Harris Connect

Helping Bring University of New Orleans Alumni Back

Overlooking Lake Pontchartrain on Lakeshore Drive in New Orleans, The University of New Orleans sustained damages in excess of $103 million in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In fact, some of the main campus was under up to three feet of water in the days following the storm.

According to Sharon Gruber, Vice Chancellor for University Advancement at UNO, the damage to the Office of Development was enormous. “We lost many of our systems, including our server, and several of the documents in our office were damp and moldy.” But more than that, Ms. Gruber says, many members of the development staff lost their homes and were forced to leave the city and most of the staff members who left have chosen not to return.

It was not just UNO staff that was displaced. With somewhere near 80% of alumni living and working in the greater New Orleans area at the time of the storm, they were among many of the local residents who had to find temporary housing in Dallas, Atlanta, Houston and other cities across the U.S. “And like our staff,” Ms. Gruber explains, “Many have made the move permanent. In fact, the population of the City of New Orleans is just over half of what it was before Katrina.”

The University of New Orleans Office of Development did have a disaster recovery plan in place to protect alumni data. Our database was, and continues to be, backed up every night online by a California-based vendor. Once a new server was purchased, we were able to recover our entire database. However, with so many of our alumni displaced, addresses and phone numbers in our database were no longer accurate.”

Marcelle Highstreet, Associate Vice Chancellor for Development, explains the fact that so many people moved away was compounded by the problems the post office faced keeping up with change of address forms, displaced postal workers and even delivering mail to the devastated areas. As a result of Katrina, UNO lost touch with many of their alums. And with little staff, the task of finding lost alumni seemed almost impossible.

“In the early days we had alumni contacting us to inquire about other alumni and the status of the University,” says Ms. Highstreet. “So we knew it was more important than ever for us to connect with our alumni, but we were hampered by a lack of current addresses, phone numbers and email addresses.

Ms. Gruber has been working with Harris Connect shortly before Katrina, discussing the potential of developing an online directory. “When Jay Finney, our account representative, called to make sure we were all safe - I told him about some of the issues we were facing. A few days later, he called me back and told me he thought their data research and lost trace services might be of help, which the company offered to provide at no cost.”

Gratefully, the UNO staff sent their entire alumni database of 65,000 to Harris Connect. According to Ms. Highstreet, the company was able to confirm and/or locate the whereabouts of about 47,000 UNO alumni. “It was critical to us and has made a huge difference in our alumni outreach and fundraising efforts.”

With this information, UNO sent out their first alumni magazine in December, the first since the storm, and followed that up with an alumni association membership campaign. In the midst of reconnecting with alumni in these traditional ways, the Office of Development is quickly moving forward with its plan to create an online directory as well.

Ms. Gruber feels that the online services will be an important step for bringing alumni back to UNO. “With the online directory and the broadcast email tool, we'll be able to touch alumni like never before.” She goes on to explain that the online directory will also provide an important service to alumni. “Because alumni can update their own profiles in real-time, the information is current - helping our alumni reconnect not only with us, but with one another.”

UNO plans to market their online directory heavily because they see it as being a critical part of what they offer alumni in the future. As they look forward and begin rebuilding the University and reconnecting with alumni, the Office of Development hopes to add modules to their Web-based services for online giving and event registration.

Originally, UNO planned to release their next print directory to kick off the University's 50th anniversary celebration in September of 2008. However, given the recent disaster and the fact that alumni are eager to locate friends and former classmates, they decided to produce their next print directory in conjunction with the online directory. According to Ms. Highstreet, “It's more important now than ever before to give our alumni more ways to network with one another, especially for those who have moved outside the New Orleans area and are building lives in new communities.”

In addition to the updated information they've already received, the directory program will also add and update phone numbers to their database. And Ms. Highstreet says this is critical. “With various ways to touch them - mail, phone, email - we will be able to communicate with alumni on every level, and let them know that UNO has survived and we are moving forward.”

Ms Gruber said, “After the storm, there were days when we didn't think we were going to get things back together so quickly. But, thanks to Harris Connect, we are well on our way - and there's a real spirit of accomplishment as we rebuild.”

And, according to Ms. Gruber, “Harris Connect has been an important part of this rebuilding. “The company's data research, print directory and online services are helping us re-establish relationships with our alumni - bringing them back together with one another and with UNO. And for us, connecting with our alumni is more important than ever before.”