This week we are fortunate to have a special guest contribution to our blog by Vicki Fowler, Executive Director, Tāwai Takapiri Connect Futures NZ Trust, a New Zealand based organisation supporting state schools to build thriving alumni engagement programmes. Vicki shares with us the key learnings from the first year of this inspirational initiative.
Tāwai Takapiri Connect Futures NZ was founded with the view to inspire ambition and self-belief in young people of Aotearoa New Zealand by supporting schools in low socio-economic areas to establish thriving, sustainable alumni engagement programmes. Through these programmes, we enable current students to connect with inspiring and relatable role models from their school’s alumni community. These enriching connections provide students with valuable exposure to aspiring possibilities, choices and opportunities. Former students have grown up in the same area and attended the same school, so become instantly relatable to current students. They are living proof that ‘people like me’ can and do succeed and prosper.
After our first year of operation, we review the critical factors that have enabled us to support schools to build the foundation stones of their tailored alumni engagement programmes:
- Simplicity of the alumni engagement concept
Alumni engagement presents our partner schools with a simple, “no-brainer” concept capable of delivering enriching, long-term opportunities for the benefit of current students and the wider school community.
- Committed, mission-aligned partner-school leadership
Motivated and committed leaders of partner schools who are supported by capable Boards of Trustees or governing bodies have been essential for stakeholder buy-in of the community development and alumni engagement initiatives.
- Dedicated Alumni Programme Co-ordinators
Partner schools require at least one, part-time coordinator who is a passionate community member to lead the alumni engagement. This focused resource is key to ensure programme progress in the context of multiple competing demand son the time of school staff and leaders.
- Regular face-to-face contact with Programme Managers
Those schools who have most interaction with their Connect Futures NZ Programme Manager are most likely to progress at a steady rate, largely due to school leaders and programme co-ordinators constantly increasing their understanding, capability and confidence.
- Community Development and Programme design expertise
Our baseline survey revealed that partner school leaders commence with a low level of knowledge of how to build alumni communities and engagement programmes. Programme Managers need to have extensive relationship management expertise backed up by alumni community-building experience that enables them to effectively 1) advise partner schools on essential community development systems and resources and 2) tailor alumni engagement plans dependent upon each school’s resource capability and alumni engagement options.
Through these programmatic structures we have found that we are able to develop sustainable alumni engagement systems and initiatives whereby students, staff, parents and school supporters alike are offered opportunities to feel uplifted by a communal sense of pride arising out of connecting with the empowering achievements of alumni. We believe that, over time, with constant opportunities to engage with alumni, it will become apparent that current students have access to a broader awareness of opportunities, a heightened sense of ambition and increased confidence in their ability to achieve their goals. Such is the beauty of any alumni network in its capacity to provide a holistic and sustainable source of community support and aspiration.
