Establishing Affinity Groups
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This presentation provides an overview of affinity groups, the steps necessary to develop such groups, and successes of established groups.
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Establishing Affinity Groups
- 2. Introductions Joe Volin o Assistant Director of Alumni Relations
- 3. What are Affinity Groups? Group of alumni that share a common connection with the university o Major o College-based o Athletic o Organization o Social
- 4. Why Affinity Groups? Increased alumni involvement and contributions Greater student-alumni interaction Greater alumni-alumni interaction Increased job placements Increased graduate and undergraduate applications Alumni as volunteer resources Enhanced data collection
- 5. Types of Affinity Groups Formal o Executive Committee o Charter/By-laws Informal o Volunteer-driven working group o Department-driven (branded programming)
- 6. Affinity Groups at Lewis Nursing Alumni Network (LU-NAN) – formal Aviation Alumni Organization (LU-AAO) – formal Black Student Union Alumni (LU-BSUA) – formal Athletics – formal History Connections – informal Golden Flyers – informal
- 7. Recognition Requirements Buy-in/support from partner department, organization, or group Base of 300 alumni that may be contacted regarding involvement. Leadership committee consisting of 10 alumni, including one staff member from Alumni Relations. Develop a mission, objectives, and bylaws (charter) One member serves a one-year term on LUAA BoD Annual report presented each year Hold one annual meeting with members. Approval of charter and structure from LUAA BoD All organizations must be compatible with and supportive of Lewis University, liberal arts, and our Catholic and Lasallian heritage. Alumni groups must be financially self-sustaining.
- 8. Development Process 1. Identification of strong affinity 2. Meeting with faculty/staff 3. Identification of foundations committee 4. Initial meeting with volunteers 5. Survey to alumni population 6. Charter Development 7. Leadership slate development 8. Launch event 9. Ongoing programming/communication 10. Annual meeting 11. Maintaining the group
- 9. Development Timeline Timeline January – Conversation with Athletic Director February – Presentation to Athletic Coaches March/April – Identification and Qualification of Foundations Committee April/May – Survey Distribution May/June – Foundations Committee Charter Discussion June – Formal Introduction of group at the Golf Outing October – Formal Recognition at LUAA Board meeting October – Athletic Affinity Group Launch (Annual Meeting)
- 10. Maintaining Affinity Groups Monthly/Semi-monthly conference calls Communications (ongoing) Annual meeting ….Repeat
- 11. Where are we now? LUNAN – Year 3 History Connections – Year 3 LUAAO – Year 2 LUBSUA – Year 2 Golden Flyers – Years 1 Athletics – in development
- 12. Successes – Giving and Engagement Giving July 2013 July 2014 Change All Alumni 1.35 1.377 .027 LU-NAN .96 1.1 .14 LU-AAO .83 .86 .03 LU-BSUA 1.11 2.28 1.17 Golden Flyers 5.95 6.03 .08 Engagement July 2013 July 2014 Change All Alumni 9.81 11.02 1.21 LU-NAN 8.9 9.94 1.04 LU-AAO 8.56 10.95 2.36 LU-BSUA 10.37 13.2 2.83 Golden Flyers 14.85 20.34 5.49
- 13. Successes – Events and Volunteerism Event Attendance FY13 FY14 FY15 (To Date) LU-NAN 42 35 36 LU-AAO 40 43 46 LU-BSU 8 28 23 Golden Flyers 48 43 50 Volunteerism Volunteer Active Affinity LU-NAN 15 44 LU-AAO 30 54 LU-BSUA 10 49 Golden Flyers 10 14
- 14. Challenges Lack of support from department Volunteer burnout Faculty ambition Outsider’s view
- 15. Sample Proposal Athletic Alumni Affinity Group Proposal January 2015 Purpose Structure Goals Possible goals include: Justification Timeline
- 16. Sample Charter ARTICLE I: NAME ARTICLE II: MEMBERS 2. LU-AAO shall be authorized, but shall not be required, to collect dues from members. The Executive Committee is authorized to decide whether to charge dues, and is authorized to make decisions regarding the timing and amount of dues obligations for members, and is required to notify members of same in a timely fashion. ARTICLE III: MISSION AND OBJECTIVES ARTICLE IV: ORGANIZATION 1. LU-AAO shall operate as a Chapter of the Lewis University Alumni Association (LUAA), so long as the LUAA allows LU-AAO to do so. D. The President of LU-AAO (or nominee of the Executive Committee) shall attend meetings of, and serve on the Board of Directors of LUAA, so long as LUAA shall allow. Service on the Board of Directors of LUAA shall be subject to the policies and procedures of LUAA. The President shall chair each meeting of the Executive Committee and be responsible for ensuring the execution of the resolutions and policies of the Executive Committee. The President is also an ex-officio member of all Standing Committees. 5. At an Annual Meeting, the voting members of LU-AAO may amend this Charter by a two-thirds majority of the votes cast. The annual meeting shall be held in the spring (March/April) unless otherwise determined by the Executive Committee for the purpose of maximizing participation.
- 17. Sample Goals Professional Development Committee Strengthen career conference to provide opportunities to alumni to learn more about different areas in aviation. Work with faculty to educate students on different areas in aviation. Implement two webinars over the course of the year. Networking Committee Develop a social media presence for LU-AAO. Host an event in the Spring 2015 for aviation alumni and graduating students to emphasize networking and mentoring. Develop a newsletter to be distributed to all aviation alumni. Develop a communication plan to build awareness with current students.
- 18. Questions??
- 19. Contact Information Joe Volin o volinjo@lewisu.edu o (815) 836-5472
Editor's Notes
- Have been in my position almost three years. Primary role is to manage our affinity groups and affinity programming. How many institutions currently have affinity groups?
- ASK…..What are affinity groups?
- There are two general types of affinity groups. Formal – Pros – Continuity of goals Pipeline for leadership Protecting group from overzealous volunteers Cons – Need a larger volunteer base Time commitment from staff Informal – Pros – Targeting smaller groups or affinity Easily managed (than formal) Organic realization Cons – Risks of low turnout
- LU-NAN, LU-AAO, Athletics are formal groups that were developed through parterships and conversations with our office. History Connections is an informal group we attempted to launch but the interest just didn’t exist as much as needed to sustain the group, so we transitions to an informal set up with branded programming including dinner and lectures and book discussions. Golden Flyers is an informal group in that it is a group of volunteers that meets regularly to program for that constituency. It was decided by the volunteers that a formal structure wasn’t necessary. LU-BSUA was a group that existed independent of our office and separate from the institution. In 2013, we began discussions with their leadership to get them involved with our office and get them recognized.
- These are the requirements for recognition of our formal affinity groups. Our office provides all the logistical support necessary for these groups to operate and sustain. While they are self-sustaining financially, we do provide all costs for marketing, staff resource time, and logistics. We have also collaborated with academic departments to sponsor the events (i.e. food, speaker, etc.).
- The process for developing an affinity group takes approximately 9 months from idea to launch. It begins with identification of a large affinity base. Our office then takes the lead in developing the group through this process. The purpose of this process is to make sure that the right stake-holders are supportive of the effort and to ensure that the group will be sustainable long past our staff time. Affinity groups are like 3-legged stools. AR staff Faculty Alumni volunteers BSUA – challenged with the staff support because of turnover and trust History – struggled with alumni volunteer involvement
- Outside of any events and the annual meeting, all conversations and work for our affinity groups is done via conference call. The committees meet monthly and the executive committee meets semi-regularly (as necessary) with additional meetings/contact closer to the annual meeting. Other than that, the groups communicate electronically to discuss ideas, logistics, and to get the word out regarding the group and programs. Affinity groups are mini alumni boards. You use standard organization management.
- The first year for our groups has been awareness. As we move into the rest of the years, it becomes directly about meeting the needs of the department/program. Regular conversations occur when setting the goals, with department leadership, to support their efforts as well. We also researched potential groups for the College of Business and Law & Justice.
- The addition of these groups has given us an increase in: Giving Engagement (overall) Volunteerism As shown, the engagement metrics for giving and overall engagement have significantly increased over the past year. Volunteerism has also increased. LUNAN – LUAAO – LUBSUA – Golden Flyers – While we have seen increases in giving, we have not developed any affinity based giving campaigns and don’t have any immediate plans to do so. Giving campaigns isn’t the reason for these groups. The purpose is increased engagement which would have an organic result on this increase. The process for gaining momentum is slow in order to maintain sustainability and achieve success. We don’t rush into the giving campaigns for these groups. Affinity groups are great at RE-INFORCING campaigns already occurring.
- The top chart represents an increased attendance from members of the affinity groups at events throughout the FY. This represents UNIQUE alumni and not total attendance. The bottom chart represents the number of volunteers that we have through the affinity groups (not including the executive committee). The volunteer program was implemented in January 2014. The right column represents the number of alumni that have been active with affinity group activities. This bottom chart DOES NOT include donors in these groups. The Golden Flyers group is new and thus the active affinity represents primarily the planning committee.
- We begin with a proposal to the department leadership. The proposal allows us to provide a roadmap to demonstrate the thought that has gone into this. We don’t just rush into groups. Proceeding strategically is key and has allowed us to have the success we have so far. We have also researched potential affinity groups in our College of Business and our Law & Justice program but decided to not pursue these groups at this time. In both instances, Golden Flyers and Athletics proved themselves more valuable for us.
- This is an example of the charter that is prepared. I have highlighted a few sections that are standard. Our groups are non-dues right now and will probably be so for a while. All organizations are chapters of the LUAA. The president (or designee) also serves on LUAA BoD. The charter can be changed at the annual meeting.
- Any questions?
- If you have questions in the future, please feel free to reach out to me.