An alumni club helps people connect, reconnect, and network. It is a gateway for people to get in touch with long-lost friends, provide professional opportunities such as internships, and help build valuable contacts. There is no denying that alumni clubs can be useful in many ways. Are you looking to build one yourself? Read further to know what it takes to start an alumni club.
5 Steps to Build an Alumni Club
Step 1: Determine Who Will Run the Alumni Club
Starting an alumni club involves a bit of research, lots of communication, and a detailed planning process. You will first have to decide who will run the club.
Your manager needs to be:
- An alumnus of the institution,
- Enthusiastic about the club and its future,
- Willing to dedicate the time and effort required to bring people together,
- Able to stay in touch with fellow alumni and the institution they are an alumnus of.
Deciding on an alumni club manager should be followed by acquiring the necessary permissions to establish your club. It may not be necessary for many countries but is mandatory in some.
Step 2: Create Your Team
Once you decide who is going to be in charge of the club, you will have to do some research and locate the alumni who graduated from the school or university. Don’t be afraid to reach out.
Firstly, make a list of people who are equally excited about starting a club. Ensure you are ready with the list of core team members willing to help run the club.
Step 3: Build Your Alumni Community
Once the team has been decided, work can be divided and given to different core team members.
The tasks that need to be divided between core team members include:
- Communicating with the institution
- Acquiring contact details of the alumnus
- Geographically tracking old alumni
- Contacting old alumni to inform them about the new club, along with requesting them to be a part of it.
Moreover, members can be registered manually, or you could use alumni management software to help you with this task.
Step 4: Manage Fundings
From hosting events to supporting charities and funding scholarships, funding is essential for running any club. After a list of all the interested people is made, you can send them invites through emails.
You can also ask for a donation to get the club up and running along with the emails. Of course, this has to be something they get to choose. The institution may have also set aside some funds for running an alumni club. All this money can be put into kick-starting your club with the first event gala planned.
Ensure you are able to collect online payments over a secure platform with your alumni engagement software.
Step 5: Host the First Event
You can collaborate with interested sponsors or have some alumni sponsor for the first event. This can be a dinner or a show or a gala that will entertain all the members. The tickets to this can be sold online through your alumni software.
Grow Your Alumni Club with Raklet
Organize events and collect payments. Add tiered memberships and collect the fees (one-time or annual) easily online. Slowly establish scholarship funds and networking opportunities to help your alumni benefit from being a part of the club. Make use of our discussion boards and private messaging features to strengthen bonds. Also, you can use our job boards to create more opportunities for each alumnus.
Having all-in-one software like Raklet will help you manage all of these tasks. You can keep track of real-time alumni data with our alumni association software be engaged with alumni members and offer them opportunities.
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