An alumni association is an association of graduates or, more broadly, of former students (alumni). In the United Kingdom and the United States, alumni of universities, colleges, schools (especially independent schools), fraternities, and sororities often form groups with alumni from the same organization. These associations often organise social events, publish newsletters or magazines, and raise funds for the organisation. Many provide a variety of benefits and services that help alumni maintain connections to their educational institution and fellow graduates. In the US, most associations do not require its members to be an alumnus of a university to enjoy membership and privileges.
Additionally, such groups often support new alumni, and provide a forum to form new friendships and business relationships with people of similar background.
Alumni associations are mainly organised around universities or departments of universities, but may also be organised among students that studied in a certain country. In the past, they were often considered to be the university's or school's old boy society (or old boys network). Today, alumni associations involve graduates of all age groups and demographics.
In Anglo-Saxon countries, membership of an alumni association often goes without saying. In continental Europe, alumni associations are getting more and more popular as universities receive less money from governments and depend more on networking within civil society for funding.
Alumni associations are often organised into chapters by city, region, or country.
Read more about Alumni Association: Corporate Alumni, List of Alumni Associations
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“The spiritual kinship between Lincoln and Whitman was founded upon their Americanism, their essential Westernism. Whitman had grown up without much formal education; Lincoln had scarcely any education. One had become the notable poet of the day; one the orator of the Gettsyburg Address. It was inevitable that Whitman as a poet should turn with a feeling of kinship to Lincoln, and even without any association or contact feel that Lincoln was his.”
—Edgar Lee Masters (1869–1950)