Omar Garriott said something near the end of this week’s Keynote that I think we should all double-click on. He checks The Batten Institute’s social media analytics regularly and notices a consistent pattern: The carefully researched pieces, the distilled faculty insights, the institutional storytelling his team works hard on don’t have nearly the results as the profile of an alum’s career journey, told in their own voice.
Recent data backs him up. A 2026 survey of 1,000 Gen Z adults found that 72% hold negative or cautious views toward AI-generated content, with human credibility identified as an emerging competitive advantage.
But for many of us, advancement communications teams are already stretched thin. Hiring is hard, retention is challenging, and the content calendar and creative requests keep growing. How are we going to keep this human-first credibility high while also being asked to produce more with fewer resources?
The solution most shops reach for is more automation, repurposing content, and using AI to generate content. These solutions aren’t inherently wrong, but we need to proceed with caution considering how much content we’re all exposed to on a daily basis. We need to consider other creative solutions. What if the talent your content team needs already exists in your alumni community?
I would bet that every alumni base contains individuals who write, shoot video, build audiences, and tell stories. They may do it full-time, freelance, or just for fun on their own platforms. Why not mobilize them with an organization they already have an affinity for?
To look outside higher ed, Redken Insiders is a great example of this. Redken built a creator community for professional hairdressers — stylists who had used the products throughout their careers and genuinely loved them. Insiders posted on their own accounts, not Redken’s. Stylists needed at least 1,000 followers on Instagram or TikTok to join, and the model was built specifically to activate their existing personal audiences. The key differentiator in my mind is that Redken didn’t create an influencer program - they built a community. Professionals who signed up had their own learning hub and ecosystem. It included special workshops, early access to try out products, events and an online peer community. The results: 7,500 pieces of content, 60% of total Redken social mentions, and 60% community growth in 18 months. They activated talent and affinity that already existed — and deepened that engagement through identity, belonging, and community.
Many institutions already have a version of this sitting untapped - Giving Day ambassadors. Many giving day programs include this type of peer-influence and social media mobilization, but we limit ourselves to that one or two days a year. The alumni are recruited to share, advocate, and solicit gifts on behalf of the institution. And many work HARD, on that one day. And then the giving day ends. We might send a thank you for participating and celebrate the most influential ambassador, but that’s it. Most don’t continue to engage with that group of alumni until we invite them to sign up again the following year. What would it look like to keep those ambassadors active year-round — not to ask for donations, but to find and tell stories? What would it look like to deepen their engagement? To create an identity and community for those who have already raised their hands, shared their social platforms, and advocated on your behalf?
There’s a second version of this model worth naming, one that solves the staffing capacity problem even more directly. Rather than activating alumni to create content on their own platforms, it brings alumni talent inside the institutional content operation. Inspired by the one hour a month volunteer program that Ryan Catherwood built at Longwood University, the University of Texas at El Paso has hired fractional alumni freelancers to help fit the gap between how much content needs to be created and the capacity of their staff. As we explored in our inaugural Agora session, Sydney Bertram, AVP for Strategic Communications and Engagement, recruited alumni freelancers on LinkedIn to write articles, shoot videos, and tell the stories staff didn’t have capacity to chase. The content was published on institutional channels — but it was produced by people with a genuine connection to the place. Contributor content became UTEP’s highest-engagement content type in FY25.
Both models are worth considering. One extends your reach through an individual’s account, network, and personal trust - and creates a new identity-based engagement program for those who participate. The other adds real production capacity without adding FTE to your communications team. They’re not mutually exclusive — and in our sector and at a time where hiring freezes and flat budgets are common, they both deserve serious consideration.
Omar’s advice is simple: find the influencers already in your alumni community. Find the ones telling stories about their careers, their industries, their work — and figure out where the institution connects to that story. Ask them to produce something rather than producing it for them. Make it easy to share, scale, and repeat. Then get out of the way.
The talent your alumni community could contribute already exists. The question is: will your shop build anything to receive it?
Annie Quade is an advancement strategist with more than 15 years of experience spanning major and planned gifts, alumni engagement, annual giving, talent management, and organizational design. She serves as the Associate Vice President of Advancement Strategy & Engagement at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), where she oversees integrated engagement, talent and people operations, and the division's growth strategy — and currently provides interim leadership of the development team.
Big Themes This Week
The old college compact — “get the degree, get the job” — has quietly broken, and even brand-name schools can’t rest on their laurels.
Entrepreneurship as a method, not a major — something we should teach like the scientific method, for every student.
AI fluency is fast becoming table stakes; the real edge is durable human skills like curiosity, resilience, creativity, and empathy.
Lifelong learning is the real frontier — education delivered when you need it, not all front-loaded by age 22.
Entrepreneurial alumni are among the most engaged people in our communities — yet we still tend to approach them as donors.
Team Discussion Questions
Where are we still treating alumni transactionally when they actually want to build alongside us?
What would it look like to convene our entrepreneurial alumni as a community instead of working them as a list?
Which of our “tried and true” engagement tactics deserve to go under a microscope this year?
How are we finding and elevating authentic alumni and peer voices, versus relying on top-down brand campaigns?
If a nimbler organization tried to out-engage us tomorrow, what’s the durable thing only we can offer?
Coming Up:
The Next Agora: Developing Leadership Presence
Our next Agora will be about these themes and more plus a moderated networking session.
Title:
Developing Leadership Presence: Inspire with Confidence, Credibility, and Trust
Date & Time:
Friday, June 26 from 12-1 pm ET.
Speaker:
Mo Cotton Kelly, Chief People Officer and Senior Vice President, Alumni Relations at the UConn Foundation.
