HAA Clubs and SIGs Directors' Key Recommendations

Engaging Volunteers and Generating New Board Members: 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:

  • Raine Figueroa AB ’84, MBA ’91, Director for Undergraduate-based SIGs - Presenter
  • Loulan Pitre AB ’83, JD ’86, Director for Mid-South
  • Seyma Yavuz CSS ’97, Director for Europe
  • George Yeadon AB ’75, Director for Upper New York State – Presenter

COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS: 

  • AlumniMagnet is able to run a report of volunteers who are new to the community/area.  Reach out to these alumni personally asking them to get involved with the Club/SIG; they tend to be more inclined as in most cases they are just making connections in the area.
  •  Personal touch can’t be overstated.
  •  Have mentors for the new Club/SIG volunteers so they feel comfortable in their position.
  •  Give volunteers meaningful and useful tasks to the Club/SIG so they feel needed and necessary.
  •   Build up volunteers from small tasks to larger ones as so not to overwhelm them.
  • Club/SIG President or Board to publicly recognize the work of the volunteers involved in specific events/projects.
  •  Make one-on-one connections over coffee or lunch, particularly with young alumni.
  •  Job search guidance or introductions by Club Board Members create goodwill.
  •  Consider engaging young alumni around anniversary or special occasion for a College group

Programming Ideas and Diversity of Events:

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:

  •   Daniel Budiman MBA ’95, Director for Asia
  • Jonathan Guss AB ’68, Director for Canada
  • Dick Oehmler AB ’76, Director For Metropolitan NY-NJ
  • Rick Shepro AB ’75, JD ’79, Director for Western Great Lake – Presenter

COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS: 

  • Partner with other Ivy League Clubs or local universities. 
  • Create programs that reach several different age pockets.
  •   Use email merger for invitations making the invitations more personal.
  •   HAA Speakers Bureau program is available to Clubs/SIGs.  Athletic coaches could be speakers too.
  • Due to the lack of a centralized system to keep track of where the Harvard faculty travel; keep on the lookout for faculty in your area through the newspaper or bookstores (book tours).
  • Take advantage of HAA organized Global Networking Night and Global Month of Service, which may draw out alumni who would otherwise not participate in typical Club/SIG events.
  •  Survey your membership to see what types of programs/events they are most interested in. 
  • Consider holding events at different times/days of the week to appeal to wider range of members (recent grads, working parents, families, older alumni etc.)
  • Repeating past successful events will not always lead to same results.
  •  Consider identifying local alumni who lead Museums, are heads of academic departments, etc., who might lead tours /give talks for Club members

Involving Recent Graduates:

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:

  •   Krzysztof Daniewski MBA ’99, Director For Europe
  • Andrew Grinstead AB ’97, Director for General Interest SIGs
  • Lewis P. Jones AB ’74, Director for Harvard Club of New York City
  • John Kennedy  AB ’63, Director for Religious Identity SIGs
  • Stan Mark AB ’73, MBA ’76, Director for Pacific Northwest
  • Peter Mazareas AB ’73, Director for Northeastern Massachusetts - Presenter
  • Frances Sun MPA ’03, Director for Asia

COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS: 

  • Connect with existing campus based Harvard student groups that relate to your area or focus on a mission that is relevant to your Club or SIG. Sign up your Club/SIG to their mailing list so you are aware of their activities and can support or participate if appropriate.
  • Work closely with the Schools & Scholarship Committee and Interviewers in your area to extend the newly admitted students an invitation to join the Club/SIG even before they arrive at Harvard.  If they join before they go, you will be able to maintain valuable email communication with them while they are students.  Consider offering free membership and attendance at events to current students until they graduate or even a year or two after graduation.
  • Participate in HAA Summer Community  Fellowship Program (http://www.clubsandsigs.harvard.edu/article.html?aid=120
  • Take advantage of online tools and social media.
  • Evaluate the possibility of offering a membership structure with lower fees for recent graduates.
  • Organize a summer/winter break gathering for alumni with current students from all Harvard Schools who are in your area.  
  • Organize a get-together for students from your area/interest when a Club Board Member is in Cambridge.
  • As part of a reminder invitation for your events, share a list of who has RSVP’d to attend your events in hopes for recent graduates to recognize someone else they know and decide to join too. (Ask permission on your registration form to be able to show registered guests names on the reminder invitation)
  •   Form a sub committee of volunteers  to make personal calls to recent graduates who are new to the area inviting them to join one of their events as their guests.
  •  Include recent graduates on the Board
  • Create events that would be of special interest to younger alumni. (Happy Hour, family  interests, Harvard vs. Yale  local sports competitions)
  • Clubs to work closely with Welcome to Your City events - http://alumni.harvard.edu/events/welcome-to-your-city-2012
  • Attracting is separate than involving recent graduates to the Club – give them a responsibility.
  •  The HAA will continue to distribute a flyer with information about Clubs/SIGs when students pick up their graduation tickets at the HAA Office.
  • The HAA will continue to share with the international Clubs the names of the College students that have self-selected to be in contact with alumni during their international alumni experience offered through the Harvard Office of International Educational.  This will allow an early interaction/awareness of the Club networks among some College students.

Increasing Membership: 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:

  • Larry Kahn AB ’83, Director for Eastern Florida and the Islands - Presenter
  • Stephen Mullin AB ’77, Director for Greater Delaware Valley
  • Peg Padnos AB ’70, Director for Eastern Great Lakes
  • Allan Smith AB ’80, Director for Texas

COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS:
  Tried & True:

  • Allocate budget to send a paper newsletter/dues request to all local alumni at least once a year.
  • Offer diverse programming that attracts different demographics to join the Club/SIG.  
  •  Try for events that are unique (special access; behind-the-scenes; interaction with speaker is in setting difficult to replicate).
  • Form connections with local students (for Clubs) or respective/related student organizations (for SIGs) to assist with natural pipeline of potential members.
  •  Consider offering discounted membership to recent graduates. 

New & Different:

  • Use an automatic credit card renewal system for memberships.
  • Maintain current websites with events, members’ benefits and contacts. Add a Facebook page/group/consider a Twitter feed
  •  Create a mentoring program between old and new members to retain the membership renewal of both groups.
  • Designate ALL LOCAL ALUMNI in your region / your database as MEMBERS for free. Then design/offer:
                a)  levels of membership with increased benefits ("crimson-level events"; free registration or premium seating, etc.). Steeper pricing differences between members and non-members  to  attend events creating a tangible differentiation.  b) sponsorship or naming opportunities that leverage size and stature of your club's reach.

Succession:

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:

  •   Brad Gronek ALM ’05, Director for Southwest - Presenter
  •   Don Guiney AB ’78, Director for Europe
  •   Peter Hasko PMD ’93, Director for Australasia
  •   Glenn Haughie AB ’61, MD ’65, MPH ’70, Director for Western Florida
  •   Ashraf Hegazy AB ’96, MBA ’09, Director for Cultural and Gender Identity SIGs
  •   Eli Poliakoff AB ’00, Director for Carolinas
  •   Rodrigo Ravilet MBA ’03, Director for Latin America


COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS: 

  • Keep track of who attends several of your events and shows interest in the Club/SIG as they could be potential candidates to groom for leadership positions.
  • Keep diversity in mind as you recruit potential candidates for the Club/SIG Board.
  •  Past Presidents are a good resource to help recruit new leadership for the Club/SIG.
  • Make Club/SIG Board roles less overwhelming by distributing duties –  Each person on the Club/SIG    Board must do ‘1 Thing” whether it is run a symposium or host a pot luck dinner.
  •  Have a brief job description of the leadership positions available at the Club/SIG.
  •  Move Executive Committee Board members through the pipeline.   
  • Send open letters to the local alumni community encouraging candidates to come forward
  •  Have at least one current student representative in the Board to start the grooming early and to act as a spokesperson for the interest of this younger demographic group.  Be certain to incorporate recent admits to local Harvard Club data base and invite them to as many events as possible before they leave for Cambridge 
  •  Create a “road map” of events, guidelines, attendance and policies that can be passed down to the next leader.
  • Create a Vice President position that allow at least a year to groom that person into the President position.
     

Fundraising and Financial Viability:  

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:

  •   Amy Hanson AB ’92, Director for Northern California - Presenter
  •   David Margain MBA ’06, Director for Latin America
  •   Mark Price AB ’98, MBA ’04, Director for Cultural and Gender Identity SIGs
  •   Graciella Saccon MA ’90, PhD ’93, Director for Northern New England
  •   Kartik Venkatram AB ’05, SM ’05, Director for ARTS SIGs
  •   John West MBA ’95, Director for Professional Interest SIGs - Presenter


COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS: 

  •   Communicate clearly to members what Club/SIG dues will be funding and how these activities fit into a strategic plan.
  • Raise sponsorship funds from companies or partake in ‘passion funding’ which involves finding a person or group with similar passions to sponsor an event/fund. Remember to be mindful, however, of which organizations you are partnering with as the Club/SIG's name is then tied to the association with that group. Sponsorship can be in kind contribution like usage of space or food as well.
  •  Look at ‘revenue share’ options – partnering company gets new clients and Club/SIG gets a percentage of the income. (Keep away from endorsements)
  •  Clubs/SIG to collaborate hosting joined events/projects.
  •  Create a strategic plan for the Club/SIG with membership structures that allow alumni to fund the Club/SIG based on their financial possibility to help the Club/SIG reach their goals. (Patron category) 
  •  Prepare an annual report that includes the Club/SIG financial situation so members know how the funds are spend and to be transparent on the expenditures.  Make sure all members receive the annual report.