Let's have fun this holiday season - read on!

Once your alma mater so shiny and new,

Graduates abound and a new alumni status too,

The President, or Provost, Rector stands on the podium so tall,

And invites all the alumni to come back for a ball,

That’s fun and festivities, nostalgia, and glee,

And, of course, there is merriment and networking at your university,

They state with command in their voice,

As if alumni will flock as if they have no choice.

Days pass, then weeks, then months since graduation day,

Then years and decades melt all the warm college feeling away.

New graduates dive into the job hunt or pursue further studies,

While exploring life in the real world with their real-world buddies,

University life starts to slip from view,

Until the moment they say alumni – pee-yoo!

Ah the Alumni Grinch! They appear on the scene,

Resistance to reunions, they are not at all keen.

They scoff at networking, mentorship, and homecoming fun,

Their life is navel-gazing and support other alumni? They run!

Oh what can be done! What can we do?

Alumni-facing professionals and leaders how they stew!

The alumni grinch in our network are lost! Are gone from our view,

Who can help? You, or you, or even you?

We need a value proposition for a start,

To melt that alumni grinch heart.

Give them a purpose, a goal, and a reason,

To connect with their alma mater this season.

Are they looking for a new job, do they have skills to offer,

What can’t only look at their financial coffers.

Let’s be bold! Be kind! Be bright!

Involve our enthusiastic alumni ambassadors in the plight.

Oh, shout from the rooftops: alumni, “we need you” we say,

Let’s help them find the Alumni Way!

Quote from the book:

“Let’s face it. We’ve all been tainted by the alumni grinch. It’s our unconscious bias telling us to slip away from university life without a trace. “They only want your money,” our inside voice tells us. We forgo all the possibilities and opportunities for fear of a fundraising ask. Reflecting on our university experience first implies that the university can reach us and we can reach them. We need this basic conduit for our alma mater relationship.”

The Alumni Way p.40

(Your LAST chance for 50% off The Alumni Way using the code TAW24 here)

Here's to a wonderful 2025 - I will see you again on the 10th of January after a break!

Warmest festive wishes to you all!

Maria