Opening Doors for Yale Alumni
November/December 2007
by Mark R. Dollhopf '77

Mark R. Dollhopf '77 is executive director of the Association of Yale Alumni.

This article is provided by the Association of Yale Alumni. While the Yale Alumni Magazine is not part of the university, we reserve this page for the AYA every issue as a service to our readers. -- Eds.

Yale passed a significant milestone this year, little heralded at the time but important in the life of this university. For the first time, cumulative attendance at Yale College reunions -- all classes combined -- surpassed 30 percent.

At Yale, where reunions are still very much driven by college class membership, this is a significant achievement -- not for the administration or the AYA, but for the volunteer class leaders who worked diligently and effectively to reconnect their classmates. If you think that the AYA staff is responsible for the increased attendance, you would be only partially right. Attendance records are set by volunteers.

The Yale volunteer of today is eager to be engaged, arguably more so than at any other time in Yale's history. Under President Levin's leadership the endowment has grown at a pace-setting rate, giving is at record levels, and the number of students seeking admission is at an all-time high. Yale is an exciting place to be, including for alumni who want to get involved!

Over 4,000 alumni serve in some volunteer capacity on a Yale-affiliated board of directors or advisory group. That's 187 Yale Clubs, 75 classes, 11 graduate and professional schools, 35 athletic associations -- not to mention museums, galleries, singing groups, religious organizations, and cultural affiliations, to name but a few. The list is long and impressive.

Volunteer leadership is important. The giving of time and talent is every bit as important as the giving of money.

And that eagerness to serve, that energy to engage, that willingness to lead, is the focus of the new AYA strategic plan.

Last summer the AYA Board of Governors, chaired by Susie Krentz '80, authorized a strategic planning process: a first for the AYA. This started with a planning retreat for the Board of Governors and the AYA staff. That productive brainstorming weekend led to numerous discussions with other AYA stakeholders -- including a series of focused sessions with front-line volunteers at the 2006 AYA Assembly, in-depth consultations with campus partners, intensive staff discussions, and a benchmarking exercise designed to get a sense of the effective programs and services offered by our peer institutions.

The proposed new plan is bold and visionary, and has been extremely well received by the university officers, the Board of Governors, and our numerous campus stakeholders. While the key features of the plan will be unveiled at our November AYA Assembly, here's a preview. The first phase of the plan embraces three major strategic initiatives:

Expanded staff support and regional programming for alumni in the seven major metropolitan areas where nearly half of our graduates reside -- Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Haven, New York City, San Francisco, and Washington, DC.

Recognition, counsel, and staff support for our many diverse and emerging shared interest groups. These "SIGs" fall into two major categories -- shared identity (gender, race) and shared interest (which can include passions like singing or professional interests like real estate).

The development of Web-based tools to enable volunteer leaders and professional staff to create inspiring virtual communities, communicate effectively with their constituents, and better manage their activities.

This is but the first phase of a detailed and ambitious plan.

Since its inception the AYA has well served our alumni organizations as -- to borrow a gymnastics term -- a "spotter." We have supported our clubs, classes, shared interest groups, and graduate and professional schools to varying degrees and bolstered volunteer leadership efforts when needed.

But Yale's diverse and expanding needs, and the changing expectations of our alumni volunteers, require us to be more than spotters. We must be active coaches, working to inspire, recruit, and engage alumni in new and meaningful activities both for the university and the volunteer.

We look forward to our November Assembly, when we will present our new plan for the next generation of alumni leadership.  

Information on the Association of Yale Alumni and its programs is available by calling (203) 432-2586, e-mailing aya@yale.edu, or visiting www.aya.yale.edu.