On this episode of Alumless, Cindy Fredrick, Senior Associate Vice President for Advancement at the University of Virginia, joins us to discuss the crucial role that volunteers play in engagement and philanthropy. With over 5,000 volunteers involved in UVA Advancement’s efforts, Cindy brings her expertise in scaling volunteer programs, stewarding alumni, and maximizing their impact on the conversation.

We dive into how volunteerism in advancement has evolved over the years and discuss best practices for engaging and stewarding alumni, faculty, and parent-family volunteers. Cindy shares insights on innovative engagement strategies beyond event-based participation and explains how institutions can cultivate a volunteer pipeline that moves supporters from small commitments to high-impact leadership roles.

Thanks to Protopia for supporting Alumless. For more information about their AI-powered technology that’s helped schools like LSE and Northwestern win CASE awards in 2024, visit protopia.co/alumless.

In this first episode, we welcome Dr. Maria Gallo, Founder of KITE-Keep in Touch Education and Research Fellow at Trinity Business School. Maria shares insights from her research and experience in alumni relations as we discuss the concept of ‘alumni potential’ and how institutions foster lifelong connections with their graduates. We also dive into global trends, cultural differences in engagement, and key takeaways from her book The Alumni Way.

Tune in every other Friday at 11:30 a.m. GMT on LinkedIn and Youtube for more conversations with experts shaping the future of alumni engagement worldwide. We alternate weeks between Alumless and Alumless World.

Thanks to our presenting sponsor, Protopia, for supporting Alumless World. Don’t forget to subscribe and join us on this exciting new journey! Visit protopia.co/alumless.

Join us as we explore email as a critical metric for alumni engagement. Chris and Ryan welcome special guest Ashley Budd, Senior Director for Advancement Marketing at Cornell University and co-author of Mailed It!: A Guide to Crafting Emails that Build Relationships and Get Results. We discuss with Ashley why email remains essential and the metrics that truly matter, and also chat about the challenges advancement teams face in optimizing deliverability and consider email as a key aspect of the donor journey. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from a top expert in advancement marketing. Thanks to AlumniQ for being a presenting sponsor of Alumless! Visit https://alumniq.com/ for more info on their events and everything else platform built exclusively for higher education.