By: Keith Rogers
Kentucky 4-H Foundation Executive Director
Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the second National 4-H Alumni Pilot Project meeting at the National 4-H Center in Chevy Chase, MD. As I have shared in previous newsletters and blogs, Kentucky is one of ten states selected to participate in this effort. The goal is to identify and reconnect with 4-H alumni. We met last week to review individual and collaborative progress, and started planning for the second year of this joint effort.
Over the past year, representatives from these ten states and the National 4-H Council’s alumni team have been collaborating on strategies on how to involve various alumni audiences. States participating have made progress in the areas of identifying their alumni, increasing their alumni contacts and starting to communicate with them. We have co-produced and delivered alumni specific messages that have started to engage these alumni in a consistent manner. Our success can be attributed to the collaborative nature of the pilot, allowing us to decipher what types of messages, events, and strategies are working best to engage all 4-H alumni.
As the group contemplated what success will look like for year two of the pilot, we agreed to aggressively grow the acquisition capabilities of 4-H. We also discussed the importance of data upkeep, which could be facilitated through a shared alumni database that would allow individual alumni to “Join the Alumni Community” by state.
Engagement strategies will continue to be tested within the group; including the piloting of crowdfunding – a peer-to-peer online fundraising platform. The group also provided first-hand feedback and guidance to the consulting agency heading the pilot. We supported a new consumer-facing campaign for 4 H; including how a campaign should be packaged and disseminated within the 4-H family in order to ensure a successful implementation.
I truly believe that 4-H alumni are the key to keeping 4-H going strong. We need you and other alumnus to volunteer, advocate, and support 4-H financially. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or wish to learn more about the National 4-H Alumni Pilot Project.
