YADA Toolkit
What's In There?
This toolkit offers venues, activities, and communication plans to volunteer leaders and advancement professionals who work with Dartmouth’s young alumni in regional clubs around the world.
What's Out There?
I like to start new work by knowing what’s already been tried. It’s simple, but I Googled keywords like “toolkit,” “advancement,” and “fundraising.” On CASE’s website, I found a toolkit developed by Cornell for volunteers and staff to launch their first giving day.
I lifted ideas for email assets, marketing strategies, and a “wall of fame” to recognize and model successful initiatives. I also gained a logical structure for my toolkit that, like Cornell’s, came in four parts: promotion & creative strategy, building the team, catalyzing activity, and emergency planning.
I also found inspiration in Google’s “Local Guides” and Facebook’s “Events” programs. They offered community building tools for events like checklists, best practices, and step-by-step instructions for activities. These were two powerful examples of huge organizations offering regular people the tools they needed to launch great events with minimal startup capital at any location.
What About Dartmouth?
I also wanted how Dartmouth, specifically, handles regional clubs for young alumni, so I called two alumni. They shared stories of success and failure regarding venues, activities, and follow-ups.
To get a larger sample size, I got access to Dartmouth’s databases, which included survey results from 1,479 alumni on their experiences with regional club programs and young alumni activities.
All this went into notes. Later, I would dig through; look for meaningful themes, insights, and actionable moves; and translate the information into a delightful toolkit.
How'd It End?
I presented the toolkit at the Dartmouth Alumni Relations Summer Retreat. I left time for a Q&A, so we had a great discussion and feedback.
Lessons Learned
- Talk to real people. The best insights I got came from the alumni club leaders I spoke to on the phone.
- Find good examples. Google and Facebook opened up whole new possibilities for the level of work I was doing.
- Practice presenting. Good work deserves a good presentation. I pitched my work to a few friends first, which lifted my confidence and offered me new perspectives.