Alumni Relations Strategy
Go Global will help you and your institution think holistically about how to build a lifelong relationship with your international alumni: Identify tactics for recruiting and retaining more international alumni volunteers; create budgets and infrastructure to support both short and long-term global planning; plan new and improved international events; and identify, develop and/or expand international volunteer management opportunities and practices.
The Importance of International Alumni Chapters
Today across the world, institutions are weighing the pro’s and con’s for investing in international alumni relations. Making the case for engaging international alumni via regional chapters or networks is easy when you consider these eight reasons:
- Helps your institution create a global footprint of alumni engagement that supports its overall mission/vision.
- Supports specific University internationalization efforts including:
- International student recruitment.
- Academic partnerships (research/education/faculty-visiting scholar exchange) and study abroad programs.
- Facilitates networking among local alumni as well as re-establishes active connection between alumni and the institution.
- Creates a framework for international alumni to serve as sources of undergrad/graduate internships, jobs, or other living/learning opportunities.
- Helps promote the overall visibility and “presence” of the institution overseas.
- Assists in fundraising and donor cultivation activities on behalf of the institution, including international financial aid for undergraduates from the home region.
- Assists in building and strengthening the regional alumni database by verifying accurate contact information.
Annual Fund Development
Using the Four Pillars of Engagement, Go Global will help your institution construct the right stories to share when seeking greater participation and gifts. Incorporate international alumni relations into overall outreach strategy with Admissions, Academic Units and Advancement to stimulate more international donations from individuals, corporations, and foundations.
Academic Partnerships
Recent surveys have shown that alumni feel connected to their academic affiliations: their professors, classmates, campus and experiences. Go Global will identify ways to build efficiencies across departments and institution with respect to international and domestic outreach and engagement. It’s a pure win-win for all involved.
Professional Coaching
Gretchen also provides professional coaching for international advancement and academic officers. Whether you are a new Dean inheriting an international outreach agenda or a new Vice President of Advancement or Director of Alumni Affairs walking into a world of international alumni engagement at your home campus, rest assured: the results of spending a day or two with Gretchen will be felt for many years to come. Gretchen devotes her energy and expertise in helping professionals inherit an International IQ within days.
More information about Professional Coaching Services
Events and Meeting Management
Alongside consulting, Gretchen and her team specialize in international special events and meetings for clients with particular needs outside their home country. With over 20 years of managing events for audiences from a dozen to over 1,000, Go Global will represent your institution’s or organization’s interest in regions around the world where you are missing staff or volunteer representation. Examples include: satellite campus reunions, memorandums of understanding and dual-institution partnerships, executive education courses, capital campaign launches around the world, and global forums bringing together regional alumni with your institution. Gretchen serves as a project manager and is involved from the beginning to the end, including staffing services on site.
