Take a look at the achievements of some amazing leaders from the Black community who have made an indelible impact in the world of Alumni Relations and Development.
In honor of Black History Month, we spent time researching some incredible leaders from the Black community, who have made an indelible impact in the world of Alumni Relations and Development. We wanted to do something special by creating a podium to showcase the remarkable achievements of some of these powerful leaders.
But this was no easy feat - while conducting our research online, we discovered so many amazing leaders whose achievements are a shining beacon to professionals in the industry. In our endeavor, we also reached out to our network to see if they have any recommendations on whom we can showcase. We were truly grateful to everyone who reached out to us.
After weeks of brainstorming and thorough research, it is entirely possible that a few great leaders who don’t have an online presence might have skipped our purview. If you feel like this is the case, we would love to hear your recommendations.
Before we dive in, we would like to say that this article is by no means a ranking or a tier list of any sorts. Instead, this is our attempt at shining the spotlight on some amazing leaders that we have had the opportunity to interact with and/or learn from.
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With that being said, here are 12 alumni leaders from the Black community that are making an impact in alumni relations and advancement.
Montique Cotton Kelly, or “Mo”, as she is referred to by her colleagues, friends, and family, has over 24 years of experience in university advancement. With her exceptional leadership and relationship-building skills, she has cemented her name in the industry as one of the all-time greats.
Mo currently serves as VP of Alumni Relations, Marketing and Communications and Annual Giving at UConn Foundation, but that’s not all she is known for. She is also an active member of the Council for Alumni Association Executives (CAAE) and currently sits on the Council for Advancement & Support of Education (CASE) District 1 Board. Mo wishes to make UConn an inclusive organization, and hopes that someday, they become one of the best institutions in the country.
Connect with Bishop on LinkedIn
Bishop Alexander currently serves as the Director of Alumni Relations at the University of North Alabama (UNA), which also happens to be his alma mater. His role involves facilitating positive communication and building meaningful relationships among the university’s 60,000-plus constituents. Prior to his role at the University, Bishop was a Congressional aide for the United States House of Representatives.
Bishop has two noteworthy awards under his wing: the University Fraternity/Sorority Advisor of the Year (which was awarded to him in 2015 by UNA), and the UNA Promising Alumni Award (which was awarded to him in 2008 when he was a student). Recently, Bishop also featured as a speaker for Unity programs at both the Fulton and Tupelo campuses, in honor of Black History Month.
Connect with Yolanda on LinkedIn
Yolanda is an experienced fundraising and special events consultant, who has over two decades of experience working in the non-profit sector. She currently serves as the President at YFJ Consulting, an LLC that provides non-profit organizations expertise in fundraising, special events and philanthropic counsel. She is also the founder of Women of Color in Fundraising and Philanthropy (WOC), a membership organization that champions women of color in fundraising, philanthropy, and other related fields. Additionally, Yolanda also founded the Allies in Action Membership Network, which helps support and train allies in the fight for racial equity.
Having raised millions of dollars for various nonprofit organizations, one of her crowing achievements include being the first African-American president-elect in the 40-year history of Women in Development, NY (one of the NY Metro Area's premier professional fundraising organizations). Yolanda is also an active lyric Soprano. She has performed at various operas and concerts, both at a national as well as an international level.
Connect with Ralph on LinkedIn
Ralph Amos, who currently serves as the AVP of Alumni Relations, as well as the Executive Director at Caltech Alumni Association, has over 25 years of experience specializing in alumni and donor engagement. As part of his role at Caltech, Ralph works towards fostering relationships with Caltech's 24,000-plus living alumni, scattered across the world.
Ralph has been a member of CASE's Committee on Opportunity and Equity and Commission on Alumni Relations. He is also a recipient of CASE's Crystal Apple Award for Teaching Excellence. Additionally, Ralph serves as a member of the Bill and Melinda Gates Millennium Scholarship Advisory Board.
Connect with Birgit on LinkedIn
Throughout her 30-year long career with the United Negro College Fund and Georgia Institute of Technology, Birgit Smith Burton has helped raise more than $500 million, making her a renowned leader in the fundraising profession. Currently the Executive Director of Foundation Relations at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Birgit led her team in raising $309 million toward the institute's most recent and successful $1.8 billion capital campaign. Birgit has penned numerous articles on diversity in the fundraising profession, and has also co-authored the book The Philanthropic Covenant with Black America.
Birgit serves on the boards of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the A.E. Lowe Grice Scholarship Fund, and Hosea Feed the Hungry and Homeless. She is also the founding chair of the African American Development Officers (AADO) network, which for 17 years, has supported diversity in the fundraising profession.
Connect with Correan on LinkedIn
Correan, who is currently the Associate Director of Events, Alumni, and Donor Relations at The Evergreen State College, is an experienced nonprofit and Institutional Advancement professional who specializes in special events, alumni relations, and donor communications. Recently, he successfully led his Advancement division in growing support for their annual scholarship fundraiser by more than $150,000 over the last three years, and unified all Advancement events under a singular program. Correan is also a musician, and has earned a BM in classical clarinet performance from the University of Houston.
Correan has a unique approach to Evergreen’s programming, and we can’t wait to cover some of his amazing ideas in the future editions of Almabase Spotlights, so stay tuned!
Having worked in institutional advancement with various institutions for the last 26 years, Tim Minor currently serves as the Vice President for University Advancement at the University of North Carolina. Tim is in charge of administrative direction and support for external funding within the UNC multi-campus university, which includes all 17 of North Carolina's public institutions. While working with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he played an integral part in the University’s $500 million Bicentennial Campaign and the university’s largest campaign, the $2.3 billion Carolina First Campaign.
Tim serves on the board for the Chatham County Education Foundation. He has also served as a member of the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History Board at the UNC Chapel Hill for several years.
Connect with LaDaniel on LinkedIn
LaDaniel, who has over 20 years of experience in institutional advancement, currently serves as the Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Bennett College, a private historically black liberal arts college for women in Greensboro, North Carolina. His areas of expertise include financial advising, philanthropic management, and fundraising. Prior to his role at Bennett College, LaDaniel was the Director of Development for constituent programs at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During his time there, he played an integral part in developing effective strategies to increase major donor activity and grow the prospect base to support a $4.25 billion comprehensive campaign.
One of LaDaniel’s recent achievements include being featured as a part of the CASE’s 2020 District III Faculty Stars.
Connect with Scott on LinkedIn
Scott Francis currently serves as the Associate Vice Chancellor and President at the East Carolina University Alumni Association. With over 20 years of experience working with various educational institutions, Scott’s current role involves serving the interests of nearly 170,000 constituents of the University. He leads the association’s dedicated staff and volunteers, and provides direction on the association’s many programs and their component parts. He is committed to developing and executing programs and initiatives that transform the experience of constituents.
In his previous role at the University of Florida Alumni Association, he served as the Director of Gator Clubs and Affiliate Groups. During his tenure there, he was responsible for the support, training, direction, and stewardship of 95 Gator Clubs and six affiliate groups, representing over 422,000 alumni.
Connect with Karen on LinkedIn
With over 42 years of professional experience, Karen E. Osborne is an experienced frontline fundraiser, staff and board trainer, speaker, and consultant for nonprofits. She is the Co-Founder of and Senior Strategist at The Osborne Group, a full service management, consulting and training firm for non-profit organizations. She is a strong believer in the power of philanthropy and nonprofits. Karen was the recipient of the Crystal Apple for Outstanding Teaching and Public Speaking by CASE. She was also awarded the Ashmore Award for Outstanding Service to the Profession in 2014 by CASE.
Besides being an eminent leader in the nonprofit space, Karen is also a published author. Her debut novel, Getting It Right, was published in 2017. She is currently working on her next novel, Tangled Lies, which will hit bookshelves later this year.
Connect with Shalonda on LinkedIn
Shalonda Martin is the Senior Director of Data Integrity at the University of Southern California. She has over 18 years of professional experience, and her specialties include organizational development, data integrity, leadership, and DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion). Additionally, she is the founder of Shalonda Martin Coaching and Consulting, where she provides career and executive leadership coaching and consulting services.
Shalonda serves as a member of the programming committee for the Association for Advancement Services Professionals (AASP). She is passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion, and creating work environments that embrace an anti-racist culture.
Connect with Garvin on LinkedIn
Dr. Garvin Maffett, who is currently an independent consultant, has over 18 years of experience working with various educational institutions in the field of higher education philanthropy and advancement. While he was serving as Vice President for Institutional Advancement and College Relations at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Dr. Maffett directed and implemented strategies that helped the college surpass its campaign goal of $125 million. As the Associate Director of Leadership and Major Gifts at Yale University, he oversaw the development program and planning of the University’s comprehensive $1.5 billion campaign.
Dr. Maffett is the Founder of CFRE International Network on LinkedIn, which is the most active professional platform of Certified Fund Raising Executives online with 6,298 members from 20 countries.
That wraps up our article that highlights some incredible leaders and their achievements. These leaders have been a significant and continuous source of inspiration for us at Almabase. It was a pleasure to learn about the stories of so many professionals in our industry - even those that we were unable to feature here.
Though we tried to be as comprehensive as possible with our research, it is still possible for us to have omitted someone who deserves to be featured here. If you think we left someone out, feel free to let us know - we strive to showcase the work of as many deserving people as possible.
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See how modern advancement teams bring alumni engagement and fundraising together.
Handling alumni data is a delicate balancing act between the right infrastructure and the right strategies to support it. Your team most likely already has a system in place for this whether it’s an integrated CRM or an ecosystem of specialized tools.
Relying on that data to run programs and track results however, is where your alumni database software gets put to the test. We often see instances where the records are available but using them consistently across teams becomes harder over time.
This is where most institutions start looking beyond their database and start looking at the tools that make use of the data at hand.
In this blog, we will walk you through alumni database software and tools that help you work more effectively with your existing database, so you can keep data accurate and use it to drive ongoing engagement.
An alumni database software is a centralized system that helps institutions maintain a reliable record of their alumni and how they stay connected over time. It allows teams to track interactions and update information as alumni participate in programs or contribute to the institution.
In most cases, this database sits within a CRM. Teams use it as a central place to manage alumni records so different departments are working with the same information. This becomes important when multiple teams are running outreach, events, or fundraising activities at the same time.
As engagement grows, maintaining accurate data becomes more demanding. Alumni participate in different programs, update their details, and interact across multiple channels. Without a consistent system, it becomes harder to keep records current and use them effectively.
According to the 2024 CASE Insights Alumni Engagement Survey, 51.8% of institutions reported increased alumni engagement. As participation grows, institutions need systems that can keep up with these interactions and reflect them accurately in their data.
This is why many institutions rely on additional tools alongside their database. These tools help teams manage ongoing engagement and keep data aligned with actual activity, so decisions are based on current information.
A CRM is often where institutions begin managing alumni data. It works well when programs have limited scope and teams are focused solely on maintaining records and basic outreach. At this stage, the system supports day-to-day needs without much additional setup.
As the number and scale of your alumni programs expand, teams start working across more activities at the same time. This means engagement becomes harder to manage within a single system, and gaps begin to appear in how data is updated and used.
Kimberly Verstandig, Vice President for Fundraising and Senior Strategist at Mackey Strategies, describes this clearly:
“The CRM is kind of like the mothership, but then you have all of these other ships floating around it. Donor Relations wants one platform, Annual Giving needs another, Alumni Engagement wants something different for events. All of a sudden you have these disparate systems, and you're trying to figure out how they all connect back to the CRM in order to make use of that data effectively.”
In response, institutions start adding supporting tools around their alumni database. These tools help teams manage engagement as it happens and keep data aligned with actual activity, so records remain accurate and useful over time.
Advancement teams often use additional platforms alongside their alumni database when engagement programs become harder to manage within a single system. These tools help teams run programs more consistently and keep data aligned with actual activity.
The following categories reflect how institutions typically extend their alumni database to support ongoing engagement.
Alumni management and engagement platforms are used to run programs that keep alumni involved over time. These platforms help teams move from storing data to using it in day-to-day engagement. They work alongside the CRM so teams can manage engagement as it happens and ensure that updates reflect back in the database without manual effort.
Almabase is an alumni management and engagement platform built for Higher Ed and K–12 institutions. It works alongside an existing alumni database to help teams use their data during day-to-day programs, rather than only storing it.
At its core, the platform maintains a centralized alumni directory that updates as alumni interact with the institution. Alumni can update their own information, which helps keep records accurate without requiring constant manual work from internal teams.
Core database and lifecycle capabilities
Engagement and advancement workflows
This integration becomes important at scale. NACUBO reported that US higher education institutions received $61.5 billion in voluntary contributions in FY24, with alumni contributing a significant share. When engagement data connects with giving activity, teams can better track participation and follow up with donors in a timely way.
Governance and integrations
By connecting engagement activity with alumni records, Almabase helps institutions use their database as an active system that supports programs over time.
Gravyty is used within advancement teams to support fundraising and donor engagement. It works alongside a CRM, where core alumni and donor records are maintained, and adds tools that help teams manage outreach and track activity during campaigns.
What Gravyty supports in an advancement workflow
In practice, Gravyty is used as an extension to CRM-led environments. Teams rely on it for fundraising and outreach while continuing to manage core alumni data within the CRM.
Alumni Database Software Comparison for Institutions
For institutions that want to manage engagement and reporting within the same system, Almabase provides a more unified setup. Teams can run programs and track outcomes without relying on multiple tools.
Also read → Alumni management software buying guide for Higher Ed and K-12 institutions | Almabase vs Vaave: Which alumni management platform is right for your institution?
Alumni data changes over time. People switch jobs, move locations, or stop using old contact details. Without regular updates, records become less reliable, which affects how teams reach out and plan programs.
Data enrichment tools are used to keep alumni records current. They help teams identify gaps in the database and update information so outreach is based on accurate data.
What these tools help with
Institutions often use these tools alongside their alumni database to keep records reliable over time. This becomes important when engagement and fundraising depend on current information.
Platforms such as Windfall, WealthEngine, and LexisNexis are commonly used for this purpose. They focus on improving data quality and donor intelligence, rather than running engagement programs.
When connected to the alumni database, these tools help ensure that outreach and fundraising efforts are based on accurate information.
As alumni programs grow, teams need better visibility into which relationships to prioritize. Analytics and prospect research tools help by analyzing patterns in alumni activity and giving behavior.
What these tools help with
Institutions use these tools alongside their alumni database to support fundraising strategy and planning. Platforms such as DonorSearch, iWave, and EverTrue are commonly used in this category. They focus on identifying donor potential and guiding outreach decisions.
When connected to the alumni database, these insights help teams prioritize relationships and improve the effectiveness of fundraising efforts.
Community platforms help institutions move beyond storing alumni data and create ongoing interaction between alumni. These platforms are used to support networking, mentorship, and participation across programs, which helps keep alumni engaged over time.
As alumni begin interacting within these platforms, their activity also updates the database. This makes it easier for teams to keep records current without relying entirely on manual updates.
Almabase’s community platform provides a dedicated space where alumni can connect with each other and participate in programs run by the institution. Teams use it to support networking and mentorship while capturing engagement activity as it happens.
What this looks like in practice:
When networking activity and program participation are captured within the same platform, alumni data remains more accurate over time. This allows institutions to build stronger relationships while maintaining a database that reflects real engagement.
360Alumni provides an online community platform that institutions use to connect alumni through ongoing interaction. It brings alumni activity into one place so members can engage with each other and participate in programs managed by the institution.
What this looks like in practice:
Institutions typically use platforms like 360Alumni to support community engagement, while maintaining core alumni records within their existing database or CRM.
Almabase vs Alumni360 - Quick Comparison
360Alumni is used primarily to support networking and community interaction. On the other hand, Almabase is used when institutions want community activity to connect with events and fundraising, so teams can track engagement and follow up within the same system.
In most institutions, the CRM holds the primary alumni records. Teams rely on it to maintain contact details and track giving activity. But as programs expand, additional tools are introduced to support how teams run engagement and keep data current.
A typical advancement stack looks like this:
When these tools work alongside the alumni database, teams can manage engagement while keeping records aligned with actual activity. This makes it easier to track participation, follow up with alumni, and maintain consistent reporting over time.
At this point, the focus moves from comparing tools to deciding which one fits your institution’s setup. A structured checklist helps teams evaluate options during demos and internal discussions.
What to look for during evaluation:
Using a checklist like this helps ensure that new tools support your alumni database instead of adding complexity to your workflows.
Also read → The ultimate alumni engagement checklist for modern advancement teams
Institutions choose Almabase when they want alumni data to stay connected with how their programs run. Instead of working across separate tools, teams can manage engagement and track outcomes within the same system. This reduces the effort required to keep data aligned during ongoing activity.
In practice, this becomes useful when teams are managing events and fundraising at the same time. Activity from these programs is reflected in alumni records, which helps teams follow up and report without switching systems.
What teams highlight in reviews
At Nicholls State University, Almabase helped bring alumni data into a single system used for engagement. The team reduced reliance on manual processes and improved how records were maintained. Within a year, they were able to reach 94% of contactable alumni and increased registered alumni by 159%.
For institutions looking to use alumni data across engagement and fundraising programs, Almabase helps teams manage activity within one system while keeping records accurate over time. Book a demo to see how this would work within your institution’s workflows.
Most institutions already rely on a CRM as their alumni database. The impact depends on how well that data is maintained and used across alumni engagement and fundraising programs.
Supporting tools help teams manage this in practice. They are used to run engagement activity and keep data updated as programs continue, which helps ensure records reflect actual participation.
For advancement teams looking to strengthen alumni engagement without adding operational complexity, the next step is to understand how these tools fit into existing workflows.
Book a demo with Almabase to see how institutions manage engagement and fundraising within the same system.
Alumni database software is used to maintain accurate alumni records and track how alumni interact with the institution over time. Teams rely on it to keep data updated and consistent across departments.
Engagement platforms focus on how alumni participate in programs and interact with each other. In many institutions, both work together so that activity from engagement programs is reflected in the database.
The most important features depend on how teams manage alumni programs. Institutions typically look for tools that keep records updated as activity happens and support reporting across engagement and fundraising. Ease of use also matters, since teams need to work with the system regularly.
Integrations are important when multiple systems are used to manage alumni programs. The database should connect with existing tools so that data flows without manual updates. This helps keep records consistent and reduces errors during reporting.
Integrations are important when multiple systems are used to manage alumni programs. The database should connect with existing tools so that data flows without manual updates. This helps keep records consistent and reduces errors during reporting.
The system records how alumni participate in programs and interact with the institution. Teams use this information to understand patterns in participation and plan outreach based on past activity.
The right choice depends on how the institution operates. Smaller teams often prefer tools that are easy to manage and support multiple use cases in one place. Larger institutions usually look for systems that can handle higher volumes of data and support more complex workflows across teams.
Best Alumni Database Software to Activate Alumni Engagement
Compare alumni database software for engagement, fundraising, CRM sync, and events. See features, use cases, and how to choose the right platform.
Alumni Engagement
Most institutions evaluating alumni management software already have a CRM or an alumni database in place. What often changes over time is how difficult it becomes to run engagement programs consistently using those systems.
Teams often start seeing a gradual change in day-to-day execution where participation drops after initial campaigns, follow-ups take up more working hours and the data to tie it all together sits across multiple systems, eventually slowing down outreach and reporting. This is where the initial (or in some cases additional) platform choice starts to matter.
Today, we have a blog that compares four platforms that institutions commonly evaluate, including Almabase, Graduway, PeopleGrove, and Hivebrite. We’ll walk you through how each one works in practice and what to consider when shortlisting the right option.
Alumni management software helps institutions manage alumni relationships across programs such as events, communication, and fundraising within a single system. It allows teams to track participation and connect engagement activity with giving, which reduces manual effort when data needs to be shared across departments.
Selecting the right platform depends on how well it supports your institution’s programs in practice. To begin, let’s compare the four mentioned platforms that institutions that we’ve picked out:
And a quick summary before we proceed with the detailed comparisons:
The next section looks at how these platforms compare across specific institutional needs.
For advancement teams, engagement and fundraising are deeply connected. Events drive participation. Participation drives giving. Giving drives long-term alumni relationships.
The right alumni management software should support that entire cycle without forcing teams to stitch together multiple disconnected tools.
Here’s how Almabase and Graduway compare when the priority is advancement-led engagement and fundraising.
Almabase connects directly with systems such as Blackbaud, Salesforce, and Ellucian, which means engagement and giving activity flows back into the institution’s CRM as it happens. This reduces the need for manual updates and allows advancement teams to work with a consistent view of alumni participation and donor activity.
Graduway stores alumni data within its platform and links fundraising through the Gravyty ecosystem. The level of CRM synchronization depends on how those integrations are configured, which can affect how easily teams track activity across systems.
Almabase supports event execution with built-in workflows that carry through from registration to post-event tracking. Because participation data is tied to fundraising activity, teams can see how events contribute to broader advancement outcomes without additional reconciliation.
Graduway supports event coordination and communication within the platform, with a primary focus on facilitating alumni participation. When teams need deeper visibility into how events influence fundraising, they often rely on additional tools within the Gravyty setup.
Almabase includes giving workflows within the same system used for engagement. Campaigns, donations, and participation data remain connected, which helps teams track outcomes without switching between tools.
Graduway supports fundraising through the Gravyty ecosystem, where campaign management may sit alongside other modules. This setup can work well for institutions that already operate within that structure, though it introduces additional coordination across systems.
Almabase is typically used by teams that want engagement and fundraising to run within the same system, with shared data across workflows.
Graduway is used in setups where institutions rely on the Gravyty ecosystem and manage engagement and fundraising through connected modules.
The choice depends on how your team prefers to operate and how closely these workflows need to stay connected during execution.
Quick tip → According to the 2024 CASE framework, alumni engagement breaks down into four measurable modes: Communication (15.4%), Experiential (6.1%), Philanthropy (4.7%), and Volunteering (1.2%). Platforms are increasingly evaluated on how well they support each of these categories.
Career networking and mentorship programs depend on how well institutions can connect alumni with students or peers in a structured way. This usually involves identifying the right participants, enabling interaction, and tracking whether those connections continue over time.
When institutions evaluate platforms for this use case, they look at how easily mentorship programs can be set up and how clearly participation can be measured.
Here’s how Almabase and PeopleGrove compare within this specific context.
PeopleGrove is designed specifically for career networking and mentorship. Institutions use it to set up matching frameworks and run structured programs where participants are guided through defined interactions. This makes it easier to manage mentorship as a focused initiative with clear boundaries.
Almabase supports mentorship within its broader alumni system. Programs run alongside existing alumni data and communication workflows, so teams can connect mentorship activity with other forms of engagement. This is useful when mentorship is one part of a larger alumni strategy rather than a standalone program.
Almabase connects mentorship activity with CRM systems, which allows teams to view participation alongside other engagement data. This helps when reporting needs to reflect overall alumni involvement instead of isolated program metrics.
PeopleGrove enhances participant profiles using LinkedIn data, which improves visibility into professional backgrounds during mentorship matching. Reporting remains centered on career program activity, which works well for teams focused on mentorship outcomes.
PeopleGrove is used primarily for career-focused engagement. Institutions adopt it when mentorship and professional networking are core priorities and require dedicated workflows.
Almabase supports mentorship within a broader engagement setup. Teams can manage events, communication, and fundraising alongside networking programs, which allows different initiatives to stay connected during execution.
PeopleGrove is typically chosen when mentorship programs are a primary focus and require a dedicated environment for managing career interactions.
Almabase is used when mentorship is one part of a broader engagement strategy that includes events, communication, and fundraising within the same system.
The choice depends on how mentorship fits into your overall alumni strategy and how closely it needs to connect with other engagement activities.
Community engagement depends on whether alumni continue to participate after joining a platform. This usually happens when institutions create spaces where interaction is visible and tied to ongoing programs rather than one-time activity.
When evaluating platforms for this use case, institutions look at how community interaction is structured and how participation connects to events or broader engagement efforts.
Here’s how Almabase and Hivebrite compare within community engagement and building.
Hivebrite is built around digital community spaces where alumni interact through groups and discussions. Institutions use it to create branded environments that encourage peer-to-peer participation. Engagement tends to grow when members see activity from others within the same community.
Almabase supports community interaction within a broader alumni system. Activity from groups or discussions connects with events and institutional initiatives, which allows teams to track how engagement moves across different programs. This helps when participation needs to translate into measurable outcomes rather than remain limited to conversations.
A 2024 study on digital alumni platforms shows that visible peer activity influences whether users stay active over time. Platforms that make participation visible across programs often see more consistent engagement.
Almabase connects event workflows directly with alumni activity. Teams can track who participates and follow up within the same system, which helps when events are used to drive ongoing engagement.
Hivebrite supports event participation within its community environment. It allows institutions to manage registrations and track attendance, but teams may rely on additional processes when they want to connect event activity with broader engagement efforts.
Almabase includes fundraising workflows that connect with alumni records and CRM systems. This allows teams to track how engagement activity contributes to giving over time.
Hivebrite provides limited fundraising functionality within the platform. Institutions often use additional tools when fundraising becomes part of their engagement strategy, which can add steps to tracking results.
Almabase is typically used when community engagement needs to connect with events and fundraising within the same system, so teams can manage participation and outcomes together.
Hivebrite is used when the focus is on building a standalone community space where interaction between members is the primary goal.
The choice depends on whether community engagement needs to connect with other institutional workflows or operate as a separate initiative.
After evaluating different platforms, institutions usually look for a setup where alumni activity stays connected across programs. This matters because teams often manage events, fundraising, and communication in parallel, and disconnected tools make it harder to track participation or follow up consistently.
Almabase is used in these situations because it keeps engagement activity within a single system. Event participation and giving activity are recorded together, so teams can see how programs influence each other without switching tools.
At Thomas Aquinas College, 25% of alumni signed up within three months of implementation. This was driven by moving from a static alumni page to an interactive platform where participation was visible in real time. Features such as leaderboards, campaign progress tracking, and peer-driven challenges encouraged alumni to engage more actively, which helped the team sustain participation across both events and fundraising initiatives.
As Kalyan, Founder and CEO of Almabase, notes, “technology makes the donor experience significantly better, making the donor feel connected to the organization, whether you're making a $100 donation or $100,000,” highlighting how systems th ko at bring engagement and giving together can strengthen participation over time.
Also read → Alumni management software buying guide for institutions and advancement teams
By now, you’ve seen how different platforms support alumni programs in practice. The key difference comes down to how workflows are structured and how easily teams can manage them together.
Almabase is used by institutions that want engagement activity, event participation, and giving data to stay connected within the same system. This makes it easier to track outcomes and coordinate work across teams.
If you’re evaluating platforms, the next step is to see how this works in practice. A demo can help you understand how your workflows would run within the system and how data flows across programs. Request a free demo to see how your workflows would run in practice.
Alumni management software is used by institutions to manage alumni relationships across programs. Teams use it to track interactions, run events, and manage giving activity within the same system, which helps reduce manual work when data needs to be shared across teams.
The most important features depend on how the institution runs its programs. Teams usually look for tools that support event execution and allow them to track participation over time. CRM connectivity also matters when reporting needs to reflect both engagement and giving activity in one place.
A CRM is typically used to store donor and contact records, while alumni platforms focus on engagement programs. Alumni management software connects these areas by allowing teams to run events and fundraising while keeping data aligned with institutional systems.
Many platforms connect with systems such as Blackbaud, Salesforce, or Ellucian. This allows engagement activity to reflect in donor records, which helps teams maintain accurate reporting without manually updating data across systems.
These platforms support event execution by allowing teams to manage registrations and track participation. Fundraising activity can then be linked to that engagement, which helps teams follow up with alumni based on their involvement.
The right choice depends on how your institution runs alumni programs. Teams should look at how well the platform supports their existing workflows and whether engagement activity connects with fundraising and reporting in a way that reduces manual effort.
Alumni Management Software: Best Platforms Compared
Compare the best alumni management software for engagement, events, mentoring, and fundraising. See how Almabase stacks up against top platforms.
Alumni Engagement
Alumni reunions are still a core part of how institutions stay connected with their communities. They’re familiar and often well-intentioned. But over time, the format can start to feel repetitive. Especially when the programme doesn’t really change: a cocktail hour, a speech from the Dean, or some time to catch up with people you’ve mostly lost touch with, alumni interest starts to taper off.
This could be because, at some point, alumni begin to weigh the effort of booking flights and stays, or taking time off of work or family against the payoff. Reunions are being compared against everything else people could be doing with their time. And in that comparison, a lot of programming starts to feel dated, even to a very seemingly engaged alumni community.
To help you keep up with the evolving expectations of your alumni, we’ve put together a range of alumni reunion activity ideas across formats. The idea is to give you options you can actually use, backed with real life examples and tips to help you make them work.
Alumni look forward to reunions because they miss each other, and the institution gives them a chance to relive a part of their student life with friends. That’s worth keeping in mind when you’re designing the programme.
This consideration also influences what the activities need to do. They should create space for those old friends to connect with each other in meaningful ways. The better ones bring together alumni who wouldn’t otherwise meet, and over time, build something that’s harder to measure: a willingness to give back. This may not always be financially or right away. It could look like year-on-year re-engagement, or just giving time, mentorship, introductions. Financial giving tends to follow when that relationship is in place.
It’s also worth recognizing that different activities serve different goals, and treating them as interchangeable could backfire. One thing that’ll help is clarity on the outcomes expected from these activities. Once you’re clear on what you want the reunion to do, the choice of activities becomes a lot more straightforward.
In-person events are usually what people picture when they think of reunions. They’re also where the strongest connections happen. To embrace the potential for these connections, think of how interactive you can make the experience for attendees.
A campus scavenger hunt gets alumni moving around. Routing participants past old lecture halls, favorite spots, and campus landmarks brings back memories and experiences from years ago. It gives organizers a chance to nudge people beyond their old cohort by combining folks across different graduating years within teams.
Reed College runs ‘Foster's Quest’, a narrative-driven hunt where alumni follow 11 clues to 11 locations across campus, collecting letters that unscramble into a four-word phrase. The first 250 to finish get a special keepsake. It's built around the college's own history and folklore, which is what makes it stick.
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Trivia nights are a classic because they’re low-barrier and customizable, but only worthwhile when the content is right. Generic questions miss the point of an alumni reunion. Instead, build rounds around the institution's history, notable alumni, campus lore, and the specific years of whoever's in the room. Done well, it can feel like a shared trip down memory lane.
Christian Brothers University runs an annual Trivia Night organised by its National Alumni Board where graduates form "legacy teams" of up to eight people, bring their own food and drinks, and are hosted by alumni rather than staff. The effect is closer to a house party than a formal event and that's what makes people show up with eagerness.
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Give your alumni a reason to come back beyond just seeing their old classmates with a well-run panel. Pair it with structured networking opportunities like faculty-led roundtables, speed-mentoring rotations, or breakout groups, and it can function as a career development event too. That makes it particularly valuable for younger alumni still building their networks.
Stanford's Reunion Homecoming has four days of "Classes Without Quizzes", which are faculty-led sessions on current research, running alongside class panels and networking opportunities. The programming is also flexible with Open Houses that do not have a set agenda. This allows alumni to socialise without the added pressure of adhering to a formal schedule.
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Some of the most memorable reunion moments happen when people have something to do together. Building a hands-on activity into your programme gives alumni a chance to collaborate and create, together.
Built into Saint Louis University's Billiken Days (the university’s official alumni reunion) is a table decoration contest where alumni and families build themed displays for a cash prize. Past themes have ranged from "Candyland" to "SLU History." Teams end up debating which campus legend to include or which era deserves the spotlight, and those conversations often turn into some of the most fun parts of the event.
The same idea can be adapted in different ways: a collaborative mural, a trivia build-up round, a class scrapbook station, or even a cook-off by graduating cohorts.
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Older alumni often come with children or grandchildren, so planning a family-friendly campus day removes a real barrier to attendance. Alumni gladly welcome the opportunity to bring their loved ones along. It gives them a chance to share stories, show off their old hangout spots, and relive their campus days through a more personal, “storied” tour of the place they once called home.
The University of Toronto's Alumni Reunion runs a Kids' Passport programme alongside Stress-Free Degree lectures and an outdoor Alumni Fest. The Passport sends children around campus collecting stamps at activity stations run by university departments. This means alumni parents get to say "We're going to university!" rather than "You’re coming to my thing."
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Not everyone is going to make it back to campus, no matter how strong the programme is. Hybrid formats help you include those alumni without having to run a separate event altogether. Give yourself the best shot at engaging them too by extending your reunion online while still keeping the in-person experience intact.
Hybrid panels let you run a full in-person event while including alumni who can't be there physically. A good hybrid panel integrates the remote experience almost seamlessly into the event. If virtual attendees are just watching a stream with no way to participate, they’ll likely switch off quickly.
Cornell Law School's Reunion Weekend runs a mix of in-person and virtual programming, with sessions explicitly flagged for virtual access on the published schedule so remote alumni can plan ahead. Cornell also offers a free virtual registration package open to all alumni, with featured events livestreamed. The result is that remote participation feels intentional, not like an afterthought.
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For alumni who follow their institution's teams, a live-streamed event with accompanying virtual watch parties is one of the more straightforward hybrid formats to run. The content already exists. The alumni relations job is packaging it: organizing viewing groups, adding commentary, and building in social moments around the broadcast.
UCLA's Beat 'SC Rally, one of the largest annual on-campus spirit events held ahead of the UCLA-USC football game, was livestreamed (via YouTube) for alumni who couldn’t attend in person. The live chat quickly turned into its own space, with alumni cheering, reacting, and arguing over which dance team was better. It’s not the same as being there, but it comes pretty close. It works because it builds on something that already has meaning within the institution and makes it accessible to a wider audience.
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A hybrid version of a campus tour lets you run a physical walk through campus while bringing in remote alumni through a livestream.
What makes this work is how it’s structured. Instead of a passive walkthrough, think of it as a shared experience. A host can lead the tour on campus while a second person moderates questions and comments coming in from virtual attendees. Remote alumni can ask to revisit specific spots, share their own memories, or react in real time as the tour moves through familiar spaces.
It’s also worth thinking about pacing. Pausing at key locations, building in short interaction moments, and keeping the group small enough to manage helps both audiences stay engaged.
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Virtual reunions need more deliberate design than in-person ones. There's no ambient socialising, no hallway conversations, no accidental run-ins, so every connection point has to be built in. That means structured breakout rooms by cohort or industry, actual icebreaker activities, and transitions that keep energy up.
A good virtual reunion treats the format on its own terms, like designing events around how people show up and interact virtually.
During MIT's 2020 Virtual Tech Reunions, the Alumni Association the Alumni Association built a network of breakout rooms for affinity and interest group meetups, ran a student-built Minecraft campus tour, and hosted a live Alumni Quiz Bowl. The experience felt intentionally designed for a virtual setting, rather than a scaled-down version of an in-person event.
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A 45-60 minute interview-style conversation with a well-known alumnus can draw strong attendance even from people who rarely engage with reunion programming. The star of the event is obviously the person here.
Penn Alumni's regional clubs run virtual happy hours and board meetings via Zoom that consistently pull in alumni who can’t attend in-person events (including people in the same city who simply hadn't engaged before). A virtual fireside chat with a compelling speaker operates on the same logic: the barrier to attend is low enough that people who would never book a flight will show up.
This format really took off during COVID, when institutions had to find new ways to stay connected. What carries over is the effectiveness.
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Escape rooms translate well to virtual because they're social, collaborative, time-bound, and require enough active participation that people can't quietly disengage. They work best with groups who already know each other reasonably well.
The University of Toronto runs an Alumni Virtual Escape Room where alumni are teamed up with fellow graduates to work through riddles and puzzles via a third-party app over Zoom, with the fastest team to escape winning. The puzzle gives people a reason to talk, collaborate, and interact with others they might not otherwise meet. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.
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A crowdsourced digital photo wall is a simple way to get alumni involved. Alumni submit a current photo along with a short update, which can then be showcased during the reunion.
What makes this work is its versatility. It can run as a live stream during the event, (virtual, in-person or hybrid), be displayed between sessions, and even act as a starting point for conversations. People look forward to familiar faces and compare where life has taken everyone. Reconnection is the next step from there. It's a low-lift activity to organize.
You can also pair it with a guided campus tour, with a host or student walking through familiar spaces while alumni engage in the chat. Together, it creates a low-effort but effective way to bring in both nostalgia and interaction.
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Milestone reunions carry a different weight. Alumni coming to these events are often marking something significant in their own lives aside from the relationship with their alma mater. The programming should reflect that with more curated experiences and a genuine sense that the institution takes the milestone seriously.
A time capsule ceremony can turn a milestone reunion into a ‘must-attend’ milestone reunion. Because it’s tied to a specific moment, whether it’s being sealed or opened, it creates a sense of occasion that typical social events don’t always have.
It also works well as a paired tradition. A class can seal a capsule at one milestone with the understanding that it will be opened at a future reunion. That shared timeline gives alumni a reason to stay connected and come back.
Rutgers University’s Livingston College offers a good example of this. The Class of 1999-2000 sealed a time capsule for the college’s 30th anniversary, with plans to open it in 2029 for the 60th. In the meantime, the capsule remains on campus in Tillett Hall, becoming something alumni can return to and talk about over the years.
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A “back to the classroom” session isn’t really about sitting through a lecture again. It’s more about seeing what’s changed since alumni were last on campus, and how the academic side of the institution has evolved.
There’s a lot of room to work with, depending on the cohort. For younger groups, it might be an industry-focused session that connects what they studied to where the field is now. For older cohorts, it could be a more informal conversation with a beloved faculty member or even time spent in a new lab or studio. The point is to give alumni something they wouldn’t get otherwise, so the trip feels worthwhile.
Phillips Exeter Academy builds this into its milestone reunions with “Back to the Classroom” sessions where alumni sit in on faculty-led discussions alongside current students. It’s a simple idea, but it works because it brings people back into a familiar setting while also showing how things have moved on.
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A milestone ceremony makes the relationship feel intentionally recognised, which is exactly what it should aim for. This would work especially well for older cohorts, where there’s gathered interest in legacy and formal recognition, and more people are expected to show up.
Brock University does this during its Homecoming weekend with commemorative pinning ceremonies. Different milestone classes receive distinct pins, like a silver cameo for the 25-year cohort and a golden badger for the 50-year group. These are usually built into formal receptions, which adds a bit of weight to the moment without overcomplicating it.
The format is easy to adapt. A 10-year reunion could have a “young alumni” marker, while a 40-year group might receive something more archival, like a limited-edition print. What matters more is consistency. Once alumni see this happening for other cohorts, it builds a sense of anticipation for their own milestone.
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Giving-focused activities work best when they’re part of an event alumni already want to attend. When they feel like a separate track, or the main agenda, engagement drops off. The goal is to make giving feel like a natural extension of the experience, not a transaction.
Peer-to-peer fundraising changes who’s doing the asking. When class groups rally around a shared participation goal, it becomes less about the institution asking for money and more about showing up alongside and for your peers. That shift makes a real difference.
Yale University’s Reunion Giving programme centers campaigns around class volunteers. Participation rate, not total dollars, is the primary metric. This positioning makes the campaign feel more inclusive and gives alumni something to rally around beyond just a number.
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A class gift gives alumni something to build together. When a cohort contributes toward a shared outcome, whether it’s a scholarship, a space, or a piece of equipment, the giving becomes part of the reunion story and a moment of pride.
Northwestern University's Reunion Class Scholarship Fund allows each class to build an endowed scholarship in its name. It’s something that continues well beyond the reunion and gives alumni a lasting point of connection.
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A silent auction can raise funds while also giving people something to engage with during the event. It works best when it runs in the background across the reunion, rather than as a standalone session.
Items tied to the institution do better than generic ones. Experiences like a dinner with leadership, behind-the-scenes campus access, or alumni-donated items with a story behind them usually get more attention.
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The list above covers a lot of ground and not all of it will fit your institution, your alumni base, or your specific reunion cycle. A few simple filters can help narrow it down.
Start with your goal. If you’re trying to re-engage lapsed alumni, in-person, experiential formats usually work better than virtual ones. If you’re running a giving campaign, build that into the main event itself, intentionally. Activities that feel like an afterthought could get ignored.
Milestone years need a different level of thought. A 25-year reunion, for example, carries more weight than a regular annual gathering, and the programming should reflect that.
And finally, leave some breathing room for organic connections. The best parts of a reunion are rarely scheduled. Conversations happen in the gaps before a panel starts, between sessions, over meals. If everything is tightly packed, you lose that.
Choosing the right activities is the visible part of reunion planning. What’s less visible (and sometimes more challenging) is everything that supports it: registrations, pre-event communication, attendance tracking, post-event follow-up, and any giving tied to the programme.
In most teams, this ends up spread across multiple tools. Registrations in one place, emails in another, attendance tracked manually, and follow-ups going out later than they should, or not at all.
It works, but it’s messy. Data gets fragmented, manual work piles up, and by the time everything is pulled together, the moment has already passed.
Purpose-built alumni platform like Almabase can make a huge difference for both staff and attendees. Instead of managing separate tools and trying to piece things together, everything sits in one place and works as a single system, which changes how the reunion is hosted, how alumni find and interact with the event, and how event data is captured and analyzed.
You have a clear view of who’s registering, who’s attending, and how alumni are engaging, without pulling data from multiple sources. Communication becomes more targeted because it’s based on real-time information. Follow-ups go out on time, while the event is still top of mind. And if giving is part of your reunion, it fits naturally into the same flow.
In practice, that looks like:
For teams running multiple reunions or managing large alumni bases, this kind of setup removes a lot of manual work and makes it easier to act on what’s happening in real time. If your team is spending more time coordinating tools than running the reunion, it might be worth taking a closer look at how Almabase brings it all together.
Alumni Reunion Activity Ideas to Boost Engagement
We've compiled a collection of alumni reunion activities for your institution that your event attendees will love whether you want something simple or grandiose.
Events
Anwesha Kiran
April 15, 2026
12 minutes
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