College Alumni Volunteer Interest Form

Thank you for your interest in a volunteer leadership position in the UCF Alumni College Alumni Chapter program. Alumni leaders are esssential to the UCF Alumni mission to enhance the lives of UCF alumni, students and friends by fostering a mutually beneficial relationship with the university. By volunteering your time, talent and treasure in this program, you are joining an energetic group of alumni leaders who are committed to the University of Central Florida and engaging fellow alumni.

For additional information or to be contacted by a college alumni engagement staff member, please email us at [email protected].

What is an Alumni Chapter/Club?

Alumni chapters and clubs are organized groups of alumni and friends that carry out the Collective Impact Strategic Plan metrics (increasing annual alumni event participation from 8,000 to 16,000 by 2020 and increasing alumni annual giving donors from 15,000 – 30,000 by 2020). Chapters and clubs support the mission of UCF Alumni to increase alumni participation and annual giving, by leveraging UCF events, local and regional opportunities, college initiatives as well as plan their own chapter activities and opportunities to engage alumni.

By virtue of completing two consecutive semesters and/or graduating from UCF, an individual is automatically a member of one or more clubs and/or chapters, i.e. the college of engineering and computer science alumni chapter or the Seminole county alumni chapter.

Currently there are two types of alumni chapters: college and regional. Some regional groups are also classified as “alumni clubs” depending on the amount of alumni in the area and the breadth and depth of programming that is offered.

Both college and regional chapters alike, enable UCF and UCF Alumni to extend its reach to alumni through a variety of social, cultural and educational events and opportunities. These efforts allow alumni and friends to strengthen their relationships with one another and with UCF.

As we keep our Collective Impact Strategic Plan alumni engagement and annual giving metric goals in mind, here is further explanation and examples of how college alumni chapters can contribute to these goals:

Alumni Engagement

The primary difference between college and regional chapters and clubs are the areas of influence. A regional chapter or club member may be just as interested in a college activity such as the College of Nursing All-Class Reunion, as much as a college chapter member might be interested in activities that take place in Chicago. Since UCF alumni and friends are everywhere and we want our activities and opportunities to appeal to a broad range of individuals, chapters and clubs are encouraged to work together to have a greater impact within each college as well as locally and regionally. No matter where you are, what year you graduated or your area of study, there is a place for you with UCF Alumni!
As resources and time become increasingly valuable, our chapters and clubs are encouraged to plan activities that are both measurable and strategic to truly engage alumni and friends, with the goal of deepening their relationship with fellow Knights and UCF. Chapters and clubs function as an extension of UCF by being good stewards of the university’s resources and most importantly, adding value and relevance of alumni chapters and clubs to the university as a whole.

Chapters are encouraged to get creative with events that are compelling and meaningful for alumni and friends to attend. Here are a few samples of programs or events your chapter may want to explore:

• College or industry-specific “Networking Knights.”
• Knights Give Back Day of Service Project.
• Cultural Knights.
• Career Knights.
• ReUKnight Reunions.
• Mentor Programs or other career-related programming.
• Student-alumni programming.
• AlumKnight meet-ups at existing local events, faculty speaker series or other college
Events.
• Outstanding Alumni Awards events in conjunction with the college.
• Partner with a regional chapter or club on a scheduled game watch party.
• Partner with a college department to raise awareness of a research or fundraising initiative such as College of Sciences Sea Turtles or College of Arts and Humanities Performing Arts Center.
• Invite your college alumni to attend a UCF Indoor Tailgate as a group before a game.

Each college chapter is chartered by the UCF Alumni Board, and required to have the following five executive committee leadership positions to maintain status as an alumni chapter. Executive committee positions and descriptions are listed at the bottom of the page. In addition to the required positions that make up the executive committee, each chapter can establish supplemental chair positions to support the primary functions of the executive committee. Additional board member positions vary across each chapter and range from a Sponsorship Chair to a Student Representative. All chairs serve a term limit which varies by college. Elections are typically held during the spring, followed by a planning retreat that takes place in the summer.

Specific roles and responsibilities of the five executive committee position are outlined below. All positions are expected to make a philanthropic contribution to UCF annually by Dec. 1, and encouraged to attend all chapter meetings and events.

Chair

• Articulate and carry out the vision, mission and goals of UCF Alumni and the chapter.
• Display a working knowledge of UCF Alumni mission, goals and administrative processes necessary to align the chapter’s initiatives with alumni engagement and giving goals.
• Maintain a working knowledge of the basic facts of the university, UCF Alumni, chapter and affiliated college, department or school.
• Oversee all chapter initiatives including but not limited to events, services and communications.
• Preside over chapter and executive committee meetings.
• Schedule regular meetings for the executive committee and chapter.
• Develop meeting agendas in conjunction with Staff liaison.
• Represent the chapter at meetings and events as needed.
• Ensure committee members understand their roles and responsibilities.
• Serve as immediate past chair for one (1) year upon completion of term(s) as chair.
• Make an annual gift to UCF to an area of your choosing.

Chair-Elect/Vice Chair

• Assist the chair in the execution of their duties, acting on the chair’s behalf when necessary, including presiding over meetings and representing the chapter at official functions in absence of the chair.
• Actively participate and support the planning and execution of all chapter activities.
• Manage subcommittees as designated by the chapter.
• Assume the role of chair at the end of the current chair’s term or at which time the current chair is unable to fulfill their term.
• Make an annual gift to UCF to an area of your choosing.

Communications Chair

• Assume the primary responsibility of internal and external communications, i.e. an alumni newsletter.
• Maintain chapter social media sites and web content with staff liaison.
• Notify executive committee and chapter members of meetings and send reminders.
• Record or appoint a member to record minutes at all chapter meetings.
• Ensure meeting announcements, agendas and minutes of all executive committee and chapter meetings are properly prepared and distributed in a timely manner.
• Maintain a file of chapter materials for archival and business record purposes.
• Send timely responses to inquiries received via email, social media and events.
• Make an annual gift to UCF to an area of your choosing.

Philanthropy Chair

• Maintain a working knowledge of UCF areas of support, ways to give and applicable campaign dates and deadlines.
• Disseminate information about giving opportunities to the alumni chapter.
• Serve as primary liaison between Alumni Engagement and Annual Giving regarding giving priorities and campaigns.
• Ensure 100 percent annual giving of the board in coordination with the staff liaison.
• Make an annual gift to UCF to an area of your choosing.

Immediate Past Chair

• Serve as a mentor to new executive committee and chapter members.
• Provide leadership during the nomination and election of new executive committee members in consultation with the executive committee.
• Preside over meetings and represent the chapter at official functions in the absence of the chair and chair-elect.
• Assume the duties of chair-elect in the event they are unable to fulfill their term.
• Make an annual gift to UCF to an area of your choosing