Transitions and Sneak Peaks

You are now reading the blog of the Alumni Acquisition Cohort Chair of the National 4-H Youth Advisory Committee (YAC)!

Now you must be wondering, ‘what does that mean?’ Within YAC, there are two cohorts; fundraising and alumni acquisition. These are the two main goals within the committee, and while they work very closely, different people serve on the cohorts to maximize our time and efficiency. Every year, within the three-year term, a new person will be selected to serve as the cohort chair. The way that chairs are selected is based on a vote taken amongst the cohort members. The chair's responsibilities include creating the agenda, meeting with the advisors and 4-H professionals that assist us before our calls, scheduling our calls, sending reminder emails, taking notes on the call, facilitating the call, amongst other things.

As the newly appointed chair, I have been hard at work creating a survey that will be sent out to alumni to conduct preliminary research to learn how to best shape the alumni experience. We have also partnered with the fundraising committee to compile one survey to maximize our research collected. The goal is to have 1,000 responses from all over the country. This survey will be sent out in January, once it has been made finalized. You can catch a sneak peak of the format below!

The way that we will be marketing this survey is unique. We will be relying on our extension professionals at the local level for promotion. There is a list serve of state 4-H professionals that the link will be sent out on, and hopefully, that will then be included in local publications (including newsletters) and the state and county level. It will also be publicized through National newsletter and social media. This survey will also be sent out amongst the names that are currently in our national database, which were collected through the “Raise Your Hand” campaign. These individuals receive emails with updates and ways to stay engaged. In the coming years, there will be more opportunities come available to these individuals. You can raise your hand and reconnect by clicking here.

I have also been in contact with alumni engagement professionals from The Ohio State University (Go Buckeyes!). This university embodies what I, and the rest of the committee, hope to emulate amongst our community; a strong, proud, and engaged alumni base. I will be setting up meetings with these professionals over the next few months to pick their brain and learn from them. Hopefully, I will be able to bring back some insight from them.

Until then, Happy Holidays!