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  • 1.  Alumni Engagement Metrics

    Posted 04-18-2023 01:43 PM

    Hello,

    I've been trying to find institutions that report on Alumni Engagement; created a metrics. Our Office of Alumni Engagement wants to have more meaningful tracking and reporting. In the future, they want to create a score that they can combine with donor information to identify the super engaged that may not give or may not give much to see if we can develop a deeper relationship.

    We have investigated the AEM Survey, but wanted to see what others maybe doing outside of that survey.

    Thanks,
    Lara



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    Lara Couture
    Carroll University
    lcouture@carrollu.edu
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  • 2.  RE: Alumni Engagement Metrics

    Posted 04-25-2023 12:26 PM
    We've done some work in this area to build engagement scores. There are also some approaches to identifying prospects out of engagement data (and other date) using AI, which may be more useful for lead identification and predictive modeling but is less useful for creating engagement metrics. 

    Up front, my advice is to understand what the purpose of scoring is, and what data you have to work with. A scoring system that is intended to reveal who is engaged needs to be able to tackle questions like what counts as an engagement, how much is it worth relative to other engagements, and over what scope of time is it relevant. For example, opening an email is good, but its effect on the score should be small and should expire much faster than attendance at a class reunion. Creating proper weighting and aging for engagements is very important for the system to have meaning. 

    Happy to discuss further offline. 

    Thank you,
    Isaac Shalev
    Data Strategy Expert
    Sage70, Inc.
    (917) 859-0151
    isaac@sage70.com

    Schedule a 30-minute consultation now:




    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Alumni Engagement Metrics

    Posted 04-26-2023 06:00 AM

    For the last 9 months+ we have been trying to implement documentation processes that align with the factors noted in the CASE Insights Alumni Engagement Survey (the AEM you mentioned, I believe). From an Operations standpoint, this has been incredibly tedious and time-consuming work for our small Advancement team. There are limitations to how we can document engagement in Blackbaud Raisers Edge without the database getting clunky, and also finding ways to make sure it can all be exported cleanly.

    Lara, I'm curious why you may be exploring options outside of the AEM. (I'd love a survey that is supports easier tracking! The Alumni Communications bucket especially is a huge challenge). Does anyone else have experience with this CASE AEM benchmarking? Did it have (is it having) value for your organization? 

    Sorry, I don't have alternate suggestions, but I will be following this thread closely now. 

    Thanks, 
    Katie

    P.S. I'm really curious about the AI approach Isaac mentioned below, so maybe he can expand on that. 



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    Kathryn Rusak
    College for Creative Studies
    krusak@collegeforcreativestudies.edu
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Alumni Engagement Metrics

    Posted 04-26-2023 06:39 AM
    AEM is a great resource for organizations that are exploring this topic. I often speak about it and the foundational principles CASE advocates.

    However, the AEM isn't the only solution - it is more of a launching pad. Many institutions have been developing different engagement metrics since long before AEM evolved. For example, we developed an engagement model at NC State in 2010 that fit our culture and institutional activities. And I have consulted for clients that developed tools dating back 20+ years.

    AEM is a super starting place. I reference it to my non-education clients interested in developing donor engagement metrics outside of an alumni base (which AEM can be adapted to).

    What is important is understanding your culture and constituent base. Then I suggest you review the core components of AEM (Philanthropic, Volunteer, Experiential, and Communication) and devise a metric that supports your way of life - and engagement.

    FWIW, this topic will be covered at the Midwest Meeting of the Minds Conference in Chicago this July - it was also a very popular session in Pomona at MOTM earlier this year - it's not just for higher education!

    John

    John H. Taylor
    Principal
    John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC
    2604 Sevier St.
    Durham, NC   27705
    919.816.5903 (cell/text)

    Serving the Advancement Community Since 1987





    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Alumni Engagement Metrics

    Posted 04-26-2023 08:30 AM

    We've reviewed the AEM Survey and after some in-depth conversations it was decided that participating in the survey wasn't beneficial at this point. I've been trying to push the Alumni Engagement team to use the AEM as a guide so that after some time tracking on our own we could eventually participate with very little pain; however, that's not my decision. That's why I've reached out to see what other institutions are doing. I know this has been a topic in the industry for a very long time.

     

    I definitely appreciate the feedback I've received so far and have been sharing it with our Alumni Engagement team.

     

    Lara

     

    Lara Couture

    Director of Advancement Services

    Pronouns: (She/Her/Hers)

     

    Office: 262-951-3101

    carrollu.edu

     

     

    100 N. East Avenue | Waukesha, WI 53186

     




    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Alumni Engagement Metrics

    Posted 02-02-2024 11:02 AM
    Katie and Lara,

    We are using AEM now for a fourth year.  I agree that it takes a bit to get the staff into a routine of tracking data points under the new method.  We use ImportOmatic to load all of our email data into Raiser's Edge.  We use ScoreOmatic to create the scores for reporting back to CASE and for pulling the appropriate people into the various communication campaigns.  We still struggle with the social data and for the large part are not really tracking that yet.

    I would say we struggled the first couple of years to make use of the data.  We are now building a rhythm of how we want it to impact who we communicate with and who we don't.  It also helps us identify the pockets where we currently do a poor job of engaging.  Additionally, we are using the AEM to measure engagement with all constituencies - not just Alumni (Although we only report alumni to CASE).

    If you would like to chat further, please let me know.

    Joel Clasemann
    The College of St. Scholastica



    Joel Clasemann (he, him, his)

    Director of Advancement Services


    jclasema@css.edu | 218-723-6479

    css.edu/campaign



    Confidentiality Notice: The content of this message is the proprietary and confidential property of The College of St. Scholastica, and should be treated as such. If you are not a designated recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, copying or distribution of this email or its contents is strictly prohibited. You may not review, copy or share this message; please delete this message from your system and notify me immediately by reply e-mail. Any unauthorized use or distribution of the content of this message is not permitted and may be illegal. Unless otherwise stated, opinions expressed in this email are those of the author and are not endorsed by The College.  



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  • 7.  RE: Alumni Engagement Metrics

    Posted 04-26-2023 08:30 AM

    I agree that AEM is a great start.  I've found that one of the most important factors in developing a metric is to test the measurement on known alumni/donors/prospects and also to obtain feedback from the development staff on an ongoing basis.  This will help to refine the metric to your institution's constituents.  Any changes to the metric calculation after in production should be documented and given a version number, alongside the score.  

    Terry Callaghan 
    aasp Board Member
    Senior Director, Management Consulting
    Zuri Group



    ------------------------------
    Terry Callaghan
    Zuri Group
    terry@zurigroup.com
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    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Alumni Engagement Metrics

    Posted 04-17-2025 10:29 AM
    Edited by Adrian Copeland 04-17-2025 10:29 AM

    Hello,

    I found this thread because our AdServ team is also embarking on creating our own engagement score metrics/model! I've looked into the AEM survey and bench marking, but we're looking to create a more granular scoring system that includes weighting different types of engagement.

    So far, we've identified five categories for engaging, and are considering weighting them from most to least significant in the following way: donating, volunteering, event attendance, class notes, and online engagement. Now we're curious if others have a standard formula for weighting different engagement, or if your scoring system is more of a one to one, i.e., "this person donated at least once, attended at least one event, and opened an email, so their score is a three for those three points of engagement."

    Thanks in advance!

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    Adrian Copeland
    University of New England
    acopeland2@une.edu
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    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Alumni Engagement Metrics

    Posted 04-17-2025 10:40 AM
    Hi Adrian....

    Great question and I like the granular approach.  Weighting can be difficult to evaluate and hit the right balance.  

    It may help to incorporate weighting through the granular breakdown in each category.  For example, 

    Giving:
    1 point - gift this year
    1 point - for each gift in the previous four years
    1 point - giving velocity > 25% (that is, an increase in giving of 25% or more over a certain period, say 5 years)

    This way you are weighting giving based upon the constituents' actual engagement vs. how important it is to the institution.  

    Also, and I am sure you have thought of this, be sure to run a pilot group of alumni whom you know and don't know to "test" your method.  
    Once rolled out, ask your staff to provide f, eedback - for example, why is "Mr. Brown's score X, it seems low."  This way you can adjust your formula over time. 
    And I suggest adding versions to your formula - calculation at version 1.0, 1.1, etc. so you are comparing apples to apples over time.  

    All the best!

    Terry Callaghan
    AVP, Management Consulting
    Zuri Group



    Original Message


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