This eNewsletter will sometimes offer non-technology best practices and ideas for alumni outreach and fundraising. Many of the GIJP participants I speak with ask specifically for ideas to reach out to their constituents, especially alumni. While working with so many organizations, we have managed to bring together a number of examples of effective outreach efforts. We recognize that each of you has experience that you can share with the other readers of this eNewsletter, at our conference, and via other other channels as well.

 

For this eNewsletter, I'll focus on collecting alumni information:

 

Your website is an obvious way for interested alumni to get back in touch with your camp. Having an alumni section on the website with pictures, news, and event listings is essential to make sure the alumni who visit the site know they have a place to return.

 

And, just as importantly, there must be an easy, obvious way for an alum to contact the camp with their updated contact information and sign up for newsletters. It can be as simple as an email link to someone at the camp. Or it can be a detailed form that requests contact information, their favorite memories, interest in getting involved, etc. If a camp doesn't have the ability to create a form on their own website, there are plenty of options to quickly and easily create a registration form for alumni. For example, Camp Morasha used www.wufoo.com to create a simple, inexpensive form to gather alumni information. Wufoo even allows you to embed the form directly into your website.

 

For a completely free, no frills option, Google Documents allows you to create a spreadsheet to collect information. The spreadsheet can then be published as a form that alumni can be directed to from a simple link on the camp's website as well as links from a camp blog and/or Facebook group.

 

Your website provider may be able to create an integrated registration form as well.

 

Collecting the information is not the final step. It is crucial that the data is incorporated into a centralized spreadsheet or database, duplicate data is removed, and the data is backed up regularly. And the alums who sign up should be welcomed with a simple email or letter when they join so that they know the information was received by the camp.

 

Do you provide a simple way for your alumni to get back in touch with your camp? We'd love to hear what you've tried that works well and other attempts that have been less successful.