Alumni Trending Podcast

AT10. Will COVID-19 Push Alumni Organizations To Go Viral? Barney Ellis-Perry

August 02, 2020 Paul Clifford Season 1 Episode 10
Alumni Trending Podcast
AT10. Will COVID-19 Push Alumni Organizations To Go Viral? Barney Ellis-Perry
Show Notes

Sorry about the sound quality.

Our guest is alumni relations and fundraising practitioner, Barney Ellis-Perry and today's trend line includes:

  • Strategic Planning,
  • Outcome Metrics,
  • and how COVID-19 sparks a change in engagement.

Barney Ellis-Perry is the former Senior Vice President in the Alumni Relations practice at Grenzebach Glier and Associates. A veteran of higher education advancement, Barney has over 25 years of experience in alumni relations and fundraising spanning education, non-profit and health care organizations. Barney is known for his ability to deliver unique and creative ideas with execution rooted in strategy. His vast experience covers all aspects of nonprofit work with expertise in strategic planning, board and constituent relations, campaign visioning and planning, marketing and branding, and in spearheading innovative and immersive alumni engagement strategies across various digital, social media and in-person platforms. Prior to GGA, Barney served as CEO of the University of California, Irvine (UCI) Alumni Association. During his tenure, Barney worked collaboratively with campus leaders and alumni volunteers to develop and implement a new vision and strategic plan for the University and the alumni endeavor. He also designed a system for tracking alumni engagement metrics, launched the Bridge Media program to improve online alumni and donor engagement, and led a re-branding of the organization. Under his leadership, alumni engagement increased from 7,650 to 10,533 from 2015 –2016 and reached 13,161 in 2017.Before his role at UCI, Barney held several fundraising and alumni relations positions during his 14-year tenure at the University of British Columbia (UBC), including Director of Alumni Engagement Campaign and Director of Alumni Relations. From 2000- 2005 he served as Strategic External Relations Officer at UBC Land & Building Services where he created Canada’s first campaign for aging university infrastructure. He also successfully designed, launched and co-ledStart an Evolution, the world’s first dual-goal campaign for a major university, with goals of raising $1.5 billion and of doubling active alumni engagement by 2015. In support of the campaign, he also conceived and led a ground-breaking social media campaign—your evolution—in 2011, connecting alumni with each other and the community through a collaborative online project-sharing platform. Under his direction, Alumni UBC met the campaign’s engagement goal a year early. Prior to UBC, Barney worked as a fundraiser for a number of large organizations and served as a founding partner in a fundraising consultancy for three years. 

From 1996-1999 he served as Director of Annual Giving at St. Paul’s Hospital Foundation of Vancouver where he created and executed the innovativeLights of Hope campaign and developed a major gift program for the Foundation. When not at work, Barney is an active volunteer at the local and national levels. 

In 2012, the Prime Minister of Canada and Queen Elizabeth II awarded him the Diamond Jubilee Medal for his social engagement and community service, most notably with Volunteer Canada.