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Mortar Board Officer Guide: Alumni Chair
As the alumni chair, your work is vital to the national organization. You are responsible for locating your chapter’s alumni and for fostering strong relationships with local alumni.
In order to best do this, you should download and read the alumni chair portion on page 26 of the Officer & Advisor Handbook. In addition, this condensed officer guide may help you understand your role.
The Alumni Sustaining Membership Program
Mortar Board has established the Alumni Sustaining Membership program, which gives $5 out of every annual Alumni Sustaining Membership fee (the total fee is $25) back to the collegiate chapter. Enrolling in the Alumni Sustaining Membership program is a great way to continue involvement in Mortar Board in addition to giving back to your collegiate chapter after graduation. Please encourage all graduating seniors and area alumni to join the Alumni Sustaining Membership program to support both the national Society and your local chapter.
Start off right: build a list of area alumni
One important portion of your job is to build a database or list of alumni and build a relationship with them throughout the year. This may mean including alumni on newsletter distribution lists, inviting alumni to chapter activities, or hosting alumni-specific events. Before you can contact alumni, you must have a complete list to use for those communications.
- Find out if there is an alumni chapter in your area by checking the list at www.mortarboard.org/alumni. If there is, contact the listed representative to arrange a meeting where you can share information.
- If possible, update any existing alumni lists provided by the previous chapter alumni chair
- E-mail your local ZIP codes to the National Office at mortarboard@mortarboard.org to get a list of alumni living in the area
- Because Mortar Board did not receive addresses of initiated members before the early 1980s, there are literally thousands of “lost” alumni nationwide. Consider placing an announcement or a letter to the editor in your school’s alumni publication to find some of these alumni.
- Contact your university's alumni and/or development offices for current names and addresses of former collegiate members from your chapter.
- When you get updated addresses, be sure to e-mail or mail them immediately to the National Office. This will assit with ensuring strong relationships can be formed with alumni both locally and nationally.
Get funding
The Mortar Board National Foundation offers small grants for projects that may be able to assist with alumni relations. If you choose to apply for these grants, alumni may be able to help you develop the proposal. For additional support, work with your chapter treasurer and/or fundraising chair.
Review your chapter responsibilities
- Act as liaison with area and chapter alumni
- Establish and maintain a mailing list of chapter alumni for both local and National Office records
- Use a mailing list to keep alumni informed of chapter activities
- Network with local alumni
- Develop your chapter’s sense of national Mortar Board spirit
- Notify the National Office of famous alumni from your chapter!
Know your national responsibilities
Reports or applications for which you may be responsible throughout the year
Sample timeline for the alumni chair
This timeline is meant to serve as a guideline only and does not incorporate all necessary responsibilities, such as those required by individual colleges and universities.
Summer (May - August)
- Prior to the end of the academic year, meet with the outgoing alumni chair to obtain his or her notes (saved in a binder/folder, data CD or flash drive) and get any tips for the coming year
- Meet with your chapter’s president after he or she returns from the annual national conference in Chicago to discuss plans for the year
- See if your chapter has an updated list of area or chapter alumni (if not, contact the National Office with a list of ZIP codes in your area for a new list of local alumni)
- Create a template to use for alumni newsletters throughout the year
- Designate a binder or area to keep chapter minutes and notes throughout the year
- Strategize with an alumni development plan and create your own timeline for tasks to complete throughout the year (such as encouraging alumni to sign up for newsletters or planning an alumni event)
Fall (September - November)
- Attend all officer and chapter meetings (held at least monthly throughout the academic year)
- Participate in fall campus and chapter activities, events and service initiatives
- Regularly back up files to a data CD or USB flash drive
- Execute any tasks planned in your alumni development plan, created over the summer
Winter (December - February)
- Attend all officer and chapter meetings (held at least monthly throughout the academic year)
- Participate in winter campus and chapter activities, events and service initiatives
- Regularly back up files to a data CD or USB flash drive
- Execute any tasks planned in your alumni development plan, created over the summer
- Determine which alumni may be qualified for Mortar Board’s prestigious annual alumni awards and begin work on the nomination forms, due to the National Office by March 15
- Recruit alumni to assist with initiation, either as speakers, participants or volunteers to help provide refreshments before or after the ceremony
- Invite alumni to help celebrate national Mortar Board Week February 14-20, 2010
Spring (March - May)
- Submit national alumni award nominations by March 15
- Attend all officer and chapter meetings (held at least monthly throughout the academic year)
- Participate in spring campus and chapter activities, events and service initiatives
- Regularly back up files to a data CD or USB flash drive
- Execute any tasks planned in your alumni development plan, created over the summer
- Participate in a chapter and officer transition; be sure to meet one-on-one with the new alumni chair to pass on your binder and files and exchange contact information
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Download the Officer & Advisor Handbook
Deadlines & Reminders
Check your files and with the National Office to see that all reports from last year have been submitted to reports@mortarboard.org!
October 15
December 15
January 31
- Applications for national Mortar Board postgraduate fellowships are due
March 15
May 15
Tips
Use available resources including the National Office, local alumni chapters, your university's alumni association and development office.
Plan joint events or incorporate alumni. This can be as simple as inviting alumni to participate in service events or as complex as hosting an alumni career panel for current members. Alumni are often interested in helping with Mortar Board Week, homecoming or initiation events.
Share information you’ve been able to obtain for area alumni with the National Office (by doing this, you are ensuring that all records are up-to-date and that future chapter officers will have access to this information, if lost or destroyed)
Consider creating an area alumni newsletter, complete with information on upcoming events.
Connect with
Mortar Board
Read the monthly Mortar Board INK
The Mortar Board INK, distributed September through May from enews@mortarboard.org, serves as a resource for officers and advisors of Mortar Board. This important newsletter includes:
- National deadlines
- Important reminders
- Chapter highlights
- Important announcements
- Ideas for projects, fundraisers and more
Officers and advisors reported in the Officer Address Information Form receive this newsletter. Please make sure all officers are reported on this form and subscribe. |
