Written by Doug Goodnough
There seems to be a survey about everything these days. Whether it is on social media, or an annoying political poll calling from an anonymous phone number, everyone wants to know our opinions.
And there are some creative ways to poll people. To get people to respond, there often is an incentive attached, or a contest to enter. The younger folks in our office would say it is a “gamification” of market research, and I agree.
When we conducted a survey of alumni earlier this summer, we offered the incentive of gift cards to get alumni to respond and complete our survey. Working with a top-notch research partner and our own Margaret Gano, who is our executive director of Market Research, we were able to send a very comprehensive survey to alumni.
For those who took the time to respond, thank you. We were heartened to receive nearly 500 responses to that survey. That is a tremendous reply and indicates a level of interest in how the Alumni Office engages with alumni. We have numerous events, activities, and communications each year, and we want to know that what we are doing is on track, on message, and relevant. This year’s results tell us that it is mostly good news on all fronts.
Let me spare you the pages of data and provide some overall highlights and observations of our latest survey:
- Approximately 95 percent rate Hillsdale as high in academic quality, rigor, and value for cost
- A whopping 91 percent of alumni are either extremely or very proud of their alma mater
- The top reasons alumni donate to Hillsdale: Proud to be alumni (63 percent); Hillsdale’s mission (54 percent); gratitude for their education (53 percent)
- In the area of engagement: 99 percent of alumni have interacted with the College since graduation; alumni campus visits increased 11 percent since 2024
- Alumni recommendations of Hillsdale to prospective students rose from 54 percent to 62 percent
- About 60 percent of alumni who responded have a desire to return to campus, citing advocacy and educational programming, publications, and events
- In the area of communication preferences, email is still the top preference at 74 percent, followed by postal (59 percent)
- Facebook (72 percent) was listed as the top preferred social media platform, while 7 in 10 respondents read Imprimis
- In the area of communication frequency, 81 percent say what the College sends to them is “about right”
We conduct these efforts to make sure we hear our alumni and are aware of how they perceive our efforts. They give us real data on what we need to do to improve. We also send out surveys after each of our major alumni events to provide even more feedback.
What’s the old phrase? You won’t get an answer unless you ask. So we will continue to ask in the hopes of improving the experience for our most important audience—our alumni.
Doug Goodnough, ’90, is Hillsdale’s senior director of Alumni Marketing. He enjoys connecting with fellow alumni in new and wonderful ways.
Published in September 2026
