If you're skeptical about using online social networking sites such as Facebook, just listen:
"In a very short time, I found hundreds of alumni," says Vivian Penuel, the Director of Development and Marketing at Davidson Academy in Nashville, TN. "We didn't have a current address for many of them. It has proven to be an incredible tool for finding some of our 'missing' alumni."
"I didn't even understand how Facebook worked, really, but my kids helped me set up my account," Penuel says. "Three weeks later I spent a few days looking for Davidson Academy grads, and I ended up finding more than 500 of them."
"I don't think some people realize how much Facebook is changing the way we communicate," says Trish Lane, who graduated from Davidson Academy in 2005.
"We are gearing up to have our annual alumni auction in March," Cristi McElhenney, Director of Admissions and Alumni Liaison at Gatewood Schools in Eatonton, GA, says. "We're hoping to get some of our younger alumni to participate in this event," and Facebook provides a convenient means for informing these online alums of the occasion.
While Facebook and other social networking sites (like LinkedIn, for example) can be a goldmine for finding alumni, using this tool can open a can of worms. What about using Facebook for other areas of school life? There are advantages and disadvantages. For example:
- Social networking sites are a convenient ways to keep in touch with busy students.
- Teachers can set up specific pages for school-related purposes, with clear usage rules. Homework Q&A would be an appropriate use, but chat between student and teacher would not.
- Student-teacher online communication could be set up through your school's Web site, make it safe.
- Schools may have concerns about inappropriate communication and content and may decide to:
—prohibit students and teachers from communication through these sites
—recommend that teachers not join these sites at all
—go as far as asking teachers to remove any existing profiles.
Maintaining Alumni Records
Depending on the size and age of your school, your office may be teeming with alumni records, and you are wondering just how much you need to physically keep in your office.
The short answer is—alumni files should never be archived, because you never know when you are going to need one. Okay, if an alumnus/a tells you'll never want to hear from the school, ever," that may be a single to archive. However, you still need to keep up with that alumnus/aTides may turn, and somewhere down the road there could be a change of heart.
Keeping up means more than maintaining current contact information. Electronically, you should note each alumnus/a's activities and interests while a student, and keep any updates in a data files. Note each individual's interests and accomplishments above and beyond what you would keep in a regular donor file. As a Development officer, you want to be able to identify gift opportunities that will specifically appeal to an alumnus/a's passions.
If you are not already, you should be keeping the archives of your school—yearbooks and other memorabilia. It is never a good idea to toss anything that may be part of a tradition or a cherished memory.
