Engagement Beyond A Form Email Or Letter In The Mail

Phil's Careers Blog Engagement: Beyond a Form Email or Letter in the Mail By John Grant I met Oprah this week. Well, not the Oprah, but someone who's just about as equally as massive of a deal in my world. I had a rare opportunity just lately to sit in on a session with someone who I’ll dare say is my hero within the development and alumni engagement world. He’s an individual who I find inspiring, has a proven observe record, and who makes me wish to bounce out of my seat and make a distinction. I’m not capable of summarize every little thing that I took away from our time collectively (you’ll need to pay him for that data!), however one factor that is important to acknowledge is that our success as fundraisers and alumni relations professionals is based on one fundamental principle: genuine engagement. Our prospects (typically alumni) are busy folks. They have multiple competing pursuits, and every organization they’ve ever interacted with is probably going sending them emails or ‘personali zed’ letters in the mail seeking a present of time or money. So how will we stand out? For these of us who work in submit-secondary establishments, our alumni are a very unique stakeholder; they’ve invested years on our campuses, forging important relationships and creating reminiscences that may undoubtedly last for a season, a reason, or a lifetime. The bottom line is that they've some form of attachment to some aspect of the organizations we’re working for. The key for us is to determine the source of that attachment to which we are able to construct upon. If we begin to reach out to prospects and alumni in an genuine method what we do is begin to think much less about what we want (the present or their time), and think more about what they need (to really feel that they’re making a distinction or to supply a conduit for that distinction to happen). As the Marketing Officer in our office always touts: “We need to go back to the basics of communication and think about wh at the viewers needs.” So what does genuine engagement seem like? Here are a few places to start: You’re dying to know who my “Oprah” is, right? Jim Langley is his name and you can study more about him here. John Grant has been working with Simon Fraser University for the previous decade, nearly half of which has been devoted to Alumni Relations. His major duties include constructing robust relationships with campus companions to discover, encourage, and promote alternatives to broaden alumni engagement. A massive element to this position is to function a type of consultant to inner teams to make recommendations that improve general alumni engagement together with communications methods, program options, and efficiency monitoring systems. He and his spouse gained the SFU Humanitarian Staff Achievement Award for establishing a monetary award for undergraduate student leaders. John holds a BA in Communication and Psychology, a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration, and a Master of Education in Post-Secondary Post navigation 2 ideas on “Engagement: Beyond a Form Email or Letter in the Mail” Well stated John. I’d add to your advertising officer’s statement concerning understanding audiences’ needs by saying that is done through listening…actually listening. Authentic engagement is the best way we construct robust, supportive, sustainable communities. This takes time and commitment to construct. As you said, we are stretched thin with assets nevertheless these relationships built on trust and commitment are rewarding in tangible and generally the most interesting non-tangible ways. Glad you were in a position to meet your Oprah! Absolutely, Janice! I couldn’t agree extra. Thanks for sharing! Fill in your particulars under or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. (Log Out/ Change) You are commenting utilizing your Google account. (Log Out/ Change) You are commenting using your Twitter account. (Log Out/ Change) You are commenting using your Facebook acco unt. (Log Out/ Change) Connecting to %s Notify me of recent feedback by way of email. Notify me of latest posts via email. Email Subscription Enter your e-mail handle to observe my NEW weblog and stay on high of the newest career opportunities and fundraising news. Sign me up! Follow On Twitter Browse by Category Phil’s Careers Tweets Error: Twitter didn't respond. Please wait a couple of minutes and refresh this web page.