Reaching Out — and Reclaiming the Relationship

You know the rest of the story. Five years into the "remaking" of the school into the vision of the foundations' leaders, the two sponsoring foundations felt that they needed to "move on" as the school had "failed" to achieve the lofty new vision they had imagined. The funding — amounting to slightly over 50 percent of the operating budget — was suddenly, and almost without warning, withdrawn. The school's administration and the governing board had made a Faustian bargain and lost.

Carla and Juan have seen the hiring of a new administration and the enlistment of a number of new board members who want to return the school to its roots. Having survived the sucking sound of money leaving, school leadership wants to reach out to alumni but doesn't really know where to begin.

My counsel was to keep it basic; keep it simple. Avoid maudlin mea culpas or grand plans. Begin with the premise that there is residual affection and connection with the school among alumni. Build upon that — one piece at a time. Rekindling the fire, however, will not be a simple matter nor will it necessarily be on the old terms that were once sufficient.

As to where to start, I suggested to Carla and Juan to work with the administration to ask alums what they would like to see. Reach out to them without agenda or program but with an honest desire to reconnect on terms that the alumni set. I told Carla and Juan that the school had two tremendous assets in them and that they should be the vanguard to reach out to alumni for their input.

Gradually, alumni can be brought back into the life of the school. Yes, they could solicit alumni for the annual fund. There need not be a "waiting period" if it was kept low-key. Such a request coupled with a genuine expression of interest could actually work to strengthen the whole effort.