MMA Alumni Survey

On June 4, 2018, more than 4,000 MMA alumni received an email from the Advancement Office linking to a survey about their undergraduate experience, life post-graduation and financial support of the college.

After 10 days, the survey closed with 936 responses — a 22.8% response rate.

The goal of the survey was to gain a better understanding of the undergraduate experiences of our alumni, their connection to MMA, and how their experiences affect their level of interest in financial support of the college.

We greatly appreciate the comments, some of which gave us a lot of food for thought and have prompted us to review our methodology and programs.

While some suggestions are beyond our control (we would love to make tuition free, but we are fiscally unable), many of you gave specific, constructive suggestions that we plan to implement. We want you to know: we hear you. Below are some highlights of the survey:

You Are Proud Mariners

More than 92% of you said you are satisfied, or very satisfied, with your undergraduate experience at MMA.

Over 80% of you noted that MMA had a positive and significant impact on your career, while another 14.77% of you said MMA had a positive, but not significant, impact on your career.

You Want to Connect

You would love to have more events for alumni (in addition to Homecoming and golf outings) and to form more chapters.

You desire creative forms of communication, including video clips of day-to-day life and events at MMA, interviews with students and staff and an increased presence on social media.

You want opportunities to give of your time and expertise, such as helping to coordinate co-ops for students, and mentoring and assisting Admissions in recruiting the next generation of Mariners.

You Are Philanthropically Resolute

You enjoy fundraising challenges and competing against the other maritime colleges—and winning! You suggested that we add challenges between alumni chapters and between classes.

Many of you wish to personalize your giving: sponsor a student, pay for books or uniforms for a financially struggling student, purchase a piece of lab equipment, chip in toward a waterfront need and more.

You believe that classmate-to-classmate communication about giving back is the best form of inspiration.

You desire more transparency in exactly where your donations to the Annual Fund go.

If you didn’t fill out the survey and want to give feedback, please contact the Advancement Office at 207-326-2223. For full survey results, visit mainemaritime.edu/mariners-forever.

Annual Fund Counts

The first year of the three-year Annual Fund Vision 20|20 campaign ended on June 30, with the close of the MMA 2018 fiscal year. The great news is that we reached our financial goal of $750,000!

Vision 20|20 2018 Goals

Alumni participation to the Annual Fund was 13.26%.

For 2019, MMA has again set a $750,000 Annual Fund goal, along with a participation rate of 17%, which equates to 269 more alumni donors than last year.

If you did not support MMA last year, you are encouraged to do so this year. Please note that you are able to designate your gifts to a wide variety of areas, such as scholarships/financial aid, leadership opportunities, athletics, regiment, lab equipment, technology, academic departments, waterfront/vessels, buildings and grounds, or operations.

A gift of any amount to the Annual Fund Vision 20|20 campaign counts in our financial numbers and toward our 17% alumni participation goal.

Class Pursers Sought

In an effort to meet the goals of the three-year Annual Fund Vision 20|20 campaign, a group of alumni, representative of most class decades, has visited MMA twice in 2018 to discuss methods to increase the alumni participation rate for each class.

During the initial gathering on March 23, the group listened to an impassioned talk by President Brennan at the opening dinner. He talked about the history of philanthropy, the escalating costs to run MMA, and his desire to make MMA affordable for any Maine student who wants to attend.

He summarized his remarks by stating, “I need your help because the only way we will increase gifts to financial aid is by increasing the participation rate to the Annual Fund. It is from there that donors give to scholarships and capital projects. Increasing participation to the Annual Fund is the critical pathway to increasing financial aid support at Maine Maritime Academy.”

Among their initiatives, the group has set a lofty goal of recruiting 40 Class Pursers by September 15, 2018. Modeled after the Class Agent program, these Class Pursers will work with the Academy’s Advancement Office and help make peer-to-peer calls to encourage others to support MMA.

Alumni assisting with this effort include David Fenderson ’56, John Gillis ’72, Mike Ames ’77, Larry Burrill ’77, Jake Jacobs ’85, Joe Valliere ’99, Andrew Strosahl ’05 and Eliza Pingree ’15.

If you would like to volunteer or learn more about this program, please contact Chris Haley, Vice President for Institutional Advancement, at 207-326-2232 or christopher.haley@mma.edu.

Challenge Results

The fifth annual Maritime Alumni Challenge was completed on May 21 and included Mass Maritime, Cal Maritime, SUNY Maritime, and the winner, Maine Maritime Academy.

This is all about participation, not dollars raised.

The heads of all three schools falling behind Maine will be wearing MMA attire at a morning formation when classes begin.

Maritime Alumni Challenge Results