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Blackbaud recently announced that support for Raiser’s Edge NXT’s database view and related functionality will end on September 15, 2027, affecting several Blackbaud products. These include Blackbaud Online Express and Blackbaud NetCommunity (BBNC). For advancement teams that have spent years building forms, pages, workflows, and other processes around the platform, this means choosing and migrating to a new platform. The prospect can feel like a lot to take on, especially if it wasn't something you'd anticipated.
If you're looking for an alternative, Almabase can help you replace the functionality you currently rely on across these products. We've already covered why teams might be thinking of a move off BBNC and how the main alternatives compare. In this article, we’ll be focusing on what happens once you've made that decision: what the migration process looks like, what your team can expect along the way, and how Almabase approaches the move.
In case you’re evaluating how Almabase stacks up against BBNC, check out our comparison blog here.
There’s also another question that comes up around a platform migration: How much is this going to cost?
This question extends beyond the immediate, visible technical costs. In fact, the technical side of the move might just be the simplest to figure out. It’s the broader, more abstract elements like shifting scopes, changing requirements, or even figuring out the right set of requirements in the first place that could end up costing the most amount of money and time, if not approached thoughtfully.
That's why we want to walk you through the Assisted Fast Pass Migration process upfront: what happens at each stage, what your team is responsible for, what our migration team handles, and where costs may come into the picture. We hope to give you a clear idea of what the move to Almabase will look like before you get started, so there are fewer surprises along the way.
Why transparency matters during a migration
A migration project always begins with an agreed-upon plan. But it’s also very likely that, a few weeks in, you discover a form that needs some additional customization or a request that seemed straightforward seems to fall outside the original scope, on second thought. These are perfectly reasonable hiccups during the migration, but if work is already underway, it could seem harder to understand what you're paying for, and even harder to plan around the rest of the project.
Clear expectations are at the heart of our migration approach, starting with total transparency around what extra requirements cost. With Almabase’s Assisted Fast Pass Migration, each stage gives you a chance to understand what's being proposed, what falls within the standard migration, and where something would require additional work.
Basically, you shouldn't find out about an extra requirement after the work has already been done. Your approval and sign-off comes first. The five steps in the migration process are built around this intention. Let’s get into them.
1. Kickoff: Getting the project off on the right foot
The migration process starts with a kickoff between your team, a dedicated CSM, and an implementation specialist. This is where we get the groundwork in place. This is usually access to your current site, your branding assets, and the dates your team needs to work around.
Another important step here is understanding your calendar and priorities. Your Giving Day, reunion, fiscal year-end, or another major event may determine what needs to happen first and we would be building the migration calendar around it. So, the migration sequence might look a little different for each institution, as each gets to choose which product goes first.
The kickoff is also a chance to flag anything unusual about your current NetCommunity setup.
After years on a platform, it's normal for your setup to have accumulated a few workarounds, custom configurations, or integrations that made sense when they were created. We don't need to solve all of those questions in the first meeting, but we do need to know about them.
That way, we can account for them during the next stage: the inventory. 🤗
Your team mainly needs to provide:
- Key dates and deadlines
- Relevant branding assets
- Access to your existing NetCommunity site
- Any known custom configurations, integrations, or unusual workflows
From there, you can let us take on the heavy lifting.
Your dedicated CSM and implementation specialist work with you throughout the migration, while your team focuses on the decisions and approvals. A migration shouldn't require your advancement team to take on managing a project full time on top of everything else they’re already handling.
Your data doesn't have to wait for the build
Your data migration is handled alongside the rest of the process. Almabase's bi-directional TrueSync integration connects with Raiser's Edge NXT and supports two-way syncing for configured entities and fields, including constituent, event, and gift data.
Admins can also decide which fields update automatically and which should be reviewed before they're pushed or pulled between systems.
That means your team doesn't have to wait until every page and workflow decision has been finalized before thinking about what happens to your data. The data side of the transition can move forward alongside the rest of the migration, with real time decisions being made.
2. Discovery and inventory: weeks one and two
Once kickoff is complete, your implementation specialist carefully starts building a complete inventory of what's currently running on NetCommunity: pages, forms, events, programs, memberships, and other key components of your site.
This process is useful in its own right, especially when taken on by someone external. After years on a platform, it's easy for a site to accumulate things that no one thinks about anymore, simply because they’re too involved in the process. The inventory gives you one place to see what's actually there, anything you might’ve forgotten about, and to make decisions about what needs to move vs what can be left behind.
Probably the most effective part of this is that it's a shared inventory that you can review alongside your specialist. If something looks outdated, doesn't need to move, or needs a closer look, you can flag it before it moves to the new product.
The inventory can surface things like:
- Duplicate or unused event pages
- Old forms or pages that are still live
- Site elements that don't need to be carried into Almabase
- Custom fields and configurations that don’t make sense on the new platform
This idea is to document your NetCommunity site so well that both teams end up on the same picture of what exists and what needs to happen next. The Almabase team handles the actual inventory work, and all you need to do is review the inventory and flag anything that should be changed, removed, or investigated.
3. Sign-off: deciding what moves forward
At this stage, the migration project starts taking on a more defined shape as you decide what you need to bring into Almabase. You and your implementation specialist review the inventory, decide what carries forward, and establish what the finished version should look like.
For each item being migrated, the team, along with you, defines the acceptance criteria before the building begins. If your existing alumni directory has eight fields and three filters, for example, those requirements can be documented as part of the scope. By the end of this discussion, everyone has arrived at the same definition of what needs to be delivered.
This is also where you’ll be able to clearly separate standard migration work from anything that requires additional effort.
If something falls outside the standard scope, you'll know before the work begins:
- What the additional work involves
- What's included and what's excluded
- The estimated effort
- The associated cost
You won’t have to decipher this from the invoice later on, because the work only moves forward once you’ve signed off on the scope.
This is exactly why your input here matters most. The Almabase team handles the building, but it’s you and your team deciding what is important enough to carry forward and what “done” needs to look like, within the standard process or with additional effort layered on.
4. Build and launch: 30 days for each product
Our team takes up building only once you’ve greenlit the scope. Each product gets its own dedicated 30-day track, with the order of products taken up built around your events and fiscal calendar.
This is to accommodate your calendar: giving days, reunions, Homecoming, we’ll build that product first so you’re ready in time for go-live day. If your immediate priority is your broader alumni site, we might begin with building that instead. The point is, even at this pace, you’re not forced to adopt a one-size-fits-all solution. Your implementation team works with you to determine what needs to come first.
The build itself happens on your Almabase pages, so you can review as it gets built while also familiarizing yourself with the new platform.
The timeline typically looks like this:
- 30-day build track: Each product moves through its own focused build.
- Weekly working session: Your team meets with the implementation team to review progress, provide input, and make decisions.
- Training as you go: Your team gets hands-on experience with the platform during the build, rather than waiting until everything is finished to start learning it.
- First launch: The fastest migrations can have their first product live around 45 days from kickoff, depending on the scope and sequencing of your project.
Having the scope agreed upon shows up in smoothness at this point: you can expect fewer decisions to make from scratch during this stage. Your team knows what's being built, your implementation specialist knows what they're working toward, and everything can move as planned, on track.
5. Cutover: moving from NetCommunity to Almabase
As you get closer to launch, the focus shifts from building to making the transition itself as smooth as possible.
The most important part of that is making sure people can still find the things they've been using. Your team receives a redirect map that pairs each carried-forward NetCommunity URL with its new Almabase destination. You'll also want to review where those old links appear outside NetCommunity: your main institutional website, email templates, QR codes, printed materials, and any other places where an old URL may still be in circulation.
The redirect map gives you a clear list of what needs to change and no one has to discover old links one by one after launch.
Before each product goes live, your team gets to review it thoroughly and explicitly approve the launch.
The aim, with these five steps, is to get your Almabase programs ready before your NetCommunity access ends, so the transition remains smooth and doesn't become a last-minute scramble.
What happens when something doesn't fit the standard scope?
Not everything that comes up during a migration falls neatly into the original plan. But there's also an important conversation to be had: what counts as additional scope and what is a limitation in the platform itself?
If something requires work beyond the standard migration scope, that's identified and quoted before the work begins. You can then decide whether you want to take it on.
But if there’s a requirement you have that Almabase cannot support yet, we’ll be fully transparent with you. Essentially, you haven’t asked for too much, we’re just not there yet. Depending on what you need, the team can look at a workaround or determine how the functionality could be addressed after launch.
This conversation is also one of the reasons the earlier stages matter. The shared inventory, defined acceptance criteria, and upfront scoping give everyone a common reference point throughout the project.
That's really the principle behind the entire migration process. You're not expected to know every detail of what needs to happen before the project starts. The process itself is designed to show you those details early, give your team a chance to make the calls that matter, and keep the build moving while minimizing unexpected, last-minute surprises.
Ready to make the move?
A BBNC migration may not have been on your roadmap, but that also doesn't mean it has to become a project that takes over your team's calendar.
With a clear process, an agreed scope, and the right support, you can move the parts of NetCommunity that matter to your team and work for your institution without having to figure everything out as you go. The Almabase team handles the build and migration work, while your team stays in complete control of the decisions, priorities, and final approvals.
And because the scope and any additional costs are addressed before the work happens, you can go into the migration knowing what to expect.
If you're planning your move away from BBNC, let's talk about what it could look like for your institution.
Talk to the Almabase team about your BBNC migration →
Moving from BBNC to Almabase: The Assisted Fast Pass Migration
Blackbaud is sunsetting support for Raiser’s Edge NXT’s database view and related functionality in September 2027. Learn how Almabase replaces your current functionality and how our Assisted Fast Pass Migration makes for a smooth switch without disrupting your campaigns or operations.
Anwesha Kiran
September 10, 2026
12 minutes
A paddle raise (also called a fund-a-need) is a great and simple fundraising format for nonprofits. It is easy to host, fun, and similar enough to auctions that if you have experience in one, you can easily incorporate the other.
All this is to say that, with proper planning, it is one of the most effective ways to get donations for your nonprofit or a particular project.
In this blog, we’ll look at what makes a typical paddle raise work, its benefits, and the essential steps to start hosting one on your own.
What is a Paddle Raise?
A paddle raise, also often called fund-a-need, is a live, direct appeal during a fundraising event such as a gala where donors pledge a financial contribution to a nonprofit, charity, or a particular cause. This is usually done by raising paddles containing varying numbers or ‘levels’, or through bidding devices and software.
Unlike charity auctions though, there aren’t any items or art involved, and attendees will not be bidding on a piece. An ask is made, and donors willing to contribute that amount raise their paddles. Due to the simpler setup and direct contributions, paddle raises have high ROI and are generally considered to be very effective.
How does a Paddle Raise work?
Usually taking place at the peak of the fundraiser, a paddle raise takes around 10-20 minutes (it happens quite quickly). This is typically how it unfolds:
- A designated speaker or emcee gets the event rolling by showing a video or narrating a quick story that introduces and emphasizes the impact of your mission.
- The emcee announces the fundraising target for the night, or if there are multiple causes, the goals for each.
- Tiers of contributions are planned beforehand ($10k, $7.5k and so on), and the emcee starts with the highest tier and works their way down to the lower tiers. When they ask for contributions, attendees express their willingness by raising numbered paddles.
- Volunteers and staff keep track of all the pledges and note it down.
- After going through all the tiers, the pledges are processed, and the total amount raised is announced. Attendees are thanked for their contributions and the event draws to a close.
Now that we’ve gone through what a paddle raise is and how it usually plays out, let’s get to how you can run one of your own.
How to Run a Successful Paddle Raise (Step-by-Step)
While paddle raises are simple enough in concept, they do require proper planning and coordination to capture pledges accurately and create good energy overall.
Here’s how you do it:
1. Pick the right cause/project for your targets and set your targets
Paddle raises are a lot more effective if you can tie them to a specific initiative that makes donors feel like they’re making a meaningful impact. It could be an annual raise for cancer, providing education to underprivileged children, etc.
Set a tangible goal and be clear on where the money goes. Sharing this with your donors builds trust. The goal shouldn’t be so high that hitting it feels impossible. All in all, you want to set a realistic but fairly ambitious figure.
2. Decide the contribution levels or tiers
You should aim for 5-10 levels and make sure it’s inclusive of everyone’s giving capabilities. You can discuss with your pre-committed donors (more on that later) to decide amounts for the higher giving tiers (or conversely for lower giving tiers depending on the situation).
This is where having a regularly updated donor database helps greatly, as you can base your levels off of giving history and data.
A basic example would be to have $15k as the highest tier, followed by $10k, $5k, $2k and so on all the way to $50. Remember that you have to be inclusive, so don’t skimp out on small or micro-level contributions.
3. Pick your emcee or host
The emcee is critical in setting the stage and the energy before the raise begins. An enthusiastic crowd can make a massive difference in contributions. If possible, hire a professional emcee who has been on the mic for other charity events before. You know your donors best; use that knowledge to pick out a host that can connect with them and elevate the room accordingly..
Alternatively, if your organization has deep ties with the attendees, you could consider a leadership figure (directors, chair, etc.) for familiarity. Of course, they need to be a good orator as well.
4. Decide the schedule and script
Since a paddle raise is relatively short, decide when the paddle raise should take place during your fundraising event or gala. You should aim to host the raise during the peak of the fundraiser, when everyone is energetic and receptive to instructions from you or your host.
Come up with a script, including your opening statement, tier announcements, anecdotes, and expressing gratitude at the end. Have alternative scripts ready for different scenarios since you can’t always predict if you’ll hit your target, overshoot it, or come close.
5. Pick the right tools for your event
You can choose to host your paddle raise with either physical paddles or through bidding software, though incorporating the former is heavily recommended.
You’ll need to assign numbers to each attendee and give them a paddle with the corresponding number. When a certain giving tier is called out, they can choose to pledge that amount by raising the paddle while volunteers keep track of it.
If you’re opting for a digital process, look for mobile-friendly bidding platforms. There are some other options as well like scanning QR codes to pledge. However, keep your attendees’ preferences in mind and try to find a balance between their experience and your team’s feature set. This is important, since the bidding and giving data will need to be synced to your CRM.
6. Running the paddle raise itself
When opening your event, it helps to set the energy high. Start with the mission statement and targets you set earlier. Here’s where the emcee does the heavy lifting. Videos and stories with emotional angles work really well at establishing a connection with your donors and creating empathy for your cause. If you have first time donors in the mix, a quick explanation of how the paddle raise works would also be helpful.
Make sure your volunteers are in place to clearly record everything. The emcee announces the levels in succession, starting with the highest one and working their way down.
Seeing major contributions right at the start might encourage the others to go beyond what they had originally planned. Make sure that the emcee acknowledges and celebrates pledges briefly for each tier before moving on to the next one.
How your staff records the pledges is up to you. You can use an app, spreadsheets, or simply pen and paper. Choose whichever would be the most convenient and accurate for your team.
7. Gratitude and stewardship
After going through all the levels, tally the total amount raised and announce it as the event draws to a close. Celebrate the impact everyone has created on the day. Tying the money raised to a tangible outcome (for example, 50 scholarships granted for struggling children, or feeding 100 people) creates even more positivity and really drives home a sense of accomplishment and giving.
After your fundraising event, follow up with your attendees to collect the pledged amounts, preferably within a day. Include key details like their paddle number, amount they pledged, and multiple payment options. Thank all the participants, regardless of whether they donated or not.
A Few Tips to Enhance Your Paddle Raise
Here are a few extra things to ensure you get the most out of your paddle raise(s):
- Pre-committing a handful of donors: Reach out to some of your long time supporters, and ask for an early commitment to a particular level, especially the higher ones. Hesitation in the opening rounds of the raise can affect the overall contributions negatively. When attendees see paddles being raised immediately even at higher tiers, it gives them confidence to donate more.
- Host it at the right time: If your paddle raise is part of a larger fundraising event (as is most common), avoid doing it right after a meal break when attendees are a bit languid, or at the very end of the event when a lot of them have left already.
- Celebrate milestones during the raise: Every time you get significantly closer to hitting the day’s target, celebrate it. For example, if your goal is to raise $30000, then announce and celebrate when the contributions reach $5000, $15000, maybe hit a gong at $25000, and so on. Also, make sure to recognize all contributions, big or small, with equal excitement.
Almabase - A Powerful Tool for Hosting Your Paddle Raise
At its core, a paddle raise is fairly simple. But behind that simplicity is a lot of manual tracking like volunteers noting down pledges, someone tallying totals, and follow-up calls or emails to actually collect what was pledged. This is usually where a platform like Almabase can take some of that load off your team.
Instead of clipboards and spreadsheets, Almabase gives you a real-time dashboard of the event as it unfolds, so pledges don't need to be re-entered after the fact. Since collecting payment is often the trickiest part, you can also capture a guest's card at registration and charge pledges automatically once the raise wraps, rather than chasing donors down individually.
A couple of other things worth mentioning: contributions can be routed straight to the fund or project they were raised for, and everything syncs directly with your CRM so your donor records stay accurate without extra data entry.
None of this replaces a great emcee or an emotionally engaged room, but it does mean less time spent staring at numbers, and more time celebrating what you raised.
Request a personalized demo to see how this would look for you!
How to run a successful paddle raise (fund-a-need) at your event
Learn what a paddle raise is, how you can run one successfully, as well as a few tips to make your paddle raise stand out.
Hari Govind
September 4, 2026
12 minutes
Modern donors expect deeply relevant, personalized communications, especially when it’s alumni hearing from their alma mater. Generic messages won’t cut it, but it can also be difficult to make your appeals stand out when you’re making the same ask every year. To develop annual fund appeal letters that drive revenue and deepen relationships, you need a strategic approach.
Annual fund appeals succeed when they have refined messaging, emotional resonance, and enough variation to win donors’ support outside of flashier, major campaigns. In this post, we’ll explore a few key ways to elevate your university’s next ask.
1. Center Authentic Student Storytelling
Donors give to people, not institutions, making personal narratives one of the most effective fundraising and marketing strategies you can use. By shifting the focus from university-wide achievements to the tangible success of individual students, you foster a direct emotional connection with your audience and demonstrate the real, lasting impact of their donations.
Instead of relying on generic asks for annual fund appeal letters, incorporate the stories of individual students and the scholarships and programs that empower them to thrive. For instance, you might share how a first-generation nursing student used a grant to complete their clinical rotations, or include a quote from a scholarship recipient about how attending your university made their dreams a reality.
No matter how you incorporate storytelling into your appeals, Meyer Partners recommends using the three R's of storytelling to make them as impactful and ethical as possible:
- Resonance: Every story should include real, humanizing details that resonate with donors. Let students tell their stories in their own words, and pair testimonials with photos whenever possible.
- Relevance: Make sure the donor can clearly understand their role in the story. Use donor-centric language that appeals directly to supporters’ values, inspiring them to become the changemakers who support the next generation of students.
- Respect: Respect both your readers and your storytellers by maintaining authenticity. Be direct and honest about what donations can achieve, and always focus on positive emotions like empowerment rather than guilt or scare tactics.
Incorporate these stories into multiple elements of your annual fund campaign to ensure maximum visibility and consistency. For example, you might include quotes from a student in your direct mail appeals, then post a selfie video of the same student telling their story on social media.
2. Highlight Impactful Giving Opportunities
To maximize revenue and increase average gift sizes, ask for more than standard, one-time cash gifts in your annual appeal letters. Offer additional giving options that provide greater flexibility and can increase donors’ long-term impact. These opportunities are often more compelling, especially for young alumni looking for accessible options and for high-capacity donors looking to make the most of their donations.
Specifically, use your annual appeals to highlight opportunities like:
Matching Gifts
The easiest way to make supporters’ donations go further is to double them. Typically, donors can double the impact of their gifts at no extra cost in one of two ways:
- Your university offers a matching donation challenge. Organizations often partner with a major donor who commits to matching every dollar donated within a set timeframe, up to a certain amount. These challenges motivate individual donors to give urgently so they don’t miss out on the match.
- Donors request corporate matching gifts from their employers. At any time, donors who work for participating companies can independently request matching donations from their workplaces. If the request meets the employer’s guidelines (e.g., a donation between $10 and $100 to a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit), they’ll match their employee’s gift.
Either way, donation matching is a powerful motivator, especially during year-end giving season. Feature matching gifts prominently in your annual fund appeals, explaining how to participate and why these donations are so impactful.
Recurring Giving
Imagine you’re a recent graduate just starting your career and trying to pay off student loans. You wouldn’t want to donate $1,000 to the university you left last year, but it might be feasible to give $20 a month. In this case, you’re much more likely to respond to an appeal that highlights recurring giving.
Recurring gifts offer a more manageable opportunity to support your university while deepening donor relationships. In your annual fund appeal letters, include the option to give monthly and provide several accessible donation tiers.
Legacy Giving
Plant the seed for long-term support by introducing planned giving and bequest options in your annual appeals, too. These avenues empower alumni to leave a lasting mark on your institution without requiring an immediate, large-scale donation.
Even if most donors aren’t ready to commit to a legacy gift right now, just including information about planned giving in your appeal can get them thinking about it. Include links in emails and QR codes in direct mail letters so supporters can easily learn more on your university’s website or request a meeting with your major gifts officer. Note each donor who shows interest in the program so you can cultivate the relationship over time.
3. Leverage Donor Data for Highly Personalized Appeals
The best fundraising strategies reflect the unique relationship each supporter has with your university. Highly personalized appeals show each donor that you value them as an individual and respect their unique contributions.
Use your donor and alumni data to tailor your asks as much as possible. Go beyond addressing recipients by their preferred names—reference their specific past involvement, giving history, and personal connections to the university. Acknowledging that an alumnus was on the debate team or that a donor consistently supports the engineering department validates their identity and gives them clear, specific reasons to give again.
Segment your donor lists in several ways to maximize relevancy, and regularly audit your donor database to ensure all contact information and engagement records are accurate before sending appeals.
If you aren’t sure how to best segment your audience, hone in on the highest-value potential donors, or match supporters with the right requests, consider professional donor analytics services. Experienced fundraising consultants who specialize in data analysis can help you optimize your strategy for this year’s annual fund appeal and well into the future.
An effective annual fund approach relies on deep personalization, authentic narratives, and a variety of flexible giving options tailored to your audience. Upgrading the underlying strategy of your communications with these tips will help you build stronger relationships with alumni and secure the financial future of your core programs.
3 Ways to Build a Better Annual Fund Appeal for Higher Ed
Asking for donations to your annual fund can feel repetitive, but your appeal letters shouldn’t be. Learn how to develop better annual fund appeals here.
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Alyssa Jefferies
September 3, 2026
12 minutes
LinkedIn continues to stay relevant for alumni outreach in 2026 as it is one of the most comprehensive self-updating directories from an advancement standpoint. Over 50% of LinkedIn’s user base holds a higher-education degree, and ~53% of US college graduates are active on the platform.
That means your alumni not only present but also likely engaging with a variety of content. But as far as reaching out to them goes, being present on LinkedIn and being reachable are two different things, and the wrong outreach strategy can disinterest or even alienate alumni.
In this blog, we’ll go through whether LinkedIn is worth your time for alumni outreach and how you can get your alumni’s attention effectively.
Is LinkedIn outreach worth the investment?
Let’s start with understanding why LinkedIn is different from the other channels
LinkedIn InMail gets a 10–25% response rate while cold email, by comparison, sits at 1–5%. The platform’s natural context is also a big factor here because when an alum receives an InMail from their alma mater, it’s in a different environment to when they’re sorting through personal emails and family messages. They log on to LinkedIn with a certain mindset, which makes them more open to professional conversations.
LinkedIn also gives outreach teams more context about who they’re reaching before they begin the process such as:
- Where an alum works currently
- What they’ve recently posted
- What groups and communities they’re in
- Who the common connections are
That’s a lot of helpful material to tailor the first message that will hopefully be the start of a donor’s journey. Combine all of this with the social media nature of the platform and you get a channel that has a lot of potential if you approach it right.
LinkedIn Alumni Outreach Strategies
Now that we’ve established that LinkedIn is at least worth a look, let’s set your team up for success so that your messages don’t go ignored.
1. Build an Active Presence Before You Send a Message
Advancement teams (and most teams in any field, to be fair) tend to treat LinkedIn outreach the same way they’d treat a cold email campaign. They find the person, write the message, hit send, and hope for the best.
But LinkedIn is, at it’s core, a social network. Your alumni notice who’s following you, who’s commenting on your posts, and whether your institution has a solid presence on the platform. If your university’s LinkedIn page hasn’t posted in months and the last post was a stock photo of a campus building, it hurts your cause already.
Before you start an outreach campaign, make sure you tick all these boxes::
- First, make sure your institution’s LinkedIn page is active. Posting once per weekday helps you reach 60% of your followers in a month. You should be aiming for consistent presence over viral content.
- Secondly, look for mutual connections, a shared connection increases reply rates by 27%. If a colleague or another alum is already connected,
- Thirdly, follow the alum you plan to message and leave a genuine comment on something they’ve posted. If possible, build and nurture your online relationship with them. You should be looking to gain a follow-back. This can be crucial since alumni who already follow your institution are 81% more likely to respond to your InMail.
2. Build a Segmented List
Use your CRM along with LinkedIn's alumni search tool to understand who you will be sending your messages to. Many alumni engagement tools also allow you to better find, segment, and automate outreach to the right people.
The segmentation itself will be crucial as personalization is a big part of making your message stand out (as we will explain later), so take your time and make sure all your segments and alumni information is updated, synced, and ready to go.
3. Get the Subject Line Right
LinkedIn InMail by default gives you a 200-character subject line limit. When an alum receives your InMail as a notification, they see roughly 25 to 40 characters before the preview cuts off.
For this reason, short, specific, and personalized subject lines can work really well. For example: “A quick question from [University]” or “Connecting with [Name] re: mentorship”.
What won’t work on the other hand, is anything that sounds like a mass email campaign. Something like “Exciting news from the alumni office!” might feel generic or may confuse recipients.
4. Keep the Message Short and Simple
LinkedIn’s own data shows that InMails under 400 characters get higher response rates. Many institutions sometimes write messages much longer than this and have their messages scrolled past.
For your first message, your alums only need enough to understand what you’re asking and if it's worth their time. If you have more context to give and more reasons to say why this outreach matters, that can follow later.
Write a ~300-character message that asks one clear question. The message can address the basics such as who you are, why you’re reaching out, and your one specific question.
5. Personalize Beyond the Name
Alumni can tell if a message was written for them or if someone just replaced a mail merge field, so you’ll want to go further than just swapping people’s first names. Here’s a few things that might help with personalization:
- Spend a couple of minutes on the alum’s profile; personalized InMails increase acceptance rates by about 40%, according to LinkedIn data. Mention a recent post they made, a project they were publicly credited for, a career transition they just went through, or a shared connection.
- Find a good natural connection between what you discover about them and what you’re reaching out about. If you’re inviting them to a career mentorship panel and they’ve been posting about early-career development, mention that. If you’re reaching out around their 10-year graduation anniversary, you definitely want to acknowledge it.
- Avoid mentioning generic and obvious things like “I see you graduated from [University].” Good personalization shows you’ve paid attention to their life after graduation and you have a brief window that you want to make the most out of, especially for less-engaged alumni.
6. Templates for Common Outreach Scenarios
Here are some templates that you could borrow and build on to personalize your next outreach message on LinkedIn:
General reconnect:
"Hi [Name], congrats on the move to [Company]. I'm on the alumni relations team at [University]. We're putting together a small group of alumni at your career stage to get some honest input on our programs. Would a 15-minute call work?"
Mentorship opportunity:
"Hi [Name], I work in alumni relations at [University]. Saw your recent post on [topic] and thought you'd be a great fit for our mentorship program. We're matching alumni with students in [field]. Would you have 30 minutes to hear more?"
Upcoming event:
"Hi [Name], I'm with alumni relations at [University]. We're hosting a small dinner for [City] alumni on [date] and wanted to make sure you were on the list. Can I send you the details?"
Giving day:
"Hi [Name], [University]'s giving day is [date]. This year all gifts are going toward [initiative]. Wanted to reach out personally before things kick off. Can I send you a bit more context on what it supports?"
What each of these has in common is one clear ask and customization that shows the sender did their homework before reaching out.
7. Time Your Outreach Well
LinkedIn data shows that Friday and Saturday see 4% and 8% fewer than average responses, respectively. Your alumni may want to relax and disconnect from the professional world on the weekends, so Monday through Thursday is a good window. However, depending on your event calendar, and past alumni engagement data, this can vary a bit so do double check!
Going back to the mentioned window, Sprout Social's analysis of nearly 2 billion engagements across major social platforms points to Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., as LinkedIn's peak activity window. That's when professionals are most actively checking and responding on the platform, so it's your best shot at being seen before your message gets buried.
8. What to Do When Alumni Reply
Your next message after an alum replies sets the tone for the entire conversation that follows and the subsequent relationship. So here’s a few things to keep in mind:
- Reply quickly, ideally within a few hours of seeing their response.
- Thank them by name and reference something specific from their reply.
- Remember that this is a conversation on a social platform.
The goal should be to establish that your team and, by extension, your institution has a real interest in keeping in touch with them after graduation. For this reason, you’ll want to:
- Find out what they’re working on.
- Ask follow-up questions.
- Make it clear that there is no immediate ask attached.
💡This doubles as an opportunity to get updated information in case their profile information hasn’t been updated in a while.
Alumni who are connected to their institution are 23 times more likely to donate than those who aren’t. That connection, however, has to be built through consistent, genuine interaction over time. So, when it’s time to make an ask, it’s coming from the context of the conversation.
Build a LinkedIn Alumni Community (and not just another contact list)
At the end of the day, one-on-one outreach can only take you so far. Advancement and alumni relations teams that are able to keep alumni engaged are also building environments where alumni feel like they want to stay engaged.
If we are sticking to the platform at hand, LinkedIn Groups are a great way to do this. You can organize alumni groups around:
- Your institution
- Graduation cohorts
- Academic departments
- Regional chapters
- Donor groups
- Matching gift opportunities
…and much much more
AdvancementForm looked at what the institutions running active alumni groups have in common. Here are the main takeaways:
- Stay active every day: Keith Hannon of Cornell University shared that two-thirds of alumni relations professionals running thriving LinkedIn communities log in daily. That includes posting, answering questions, responding to comments, and engaging with what other members are sharing.
- Give alumni the spotlight: Spotlighting a graduate's career achievement or resharing something they wrote brings their audience into your content. Even the simple act of tagging alumni where needed will ensure that their network is notified as well.
- Share career resources such as job postings, industry reads/insights, career advice for alumni at different stages and make sure they are updated frequently. This is the content that consistently performs well as it provides a clear reason to engage.
- Mix up your content formats: Posts with images get a 98% higher comment rate than those without, and posts with YouTube videos (that play directly in the feed) get a 75% higher share rate. Varying your formats will keep the feed from feeling like a broadcast channel.
- Ask alumni to help current students: Academic Impressions flags this as an especially meaningful way to engage alumni because it gives them an opportunity to give back give back, even without a financial element. Posting something like "What do you wish someone told you in your first year in [industry]?" gets replies from alumni who would otherwise never comment on, say, an event announcement.
- Run polls: Lebanon Valley College asked their alumni "What career field are you currently in or looking to enter?" and it sparked a lively, ongoing discussion among their alumni. Polls can be a great icebreaker and contextualizing them to recent events, career stages, or other segmented needs is even better!
- Add in the nostalgia angle: Questions and posts about campus memories or institutional history give alumni interactive content that serves as a break on their feed from the usual LinkedIn content while also reminding them of why they feel connected to their school.
Finally, if you're thinking about content ratios, keep it weighted toward value-first content, career resources, alumni recognition, and conversation, with campaigns and event promotion playing a supporting role, not leading the feed.
Measure Your Progress and Know Your Blind Spots
You need to know whether your efforts are paying off. So, if you’re running structured outreach campaign on LinkedIn, here are the metrics which will help you track what's working:
- Connection acceptance rate: You generally want to aim for ~20% or above. If you're below that, check whether you're warming up contacts before sending requests and whether your institution's page looks active and credible.
- InMail response rate: With personalized, well-targeted outreach, this should sit between 10–25%. Single-digit numbers are an indication to look at your message length, your subject line preview, and how specific your personalization is.
- Conversation-to-action rate: This tracks what percentage of replies converts into whatever your goal is, whether that’s an event registration, a scheduled call, or a gift.
The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) tracks alumni engagement across four modes: philanthropic, volunteer, experiential, and communications.
LinkedIn activity can feed into your experiential and communications metrics. If you’re not tracking LinkedIn engagement as part of your overall alumni engagement scorecard, you should consider starting now.
A few common blind spots that can be avoided include:
- Reaching out only when there's an ask: If alumni only hear from you around giving day or annual fund season, the outreach feels transactional. Only 27% of alumni who donate give to their alma mater. The most common reason others don't give is because they don't feel connected enough to make it a priority.
- Writing LinkedIn messages like emails: Avoid long messages, formal language, attached PDFs when LinkedIn is conversational. Keep messages short, and the tone conversational.Save the documents for follow-up conversations.
- Ignoring alumni who engage with your posts: When an alum comments on something your institution shared, respond to them, thank them by name, and if appropriate, send a connection request with a brief personal note referencing what they said.
- Not knowing what comes next when someone replies: Replying to a message without a clear next step might waste the opening you had spent time and effort on. Know what you’re trying to accomplish before you send the first message so that when someone replies, you’re ready to take the conversation forward.
Final Thoughts
We hope we’ve been able to give you and your team plenty of things to keep in mind. While LinkedIn outreach may seem like a simple game of numbers at first glance, any outreach campaigns involving social media rarely tend to be so predictable and you definitely want to keep that in mind.
To wrap things up, keep personalization (and segmentation by extension) at the heart of your strategy, have a consistent presence on LinkedIn just as you probably do with Facebook or Instagram, and make sure you are thinking about how to take the conversation forward many weeks ahead of time so that alumni feel appreciated after reacting to your outreach.
If you are looking for an alumni engagement platform to help you plan, execute, and measure your alumni outreach and engagement strategy, Almabase is built just for that so feel free to book a personalized demo with us!
How to Reach Out to Alumni on LinkedIn and Get Responses
Our article takes you through LinkedIn alumni outreach and how your team or institution can ensure that your alumni don't ignore your messages.
Prajnya Yelamali
September 2, 2026
12 minutes
Blackbaud, the leading provider of software for powering social impact, and Almabase, the digital-first alumni engagement solution, have announced the expansion of their partnership to the education sectors of Canada and the United Kingdom. The partnership will provide institutions with a modern, digital-first solution to improve constituent data, drive self-serve engagement, and boost event participation.
A Unified Vision
The partnership aligns with Blackbaud’s commitment to customer-centric innovation across digital engagement, Advancement CRM, and financials.
“Partners bring integrated capabilities that extend capabilities and outcomes for Blackbaud customers. We are thrilled that Almabase’s offering, integrated with Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT® and leveraging Blackbaud’s best-in-class payment solution, Blackbaud Merchant Services™, is now available to even more of our customers around the world.”
- Liz Price, Sr. Director of Global Partners at Blackbaud
“After a year of success with our partnership in the US, we're excited to expand our partnership with Blackbaud to newer markets. We're shaping our product specifically for our audiences in these regions, and the end result is a modern, digital-first platform to engage with thousands of your constituents. All while being seamlessly connected to Blackbaud Raiser's Edge NXT.”
- Kalyan Varma, CEO, Almabase
For a Transforming Landscape
This partnership emerges as an automated, integrated, and modern solution in a landscape cluttered with disconnected systems and manual inefficiencies. Teams can now seamlessly create complex events and fundraising campaigns, create and automate workflows, and ensure security compliance.
A Modern Digital Engagement Platform and a Connected Raiser’s Edge NXT CRM
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The integration between Almabase and Raiser’s Edge NXT emerges as the cornerstone of this partnership. The bi-directional syncing capability between both platforms offers a connected CRM usage experience, making this integration the best in the industry. Constituent data can now seamlessly move between Almabase and Raiser’s Edge NXT, enabling institutions to:
- Engage constituents across channels (programs) and maintain one source of truth
- Keep alumni data up-to-date effortlessly and automatically.
- Migrate clean data across platforms, and create structured sync rules for finer control.
- Manage multiple events with ease, with streamlined data flow.
- Leverage automation to free up resources and prevent manual data management.
The integration transforms data management, offering a simplified, efficient, and powerful solution for advancement teams.
Almabase’s commitment to the UK and Canadian markets
Almabase’s approach to entering new regions isn’t just about selling the same product to different markets. The partnership is enabling Almabase to build data centers within the UK and Canada to ensure total compliance with local laws and policies. The product is also being customized for new markets, including region-specific enhancements like support for gift aids and payments in local currencies.
As we embark on this transformative journey, we anticipate a future where alumni engagement is not just a function but a dynamic, value-driven experience for constituents worldwide. Stay tuned to our official channels for more exciting updates.
About Almabase
Almabase transforms institutions' digital engagement and event management, addressing key needs like improving constituent data, driving self-serve engagement, and simplifying events. With guided digital programs and seamless integration, Almabase ensures a modern experience and outcomes, including global alumni engagement and efficient event management.
About Blackbaud
Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) is the leading software provider exclusively dedicated to powering social impact. Serving the nonprofit and education sectors, companies committed to social responsibility, and individual change makers, Blackbaud’s essential software is built to accelerate impact in fundraising, nonprofit financial management, digital giving, grantmaking, corporate social responsibility, and education management.
Almabase & Blackbaud Announce Strategic Partnership in UK & Canada to Transform Alumni Engagement
Blackbaud and Almabase have announced their expanded partnership into the UK & Canada regions. Learn how this partnership will revolutionize the industry.
Announcement
We can’t believe it — it’s already December. The time of the year that calls for delicious hot chocolate (or eggnog) and endless marathons of your favorite Christmas movies. After all, ‘tis the season to be jolly.
2023 has been a year full of learning for the advancement space. We wanted to combine some of our learnings of the previous year and share a list of strategies that advancement teams can use for fundraising success in 2026.
Without further ado, here are our recommendations to increase donor engagement and giving.
1. Planning for Targeted Campaigns:
Extend your planning horizon by incorporating specific, targeted campaigns for different donor segments. Identify key fundraising periods and strategically plan initiatives tailored to the interests and preferences of diverse donor groups.
2. Data-Driven Personalization for Effective Appeals:
Dive deep into your CRM data to personalize fundraising appeals. Tailor messages based on individual donor histories, preferred names, and specific areas of interest. Use data insights to create highly personalized and effective communication strategies.
3. Segmented Strategies for Donor Engagement:
Uncover the power of donor segmentation within your holistic donor tool. Develop specific engagement strategies for major donors, recurring donors, and new donors. Showcase case studies highlighting how targeted approaches yield higher engagement and increased contributions.
4. Engage Your Donors as Early as Possible:
Cultivate success by engaging your earliest potential donors right from the start. Personally reach out, sharing your vision and inviting them to be pioneers in supporting your cause. Offer exclusive insights into upcoming projects, fostering a sense of ownership. Early engagement not only secures initial contributions but also sets the stage for broader community involvement, ensuring sustained success throughout your campaign.
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5. Gamification for Donor Engagement:
Infuse a sense of fun into your donor engagement strategies. Consider incorporating gamification elements into fundraising initiatives, turning contributions into interactive experiences. Showcase success stories of organizations that successfully turned fundraising into an enjoyable and rewarding journey.
6. Interactive Visuals for Digital Platforms:
Embrace the interactive potential of digital platforms. Consider utilizing features like interactive infographics, videos, or virtual tours to engage donors. Ensure your visual content adapts seamlessly to various digital channels, providing an immersive and consistent brand experience.
And that about wraps it up. This is (probably) our last blog post for the year, so until next year!
Make sure to check out our advancement spotlight page for more success stories and industry insights for all your advancement and alumni related needs
We hope you have a wonderful Christmas and New Year 🤗!
How to Raise More Funds from Your Donors in 2026
Explore actionable strategies to engage your donors and ensure your team’s fundraising success in 2026.
Fundraising
As a higher education fundraising professional, it can be a lot of pressure to constantly come up with new, innovative fundraising ideas for your school. Seasonal fundraisers are a great way to add variety and excite donors. When you host a seasonal fundraiser, you play into students’ and donors’ existing excitement for the upcoming season, leading to more engagement.
Plus, product fundraisers make seasonal fundraising easy. All you have to do is pick a season-relevant product to sell, and donors receive something tangible in return for their contributions. It’s a win-win!
To get you started, we’ll provide three ideas for each season for a total of 12 engaging fundraising ideas you can use throughout the year.
Fall Fundraising Ideas
1. Pizza
Starting a new school year can be daunting, especially for freshmen. Besides the academic stressors of beginning college, many students stress about finding their footing socially.
With a pizza fundraiser, you can bring students together at the start of the year and help them forge lasting friendships. Work with a local pizza shop to provide pizza pies at a discounted rate. Then, you can sell them to students by the slice or by the pie and provide tables for them to enjoy their meal.
Alternatively, you can sell pizza at your back-to-school club fair to encourage students to attend. Let students grab a quick bite to eat while they check out all the extracurricular activities your school has to offer.
2. Care Packages
Many parents send their children care packages during their first semester of college to show that they miss them and provide some treats from back home. Make it easier for them to do so by hosting a care package fundraiser.
Have older students stuff boxes with items such as:
- Candy
- Snacks
- School apparel
Then, set up a care package fundraising page on your website, and promote it on social media to spread the word to new students’ families.
3. Popcorn
One of the most exciting parts of the fall season for students is Halloween. Consider hosting a Halloween-themed movie night with spooky movies. That way, you can sell popcorn at the event for students to enjoy and earn money for your school.
Since popcorn can stay fresh for a long time, you can also include alumni in your popcorn fundraiser. Sell the popcorn online, and ship it to alumni so they can join in on the fall fun from anywhere.
Winter Fundraising Ideas
4. Cookie Dough
Who doesn’t want to enjoy a warm cookie fresh out of the oven during the colder months? ABC Fundraising recommends hosting a cookie dough fundraiser because they have a high earning potential and cater to different tastes with a variety of flavors.
Plus, this type of fundraiser can bring students together and provide an indoor activity to help them stay out of the cold. Students can use their dorm kitchens to bake the cookies together and even swap them in a holiday cookie exchange hosted by their resident advisors.
5. Wrapping Paper
Wrapping paper is a must during the holiday season, so you might as well allow your supporters to purchase it and give back to your school at the same time. Along with selling wrapping paper, eCardWidget’s Christmas fundraising guide recommends hosting gift-wrapping services to help donors wrap their gifts during the holiday season.
Students can volunteer to work the gift-wrapping station and sell the wrapping paper there as well. Then, you can invite members of the community to come to campus and get their gifts wrapped in exchange for a small donation.
6. Candles
Warm students’ and donors’ hearts with a candle fundraiser. To make this fundraiser even more suited to the holiday season, choose scents like peppermint, pine, and gingerbread.
This type of fundraiser presents a good opportunity to remind donors of matching gift opportunities at year-end. Send alumni and other supporters an email notifying them of your candle fundraiser. Include a short paragraph that thanks them for their contributions throughout the year and reminds them to submit any lingering matching gift requests before the year wraps up.
Spring Fundraising Ideas
7. Flower Bulbs
Nothing screams spring like flowers! Have environmental clubs on campus host a flower bulb fundraiser. That way, they can give students tips on how to keep their new plants healthy throughout the season.
Parents and alumni with gardens may be enticed to participate as well. Let them know about your fundraiser in your newsletter, detailing how they can order the bulbs online or pick them up on campus if they’re local.
8. Cotton Candy
Bring everyone together before the school year ends with a spring carnival! Allow student groups to run booths, and offer games and food for everyone to enjoy.
Then, top it all off with a cotton candy fundraiser! You’ll transport students back to their childhood with this nostalgic snack and earn a ton of funds for your school.
9. Gourmet Coffee
When the end of the school year looms close, students start stressing about finals. Late library sessions become the norm, and some will pull all-nighters in hopes of acing their final assessments.
For many students, coffee is a must, especially during this busy time. Help them fuel up for finals with a gourmet coffee fundraiser. You can also sell and ship coffee bags to alumni, allowing them to reminisce about the woes of college finals.
Summer Fundraising Ideas
10. Flip-Flops
Remind students and alumni of their alma mater during summer break by selling branded flip-flops. That way, they can show off their school spirit at the beach or the pool all summer long!
Work with a product fundraiser provider that can find an apparel company best suited for your flip-flop fundraiser. For example, you may want to customize the flip-flops to your school's colors or add your logo, so you’ll need to work with a company that can cater to your needs.
11. Snacks
A snack fundraiser is easy to pull off in the summer because you can ship snacks to alumni and students no matter where they may be. Consider selling snacks that can travel well in the heat, such as:
- Trail mix
- Pretzels
- Nuts
- Candy
Whether they choose to enjoy their snacks on a picnic, by the pool, or on the journey traveling back to school, a snack fundraiser is sure to please supporters of all ages.
12. Discount Cards
Gear up your students for back to school with discount cards that offer them savings at local restaurants and shops near campus. Then, you can sell the cards and put the funds toward programs that will benefit your school community.
Not only can these discount cards help your students save money, but they’ll also get them excited to return to campus and support their favorite local vendors.
While these suggestions should give you plenty of inspiration for your next seasonal product fundraiser, make sure to survey your students and alumni to collect data about which products they’d prefer to purchase. That way, you can ensure you have high participation rates and raise sufficient funds to support your school’s programming.
Conclusion
Hopefully this blog has inspired you and given your next fundraiser some exciting ideas. If you're looking for a platform to help you host your next fundraiser or event your way, do give Almabase a try!
About the Author
Debbie Salat is the director of fundraising activities and product development at ABC Fundraising(r) - Debbie joined ABC Fundraising(r) in 2010 and is responsible for launching over 6500 fundraising campaigns for schools, churches, youth sports teams and non-profit organizations all across the USA. With over 20 years of fundraising experience, Debbie knows the path to success for fundraisers which she shares with groups on a daily basis so they can achieve their fundraising goals.
12 Products to Sell For Your School's Seasonal Fundraiser
Discover 12 seasonal product fundraising ideas for schools that boost engagement and revenue year-round—perfect for students, parents, and alumni.
Fundraising
When was the last time you took a good hard look at your higher education website? Your college’s website is one of your most important marketing tools for recruiting new students, connecting with alumni, driving donations, and demonstrating your school’s positive impact on the world. If it seems outdated, stale, or not reflective of your values, it could be time for a revamp.
In this guide, we’ll highlight five reasons to refresh your website and tips for making impactful updates. Along the way, we’ll highlight examples from the top college websites to show a few best practices in action.
1. You need to refresh the user journey
When a visitor lands on your college website, what’s the first thing they do? The answer depends on who they are and what they’re hoping to get out of their visit. You can create a simple, user-friendly experience for all visitors by updating your user journeys.
The user journey encompasses the steps visitors take to engage with your website: the links they click, forms they fill out, pages they read, and more.
Kanopi’s guide to higher ed web design offers these tips for designing compelling user journeys:
- Streamline navigation. Simplify your website’s main menu to include the categories that matter most to visitors. For most universities, this will include menu items like admissions, academics, campus/student life, alumni, donations, and athletics.
- Incorporate specific, eye-catching calls to action (CTAs). Include CTAs that speak to different user groups and their motivations. For example, The University of Arizona website includes a great “I Am” CTA that allows visitors to choose a category that best represents them. Then, they’re directed to a web page that compiles resources that are relevant to their needs.
- Offer concrete next steps. Provide a variety of quick links and FAQ pages to address common concerns and questions visitors may have. Empower them with clear ways to take action, whether by applying to your university, submitting a donation, registering for an event, etc.
Track website analytics, such as time on page, bounce rate, and conversion rates for different forms, to understand users’ satisfaction with your website. You can also track user flow to understand how visitors are moving throughout your website and the common steps they take as they navigate from page to page. Identify common drop-off or bounce points to investigate what causes visitors to leave your website, then adjust your user journey accordingly.
2. Your website could do more to drive donations
Plenty of people are willing to donate to colleges and universities, and the data reflects this commitment. Donations to higher education institutions in the U.S. rose 12.5% in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022.
However, if your college website doesn’t offer a variety of giving opportunities or adequately show the impact of donations, you could be leaving valuable dollars on the table.
Therefore, consider revamping your website to include more elements that promote giving, including:
- Donation page CTAs, such as a donation page menu link and buttons on your homepage
- Multiple giving options, such as online donations, planned gifts/bequests, in-kind donations, gifts of stock, etc.
- Stories that show the positive impact of donations on your student body or community
- Digital donor walls to recognize existing donors and highlight donation opportunities
To learn more ways to target prospective donors on your website, create donor personas based on supporter data and demographics. Go beyond alumni donors to develop personas for faculty and staff, business leaders in the local community, families of students, and foundations. These personas can help you design unique, personalized user journeys for each donor segment.
3. Your website needs to be more accessible
If your university’s website isn’t up to accessibility standards (and sadly, the majority of them aren’t), it’s important to correct any issues as quickly as possible. This ensures that you can build an inviting environment for all users and comply with ADA regulations.
Review your website to see if you need to improve the following elements:
- Strong color contrast
- Descriptive alternative text for images
- Accurate video captions
- Keyboard navigability
- Hierarchical heading structure
- Accessible digital waivers and forms
Offer an email address or form visitors can complete to report accessibility issues. For example, take a look at Adelphi University’s web accessibility information page and form for reporting issues:
This demonstrates how simple it can be to provide a resource for visitors and gather feedback that helps continuously improve your website.
4. You need to connect with more alumni
Your university’s alumni are among your most passionate supporters, lending a hand by participating in fundraising efforts, volunteer opportunities, and word-of-mouth marketing.
To show alumni that you appreciate them for more than just their financial support, your college website should provide a variety of ways for alumni to get involved beyond donating. For example, spotlight opportunities like:
- Volunteer initiatives
- Networking nights
- Mentorship opportunities
- Homecoming events
- Career services
- Award ceremonies
Gather a few alumni testimonials to include on your alumni information page or microsite to show other former students the benefits of getting involved. For example, you could spotlight alumni who are involved in your mentoring program or who have been able to find their dream jobs with the help of your career services. Seeing other alumni’s success will help encourage more engagement with your alumni program.
5. Your website isn’t inclusive enough
Your university’s website should be a welcoming resource for all online audience members. Prioritizing inclusivity tells all visitors—current and potential students, alumni, staff, and community members—“You belong here.”
Promote inclusivity by taking these steps:
- Share your diversity and inclusion policy. Include a prominent CTA or menu item that leads to your diversity and inclusion policy. This policy should include mission and vision statements as well as clear steps your university is taking to promote inclusivity.
- Share content that reflects the diversity of your student body. Make sure your website’s content, whether your images, blog posts, videos, or testimonials, mirrors the diversity of your campus. Prospective students from all backgrounds should be able to envision themselves becoming part of your community.
- Use inclusive form field options. Inclusive forms intentionally only ask questions your institution needs the answers to. They also provide a wide variety of options for demographic-related questions and don’t include character limits or minimums for names.
Diversity is improving at higher education institutions across the country, but there is still more work to be done. Make inclusivity a leading priority at your institution, and within your website’s content, to show prospective and current students you’re committed to developing an inviting campus community.
These tips are a great place to start when it comes to refreshing your website to align with current higher education trends. However, if your website needs more than a revamp, consult with a higher education website design professional. These experts can take a deep dive into your website strategy to design a user experience that appeals to multiple audiences, drives engagement, and enhances your university’s reputation.
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5 Reasons to Revamp Your College Website (& Refresh Tips)
Do you think your higher education website could use a makeover? Here are five reasons why you should revamp your college website and expert tips to do so.
Alumni Engagement
This is the season of charitable giving! We don’t know what it is about the holidays - the Christmas spirit of altruism or the December 31st tax receipt deadline. But we do know that we could expect an increase in donations coming in during this time of the year!
According to M+R Benchmarks Report, December giving accounts for 26% of annual nonprofit revenue.
This blog will help you amplify the impact of your year-end giving campaign. From crafting strategic partnerships to embracing innovative engagement techniques, we'll explore the key pillars that make a year-end initiative truly shine.
Donor Segmentation
Achieving personalization at scale might seem daunting. Here's where donor segmentation steps in as a strategic powerhouse for a successful end-of-year campaign.
The essence lies in tailoring messages based on behavior or traits—grouping donors into categories like LYBUNT, SYBUNT, First-time donors, Young alumni donors, etc., and acknowledging their support through gift size categories. The mission is clear: make every message resonate uniquely.
You can also:
- Utilize Existing Data: Incorporate names, last gift amounts, or dates for a personalized touch.
- Dynamic Appeals: Customize emails dynamically to ensure relevance.
- Surprise Personalization: Delight donors with occasional surprises, be it personalized acknowledgments or thank-you videos.
- VIP Tier: Establish a VIP tier for top donors, offering exclusive perks such as private groups or live sessions, fostering a sense of exclusivity and direct interaction with institutional leaders. to deepen their connection with your cause.
Create an Engagement Strategy for Pre-Giving Tuesday
In the midst of the holiday hustle, Giving Tuesday stands out as the day for charitable giving. To harness its potential, precision is key—target the right donors with a compelling message that highlights your nonprofit's unique value proposition and the direct impact of Giving Tuesday contributions.
There are many ways you can make your Giving Tuesday a hit!
- Dedicated Landing Page: Craft a user-friendly landing page—your central hub for details, goals, history, and the allure of matching gifts. Ensure it's a seamless experience for potential donors seeking information.
- Online Fundraising Tools: Simplify the giving process with online platforms, embedded donation forms, and personalized fundraising pages. User-friendly interfaces pave the way for seamless contributions.
- Text2Give for Mobile Donations: Capitalize on mobile usage trends by incorporating Text2Give. Enable quick and convenient mobile donations to capture a broader audience.
- Peer-to-Peer Solutions: Tap into social giving networks using peer-to-peer fundraising solutions. Leverage the power of community and shared giving experiences.
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- Take Advantage of Shopping Savings: Capitalize on the strategic timing of Giving Tuesday following Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Encourage donors to redirect their shopping savings towards your cause. Make it tangible—associate specific dollar amounts with impactful contributions to individuals, projects, or programs.
- Gamify Giving: Infuse an element of gamification by setting milestones and challenges tied to giving. Encourage friendly competition among donors to reach specific goals, creating excitement and momentum.
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- Leverage AI: Utilize AI for year-end giving with personalized donor interactions, real-time data analysis, and automated follow-ups. Predictive modeling identifies potential donors, while sentiment analysis ensures timely feedback response. Streamline the giving process with donor journey mapping, refine messaging through A/B testing, and create urgency with dynamic giving thermometers. AI optimizes engagement, tailors strategies, and maximizes fundraising impact for a successful year-end giving day.
💡 With Almabase, you can seamlessly create engaging campaigns with leaderboards, thermometers, and more.
Partnerships and Collaborations
Strategic collaborations can elevate your year-end giving campaign to new heights. Imagine the resonance of every donation being doubled, not just by one entity but through a mix of foundations, companies, and dedicated alumni.
However, proposing custom matching gift initiatives to companies without existing programs may seem like opening new doors. The hack here lies in education and incentive. Provide a toolkit simplifying the process for both the company and your alumni, emphasizing the profound impact of matching gifts.
Communicate Effectively
Personalization is your key to success. Tailoring messages to address donors by name, referencing their past contributions, and articulating specific impacts significantly elevates the efficacy of fundraising appeals.
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Some channels you can focus on:
- Video appeals can serve as a visually compelling medium to narrate beneficiary stories and showcase organizational impact.
- Website appeals help create dedicated year-end giving pages featuring compelling visuals, impactful beneficiary stories, and streamlined donation forms that can enhance the donor's online experience.
- Email marketing can be a successful mode of communication through effective segmentation, attention-grabbing subject lines, and concise, mobile-friendly content are crucial elements for enhancing the effectiveness of email campaigns.
- Social media stories can help you create engaging narratives, highlighting stories of individuals or projects directly impacted by Giving Tuesday contributions. Visual storytelling fosters a sense of connection and urgency.
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A robust follow-through strategy is essential in sustaining donor momentum throughout the year-end fundraising campaign. Continuous reminders, balanced urgency in messaging, and targeted follow-up appeals contribute to maintaining engagement without overwhelming donors.
Donor Stewardship
We all know that swift acknowledgments significantly boost the likelihood of repeat donations, making prompt gratitude a strategic move. However, the art of appreciation extends beyond mere transactional gestures.
This might include weaving stories into thank-you letters that evoke emotion and connection, illuminating the journey of individuals or causes touched by the donor's support, emphasizing tangible change, or shifting the narrative to showcase the donor's role in solving the problem. You can also capture attention by strategically using visual cues such as brackets, PS lines, or bold/underlined text.
How to Amplify the Impact of the Year-End Giving Campaign?
Explore actionable tips for a successful year-end giving campaign, focusing on donor segmentation, precise engagement for Giving Tuesday, strategic partnerships, etc.
Fundraising
Ho, ho, ho—the holiday season is quickly approaching. Schools like yours are presented with a powerful opportunity to engage supporters amidst a period of heightened generosity and giving, in which alumni are one of the most essential segments to consider.
And it’s the perfect time to increase your matching gift fundraising efforts, too!
But do you have a plan in place to optimize alumni outreach and make the most of your donation match potential as the end of the year draws near? In this blog post, we’ll demonstrate exactly how you can do so by incorporating these tried-and-true practices:
- Implement a multi-channel EOY matching gift marketing plan.
- Craft compelling messaging centered around matching gift impact.
- Integrate matching gifts directly into your holiday giving experience.
- Pursue matching gifts from previously made alumni donations.
- Consider exploring new matching gift partnerships.
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The end-of-year fundraising season is one of the most lucrative times for colleges, universities, and other educational institutions. A well-thought-out strategy for matching gifts can make your efforts go even further as you prepare your team for the coming year.
Let’s dive in!
1. Implement a multichannel EOY matching gift marketing plan.
Matching gifts often go unclaimed due to a lack of awareness on the part of the donors who unknowingly qualify. Therefore, spreading knowledge of the programs is one of the best ways to increase participation—and it’s a good idea to market the opportunity using all of your favorite donor communication channels.
For example, Double the Donation’s matching gift experts recommend:
Sharing ample matching gift information on your school website. Connect with alumni online by providing substantial information regarding matching gifts on your school’s website. This should include a page dedicated to matching gift opportunities, a section on your “Ways to Give” page, and more. And if you have access to a matching gift database tool, add that widget here as well.
Promoting matching gift opportunities on your social media pages. Regularly share materials that highlight the availability and impact of corporate matching gifts on your institution’s social media profiles—and ramp up your content schedule leading up to the end of the year. Direct followers to the matching gift hub on your website for additional information, and encourage them to look into their own employers’ available programming.
Mentioning matching gifts in all alumni email communications. In the coming weeks, you likely have a plan to send alumni newsletters, fundraising appeals, campaign updates, gift acknowledgments, and more to engage supporters in your year-end efforts. Be sure to include valuable mentions of matching gifts in these communications! Not sure where to start? Check out some sample matching gift blurbs you can leverage in your outreach here.
2. Craft compelling messaging focused on matching gift impact.
Alumni already have a significant connection to your cause. They’ve seen firsthand the widespread benefits your institution has on your school community, and that’s why they’re interested in giving back to support your future endeavors.
Ensure you communicate well how matching gift opportunities can produce a tangible impact for your specific fundraising needs. This might include success stories, testimonials, and metrics related to matching gifts.
Consider the following example: “In 2023, our school collected more than $50,000 worth of matching gifts from alumni donors who took the extra step on our behalf. This supplemental funding allowed our team to provide additional scholarships for 10 eager students who are now able to join our school community. One donor shared the following about the experience: ‘I’m so grateful for the opportunity to have my employer DOUBLE my gift to my alma mater. I was feeling generous in the giving season and came to find out that my contribution was able to make an even greater impact for the school I love.’”
3. Integrate matching gifts into your holiday giving experience.
During the holiday season, alumni engagement tends to surge, resulting in significant increases in individual giving. To harness this heightened generosity, incorporating matching gift opportunities directly within the donation process goes a long way.
For instance, once an individual completes their donation through the online form and clicks "submit," they can be redirected to a confirmation page that encourages them to explore matching gift possibilities. This approach facilitates a straightforward way to extend their support for your school while retaining the momentum of the initial giving experience.
Top tip: For donors who opt not to complete their match immediately from the gift confirmation screen, your school can trigger post-transaction reminders (ideally within 24 hours of the initial gift) as well!
4. Pursue matching gifts from previously made alumni donations.
Did you know that the holiday giving season, which coincides with the end of the calendar year, is also an excellent opportunity to re-engage donors from earlier in the year?
Tons of companies require employees to submit their match requests during the year in which the initial gift was made. That means many matching gift submission windows are set to close in the coming weeks—and that a year-end push can be particularly effective!
Not only does this allow you to secure last-minute matching gift funds, but it also empowers supporters to get involved in your year-end campaign without requiring another donation. For example, an alumnus who last gave in January may still qualify to request a match even if they don’t have the funds to make an additional gift at this time.
5. Consider exploring new matching gift partnerships.
A final way to drive matching gift revenue this giving season involves pursuing relationships with companies that may otherwise not match employee gifts. And that is exploring custom (or “one-off”) matching gift partnerships.
In order to do so, begin by identifying and reaching out to corporations whose values align with your school's mission. It’s great if you have something in common to help get your foot in the door—such as an overlap between your alumni or donors and the company’s employees or even geographic proximity.
Communicate the opportunity to your point of contact at the business, being sure to emphasize the benefits to the company’s employee engagement, public image, and more. Plus, keep in mind that your alumni or other existing donors can be some of your greatest advocates in this process. Encourage supporters to pitch the idea to their employers, facilitate a warm introduction for your institution, or help guide the company through the program development process.
Not to mention, the end-of-year holiday season is an excellent chance to pursue these types of partnerships. After all, it’s not just your donors who tend to experience an elevated giving spirit—their employers may be, too
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As you begin crafting your end-of-year appeals, don’t let corporate matching donations fall by the wayside. Securing matching gifts during the holiday giving season enables your school to make the most of incoming funds, re-engage previous donors, bankroll important initiatives, support your student community, and enhance alumni relations.
By equipping your development team with the right tools to streamline and advance your efforts (such as the Almabase + Double the Donation matching gifts integration), you can do more to pursue corporate matching opportunities while requiring less time and resources.
About the Author
Adam Weinger is the President of Double the Donation, the leading provider of matching gift tools to nonprofit organizations and educational institutions. Adam created Double the Donation in order to help nonprofits increase their annual revenue through corporate matching gift and volunteer grant programs.
Securing Matching Gifts From Alumni This Holiday Season
Unlock the power of alumni support this holiday season! Discover effective strategies for securing more matching gift funding from your school’s graduates.
Fundraising
If you’ve ever been rock climbing or whitewater rafting, you probably remember signing a waiver before getting started. While these documents are just a small part of your experience as a participant, they are incredibly important to the business or organization hosting the activity.
By choosing digital waivers, your school can see why waivers are so beneficial to the organizations that use them. From using the data you gather via waivers to develop deeper relationships with your donors to going paperless, digital waivers are designed to make the process easier and more convenient for everyone.
Before diving into the benefits of digital waivers, let's cover the basics you’ll need to get started.
How can you make a waiver?
Most often, waivers are used prior to events or activities that involve some level of risk to participants, such as injury or financial loss
Because waivers are legal documents, it’s important to take care when creating them—fortunately, digital waiver tools can streamline the process for you. Smartwaiver’s guide to creating a waiver breaks down this process into four steps:
- Work with a lawyer.
- Invest in digital waiver software.
- Determine the type of waiver you need.
- Add the form to your waiver tool.
Once you’ve loaded your completed waiver into your waiver software, you can start sharing it with participants ahead of the event. This way, participants can access the waiver in advance and skip the check-in desk at your event or activity.
In addition to added convenience for your supporters, here are three more benefits to switching to digital waivers:
What are the top benefits of digital waivers?
1. Improved convenience and accessibility.
If your school already uses physical waivers and other paper forms, you know how much time (and funding) printing and organizing those papers can take. Digital waivers are hosted entirely online, meaning they’ll lend much more convenience and flexibility to you and your donors or alumni.
Here are three ways you’ll save time and bring opportunities to participate to more people:
- No more filing - Digital waivers are 100% paperless, so you won’t need to spend time filing them or making copies. This could save your school hundreds of dollars in printing costs, and your staff will have more time to do tasks related to serving students, funding your school, or connecting with the community.
- Compatible with assistive technology - Assistive technology like screen readers or magnifiers helps those with permanent or temporary disabilities communicate and interact. Unlike with paper documents, these tools can be applied to your digital waiver to make reading and signing it easier for all participants.
- Locating documents is much easier - If an incident happens to a participant at your event, you’ll need to find the waiver they signed. Instead of rifling through a file cabinet, you can simply search for a person’s name in your waiver provider’s database and immediately find the document.
In addition to saving you time and money, a paperless approach is much more sustainable. For schools that value sustainability and limiting their negative impact on the environment, this can be a significant reason to start using digital waivers.
2. More personalized communications.
Whether your school is hosting an important annual fundraiser or building relationships with alumni, data can come in handy. Waivers can help you collect this data so you can tailor the way you communicate with donors, parents, and other supporters.
With personal data gleaned from waivers, you can make the following types of messages feel more genuine:
- Marketing efforts - You may have heard that personalized marketing messages are the new standard, but, this can be easier said than done. Digital waivers give you some information to help you get started, such as first and last name, contact information, and birth date (i.e., age). You can also add custom fields to secure other information, like the participant’s interests or relation to your school.
- Thank-you letters - Writing volunteer or donor thank-you letters will foster a sense of appreciation and understanding between you and your supporters. Use what you learn from waivers to tailor these letters to each supporter. For example, you can greet them by name, mention the specific events they attended, and invite them to future opportunities based on what you can infer about their interests.
- Non-transactional message - You can engage your supporters beyond donating by contacting them for reasons outside of fundraising or asking them to do something for you (e.g., sharing your latest blog post). For example, you might share a message with them on their birthday using the date you have on file from a waiver they signed. You can also use dates on waivers to track important milestones, like the anniversary of their first event with your school.
While it is possible to collect this data with traditional paper waivers, your school would need to spend hours translating those records into digital spreadsheets. Make sure to work with a digital waiver provider that has robust data analytics tools so you can take full advantage of this valuable information.
3. Deepened relationships with parents and donors.
Because of their added convenience and ease of use, digital waivers can even have a positive impact on parents, donors, alumni, and anyone else who uses these documents.
For example, you can enhance their experiences by:
- Using waiver kiosks or creating scannable QR codes linked to the waiver to limit lines at your check-in desk.
- Helping participants prepare by letting them know about the conditions of the event (if it’s a color run, for example, they may want a change of clothes).
- Promising secure, trustworthy data storage.
- Eliminating the possibility of lost paperwork.
- Offering a way to provide feedback to your school via custom, open-ended fields in the document.
These enhancements make for extremely positive experiences with your school. Over time, this will drive more attendance at events, help boost revenue, and empower you to cultivate lasting relationships with donors, alumni, and your community.
While waivers are extremely important for legal reasons, don’t miss out on the benefits that go beyond liability protection. A digital waiver makes the process easy and approachable for your school, and you can rest assured that sensitive data is kept safe. When you can leverage this data, you’ll be able to learn more about your school’s supporters to foster deeper relationships, provide them with positive experiences, and have authentic, connection-promoting interactions with them.
3 Ways Using a Digital Waiver Can Benefit Your School
Did you know digital waivers can do more for your school? Learn how to get started with digital waivers and take advantage of these three top benefits.
Events
As a school administrator or fundraising coordinator, you know the importance of carefully planning and executing school fundraisers. After all, the supplementary revenue from these campaigns allows you to enrich students’ educational experiences in various ways, from upgrading the school’s technology to purchasing new sports equipment for physical education classes.
The key to effective school fundraising is getting your whole community involved in campaigns they’ll enjoy participating in. Chances are there are more people than you’d think who are invested in your students’ academic success—you just need to provide them with appealing opportunities to support your school.
In this guide, we’ll walk through three strategies for engaging your community in your school fundraisers, including how to:
- Understand Your Audiences
- Diversify Your Fundraising Methods
- Promote Your Fundraisers Through Multiple Channels
As you apply these tips to your school’s campaigns, make sure that your offline and online fundraising efforts align. Each type has different advantages—for instance, digital campaigns are often more convenient to participate in, while traditional fundraisers can make it easier to form individual connections with supporters. Keep this in mind when building out your fundraising calendar to maximize the benefits to your school. Let’s dive in!
1. Understand Your Audiences
The first step in planning a school fundraiser that will excite your community is to know who your target audiences are. That’s right, audiences—there are several different groups of people you’ll need to engage in your campaigns, including:
- Faculty and staff, to ensure that their needs and desires are taken into account as you plan fundraising initiatives and allocate the revenue generated from them.
- Parents and other family members, since this group is likely to be the most interested in improving their children’s education.
- Your school's alumni, who have likely reflected on their time as students and may want to help enhance the experience for those who come after them.
- Current students, as they’re the ones who will benefit most directly from your fundraising efforts.
Each group’s involvement in your fundraisers will vary depending on your students’ education level. For example, parents will often take a more active role in elementary school fundraisers, while alumni are more likely to participate in higher education campaigns. However, you should still consider all of these groups because together they constitute the bulk of your school’s community.
2. Diversify Your Fundraising Methods
Many schools rely on the same few fundraisers year after year. While having some tried-and-true ideas in your toolbox can be useful for planning purposes, diversifying your fundraising methods can spark new interest in your campaigns. Plus, having multiple revenue streams is more financially sustainable—your school will be in a better position to fund its initiatives even if some costs are higher than expected or a revenue source falls through.
Some new campaigns to consider adding to your school’s fundraising strategy include:
- Online shopping fundraisers - This type of campaign allows community members to contribute to your school simply by making everyday purchases at participating online retailers. You may have heard of AmazonSmile before its 2023 discontinuation, and there are alternative fundraising platforms your school can still use that function similarly to the Smile program but provide even more flexibility and higher commission rates.
- Gift card fundraising - This method involves supporters buying gift cards to their favorite businesses where a portion of the proceeds go back to your school. ShopRaise’s gift card fundraising guide recommends partnering with a platform that offers a variety of digital gift cards, as this provides supporters with a wide range of options and makes the gift cards easy to distribute via email.
- Crowdfunding - Crowdfunding campaigns are great for funding specific projects that can benefit from many small donations, and their social sharing ability encourages donors to get their friends and family involved. Make sure your fundraiser has a defined goal and time frame to create a sense of urgency around contributing.
- Events - Whether they’re held in-person or virtually, fundraising events bring your school’s community together around a common cause. There are also many types of events that work well for schools, from auctions to walk-a-thons to family movie nights, so choose one that resonates with your supporter base.
No matter what fundraising methods you try at your school, collect participation data and ask for supporters’ feedback on each one. Then, use this information to determine which fundraisers are most popular among your community so you can focus on those methods going forward.
3. Promote Your Fundraisers Through Multiple Channels
Use a multi-channel marketing strategy to spread the word about all of your school fundraisers. Leveraging several communication methods creates multiple opportunities for community members to learn about your fundraiser, which in turn can lead to increased involvement.
Here are some popular marketing channels that you could use to promote your school’s fundraisers:
- Your website - When community members want in-depth information about your school’s activities, they’ll likely turn to your website. Create a dedicated fundraising page that includes a calendar of all of the campaigns you’re planning for the current academic year and descriptions of each of your fundraisers. Also, include links to signup forms, landing pages, or other materials necessary to participate.
- Email marketing - If your school sends out a weekly or monthly newsletter, add a “Fundraising” section to each issue. Additionally, send out individualized email blasts to each of your major mailing lists: parents and guardians, alumni, faculty, and staff.
- Social media - Your school’s social media accounts are a great way to keep the community up to date on current fundraising initiatives. Make sure to tailor your content to each platform for maximum engagement. For example, you might turn a text-based Facebook post into a series of infographics for Instagram and a short explainer video for TikTok.
- Flyers - Consider supplementing your digital communications with print marketing materials like fundraising flyers to increase awareness of your campaigns. Hang flyers around the school building in places where students and parents are likely to see them, such as the front lobby and the cafeteria, and send a copy home with each student. To connect your online and offline efforts, include a QR code to your signup form or landing page.
Similarly to your campaigns themselves, collect and analyze data on each of your marketing methods to see which ones are most effective at reaching your community. That way, you can put more time and resources into the channels that convert more supporters.
Keep in mind that every school is unique, so the fundraising and marketing methods that best engage your community might be different from other schools in your area. But with the right tools and a strong understanding of your school’s target audiences, you can develop a fundraising strategy that generates both excitement and reliable revenue.
Engaging the Community: 3 Strategies for School Fundraising
To maximize your school’s fundraising efforts, you need to plan campaigns your community will enjoy participating in. Get started with these three strategies.
Alumni Engagement
See how leading institutions put these ideas into action
