Communication and contribution preferences: An investigation of millennial alumni

Shrinking university budgets make the efforts of development offices even more critical. Before alumni give financially, they must feel emotionally connected to an institution. To keep alumni engaged and connected, institutions must develop effective communication strategies. This paper investigates preferred methods of communication among millennial alumni, topics of interest to alumni and ways that alumni would like to give back to their alma maters. Alumni are most interested in staying connected to the university through mail, whether that is traditional postal mail or e-mail accounts. With respect to using social media, alumni were most likely to use Facebook. This study sampled young alumni so it is not surprising that the respondents were interested in job opportunities. The other topics of interest seemed to have to do with general campus updates as opposed to specifics such as Greek life, faculty and student activities. In terms of making contributions, respondents were most interested in maintaining a connection with their major field of study by serving in an advisory capacity to some degree for their major. They also indicated a willingness to stay connected by attending events. There seemed to be at least some willingness to give back financially.