Alumni engagements is the foremost goal for a majority of the alumni associations across the world. The strongest alumni associations of the world have the maximum engagement in their alumni network.

There are a host of services and activities that the alumni association can offer to the alumni in order to keep the network active. Different things could out well for different associations. The association needs to experiment and then find their best strategy to grow the engagement. If one strategy fails, there are many others which can be implemented!

Through this article, we shall see all the different things that an association can offer to the alumni in order to keep the engagements high and grow in the process.

All that can be offered to alumni for better engagement

If the alumni association offers a plethora of services, benefits and opportunities to the alumni then it always keeps them bound and grateful to their Alma mater. These events and services are an integral part of the alumni body and now let's explore all the possible things alumni bodies can do for their alumni:

1. Career Services A college provides it's students a lot of opportunities to grow and prosper. If a student graduates with a good job offer or some good career path ahead he/she has a lot of gratitude for their Alma mater and hence, when they reach the zenith of success they try to give back to the college. A person might not always land up with the perfect job or opportunity from college and here the alumni network can greatly help the student in finding a good opportunity, this could be the case later in life too if an alumni faces any difficulties on the professional front. Career services can be offered by an alumni association to the alumni network to help alumni on the professional front whether they are looking for a job change or a fresh job. There can be various events around career services like job fairs, networking events, referral drives and more in order to help maximum alumni.
   

2. Networking Events Every alumni association tries to organize meaningful and relevant events in order to keep the alumni engaged. Networking events could include virtual meet up sessions, job fairs, webinars, QnA sessions with some distinguished alumni, informal get-togethers and more. These events help alumni maintain the connect with fellow alumni and grow their own network too. These events help in getting maximum alumni engagement and are a great hit among the young alumni who are looking for networking opportunities.
   

3. Reunions Having all the people of the same batch under the same roof years after graduation is a very refreshing thing for alumni and a great means of driving engagement for the alumni association. The alumni is able to relive all the memories of their college times and bond with one another. The associations must keep reunions of different batches from time to time and make them as appealing as possible so that more and more alumni join together in such events and re kindle the spirit of their Alma mater.
   

4. Access to campus resources The alumni association can help in arranging access to the campus resources to the alumni. This helps the alumni reconnect with the college if they are visiting or reside in the city where their college is located then they can easily visit the library for a book to read or run in the campus grounds if they are provided this access by the associations. Such an access encourages the alumni to gather and visit the institute every once in a while and stay in touch with it.
   

5. Educational(Seminar/Lifelong learning) The alumni association can impart knowledge and educational content to their alumni to create a huge impact on them. The alumni association can conduct seminars, provide access to online study material, hold informational sessions on various exams, build communities to help alumni crack exams and more to provide educational content to the alumni. Educational learning remains with the alumni for their entire life and increases alumni engagement as well.
   

6. Digital communication The alumni association should maintain a proper database of their alumni. Having valid email ids is very important for the alumni association. This helps the college and the association in communicating all updates to the alumni on a regular basis. The information of all events, fund raisers, achievements and more can be communicated to the alumni through emails. Apart from this, the association can have active social media handles and keep them active with all updates for the alumni. This is an integral part of the digital communication strategy that every association should follow.
   

7. Electronic publication The alumni association can provide alumni with access to various research publications and related content. Not only this, the association can also support the research oriented alumni in coming up with their own papers and then help them in getting their work published. This enhances the overall reputation of the college and enhances the impact that the alumni network has. The alumni association can publish newsletters and such online content in order to keep the alumni updated as well.
   

8. Alumni directory The alumni association can build an online alumni directory on their website. This a very helpful resource for the college as well as the alumni network. Whenever someone from the network needs information on a fellow alumnus and reach out to them, they can easily look such things up in the alumni directory. The directory should be updated from time to time.
   

9. Chapters & clubs The association should run chapters for alumni spread out across various geographical regions. This helps in keeping the alumni across the globe engaged and people have connects with relevant people from the alumni network during times of need. The association can form clubs too for people with common interests. These promote the overall engagement in the alumni network as people get to know a lot more similar people.
   

10. Online community The alumni association should maintain an active community online on several social media platforms in order to aid casual interaction in the alumni network. The alumni association can build communities on LinkedIn and Facebook and keep the alumni updated on more platforms like Instagram and Twitter too. The college and the association can use such channels for communicating all updates to the alumni and keeping them up to date with each activity. The alumni can also leverage these online channels for their own purposes too.
    

11. Printed Publications The alumni association can publish magazines or newsletters and distribute them to the alumni either when they visit the campus or during networking events or reunions. Such material remains with the alumni and goes back with them. It is like a memoir for them and gives them a feeling of attachment every time they look at it.
    

12. Discounts The alumni association can work towards partnering with various brands and come up with discounts exclusively for their alumni from time to time. This makes the alumni feel special, gain benefits due to the excellent working of their alumni association and it also keeps the alumni engaged. There could be discounts in some select food outlets, clothing outlets and more. These can vary from time to time based on feasibility.

13. Insurance The alumni associations can partner with insurance companies in order to provide discounted rates on various types of insurance like home, health, automobile and more.
    

14. Travel Programs The alumni association can organize some trips and tours round the year. These could be treks, trips to the mountains or the college itself! This is a very good in which the alumni can get together and bond and relive their old memories again. The travel program can be subsidized for the alumni so it's affordable as well. A lot of interesting activities can be done on such trips.
    

15. Financial services and banking The alumni association can partner with banks and financial institutions in order to provide a host of very useful services like lesser interest rates on loans, easy loans, less credit / debit card fees, special credit services and more. These services add value to alumni for more savings and boosts the brand of the association too.

The above are all the ways that an association can work on in order to build a strong alumni network with a lot of engagement. Since there is a lot that an alumni association can do to enhance the engagement in the network, full time employees in the engagements department are pretty important for getting the best results.

Try the above and grow your alumni association engagement and take it to the next level!