Last updated: February 2026
⭐ Purpose
This policy is meant to provide clarity to members of our community about how to partner with Columbia SoCal to create successful alumni events together.
📋 Information for Event Organizers
If you’re looking to organize an event and would like Columbia SoCal to help in some capacity, this section is for you! In order for us to partner with you, your event must meet our Community Event Guidelines (listed below).
Community Event Guidelines
For us to consider your event, all of the following must be true:
- The primary value of the event must be for the Columbia alumni community.*
- At least one of the main event organizers must be a Columbia alumnus/a.
- All Columbia alumni (including affiliates like Teachers College and Barnard College) must be equally welcome at the event, regardless of degree, program, graduation year, or any personal characteristics, in keeping with the Columbia Alumni Association Community Standard.**
- The event must not be political in nature.***
*The Columbia alumni community—not an individual or business—must be the primary beneficiary of the event. It’s natural that someone hosting an event will make new connections that could benefit them personally or professionally, but that shouldn’t be the focus of the event.
**Columbia Alumni Association (CAA) Community Standard
The Columbia Alumni Association (CAA) commits to supporting and maintaining an accessible and visible community where diversity of identity and thought is respected and celebrated. The participants in all CAA programs, activities, and volunteer opportunities, are charged with creating environments where alumni, students, families, faculty, staff, and friends of the University treat each individual and group with collegiality, inclusivity, and respect.
***Given Columbia SoCal’s designation as a California not-for-profit social and recreational organization, we will not align with a political party or candidate, or take a publicly stated position on an issue via our communications or events, including Community Events.
What kind of events can I do?
You’re welcome to get creative! We’ve seen the most interest in and benefit from these types of events:
- Social gatherings – e.g. dinners, coffees, hikes
- Professional or interest-based meetups – e.g. talks, panels, workshops
- Cultural outings – e.g. museum visits, concerts, films
- Volunteer activities - e.g. soup kitchens, animal shelters, tree planting
What kind of events can’t I do?
This isn’t an exhaustive list, but here are some events that don’t fit into our guidelines.
- Events only for a specific school, program, or class year
- Events primarily designed to sell products or services, including (but definitely not limited to) real estate information sessions focused on showcasing properties to potential clients
- Recruiting for a single company
- Political activism or campaigning
What kind of assistance does Columbia SoCal provide?
Here are some of the most common types of support we can provide.
- Event registration help, including creating an event page, collecting RSVPs, and communicating with attendees
- Marketing help, including listing the event on our event calendar, including it in our 1st-of-each-month email newsletter, and sharing on social media, like our WhatsApp community
- Event planning advice
- Connections to other alumni groups from Columbia and other universities
-
Event co-sponsorship: co-brand the event as one of ours; more robust help with planning and execution
- If Columbia SoCal is contributing financially in any way, this will raise the standard quite a bit and will include more involvement from and approval by our Board.
Safety & Privacy
We take the safety and privacy of our alumni community seriously. As an event organizer, it’s incumbent upon you to help make sure everyone can feel safe at the event and know that their personal data won’t be misused.
- Event organizers are responsible for venue safety and logistics.
- Attendee lists may not be used for unrelated marketing or shared externally. Attendee personal and contact information may not be shared without explicit consent.
Ok great—how do I get started?
- Submit our online form and someone from the Board will be in touch!
🦁 At Columbia SoCal, we’re alumni volunteers like you—all of us do this for love of Alma Mater! We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding as we work together for the betterment of our community.
🥳 Information for Event Attendees
If you’re thinking about attending one of our Community Events, here’s what you should know.
Events marked as “Community Events”—whether in our newsletter, website, or social media—are not officially sponsored by Columbia SoCal.
- This does not mean Columbia SoCal has vetted the event content, venue, host, or logistics in detail.
- It does mean we have confirmed that the event host is a Columbia alumnus/a, and that the event—as proposed to us—meets our Community Event Guidelines (see Information for Event Organizers section above).
In brief: if you see a Community Event, it means we feel the event is likely to be of interest to our alumni community.
As an organization, we receive lots of requests to co-sponsor or help market events organized by others. Many of these events are great, but some of them are not. We try to be judicious in which events we promote to our community so that you can trust that the events you get from us are likely to be good ones!