Best of CASE District VI Award
 

Institution: USAFA Association of Graduates and Foundation

Title of entry: USAFA Graduate Research Study Informs Association Way Forward

About this entry: Since inception, and until January 2022, the USAFA Association of Graduates was a dues-based membership. Any data collected had been done through surveys of the membership base with the most recent, prior to this study, in 2006. In late 2021, after Membership for All Graduates had been approved by our board and in preparation for launch, we knew we needed to employ steps to better understand our graduate community spanning seven decades and vector our efforts to meet their needs.

After interviewing several research firms, we partnered with Market Perceptions to lead a robust research study with both qualitative and quantitative efforts. Graduate volunteers, mixed with members and non-members, participated in focus groups offering rich insight. The focus group learnings helped us ask better questions in the survey that followed, focused on data-driven and actionable steps for us to be a more relevant alumni association.

Almost 9,000 graduates took the survey, and those results informed our 2023-2028 Strategic Planning efforts, 2023 Operating Plan, and have shaped the way we approach engagement, events, and experiences. Early results indicate increased engagement with new membership opt-ins, new member communication across various channels and new faces in places we had not seen previous engagement.