At the Faith-Based Institution Summit, Stephanie Carroll of Cedarville University spoke to the enormous difficulty of keeping alumni engaged when few regularly return to campus and the Alumni Relations department is under-resourced. As the Director of Alumni Relations, Stephanie noticed four key opportunities to bridge alumni relations and career services, without needing to increase staff resources. These relationships have successfully bolstered alumni engagement and appear to correlate with more frequent giving.

1. Leveraging Wisr
Beyond Mentorship
Stephanie Carroll
Director of Alumni Relations & Annual Giving
2017 Faith-Based Institution Leadership Summit

2. • Founded in 1887
• Located in Cedarville, OH
• 3,963 students
• 85% residential campus
• Largest Programs
• Business Administration
• Engineering and Computer Science
• Nursing
Cedarville University is a Christ-centered learning community equipping
students for lifelong leadership and service through an education marked by
excellence and grounded in biblical truth
2017 Faith-Based Institution Leadership Summit

3. • 28,000 Alumni
• 5 Full-Time Staff Members
• Alumni located in all 50 states and
internationally
• Majority of Alumni Career Fields are
in Education, Nursing, or Ministry
• Under the Advancement Division
• Career Services Located under
Student Life Division
2017 Faith-Based Institution Leadership Summit
Alumni Relations & Annual Giving Office

4. Bridging our Career Services
vs. Alumni Relations Gap
1. Common Thought from Alumni:
“We want to help the students”
2. Looking for a mentorship
program that wouldn’t require a
lot of staff time
3. Increase Alumni Affinity and
Engagement
4. A desire to not have our alumni
on multiple platforms
2017 Faith-Based Institution Leadership Summit

5. Pilot Program
• One of the first 5 pilot
programs
• Always Changing and
Always Improving
• Ability to speak in to the
program based on our
needs as a faith-based
institution
2017 Faith-Based Institution Leadership Summit

6. Launching of Wisr
• First Priority was branding
that fit our institution
• JacketConnect
• Coming up with our test
group
• Donors or High Affinity
Alumni
2017 Faith-Based Institution Leadership Summit

7. Launch to Alumni
• Building“Hype”
• Business Cards, Event Slides,
Targeted E-mails
• Personal Requests through
Gift Officer Outreach
• Approx. 500 alumni pre-
registered
• 2 Month Process
2017 Faith-Based Institution Leadership Summit

8. Launch to Students
• Spring Career Fair
• 150 Students Registered
• Emails with Incentives
• Fall Career Fair
• 30 Students Registered
• Class Presentations
• Wisr student survey
• 100 Students Registered
2017 Faith-Based Institution Leadership Summit

9. Current Use of Wisr
• Conversations with Students to Alumni
• Constant Work in Progress
• Students using this to acclimate after graduation
• Gaining advice on transition from student to
alumni
• Prospect Research to find up to date information
on our constituents
2017 Faith-Based Institution Leadership Summit

10. The œUnseen” Benefits of Wisr
• The Data
• 100 New Email Addresses
• 600 New Alumni Volunteers
• 25 Alumni moved from
Inactive to Active
• New Segment of Alumni
• A Reason to Reach Out
2017 Faith-Based Institution Leadership Summit

11. The Future of Wisr at
Cedarville University
• Improvements in Marketing
• Student Testimonials
• Increase in emails to students
• Increase Conversations between students and advisors
• Create additional incentives through career services
• Mandatory requirement in introductory classes
• Alumni Communities
• Giving Alumni a way to use the platform in additional ways
2017 Faith-Based Institution Leadership Summit