Advisory boards typically offer guidance, support, social, and financial capital to academic units within colleges and universities. They are generally comprised of prominent volunteers from the community and appropriate industries or businesses. The results of this exploratory study found that non-alumni advisory board volunteers developed emotional connections and pride in serving the institution similar to alumni. The connections led most of the volunteers who participated in this study to have a high level of engagement with the institution that was meaningful to them and resulted in their desire to continue as volunteers, even without having earned a degree from the institution.