Club Resources & Information

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Welcome Dedicated Illini Club Leaders

Foremost, the University of Illinois Alumni Association wants to thank you for all that your club does for our beloved University.   Your generosity with your time, talent, and treasure helps to keep our devoted alumni meaningfully connected to the University of Illinois through events, initiatives, and scholarship fundraising.  The UIAA is dedicated to helping your club reach more alumni by providing additional resources that we hope your club utilizes to maximize your impact within your region, your affinity group, or your identity group.   

Within this website, you will find more information on these specific resources and how to leverage them for your alumni club.   Furthermore, the UIAA included some additional resources and information related to event strategies, board governance, and other best practices to ensure that the UIAA is meeting the needs and goals of your club.   

Once again, thank you for all that you do for the University of Illinois and our Alumni Association.  We look forward to working with you to keep Illini everywhere connected to each other and our University.

Sincerely,
Tyler Gagai
Director, Alumni Clubs

Latest News & Announcements

Greetings Club Leaders,

I-L-L!

We are looking forward to seeing you on March 29 at 11:00 AM central time for our monthly Zoom meeting. If you need to access our Zoom meeting on Friday, March 29, you can join by clicking this link.

Thank you for your continued engagement and fundraising efforts on behalf of our beloved University and the Alumni Association.

Greetings Club Leaders,

The UIAA Gameday Program designed to support your club’s gamewatch efforts in collecting attendee data will be extended into the 2023-24 Men’s Basketball Season. Once again, the UIAA will provide QR code signage to assist your club in having attendees sign-in as having attended your gamewatch event. –Clubs will encourage attendees to sign-in and club leaders will submit a post-event report for any gamewatches hosted that clubs plan to count towards their tier status.

Please note that the QR code signage will be unique to the Men’s Basketball season and your QR signage for football season will not be valid for Men’s Basketball gamewatch events.

–Please note that the drawings for prize pack will be monthly instead of weekly. This is to account for overall number of games in addition to scheduling limitations. Prize Pack items include: Signed Brad Underwood Basketball and Illinois porch flag.

–Even if your club only hosts one gamewatch per season, we still encourage you to participate in this program. Additionally, please re-use acrylic sign-holders provided during football season if possible.

Clubs who are interested in participating will need to complete this form to confirm their participation. Please note that this program is only for regular season and post-season gamewatch events. The first regular season Men’s Basketball game will take place on November 6 and the first nationally-televised game is November 14. Participating clubs will receive their gamewatch materials prior to the first televised game on November 14.

Dear Illinois family,

We are excited to share some big news as we celebrate 150 years of building relationships for life. Please join us in warmly welcoming David Bambrey as the new President of the University of Illinois Alumni Association (UIAA)!

Why We’re Excited
Norma Lauder, our board chair, sums it up well: “The appointment of David Bambrey heralds a new chapter in our illustrious history. With his proven leadership and deep-rooted connection to our community, we are confident he will propel our Alumni Association into an era marked by innovation, promise, and achievement.”

About David Bambrey
David comes to this role with an impressive background. After earning his Bachelor’s degree from Washington & Jefferson College, he began his professional journey at the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute for Entrepreneurial Excellence. He has also made significant contributions during his time at the Ohio University Alumni Association and, more recently, as vice president of alumni and student engagement here at the UIAA and also as the interim president for the last four months.

Honoring a Legacy
As we welcome David, we also pause to honor the legacy of the late Jennifer Dillavou, our former president and the first woman to lead the UIAA.

Chancellor Robert Jones adds, “The University of Illinois Alumni Association is more than a network, it’s a family. Under David’s leadership, we anticipate a renewed energy in our alumni engagement efforts, all while honoring the remarkable legacy left by our former president. This is a time of reflection, gratitude, and anticipation as we embrace what’s next for our Alumni Association.”

David’s Vision
David himself is enthusiastic about what lies ahead: “As we celebrate 150 years of building relationships for life, I am both humbled and excited to lead our Association into the next phase of our development. I am committed to strengthening the bonds that make our alumni community so special. Together, we’ll continue to shape a future filled with connection, pride, and success.”

Meet David at Our Community Welcome Event
We’d love for you to meet David in person! Join us at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center on Tuesday, September 19, from 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm. It’s a great opportunity to engage in meaningful conversations, hear more about our vision, and, of course, enjoy some light refreshments.

Thank you for being a part of this vibrant Illini community. We can’t wait to start this new chapter with you!

In Orange and Blue,
Your UIAA Team

Greetings Club Leaders,

Foremost, to our clubs who opted-in to participate into the UIAA Clubs Program (often referred to as the tier system), the UIAA cannot thank you enough for your partnership. The first year of this program was a massive success, with well over 200 club-hosted events and over 8,000 event attendees being reported to the UIAA. As such, congratulations on an outstanding job in FY23!

Beginning on July 1, 2023, we will raise the maximum reimbursement amount per event for our clubs who achieved Main Quad or Illini Union tier status. On that date, the maximum reimbursement amounts per event will be increased to the following amounts:

– Main Quad clubs – Your maximum reimbursement amount per event will increase from $500 per event to $750 per event. Your pool of reimbursable funds for the year will remain at a maximum of $1250.
– Illini Union clubs – Your maximum reimbursement amount per event will increase from $250 per event to $350 per event. Your pool of reimbursable funds for the year will remain at a maximum of $500.

Morrow Plots level clubs reimbursable financial support will remain at $250 for the fiscal year with a maximum of $250 per event.

This change will be discussed during the June Club Leaders Zoom meeting, and you will have the opportunity to ask questions about these changes during that meeting.

Once again, congratulations on a job well-done during this first year of our new clubs program. The UIAA values your continued partnership.

The University of Illinois Alumni Association’s new clubs program (aka tier system) will launch on July 1, 2022.  Beginning on that date, domestic regional, affinity, and identity clubs may begin to participate in the tier system by following the established guidelines and leveraging the offered resources.  For those clubs who have already notified the UIAA of their intention to participate in this new clubs program, we thank you for being tremendous partners to our organization and we look forward to working with your club to expand your audience. 

For clubs who plan to participate, please notify Tyler Gagai at gagai@uillinois.edu of your club’s intention to participate.   Conversely, if your club has decided to not participate in this program, please notify Tyler of your club’s intention to opt-out.

If your club is located outside of the United States, please note that the UIAA is unable to extend tier system resources to your club at this time.  However, the UIAA does encourage international alumni clubs to utilize our events information resource as a means of gathering ideas for events that will reach different constituencies.

Thank you for everything that your club does for our beloved University. We look forward to working with you to connect Illini alumni from all walks of life.

Foremost, welcome to the Illini Club Leaders Resource Website!  Moving forward, this website will be updated regularly with announcements from the UIAA that may impact your club in addition to important information and news from the University.  We highly recommend that you bookmark this site as it will not be accessible from the main UIAA website. Any important updates will be highlighted as announcements (as you are reading now).   Please note announcements will include but not limited to the following:

  • Updates and changes to tier system resources and guidelines
  • University of Illinois athletic schedules as they become available (this includes all DIA sports)
  • Special announcements from the UIAA
  • Monthly UIAA Club Leaders Zoom Meeting information
  • Information related to major on-campus events, such as Homecoming

It is our intention that this website serves as a means of keeping all our clubs updated with timely and relevant information and helps strengthen your connection to the UIAA and the University of Illinois. We hope that your club utilizes this website on a regular basis.

Clubs Program (Tier System) Guidelines

The University of Illinois Alumni Association (UIAA) is proud to assist its alumni clubs through resources, guidelines, and expectations that we refer to as a “tier system” that is designed to maximize the engagement opportunities for the alumni in their region or their target alumni demographic.  Under this tier structured, alumni clubs are allocated resources and provided guidelines based on their club’s own goals, volunteer bandwidth, and alumni population.

Events

Events are the primary engagement opportunity for alumni clubs. Learn how to maximize the potential for robust attendance and smooth operations.

How to Guides

Learn more about how to start an Illini Alumni Club, disband/suspend operations of an alumni club, recruit new volunteers, and more.

Club Finances

The University of Illinois Alumni Association (UIAA) is here to support your alumni group’s goals and initiatives in a variety of ways.

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