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)

Admissions Marketing Group Research--gleaned from studies of parents, students, and counselors--suggested several reasons why public relations professionals should play a major role in the recruitment picture. (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…

Suggestions for improving alumni association membership recruitment and retention, for raising non-dues income, and for keeping records are made based on Kansas State University's experiences. (MSE)

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…

To succeed in recruiting development officers, colleges and universities must use more aggressive methods to reach alumni, people with ties to the campus, and local business people; expand their selection criteria, perhaps including candidates with little or no experience; streamline the hiring process; and train new professionals. (MSE)

Three chief alumni relations officers discuss their views on the importance of hiring graduates of the college or university as alumni relations staffers. Opinions ranged from the belief that it is helpful when alumni and staff share an alma mater, to alumni status is not particularly important, to an attempt to mix both in the alumni relations…

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)

As the demand for qualified college fund raisers intensifies, institutions are turning to executive search firms. Professional recruiters increase access to candidates, can be persuasive, act as a buffer in salary negotiations, and free senior administrators from time-consuming personnel work. However, some firms show less responsibility than…

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.…

Ingredients for a successful alumni association membership campaign are outlined, including clear objectives for the campaign; support of staff, board, and administration; careful timing; focus on college events; strategically targeted mailing audience; appropriate type of mailing; unique message; attention-getting format; follow-up; and use of…

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.…

Rapid turnover is posing a threat to fund-raising efforts. Suggestions on how to find a more systematic way to reduce it are provided including: define needs of the institution, define type of person needed, prepare the job description, match professional backgrounds, and characterize the ideal person. (MLW)

Brown University's Third World Alumni Activities Program is described. The program is designed to get alumni of African, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American descent involved in alumni activities, student recruitment, and fund raising. (MLW)