[82lsju]

CT,
I know a few large donors to UCB and they have been attempting to persuade their undergraduate alums to give to the university over the last 5-10 years and have made "very poor progress."  One of them sits on a task force looking at this very issue of alumni participation in giving.  They see that Stanford has created a culture of giving back amongst its alums and that participation is key.   

I think that one thing Stanford does well is getting people to donate soon after graduation, this creates a "habit of giving".  Trying to create this habit later can be a daunting task.  My undergrad degree is in Chemical Engineering and for the most part Chemical Engineering undergrads have a much weaker connection to the department than to the University at large.  The department has been trying to re-engage with undergrad alums with little success, I think they would be better served working on establishing that engagement with current students and very recent alums and not devote much effort to those who have been gone 20+ years and have had little engagement during those years as I doubt they will have much success re-engaging.

I look at how much better Stanford does with alumni engagement and fund raising than UCLA (where I got my MBA), it is night and day comparing the two.

[82lsju]

CT,
I know a few large donors to UCB and they have been attempting to persuade their undergraduate alums to give to the university over the last 5-10 years and have made "very poor progress."  One of them sits on a task force looking at this very issue of alumni participation in giving.  They see that Stanford has created a culture of giving back amongst its alums and that participation is key.   

I think that one thing Stanford does well is getting people to donate soon after graduation, this creates a "habit of giving".  Trying to create this habit later can be a daunting task.  My undergrad degree is in Chemical Engineering and for the most part Chemical Engineering undergrads have a much weaker connection to the department than to the University at large.  The department has been trying to re-engage with undergrad alums with little success, I think they would be better served working on establishing that engagement with current students and very recent alums and not devote much effort to those who have been gone 20+ years and have had little engagement during those years as I doubt they will have much success re-engaging.

I look at how much better Stanford does with alumni engagement and fund raising than UCLA (where I got my MBA), it is night and day comparing the two.