Advancement · Grants and Funding

How connected are your alumni,
and who will help?

An alumni survey is worth running when the same items come back each wave and the people who offer to help hear from you quickly. Print the survey from your items, then enter each item’s average when responses are in. The tool works out the response rate, what rose and fell since the last wave and how many respondents raised a hand.

Set up a survey waveWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Grant writer’s desk, $49 for 55 items.

Survey waves

The worked example is made up: a spring wave for all alumni, a young-alumni pulse with a low response and a reunion-year survey. Saved on this device only.

Loading the survey wave form. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

Advancement · Grants & Funding$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
A record per survey wave: school, wave, who was invited, invitations, responses and volunteers, each item’s average this wave and last, and five design checks. Prints the survey; works out the response rate, the overall average, the change on repeated items and the share ready to help; flags low response, items under 3.5 and items down 0.3 or more.
Who it is for
Advancement, alumni relations and development staff at schools and colleges, and volunteers who run alumni groups.
Format
Browser tool with a saved record per wave. Prints the alumni survey, one wave’s results, every wave in a table or a blank form; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Grant writer’s desk ($49) and the Advancement Suite pass ($99), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Grants & Funding space in Caveat Advancement.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Write or reuse the core items.
  2. Print or copy the survey.
  3. Enter each item’s average.
  4. Read the falling items.
  5. Call the volunteers.

Set up a survey wave

Making a survey wave count

From survey to involvement1Ask the same core itemsSo waves can be compared2Ask how they would helpConcrete roles, not a vagueoffer3Read the low and falling itemsUnder 3.5, or down 0.3 or more4Call the volunteersWithin a month5Share results backWith one change you will make6Run the next waveSame season next yearFrom survey to involvement1Ask the same core itemsSo waves can be compared2Ask how they would helpConcrete roles, not a vague offer3Read the low and falling itemsUnder 3.5, or down 0.3 or more4Call the volunteersWithin a month5Share results backWith one change you will make6Run the next waveSame season next year
An alumni survey is also a stewardship touch: the follow-up matters as much as the numbers.

Compare like with like

A change from one wave to the next only means something when the item is worded the same, offered on the same scale and sent to a similar group. A new item has no last-wave value, and the tool leaves it out of the change. Differences of a tenth of a point are usually noise; a drop of 0.3 or more on a 5-point item is worth a look.

Response rates

Alumni surveys often reach only a small share of alumni, and the ones who answer tend to be the most engaged. That does not make the results useless, but it does mean they describe your connected alumni. Comparing who answered (class years, location) with who was invited shows how far the results stretch.

Sources

  1. Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). Alumni engagement metrics framework (case.org).
  2. Dillman, D. A., Smyth, J. D., and Christian, L. M. (2014). Internet, Phone, Mail, and Mixed-Mode Surveys: The Tailored Design Method, 4th edition. Wiley.
  3. American Association for Public Opinion Research. Standard definitions: response rates (aapor.org).
  4. Pew Research Center. Methods: writing survey questions and measuring change over time (pewresearch.org).

The worked example is made up, including the school. Benchmarks for alumni surveys vary by institution; compare a wave with your own last wave first. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.