Report Notre Dame College Alumni Association Restructuring ... · social media. Many did not actually know what the mission of the Alumni Association was. Current communication methods

Report

Notre Dame College

Alumni Association

Restructuring Plan

December 15, 2016

Notre Dame College Alumni Association 4545 College Rd., South Euclid, OH 44121

NotreDameCollege.edu/Alumni

Executive Summary

Notre Dame College, an institution 94 years old, has undergone significant changes in the past few years. NDC has gone through a transformation from a women’s college to a co-ed college and now an NCAA DII institution for all men’s and women’s sports. Also factored into the change equation was the introduction of weekend degrees, where students were not integrated into the student body, but rather commuted for the express purpose of an expedited degree that fit into their lives. An online education option was also introduced. Quite a difference from its early beginnings. Given these transitions, there are groups of alumni from each of the categories: women, men, athletes, online, and weekend students. Each group has unique characteristics and represents different needs, desires, and considerations. A revitalized Alumni Association is necessary to meet the current and future needs of graduates of Notre Dame College. Thus, a planning process was begun in order to systematically address the issues confronting the Alumni Association and to develop an organization that is responsive, diverse, and vibrant.

The planning process had three elements: a focus group, a survey, and a planning committee. The

focus group served to lay the foundation of the issues concerning alumni, their needs, and their

concerns. Based on the comments elicited from those participants, a long and short survey were

created in Survey Monkey. The survey was sent to 2,571, with each 10th address receiving the link

to the long survey. In all, more than 400 responded to the short, long, or student survey.

Significant data gleaned from the data collection process:

Most alumni felt “a little connected” to the College.

Most believed that staying connected to NDC and to support the welfare of the college was

the mission of the Alumni Association.

Most common ways alumni stayed connected were via events, newsletter/magazine, and

social media.

Many did not actually know what the mission of the Alumni Association was.

Current communication methods were not reaching a majority of the alumni.

Most wanted to be contacted via email, letters, and the newsletter on a quarterly basis.

A Planning Group was convened to review the survey data, revisit the mission and vision of the

Alumni organization, and create a structure for the future. The group met for three (3) sessions with

clearly defined purposes: review the data collected; revisit the mission and vision; develop a

structure to be responsive to current and future alumni needs.

The recommended mission statement is:

The mission of the Alumni Association of Notre Dame College is to reinforce connections and

foster relationships among alumni, students, faculty, and our communities in support of the

Notre Dame College mission.



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The recommended vision statement is:

The vision of the Alumni Association of Notre Dame College is to enrich the quality of the

Notre Dame College community and invest in initiatives that ensure its future.

The recommended board structure is:

Size: 15 members

Composition: 1 current student (perhaps the VP of Student Government)

1 faculty member

1 community member

1 Sister of Notre Dame

1 Alumni Director (staff)

1 Staff (non-faculty)

9 Diverse alumni (gender, athlete, graduation year, weekend)

Standing Committees:

Executive: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and chairs of sub-

committees, Alumni Director

Committees: Alumni Engagement, Student Engagement, Fiscal

The Chair of the Fiscal Committee would be the Treasurer

Other recommendations:

o Alumni Engagement Committee activities might include affinity

groups, luncheon, reunion/homecoming

o Student Engagement Committee components could include pre-

professional events, talks, mentoring

o Fiscal Committee responsibilities could include fundraising,

annual fund initiative

The “activities” outlined above would involve ad hoc committees, formed

as needed and focused on specific activities or initiatives.

The Alumni Engagement, Student Engagement, and Fiscal Committees

would be chaired by board members, but populated by a broad base of

individuals recruited for a specific committee activity. This inclusiveness

would allow a larger number of individuals to be involved in the Alumni

Association without having the responsibilities of board service. It would

also develop a pool of potential board members.

The next step is for the Alumni Association Members to approve of the new structure. Once that

occurs, a Transition Team is recommended to put in place a board, By-Laws, and communication

methods regarding the “new” structure.

While significant effort will be needed initially and for several years to come, the Planning Committee

has defined an organization, mission, and vision that embraces all of the diverse populations it

serves and is optimistic that the Alumni Association will be revitalized and vibrant in supporting the

mission of Notre Dame College.



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SITUATION DESCRIPTION

Notre Dame College, an institution 92 years old, has undergone significant changes in the past few

years. Starting as a women’s college, then admitting males, then becoming an NCAA DII institution

for all sports (men’s and women’s), was transformational. Also factored into the change equation is

the introduction of weekend degrees, where students are not integrated into the student body, but

rather commute for the express purpose of an expedited degree that fits into their lives. An online

education option was also introduced. Quite a difference from its early beginnings.

Given these transitions, there are groups of alumni from each of the categories: women, men,

athletes, online, and weekend students. Each group has unique characteristics and represent

different needs, desires, and considerations.

The purpose of this document is to recommend a structure for revitalizing the Alumni Association, to

outline the steps taken to arrive at the recommendation, and to share some thoughts for next steps

and a timeline.

METHODOLOGY

Because of the diverse nature of the alumni, it was imperative to collect data regarding their

thoughts about the Alumni Association, the College, and their participation. Therefore, it was

determined that a focus group be held to identify key issues, followed by hard mail and electronic

methods for further data collection.

Also imperative was data collection from a diverse population that represents the current

composition of alumni: gender, year of graduation, traditional or non-traditional student, athlete.

Concurrent with the data collection was the assembly of a Planning Committee that would ultimately

digest the information generated and develop a recommendation for the Alumni Association.

The timeline was as follows:

Focus Group June 16, 2016

Survey July 29-August 31, 2016

First Planning Session September 29, 2016

Second Planning Session November 10, 2016

Final Planning Session December 8, 2016



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DATA COLLECTION

Focus Group

The focus group session launched the planning process in June. Four critical questions were

presented to the group:

1. How was your college experience? Probing questions: How do you feel about the College’s

evolution? Do you participate in activities while in college? Do you believe the alumni base

is disconnected?

2. What is your vision of the Alumni Association?

3. What would you like to see as the value added?

4. Do you give to the College?

Key takeaways from the discussion:

There is a vast difference between the women’s college graduates, men, and current

students.

Attempts to “merge” the thinking is not a viable option, rather efforts to foster co-operation

among the groups is the best approach.

Communication with alumni is a problem. There are different expectations and needs from

each unique group of alumni, the ability to receive information via technology and social

media, and the language used in current methods.

Events need to be directed to specific groups, i.e. the luncheon is great for retired alumni,

while panel discussions for those seeking a career are more important.

There is no “one size fits all” for this very diverse group; however, a mix of new opportunities

coupled with the “old” events can be successful.

For a complete report of the Focus Group session, refer to Attachment 1.

Survey

Based on some of the content of the focus group and other requirements, a survey was developed

using Survey Monkey as the primary collection tool. The following actions were employed to

disseminate the survey, taking into consideration that some alumni did not have access to

technology or the Development Office did not have email addresses.

The survey link was emailed to 2,571 on July 29 (Attachment 2)

Postcards were mailed to 650, containing the link, on August 9 (Attachment 3)

Follow up emails, eliminating respondents, were sent on August 10, August 22, and August

29

Facebook posts with the link were made on July 29, August 11, 16, 26, and 29 (Attachment

4)

LinkedIn announcements were made on July 30, August 11 and 29

All of the above had access to the short survey, containing 12 questions (Attachment 5). A longer

survey with 24 questions was sent to every 10th person on the email list (Attachment 6).



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Reponses:

56/257 long survey responses

320/2314 short survey responses

31/150 Student responses

Significant takeaways:

Most felt that it is important to stay connected with Notre Dame College; however, most felt

they were connected only a little or not much.

Most stayed connected through the newsletter, magazine, and social media

Of the alumni opportunities presented for participation, only the reunion and family friendly

events scored more yes than no. However, it has been the experience of the Alumni Office

that of the events offered for families, they were not successful.

Overwhelmingly, respondents believed that the mission of the Alumni Association was to

keep connected to the college and to support its welfare.

Of the respondents to the question “Is the Alumni Association fulfilling its mission?” which

was on the long form only, 41% indicated yes, but 31% indicated that it needs improvement,

with 16% saying they don’t know.

49% said they volunteer or financially support NDC; however, 64% said they did not.

77% of the long-form survey indicated that when providing financial support they believe how

the students are being educated is most important to them.

88% of the respondents were traditional students; with most of them participating in student

clubs as extracurricular activities.

Breakdown of graduation year for respondents:

o 50’s—1%

o 60’s—16%

o 70’s—18%

o 80’s—12%

o 90’s—13%

o 00’s—11%

o 10’s—14%

Total = 85% due to skipping question

When asked how to be contacted, most responded quarterly via letters, use of newsletter,

and marginally via email.

For a complete report of Short Questionnaire, refer to Attachment 7; for the Long Questionnaire,

refer to Attachment 8.

Conclusions:

There was little difference between the responses contained on the long survey v. the short

survey.

More than 1/3 of the respondents indicated they stayed connected only a “fair bit.”

Most common ways they stayed connected were via events, newsletter/magazine, and social

media.

Most believed that staying connected to NDC was the mission of the Alumni Association and

also to support the welfare of the college.



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YET only approximately 42% of the respondents indicated they financially support NDC, and

only 28% indicated they volunteered.

It was almost evenly divided that the Alumni Association is fulfilling its mission between

those who believe it is and those who believe it is not.

Communication efforts are not reaching the alumni.

Career Services was indicated by more recent graduates to be important.

Events to be considered offering: reunion, networking, homecoming, family-friendly.

Key messaging for financial support are educating students and preparing students for a job.

Contacting alumni are through email, letters, and the newsletter, quarterly would be most

effective.

PLANNING COMMITTEE

Members of the Planning Committee were: Brenda Bailey ’83, Candy Clemson ’70, Bernice Dondero

’78, Audrey Dvorak ’56, Christine Gibbons ’73, Kelly Hollingsworth ’15, Tina Jurcisin ’85, Tim Lowery ’16,

Ashley Maher ’16, Helen Mikel ’61, Anne Poorman ’84, Allison Powell ’94, Sr. Eileen Quinlan ’74, Joan

Lippus ’78, Nichole Vencl ’15, June Kiner '84

Staff: Heather Coontz

Facilitator: Patricia G. Egan, MBA, CFRE, Principal of Beyond Fundraising, LLC

The Planning Committee met for 3 sessions, with specific purposes:

1. To receive survey and focus group results and discuss

2. To review the mission and vision

3. To develop a structure that meets the needs of the constituencies, mission, and vision

Session I

The Planning Committee was very interested in the details of the survey and the discussion was

intense. They shared some of their own experiences as compared to the survey results and asked

for additional data. Specifically, they wanted to know if there was a difference between graduation

years for several of the questions. That information was resorted and provided in the notes from the

meeting. Other specific questions or suggestions:

Is the mission statement published anywhere? On the website. It is not included on printed

materials and would be easier if shorter.

Is there some way to make out-of-town alumni feel more included?

How can we better involve Career Services to those alumni or upper level students who are

job seeking?

How does this compare to other colleges? What do their alumni associations look like? An

intensive study was completed and will be presented at the next meeting, including local

colleges.

Are we using the newsletter and magazine to engage alumni and donations?

Why are people outside NDC featured on the cover of the magazine?

Messaging for students to become involved in the alumni association is different than the

one going to people who have already graduated.



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The president of NDC should have a message in the magazine.

A discussion of the upcoming meeting was then outlined. It was important for the committee to

begin thinking about the next meeting within the context of what they had just learned from the

focus group and survey.

Importance of a short, meaningful mission.

How should the association be organized?

How should this roll out?

How should the changes be communicated to the membership?

For Agenda and PowerPoint presentation of Session I, refer to Attachment 9.

Session II

This session was very focused and determined the preliminary mission and vision of the Alumni

Association. After discussing how other colleges and universities articulated their mission and were

structured, a list of key words for both the mission and vision content were developed.

The Planning Committee developed the following:

Preliminary Mission statement:

The Mission of the Notre Dame College Alumni Association is to reinforce and foster

relationships among alumni students, the college, faculty, and the community.

Preliminary Vision statement:

The Vision of the Notre Dame College Alumni Association is to enrich the quality of the Notre

Dame College Community and invest in initiatives that ensure its future.

There was discussion of the structure of the “new” Alumni Association; however, there were no firm

decisions, rather preliminary thoughts.

Because there was intense discussion at this meeting, it was determined that a third planning

session would be required to fully develop the structure and to vote on the recommended mission

and vision statements.

For a comprehensive information, refer to Session II packet, Attachment 10.

Session III/Recommendation

This session was focused on two items: affirm and recommend the mission and vision statements

and develop the structure for the board.

The recommended mission statement is:

The mission of the Alumni Association of Notre Dame College is to reinforce connections and

foster relationships among alumni students, faculty, and our communities in support of the

Notre Dame College mission.



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The recommended vision statement is:

The vision of the Alumni Association of Notre Dame College is to enrich the quality of the

Notre Dame College community and invest in initiatives that ensure its future.

The recommended board structure is:

Size: 15 members

Composition: 1 current student (perhaps the VP of Student Government)

1 faculty member

1 community member

1 Sister of Notre Dame

1 Alumni Director (staff)

1 Staff (non-faculty)

9 Diverse alumni (gender, athlete, graduation year, weekend)

Committees:

Executive: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and chairs of sub-

committees, Alumni Director

Standing Committees: Alumni Engagement, Student Engagement, Fiscal

The Chair of the Fiscal Committee would be the Treasurer

Other recommendations:

o Alumni Engagement Committee activities might include affinity

groups, luncheon, reunion/homecoming

o Student Engagement Committee components could include pre-

professional events, talks, mentoring

o Fiscal Committee responsibilities could include fundraising,

annual fund initiative

The “activities” outlined above would involve ad hoc committees, formed

as needed and focused on specific activities or initiatives.

The Alumni Engagement, Student Engagement, and Fiscal Committees

would be chaired by board members, but populated by a broad base of

individuals recruited for a specific committee activity. This inclusiveness

would allow a larger number of individuals to be involved in the Alumni

Association without having the responsibilities of board service. It would

also develop a pool of potential board members.

For complete information, refer to Attachments 11 and 12.

Proposed Organization Chart, Attachment 13.

NEXT STEPS

A discussion also followed that included the necessary steps to ensure the transition. Therefore, it is

recommended that the following actions take place:



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Month/2017 Activity

December 15-

January 15

Formal vote to accept new organization

February Create a transition team with the express purpose of developing and

launching the new structure.

Revise By-Laws

March Recruit board members and leadership

o In accordance with the new structure

o Consider a “Call for Nominations” broadcast blast to alumni

o Consider a Nominating Committee, who have the sole purpose of

recruiting candidates for board positions

o Develop role and responsibility of an Alumni Association board

member for recruitment purposes

Create a communication plan for new structure, new board, and future

communications

April Prepare for announcement at Spring Luncheon

o Vote on slate of officers

o Vote on new By-Laws

Install new officers and board members

May Define scope, purpose, and responsibilities of each committee

Plan for the future

o What kinds of events are appropriate

o What ad hoc committees are necessary to achieve plan

Recruit individual chairs of specific committees

Assist in recruitment of committee members

o What benchmarks and metrics are needed to ensure success

Define success for each initiative

Align responsibility with appropriate committee chair

Transition Team can assume responsibilities through April, when new officers and board will assume

leadership roles after their election.

CONCLUSION

While much effort has created a new structure, it will be imperative for the Transition Team to carry

forward the structure and to prepare the foundation for its success. Then, it will be incumbent on

the new board to further develop the Association, thereby, making it a vibrant, responsive, and

successful organization.



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Report Notre Dame College Alumni Association Restructuring ... · social media. Many did not actually know what the mission of the Alumni Association was. Current communication methods