If you’re volunteering with your alumni association, chances are you have at least some level of involvement in making class reunions happen. Leaders from those individual classes tend to take the lead in planning, but alumni associations should be able to offer some support as well, especially when you consider the recruitment potential of these reunions.

Whenever reunions come up for various classes, alumni associations should therefore be ready to step up in a supporting role. It’s important to make sure those 10-year reunions happen to start with to establish a pattern of years to come. 

Of course, there also needs to be a balance. While alumni associations should absolutely support these reunions, they shouldn’t have to completely plan them out, either. So how do you help without getting over-committed in the planning process?

Here are a few ways your organization can lend some support.

• Create support materials: Provide all parties planning reunions with some information about some of the best locations in town for where to host the event and for some other recommendations about things to do and see while around. Include examples of past reunions and what other groups have done.

• Work with local businesses: Make connections with local businesses in your area to create reunion hosting programs that offer discounts and other specials for your alumni. This is something these businesses are likely going to be willing to do if you’re regularly sending large reunion groups their way.

• Collect stories: Gather stories from alumni in the classes coming up on big reunion years that you can somehow implement in the activities throughout the reunion. Your organization likely has a lot of alumni contact information, so it makes sense to facilitate some of this.

• Communicate with class leadership: The class presidents (or whoever is tasked with running your reunions) will need some help in collecting contact information and building connections with those local businesses. Try to facilitate those connections as much as possible and keep lines of communication open with them.

For more tips about the role your alumni association can play in reunion planning, contact us at Alumni Nations!