Beyond the hype, what does AI actually bring to the table for advancement and alumni facing teams? We're bringing you all things practical about AI with this blog
Discover AI Summary
• Get started with AI by picking just one small, practical workflow to automate, like preparing for donor meetings or generating event recaps, to see real time savings firsthand.
• AI can really boost your alumni engagement by helping you spot career changes and draft personalized messages, ensuring you connect with alums at just the right moment.
• Free up your team's time for more meaningful donor conversations and strategic planning by letting AI handle repetitive tasks like gathering prospect research or creating post-event content.
• Don't worry about AI replacing the human touch; it's actually designed to give your gift officers more capacity to build genuine relationships instead of getting bogged down in administrative work.
• You don't need to be a tech wizard or have a big budget to use AI; many effective tools are affordable and user-friendly, debunking common myths about complexity and cost.
• Connecting AI tools to your CRM, like Almabase does, makes the insights even more powerful and context-aware, helping you know exactly who to reach out to and what next steps to take.
When the Almabase team spoke at CEAC about practical ways to use AI in advancement, the room felt mixed with curiosity and caution. Everyone had heard big promises about artificial intelligence before, and it was hard to tell what was real. But a few minutes into the session, something shifted.
There were no futuristic predictions or talk of machines replacing people. Instead, the focus was clear demonstrations of how AI can help with real work: making everyday tasks faster, cleaner, and easier.
By the end, people were not taking pictures of slides anymore. They were leaning forward, already thinking about what they could try first.
We wanted to revisit that moment and expand on it. This blog is for advancement and alumni relations professionals who want to see what AI can do right now in practical, human ways.
Advancement professionals live in two worlds. One is personal, where conversations, thank-yous, and connections matter most. The other is operational, filled with lists, reports, and follow-ups that never seem to end.
AI, when used smartly, can bring these two worlds together. It handles the mundane, repetitive work that keeps people from doing what truly matters i.e, connecting with donors, writing meaningful messages, and planning strategy.
Of course, this should not just be about speed for its own sake. It is about giving professionals time to think, plan, and act on ideas instead of constantly catching up to spreadsheets, deadlines, and data entry.
Some teams understandably hesitate to use AI because they believe it is either too shallow or technical, or perhaps too impersonal. The truth is somewhere in between and surprisingly simple
AI cannot listen, care, or read real human emotions. It only removes the repetitive tasks that stop officers from doing those very things.
When used right, it should actually strengthen it. Less admin work means more energy for conversations, thank-yous, and relationships.
If you can explain what you need in simple language, you can most likely use most AI tools effectively.
The most useful tools shown during the CEAC session cost less than a lunch for two.
During the CEAC session, the Almabase team showed live examples that anyone could build. Each one was based on a simple idea: use affordable tools, connect them intelligently, and always keep people in charge.
These workflows were not theory or promises. They were real systems that anyone could set up in a few hours.
Preparing for a donor meeting often means sorting through emails, spreadsheets, and profiles to find the right information. The Prospect Research Copilot makes that process easy.
It connects your calendar to tools like Zapier or N8N, which identify upcoming meetings. Then Clay updates donor profiles with the latest information, while ChatGPT or Perplexity writes a short briefing with key details.
Before your meeting starts, a clean summary lands in your inbox — complete with recent activity, giving history, and professional updates.
Meetings begin with confidence instead of guesswork, and officers spend their time building connections rather than chasing data.
Watch demo: Prospect Research Copilot
Every time an alumnus changes jobs, it opens a window for conversation. The hard part is knowing when it happens.
This workflow uses Clay to track alumni job changes through LinkedIn. When one occurs, Zapier triggers ChatGPT to draft a short, personal message. A staff member reviews it before sending.
This way, no updates go unnoticed. Each career move becomes a chance to reconnect and build goodwill.
Watch demo: Career Transition Alerts
Events take weeks to plan and only hours to run, but their value often ends too soon. The Event Recap Generator helps keep the momentum alive.
Upload your event recording to Descript to get a transcript. Send that text to ChatGPT to identify key quotes and themes. Then use Canva Magic Write to create branded visuals and posts for social media.
By the end of the day, your team has ready-to-share summaries, visuals, and emails. One event turns into several pieces of content that keep your community engaged.
Watch demo: Event Recap Generator
After CEAC, several schools started creating their own versions of these workflows. Here are four that have shown strong results.
Each workflow starts small but creates a real difference in time and clarity.
To see automation in action, read RISD’s Almabase journey on how to turn efficiency into real-world results.
The easiest way to begin with AI is to pick one tool and try it. ChatGPT, Jasper, or Perplexity can already plan, summarize, and write faster than traditional methods.
The real power comes when these tools connect to your CRM. Once AI understands your data, it becomes context-aware and starts suggesting meaningful next steps — who to contact, which donors need attention, and which campaigns are performing best. This is where AI agents add real value — handling multiple steps autonomously, from pulling data to triggering follow-ups. Teams ready to go further can use an ai agent builder to create workflows tailored to their own advancement processes.
That is where Almabase creates real value. The platform gives AI the context it needs to make insights useful and human.
Visit the Almabase Platform Page to learn how these integrations work.
AI at Almabase keeps evolving, but one idea stays the same: make everyday work simpler while keeping humans in control.
Each new feature is designed to work quietly behind the scenes so your team can focus on meaningful work.
AI can multiply both good and bad habits. If your process is clear, it becomes a powerful helper. If it is sloppy, mistakes spread fast. Responsible use keeps your team’s quality and reputation strong.
These small habits decide how much people trust your institution and your message.
Pick one workflow that solves a real problem for your team. Build it, test it, and see what changes. If it saves time, share the results so other departments can learn from it. Innovation spreads best through examples and mutual learning.
The most effective teams usually start with something small and doable. Each success builds momentum for the next project, and if the past several years have proven anything, it is the importance of scalable improvements in advancement and alumni relations.
If you want to explore the CEAC workflows or see them in action, join the next Lunch and Learn or request a personalized demo, and our team will reach out with a quick demo.
AI is not some faraway idea. It is already here, ready to help teams work smarter. It will not make thank-you calls or write heartfelt notes. It will not remember a donor’s favorite story about their college days. But it will give you the time and space to do those things better.
The next chapter of advancement will not be about machines replacing people. It will be about balance and technology handling the busywork so humans can focus on connection.
That is what Almabase continues to build toward. AI that works quietly in the background while people do what only humans can do best, which is to build relationships that last.
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See how modern advancement teams bring alumni engagement and fundraising together.
With the end of the calendar year approaching as well as the recent news regarding Anthology, this might be a good time for advancement teams to explore some of the best Encompass (or iModules) alternatives available today.
In this blog, we’ll do just that but also take a look at what a transition from Encompass to Almabase might look like for teams. Let’s get started.
Almabase is an all-in-one alumni engagement and fundraising software for educational institutions and nonprofits. It provides tools for building alumni communities, managing events, facilitating donations, and tracking engagement metrics.
Key differences include a strong focus on alumni engagement and digital fundraising automation compared to iModules, which has a broader suite for advancement offices. Almabase emphasizes personalized outreach, integrations, hassle-free events and giving. It also boasts comparatively easier set up and active support.
Take a quick product tour →
Givecampus is a fundraising platform focused on higher education, known for its social fundraising tools such as peer-to-peer giving, crowdfunding, and giving days.
Unlike iModules, Givecampus specializes primarily in modern fundraising strategies and donor engagement, offering robust social sharing features, video integrations, and campaign management dashboards. Givecampus works best for institutions primarily aiming to run engaging fundraising campaigns and leverage networks for peer-driven giving, including colleges, universities, and K-12 schools.
Hivebrite is an advanced community management platform supporting private networks for organizations, universities, and nonprofits. It enables networking, event management, content sharing, and job boards, all within a branded portal.
Compared to iModules, Hivebrite excels in building versatile online communities and streamlining member interactions. Where iModules centers on advancement and alumni relations, Hivebrite is more customizable and suitable for professional associations, universities with global alumni, and organizations needing diverse community features for members.
ToucanTech is a community and database software enabling schools, universities, and clubs to connect members, manage relationships, and drive fundraising and engagement. It combines CRM capabilities with community engagement tools.
Key differences from iModules include a heavy emphasis on unified data management, private portals, communications, and event features in a modern interface. ToucanTech stands out for integrated CRM and engagement tracking, whereas iModules has deeper legacy advancement functionalities.
Gravyty offers AI-powered engagement and fundraising tools for nonprofits and educational institutions, enabling personalized outreach and predictive analytics to increase donor participation.
Gravyty focuses on artificial intelligence to automate donor outreach, steward relationships, and prioritize fundraising tasks. Its proactive AI nudges and email management are not central features of iModules, which is more event and campaign-focused.
Blackbaud is perhaps one of the most well-known CRM systems for advancement teams in both institutional and nonprofit spaces. Their CRM services are centered largely around Raiser’s Edge NXT (also known as RE NXT) and Blackbaud CRM, both of which have become household names in the advancement industry.
Ellucian exclusively focuses on educational institutions through a variety of tools specialized for different teams and tasks. For advancement in particular, you have their CRM Advance which integrates natively with their student lifecycle and ERP-related products.
💡Ellucian has also successfully bid to acquire Anthology's Student Information Systems (SIS) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) since the chapter 11 announcement.
When talking about CRMs, it’s pretty much impossible not to mention Salesforce. For educational institutions, you have the Salesforce Education Cloud while nonprofits may find the Salesforce Nonprofit Cloud more relevant.
Anna Twombley’s team at New England College were iModules users before they adopted Almabase. They were facing a few persistent challenges such as:
Essentially, a lot of staff time was being spent managing the tool itself, which is not sustainable for many advancement teams like theirs. Moving to Almabase on the other hand, allowed them to:
Their alumni also felt better connected to their alma mater and their fellow alumni with the addition of a cleaner, more accessible platform for both the directory and event-related pages such as giving days and fundraising forms.
You can check out the full recording of our conversation with Anna as well as an overview of Almabase through the link below 👇
▶️Inside New England College’s Future-Ready Advancement Strategy (Plus a Live Tour of Almabase)
At the end of the day, it is up to you and your team’s unique needs that will determine your platform of choice for 2026 and beyond. But we hope we’ve been able to give you a good starting point to find the right fit for you.
If you’d like to learn more about Almabase and how we help institutions and organizations for advancement needs, feel free to book a personalized demo call with us below! ⬇️
Almabase provides dedicated personnel for your onboarding and training as you or your team gets used to Almabase. We also provide readily available live chat, email, and on-call support in case you run into any hiccups.
Almabase also supports K-12 schools and healthcare foundations managing donor and alumni communities.
Almabase comes with its own set of reporting and analytics tools for giving, engagement, and donor pipeline data.
Best iModules Alternatives for Advancement & Alumni Teams (2026)
Looking for imodules (Encompass) alternatives available for advancement and alumni relations teams? We've picked out some of the popular options that you can consider.
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You’ve got a giving campaign to run.
An event to promote.
A reminder to send.
And of course, the email isn’t going to write itself.
Until now.
We’re excited to introduce Emily AI, an intelligent assistant built right into your Almabase Email Center. Emily helps you create professional, context-aware emails using just a few prompts. From idea to first draft, the process takes seconds, not hours.
Just tell Emily what you want to say. She’ll take care of the rest.
Subject line, body, tone, even the inertia that usually holds things up.
Whether you’re inviting alumni to an event, thanking donors, or sending a save-the-date for your reunion, Emily AI helps you get the message out clearly and quickly.
Advancement teams today are juggling faster turnarounds, higher expectations for personalization, and less time to get it all done. The message still matters, but now it has to compete with everything else on your plate.
That’s where prompt-based tools like Emily AI come in.
They don’t replace your voice. They help you get the message out while it still matters.
Just type in a prompt like:
“Invite alumni to our 25th-year reunion in a warm, cheerful tone.”
Emily instantly drafts a full email based on your prompt, no blank screen, no second-guessing.
You can:
Emily lives right inside the Email Communication Center. No switching tabs. No extra tools. No friction.
Let’s be honest. Writing the email is often the one thing that gets pushed to the end of the day.
Not because it’s unimportant. But because it takes energy. The blank page. The pressure to sound just right.
And before you know it, that event reminder or donor follow-up is still sitting in drafts.
And yet, it’s one of the most important ways you drive attendance, engagement, and giving.
That’s where Emily AI helps.
Especially for lean advancement teams juggling multiple priorities, Emily AI is a quiet unlock for speed, quality, and consistency, and it offers more than convenience; it offers momentum.
Emily AI is only the start of what’s coming.
We’re building a set of AI-powered tools to help you do more, with less stress and more control. Think better messaging, faster execution, and more room to focus on building real alumni relationships.
Emily is live for all Almabase users.
➡️ Log in to Almabase
➡️ Head to the Email Center
➡️ Click “Let Emily help” and give her a prompt
Let us know what she writes for you! We’re excited to see the creativity she helps unlock.
Fast, Smart, and Context-Aware Emails for Advancement Teams: Powered by Emily AI
Introducing Emily AI: create thoughtful, context-aware alumni and donor emails in seconds, right inside your Almabase workflow.
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In the ever-evolving landscape of higher education advancement, the role of technology is more critical than ever. If you’re an advancement professional, you likely rely on various software solutions to manage your database, organize events, raise funds, and engage with your community. It’s a given that having the right technology in place can streamline your day-to-day operations, enhance your effectiveness, and improve constituent engagement and fundraising outcomes.
However, many institutions find themselves grappling with tools that, rather than simplifying processes, introduce complexities that consume valuable time and resources. The irony is palpable: while we invest in technology to solve problems, we often end up spending more time troubleshooting and managing these tools than actually leveraging them to achieve our goals.
This raises a crucial question: Are your current tools truly helping you, or are they slowing you down?
1. Excessive Manual Work: If your team spends significant time on tasks that could be automated - such as updating contact information, processing donations, or compiling reports manually - it may indicate a need for more efficient systems.
2. Fragmented Data: When information is scattered across multiple platforms, it can lead to inconsistencies and a lack of a unified view of your constituents' engagement.
3. Limited Personalization: In an era where personalized experiences are expected, just a "Hi {FirstName}" may no longer suffice. Modern constituents often expect more tailored interactions.
4. Missed Engagement Signals: Outdated systems may fail to capture important signals like website visits, social media interactions, and event participation - valuable indicators of constituent interest and potential donor behavior.
5. Staff Frustration: If your team spends more time troubleshooting technology than focusing on core tasks, it can lead to reduced productivity and morale.
• Seamless data integration across systems
• Advanced personalization capabilities
• Automated tracking of engagement metrics
• AI-powered predictive analytics for donor identification
• User-friendly interfaces that free up staff time for strategic tasks
While the prospect of upgrading technology can seem daunting, the long-term benefits often outweigh the short-term challenges of implementation. Institutions that embrace modern engagement tools frequently report improved efficiency, enhanced constituent relationships, and better fundraising outcomes.
To explore this topic in greater depth, we've prepared a comprehensive ebook: "Hidden Costs of Sticking with Outdated Technology." Here’s what you can takeaway:
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Are Your Engagement Tools Slowing You Down?
Are Your Alumni Engagement Tools Slowing You Down? Discover How to Streamline and Boost Productivity!
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