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Reconnect with your Alumni andConnect to DonorsElizabeth Konzak a b & Dwain P. Teague a ca University of Central Florida , Orlando, FLb Hoover Institution, Stanford University , Stanford, CAc North Carolina State University Libraries , Raleigh, NCPublished online: 21 May 2009.

To cite this article: Elizabeth Konzak & Dwain P. Teague (2009) Reconnect with your Alumni andConnect to Donors, Technical Services Quarterly, 26:3, 217-225, DOI: 10.1080/07317130802520252

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DOI: 10.1080/07317130802520252

Reconnect with your Alumni andConnect to Donors

ELIZABETH KONZAK* and DWAIN P. TEAGUE**

University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL

At the University of Central Florida, the Special Collections and

University Archives work hand in hand with the Library Develop-

ment office to create lasting relationships with donors. University

Archives staff began attending alumni events in 2005 to create

publicity for the collection and encourage donations of materials

about the university. Though this publicity, the archives connected

with alumni who have become advocates and participants in

building a collection. Faculty, staff, and alumni volunteers have

come in to the archives to identify photographs and have donated

their materials to build a collection documenting the university.

Exhibits highlighting the history of the university served to interest

the alumni community, and exhibit events have brought new

faces into the library. By creating these activities within the special

collections, donors become active in the library community, and

bring potential for financial gifts.

KEYWORDS alumni, fundraising, collection development, library

development, library outreach, university archives

The black and gold balloons create a backdrop for a group of alumniready to celebrate homecoming, each reminiscing of homecomings goneby. Excitement builds as old friends spy each other across the room and tellstories of their youth. In one corner, a crowd gathers around a psychedelicposter filled with photographs of the 1970s and 1980s. The tribute to theearly years of the university, created by the University Archives staff, pulls

Received 12 November 2007; accepted 7 January 2008

Address correspondence to Elizabeth Konzak, Hoover Institution Archives, Stanford

University, Stanford, CA 94305. E-mail konzak@stanford.edu*Currently at Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

**Currently at North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, NC

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218 E. Konzak and D. P. Teague

groups of alums over to laugh at the long hair and fashionable uniforms,to remember their days at the University of Central Florida (UCF) in Or-lando. The University Archives began such outreach efforts in an attempt topublicize the historic repository, broaden the collecting of the university, andidentify previously unidentified materials. In the midst of this outreach effort,Special Collections and University Archives began to work hand in hand withthe Library Development Director to use unique holdings and collections toentice alumni into connecting with the library. We teamed with the LibraryDevelopment Director to assist us in creating activities within the library,gain an active campus and library community, create lasting relationshipswith potential donors, and bring both historic material and financial giftsinto the organization.

UCF is a young university, founded in 1963, with the first classes inOctober 1968. The main campus is in Orlando, Florida, with approximately12 regional campuses and 2 branch campuses that encompass 11 countiesin the central Florida area. The preliminary number of students enrolled forfall 2007 is 48,497 students,1 making UCF the second largest university inthe state and the sixth largest university in the nation. The UCF librariesprovide information resources and services to the university community in amanner that supports and enriches the institution’s education, research, andservice missions. The Special Collections and University Archives holds ma-terials that are considered rare, unique, or of special interest to researchers,the university, and the central Florida community. The Special Collectionsand University Archives seeks to serve not only the UCF community, butresearchers all over the state and world by creating description and onlineaccess to primary source materials.

As a part of the library, the University Archives unit collects all uni-versity public records that have enduring historical or administrative value.University public records are documents or other materials prepared, owned,or used by administrators, faculty acting in administrative capacities, andstaff of university units in the performance of an official function. It is thepolicy of the UCF to preserve the institutional memory of the universityby maintaining a complete archive of its history and accomplishments inthe University Archives. As a young university, the University Archives hasthe task of convincing administrators, faculty, staff, students, and alumni topreserve the not-so-long ago memories.

As a young university, the majority of the charter faculty that beganteaching classes in 1968 were retired or working towards retirement. Thecharter group had a sense of building a university; in fact, most everyonewho worked with UCF in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s had a sense of beinga part of a historic beginning. In 2004, we found an audience ready to lookback on what had been accomplished and remember. The collective memoryof the staff, faculty, and students was easy to build upon to collect historicmaterials, photographs, and financial donations.

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Reconnect with your Alumni and Connect to Donors 219

The archives staff began their outreach by simply attending events.Reviewing the daily university announcements and student newspaper, staffbegan attending events on campus. Building openings, renovations, namingevents, symposia, and speakers are all good candidates for documentation.Staff picked up materials to document the event and spoke with the atten-dees, who were often notable figures in the department or area. As moreevents were attended, the archives staff of two began to be familiar facesin the university. Knowledge about the University Archives and its goal topreserve the institutional memory of the university spread.

Archives staff decided to tap into that university spirit. To do this, thearchives began a marketing campaign. Designing a postcard, bookmark, andreusable poster board in a similar 1970s psychedelic eye-catching designbased on the 1971 yearbook, the archives created publicity materials to giveout to groups that stated the purpose of the archives, the institutional reposi-tory for historic materials, and that the archives was looking for donations ofmaterials. The reusable poster board was created to showcase the universityphotograph collection. The poster has eight plastic holders for photographs,so the photographs could be changed depending on the interests of thegroup event. The reusable poster board, and the two staff members thataccompanied it to events, was a major effort in publicizing the archives.

PARTNERING WITH THE LIBRARY DEVELOPMENT OFFICE

During the outreach and publicity campaign, the collaborative relationshipbetween Special Collections and University Archives and the Library Devel-opment Office blossomed. The relationship is considered to be a ‘‘win-win’’situation for many reasons. By working together, the departments have moreopportunity to speak with many different people willing to donate materialsand financial resources to assist the library and the archives. For the develop-ment office, the walk down memory lane while flipping through yearbooks,student newspapers, or photographs can be a powerful motivational tool toengage alums. As the relationship continues to build over a period of time(weeks, months, or even years), the alum may become very aware of thefinancial needs of the organization and could consider their philanthropicsupport. They also may be able to make connections with other alumni whocould be in the position to support the archives.

Touring the archives is a ‘‘non-threatening’’ way to engage alumniprospects who may be afraid of a ‘‘cultivation’’ visit with a developmentofficer. Cultivation is a fundraising term that describes the process of gettingto know a potential donor, getting them acclimated to the organization,and educating them as to the needs of the organization. The tour of thelibrary, with a stop at the Special Collections and University Archives, allowsthe development officer the ‘‘showcase’’ factor, whether it is the temporary

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220 E. Konzak and D. P. Teague

display of a university emblem, the founding president’s photographs of thecampus land before the university was built, or pulling out a few treasuresfrom the closed stacks. These simple actions connect the alumni prospect tothe archives, plus create a special atmosphere that assists with proposals ofphilanthropic support.

The development office had additional resources that the archives couldnot produce on its own. The development office access to alumni contactinformation was utilized for Special Collections and University Archives mail-ings and event invitations. The development officer promoted the archivesand ways to connect with the archives via a monthly electronic newsletter,In Development, that was distributed to approximately 400 alumni, donors,and friends.

In addition to the development officer assisting the archives with alumnioutreach, the archives also assists the development officer with fundraisingevents and identified prospects. The development officer would displayyearbooks at alumni and donor events held away from campus. Such events,hosted in Florida, Seattle, WA, and Washington, DC, brought a little pieceof UCF to alumni who were hundreds and thousands of miles away fromcampus. Attendees would happily reminisce about their time on campus andgo home with a postcard or bookmark with information about the archives(Figure 1).

FIGURE 1. The 1981 UCF yearbook, Once Upon a Time : : : , included the alumni picturedhere with UCF Librarian Kristine Shrauger at event in Stuart, Florida.

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Reconnect with your Alumni and Connect to Donors 221

The development officer identified an alum who worked in the libraryyears ago, and whose husband was one of the first library administratorswhen UCF began in the 1960s. Over the course of two years, the archivistand the development officer established a strong relationship with the coupleby visiting them at their home, conducting oral histories on the history ofthe library, and inviting them to library events. This relationship resulted inseveral significant items that documented the history of UCF being givento the archives. When the timing was right, the couple was solicited for a$25,000 endowment to establish an archives fund in their name. The proposalis still being considered and may be matched dollar for dollar by the alum’semployer. They also have verbally committed to remembering the archivesin their will.

ALUMNI OUTREACH

During the publicity efforts of the university archives, a new FairwindsAlumni Center2 opened on campus. Working with the Alumni Association,the archives became regular presenters at alumni events. The new alumnibuilding opened up other avenues for the archives to reach an audience.Duplicate copies of yearbooks, catalogs, and other university publicationswere loaned for use in the John and Martha Hitt Library, a small libraryhoused within the alumni center, open for browsing during events. TheUniversity Archives staff built relationships with the alumni center directorand staff, who deal with potential donors of materials for the universityarchives on a continual basis. The Alumni Association transferred recordsand memorabilia to the archives for preservation.

With the assistance of the News and Information Office, the archivesprepared a video clip highlighting the university photographs and usingmusic created by a UCF professor. As the historic photographs slid acrossthe screen, questions about the photographs and the archives contact infor-mation scrolled along the bottom. This way, the video clip could be used onthe large-screen televisions in the lobby of the Alumni Association to educateanyone going in or out of the building about the archives. The video wasused in other places as well, becoming a part of archives events held in thelibrary and played on the UCF television channel.

To develop interaction with alumni, a campaign was created for thepublic to assist with the identification of photographs that were taken by theUCF News and Information Service. Even after some research, the archivesstaff was unable to identify many of the unlabeled photos within this largecollection of images (Figure 2).

The request for alums to assist with the identification of images wentwith the discussion points of any university event. Photographs that neededto be identified were posted in a special feature on the UCF News and

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222 E. Konzak and D. P. Teague

FIGURE 2. UCF Retiree Tommy Lee Nelson holds a picture of himself from the University

Photograph collection with UCF Archivists Judith Beale and Elizabeth Konzak, 2005.

Information Web site. The Web site brought in a number of identificationsfor photographs that added to the archives’ knowledge of the photographiccollection.

In addition, the archives established a strong relationship with the editorof the quarterly UCF alumni magazine, Pegasus. The relationship enabledthe archives to become a featured section of the magazine with a ‘‘HistoryMystery’’ section to help identify photographs published in the feature fromthe archives. Appeals for more archival materials and the opportunity to visitthe University Archives and identify photographs were always included in themagazines as well. Once this was established as a popular feature, and theamount of interesting and publishable images in the collection decreased, thearchives and the Pegasus editor adapted the feature to a ‘‘Remember When’’image, which began in the fall issue with a line-up of students waiting toregister in the dormitory quad. Since students no longer have to wait in lineto register, the archives identified this and several other scenes targeted toinvoke memories of campus and encourage alumni to donate materials tothe archives.

While attending alumni events for sports teams at the Alumni Center,the archives discovered a different set of donors than those normally targetedby Library Development. Because of the connection to the history of UCF,such donors are not concerned with traditional library needs of books and re-search information, but more interested in the legacy of their youth, the foot-ball team, mascots, or banners. Sports team alums, who prided themselves in

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Reconnect with your Alumni and Connect to Donors 223

never setting foot in the library during their education, were thrilled to visitthe archives to assist with the identification of images from their playing days.The ability to identify a teammate by the socks worn is expertise that thearchives could simply never know unless they talked to alumni. Once onealumnus from a team became interested in the archives, other players fromthe same years also became knowledgeable and involved with the archives.The result is a completely new group of donors to support the archives, withthe potential for both the donation of materials and endowments.

Sports teams are not the only student organizations that continue con-nections many years after graduation that may become involved with thearchives. At UCF, the archives has worked with alumni involved with themarching band, music department, theater department, and many othergroups that create ties that last through the years. Initial contact by an alumwith the University Archivist in 2004 began preliminary discussions regardingher interest in providing materials that documented her involvement as astudent with the UCF Theater Department. Over the period of two years,the alum not only provided the materials, but also connected the archives toadditional potential donors and made several financial gifts to establish thefirst university archives fund to preserve and maintain the archives.

UNIVERSITY ORGANIZATIONS

As a part of a larger effort to transfer non-current university records fromadministrative offices, including the Office of the President and the officeof former presidents, the archives staff got to know the executive assistantsfor all of the presidents well. In the 40 years since the UCF’s founding,only three executive assistants have served four presidents, and all still servethe university in some capacity. These executive assistants have a wealthof knowledge about the university and the people involved in it. Througha former executive assistant, archives staff connected to several universityorganizations and a number of knowledgeable people. With the supportof influential people within the university, the archives finds more peoplewilling to assist with their mission to preserve the memories of UCF. TheUniversity Archives strived to make the founders of the university know thattheir materials and contributions were important.

Members of the archives staff became very involved with the UniversityRetirement Association. UCF is one of the few state universities with anassociation for retired faculty and staff, who gather together as a large groupfor a bi-annual luncheon, in addition to smaller group activities. Many ofthe charter faculty and early administrators are involved in the retiree’sassociation, so, for the archives staff, the guest list often took on a who’s whoof UCF. The retirees were pleased to share their memories, knowledge ofthe University, and collected materials. The displays of historic photographs,

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224 E. Konzak and D. P. Teague

such as the video of images initially created for the Alumni Center Lobby,were a huge hit with the retirees.

Another particularly successful display was created for the retiree’s lun-cheon. A laptop PowerPoint slide show of portraits of many of the event’sattendees brought many people to reminiscence. Luncheon conversationthen turned around ‘‘Did you see : : : ’’ and ‘‘He looked so young: : : : ’’ The de-velopment officer accompanied the archivists to three luncheon gatherings tomeet the retirees, show exhibits of archived photos, reminisce about the uni-versity, and discuss funding opportunities. This period of relationship build-ing resulted in the association being solicited for financial support. The orga-nization made their first financial gift ever to the University Archives this fall.

AN EXHIBIT AND EVENTS

To put all the hard work of creating publicity and collecting materials forthe archives to good use, a major exhibit was scheduled for the fall of 2006,held from the start of classes in August through homecoming weekend on themain floor of the Library. The exhibit highlighted the large variety of materialsin the archives, showcasing how the campus has grown, student life, anduniversity traditions to anyone who walked into the library (Figure 3).

FIGURE 3. Knightro, the UCF mascot, with alumnus Michael O’Shaughnessy and UCFArchivists Judith Beale and April Karlene Anderson at an exhibit event, October 2006.

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Reconnect with your Alumni and Connect to Donors 225

Several events were scheduled to coincide with the exhibit, including anOctober Archives Month event, where invitees could bring in their materialsto be reviewed by the archivists. The development office coordinated visitsfrom the mascot, Knightro, creating a chance for attendees to have theirphotograph taken with him. Exhibits highlighting the history of the universityserved to interest the alumni community, with exhibit events bringing in newfaces into the library.

After the library exhibit closed, a semi-permanent display was createdfor use in the Alumni Center lobby, showcasing the history of UCF, andrequesting viewers to contact the university archives if they had additionalinformation or materials. Other venues for smaller exhibits continue to be ex-plored, in addition to an exhibit Web site,3 which continues the momentumof the archives events.

CONCLUSION

In all, the outreach and publicity connected the UCF University Archiveswith alumni who have become advocates for building a collection, bringingpotential for financial gifts. Building strong relationships with alumni is vitalfor the success of both the archives and the development office. The sense ofuniversity pride an alum feels when they provide materials to the archives isa powerful emotion. They know that, due to their contribution of materials,the history of their university is being preserved forever. Any philanthropicfinancial support that may result from this sense of pride and ownershiponly furthers their involvement with the archives, which, in turn, benefitsthe university as a whole.

NOTES

1. University of Central Florida Office of Institutional Research. (2007). UCF Facts at a Glance.

Retrieved October 30, 2007, from http://www.iroffice.ucf.edu/character/current.html.

2. UCF Alumni Association. (2007). UCF Alumni Association Website. Retrieved October 30,2007, from http://www.ucfalumni.com/Main/Default.asp.

3. University of Central Florida Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives. (2006).

University Archives Exhibit Website. Retrieved October 30, 2007, from http://library.ucf.edu/SpecialCollections/Exhibits/UniversityArchives/default.htm.

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