Whether facing budget and staff cuts or event logistics, alumni associations can make good use of volunteers. Three important rules for volunteer program management include maintaining good volunteer relationships, knowing when to ask for help, and recruiting good veteran, novice, and even nonalumni volunteers. (MSE)

The rush to establish effective alumni/admissions volunteer programs is discussed. Institutions call on alumni/admissions volunteers not only because they fill in geographic gaps for the admissions office, but also because they serve as good examples of what a college can do for today's students. (MLW)

There are ways to fire an unproductive volunteer and still do minimal damage to both the volunteer and the alumni association, but an ounce of prevention is advocated. Some types of volunteers that might cause problems are identified and advice on what to do when dismissing a volunteer is provided. (MLW)

Identifies principles of attracting alumni volunteers to community volunteer projects organized by college alumni organizations, considers ways alumni organizations get involved in community service projects, suggests benefits of such projects for alumni organizations, offers principles of successful partnerships with national service…

Alumni with drive and influence can help a college alumni organization meet its long-term goals. Prospective donors may be willing volunteers, and regular review of the alumni notes may suggest volunteers. A diverse volunteer group can best represent diverse alumni populations. Challenging, meaningful assignments that tap expertise are the most…

Traditional recruitment techniques aren't attracting many minority students. Institutions trying to attract minorities are concentrating primarily on blacks. Recruitment strategies should vary according to minority group. (MLW)

Before alumni can identify prospective students, the admissions and alumni offices have to forge a partnership, considering the other's goals and problems. A program for alumni/admissions volunteers has two purposes: to extend the reach of the admissions office and to give alumni a chance to serve. (MLW)

The same care must go into recruiting volunteers as paid personnel. Once the right volunteers have been recruited, there needs to be a systematic approach to retaining and rewarding them. A guide to obtaining, training, and maintaining, the best alumni volunteers is presented. (MLW)

Although volunteers serve many useful functions in fund raising, soliciting gifts should be left to staff. Volunteers are hard to recruit, keep, motivate, are unreliable, lacking in expertise, and they can balk at the realities of development tasks. Development offices should carefully think through the appropriate roles for these individuals.…

A total of 294 schools, colleges, and universities received prizes in this year's CASE Recognition program. Awards were given in: public relations programs, student recruitment, marketing, program pulications, news writing, fund raising, radio programming, school periodicals, etc. (MLW)

The strategies used by a variety of colleges to involve alumni in student recruitment efforts are described. These include awards programs, scholarships, talent scouting, college nights, interviewing, special events, and communication with prospective or incoming students. The importance of training and communication in the alumni-recruitment…

Parents can offer a college time, loyalty, and money. Leading roles currently played by parents in campus programs include recruiter, career counselor, political supporter, and fundraiser. Keeping track of parents, organizing and orienting them as volunteers, funding the programs, and assessing the efforts' effectiveness are important elements.…

Four experienced college alumni volunteers offer information and opinions on how and why they became volunteers, how they serve, amount of time spent volunteering, what the alumni office does that is most helpful, how to keep volunteers from feeling overburdened, how to reward volunteers, and working with a spouse. (MSE)

Volunteer fund raisers for colleges bring enthusiasm, perspective, motivation, and influence to the task of soliciting gifts. They stretch staff time, fill out the fund-raising team, and cost little. Careful definition of responsibilities, recruitment, training, and monitoring and rewards for good work are essential to getting the best results.…

Reasons and techniques for encouraging planned giving among baby-boomers are outlined, and one approach is detailed. This involves recruiting a volunteer financial services team of alumni to host financial presentations for fellow alumni in their local areas, and developing a newsletter for the target alumni population. The fund-raising program at…