As the Cavalier Daily Alumni Association
heads into its third decade, its members have begun to assess exactly how
the association will continue the tradition of the past 20 years while
considering a make-over to assure the CDAA will remain relevant in the
future.
"At our fall meeting, the CDAA board of
directors agreed that it was time the CDAA embark on a strategic planning
session to set our goals and action plans for the organization for the next
five years," said CDAA President Diane Krehmeyer. The last such meeting was
held in 1994 with just the four-member executive committee (president, vice
president, secretary and treasurer) in attendance.
With a vision of the future in mind,
eight CDAA board members met on March 9 in Chevy Chase, Md., to discuss a
long-term strategic plan for the association. The goal was to conduct a
forthright assessment of the good, the bad and the ugly of how the alumni
group does business.
"The board members were asked to keep an
open, creative mind," Krehmeyer said. "We were talking about the vision of
the organization for the next five years, so this was not the time to focus
on minutia."
Out of the meeting came a nine-page,
draft document that addresses some of the issues the group hopes to tackle
in the next five years. The proposal is currently being reviewed by the
strategic planning meeting attendees and will be voted on at the fall
meeting of the CDAA board.
Among the key issues included in the
draft strategic plan are:
• Strengthen the relationship with the
Cavalier Daily staff. While the CDAA has always had a strong connection
and an open line of communication with the staff, some members hope to
enhance networking capabilities and perhaps increase the use of the alumni
web site, www.cdalumni.org, to encourage more interaction.
• Recruit more volunteers to the
CDAA committees and board of directors. The board of directors would like to
see more involvement from alumni who have not been involved in the past but
are willing to volunteer their time.
• Promote the various CDAA
scholarships more aggressively, and keep in touch with scholarship
winners to determine whether the money awarded has been helpful and
effective.
• Improve communications. Like any
alumni group, communications is crucial, and was described in the strategic
planning meeting as "the most critical aspect of CDAA operations." Improving
communications may include driving more traffic to the CDAA web site,
conducting more email surveys of alumni, and recruiting more writers and web
designers to help improve the site.
The group also discussed whether it
should improve fund-raising efforts, and some members were interested in
creating events that bring together CD alumni at times other than just
homecoming and reunions.
Bob Cullen, a 1970 graduate and member of
the CDAA board, agrees that improving the connection between the alumni and
the staff should be the top priority.
"The one strong consensus was that we
need to focus a lot of attention on the web site as a way to focus on
mentoring and keeping ties alive with the staff and older alumni," said
Cullen, a free-lance writer and author of several books, who served as host
of the meeting. "That’s the best way to serve our function. Our main thing
is to provide contacts for graduating fourth-years."
Cullen believes the CDAA, as it moves
forward as an organization, needs to continue to reinvent itself to remain
relevant to the current CD staff.
Over the past 20 years, the CDAA has
helped serve as a financial and consulting resource to the CD.
CDAA members have provided free legal
advice and representation to the CD on numerous occasions, including lease
negotiations with the University.
The CDAA has also lent a hand when the CD
was in dire financial straits and had accumulated debt. For example, in
1990, the CDAA purchased a process camera for the CD and provided several
short-term loans to help the CD pull itself out of debt.
"Financially the CD is in good shape
these days, and politically there’s a good relationship with the
administration," Cullen said. "We, the CDAA, were needed in the past when
there were financial problems, but now we need to improve the connection
with the staff and get more alumni involved."
Greg Trevor, a 1986 graduate and longtime
board member who also attended the strategic planning meeting, said his
personal priority is making sure the various scholarships—the Kris Pierson
Memorial Photography Scholarship, Herring Scholarship and the Community
Journalism Scholarship—continue to be successful.
"It’s been a successful program, but we
want to make sure it’s targeting the right students," Trevor says.
The CDAA Board of Directors will meet in
the fall to make changes to and approve the strategic plan.
