Segment beyond grad year
Alumni segmentation is moving past one‑size‑fits‑all — the Alumni Attitude Study argues for nuanced, data‑profiled segments that unlock smarter messaging and long‑term growth. Treating alumni as multi‑dimensional stakeholders (behavior, life stage, affinity) is now table stakes. (x.com)
The Alumni Attitude Study has collected responses from more than one million alumni across 350+ institutions since 2001, creating the largest comparative alumni-attitudes benchmark in the sector (pegltd.com)). Researchers behind the Study formalized an era-of-graduation segmentation model — moving analysis from loose generational buckets to cohort-era profiles tied to economic and political context at graduation (alumniattitudestudy.org)). A published young‑alumni persona in the Study draws on roughly 33,000 respondents and reports a cohort composition of about 39% female and 60% male, with 13% current donors, 16% lapsed donors and roughly 70% non-donors in that sample (pegltd.com)). PEG’s practitioner guidance from the Study includes concrete operational moves — prioritize channel preferences by era and college, re-evaluate event invitation rules for non-local cohorts, and target messages based on affinity to specific programs rather than alma mater-general appeals (pegltd.com)). Multiple campuses have published AAS-driven changes: Wheaton ran a 2024 Study and promised phased result releases, Lafayette used a 2019 engagement report built on AAS findings, and Towson’s 2025 report explicitly compares campus results to AAS national averages for benchmarking (wheaton.edu)). The Study’s standard deliverable is comparative benchmarking — institutions receive their campus results against multi-institution norms from recent years, which peer offices use to set realistic engagement and giving targets by era and segment (ohio.edu)).
