundraising challenge event to support your
cause.
• Hints and Tips:
– Think about who you will crowdfund from
– Have a simple project request – recording a video can
help!
– Most successful projects seek between £200-£2000
– Make sure you update your supporters once you’ve
completed your project, they might support other
projects in the future
Other fundraising suggestions
• For music or theatre: think about starting a ‘friends
group’
• Don’t be shy about communicating the need for
support at events
Support from DARO
• Help with admin if you want to set up a project on
justgiving
• We can advise you on pitching your project for
crowdfunding
• We can assist with getting your message out via
our social media channels
• We cannot provide lists of alumni for direct
appeals (Data Protection)
Examples of best practice
Boat Club
Works closely with DARO and the alumni boat club:
• Records - keeps records of its members (info sent to
DARO at the end of academic year by Union staff)
• Regular comms - sends regular newsletters to members
and alumni
• Annual activities – invites to annual Christmas dinner and
summer fundraiser event
• Handover - excellent handover procedure between
outgoing/incoming Presidents
• Fundraising – alumni monthly direct debits, annual
‘ergathon’ fundraising event
Film Society
• Good handover procedure
• Make specific requests e.g. asked DARO if they could
invite Christopher Lawrence (SFX, Gravity) to speak and
assisted with the smooth running of the event
Musical Theatre
• Has attracted interested from an alumnus who is
interested in funding more risky productions
• Providing both financial and mentoring support
UC Opera
• Established a friends group
• Staff, alumni and friends – who have provided support for
opera productions
POST IT NOTES
Write down one activity/project
you want to involve alumni in
Your next steps
• Pick up a toolkit leaflet
• Share this training with your committees and
brainstorm how/why you want to engage with
alumni
• Get advice from DARO before you begin