Build lifelong relationships

As a higher education professional, you know the value of engaging your alumni and fostering community post-graduation. It can be a challenge, however, not to let urgent fundraising needs skew all of your outreach toward asking for donations.

While you may think you need to prioritize donation appeals over other kinds of outreach to reach your goals, any fundraising consultant will tell you that relationships are the key to fundraising success. Engaging alumni beyond donations is how you build and sustain those crucial relationships and secure more stable funds over time. 

If your current engagement strategy needs attention, consider these four ideas to better connect with alumni and raise more in the long run:

1. Leverage multiple communication channels
2. Host a variety of events
3. Promote volunteer opportunities
4. Provide ongoing support for alumni

When your alumni feel connected to your university, they’ll be more likely to donate. Let’s dive into these strategies to learn how to foster that connection. 

1. Leverage multiple communication channels

To successfully engage your alumni, you first need to know where to reach them. Broaden your outreach efforts and get in front of more alumni by communicating across multiple relevant channels.

Create a multichannel marketing strategy that includes channels such as:

• Direct mail: If you’ve already seen direct mail’s effectiveness for donation appeals, start branching out. Handwritten thank-you notes and physical newsletters often make a greater impression than digital versions. 
• Social media: Social media is the perfect channel for quick announcements, engaging videos, and immediate interactions with alumni. It also provides space for alumni to connect with each other. Create Facebook groups for posting jobs, networking, and general peer-to-peer advice to encourage feelings of community.
• Email: Check metrics like email open rate and click-through rate to see how your current email strategy is performing. To increase engagement with your emails, send out surveys and personalized invitations to events or volunteer opportunities. 
• Newsletters: Alumni newsletters provide great opportunities to share major university-wide updates and celebrate the results of recent fundraising campaigns. Add an alumni recognition section to show your support for different alumni in every newsletter.

As you lay out your strategy and create content calendars, be sure to balance event announcements and fundraising appeals with more casual outreach. Share interesting blog posts, shout out faculty and students, and check in with individual alumni.

2. Host a variety of events

Any event provides a crucial opportunity to interact one-on-one with alumni. From class reunions to holiday parties to networking events, these gatherings allow your university to personally demonstrate what you’re doing with funding, how much you value your alumni, and the benefits of the lifelong community you offer them. 

When choosing alumni engagement events to host, strive for a balance that will interest as many alumni as possible. Host some events geared toward those fresh out of college and others more tailored to older alumni classes. Mix up your event formats, offering in-person, hybrid, and fully virtual attendance options. The more variety, the more chances you have to connect with each and every former student.

It can be tempting to put all of your focus on fundraising events, but make room for solely social events, too. For example, Meyer Partners’ year-end giving guide suggests hosting small events around the holidays to engage donors. These events aren’t focused purely on fundraising, but they do strengthen relationships and therefore increase the likelihood of future alumni giving.

3. Promote volunteer opportunities

Volunteering programs are highly engaging because they give alumni a chance to give back to their alma mater in ways other than donating funds. Develop a variety of volunteer opportunities alumni may like, such as mentoring recent grads in their job search or speaking at a prospective student event. 

To effectively promote these volunteer opportunities, use your donor data to segment alumni based on:

• Location: Consider segmenting alumni by city, state, or even time zone. These groups will help you determine those more likely to attend local in-person events and those you should promote virtual events to instead.
• Event preferences: Note the types of events alumni have attended in the past, then promote volunteer opportunities at similar events to each segment.
• Interests and fields of study: Former English majors may be interested in judging a student poetry competition, while those working in STEM fields would have more interest in volunteering at a science career fair. 
• Volunteering history: Create segments of one-time volunteers, active volunteers, those who’ve previously expressed interest, and those who have yet to volunteer with your university.

Then, tailor outreach to promote applicable opportunities to each group. In your outreach, consider also highlighting corporate volunteer grants. These are programs in which employers make donations on behalf of their employees for volunteering. Ask your volunteers to check if their employers offer these programs, as they could provide impactful funds for your university at no cost to your alumni.

4. Provide ongoing support for alumni

One of the best ways to engage alumni is to remind them of the value you can add to their lives. Just by being a part of your alumni community, they have access to a wealth of benefits they may not even know about. 

Show them the value of your community by emphasizing your university’s ongoing support for them. You can do so in a variety of ways, such as:

• Offering career services after graduation. Services like career counseling, exclusive job board access, and open career fairs are especially important for strengthening relationships with young alumni. 
• Celebrating individual alumni accomplishments. When alumni celebrate a major achievement, cheer them on with social media shoutouts, handwritten letters, and detailed highlights in your newsletter.
• Inviting them to academic events. Invitations to webinars, guest lectures, lunch and learns, and senior research showcases remind alumni of fond memories and facilitate lifelong learning.

These ideas work well as both general engagement and alumni appreciation strategies. Don’t limit these opportunities just to alumni donors. Make sure that every member of your community feels welcome to take advantage of these valuable opportunities.

You know your alumni are worth far more than their donations, so take the time to show them. You may be surprised that these outreach strategies not only improve your stewardship efforts but also help you find new donors in your alumni pool and inspire lifelong involvement with your university.

Picture this — A giving day is on the horizon. You have hundreds of funds that you want to drive donations to. You’re expecting thousands of alumni from multiple classes and campuses to participate. Directing this complex mix of audience to causes they care about while ensuring a smooth giving experience seems daunting and almost impossible.

With our newest addition to our P2P Crowdfunding page, donors are going to find it suprisingly easy to navigate to causes they want to engage and contribute to.

It's called Campaign Hub, and it’s here to transform how you create and organize giving campaigns.

Dive in to find out more.

Make Your Giving Page Home To All Your Giving Day Initiatives

Visualize the home screen of a desktop that has multiple folders. Just a double-click on any them reveals the contents of the folder. Easy way to organize things right?

That’s why we took the same logic and applied it to Campaign Hubs. Now you can organize all your giving day initiatives on your giving page which in turn helps your donors quickly navigate to their preferred cause.

Think of Hubs as parent folders. You can name a hub to reflect a major cause. For instance, Athletics & Activities is an example of a major cause.

Now within a hub, you can create and organize multiple giving campaigns.

Highlight select campaigns, and customize every campaign within each hub

Each campaign that is part of a giving day has to tell a story, pique interest, and showcase healthy competition— in one quick glance. Not easy. Only you know what’ll strike a chord with your alumni.

That’s why we wanted you to have complete control over how you craft this story.

Feature an image of your choice: Draw alumni into your campaign with a catchy image that captures their attention or take the text-only route.

Add a description, short or long: Tell the story behind the campaign in two lines or two  paragraphs.

Display hand-picked funds for each campaign: Your constituents won’t have the time to search through hundreds of funds. That’s why we built fund drive, a feature that let’s highlight select group of funds on a campaign. By eliminating choice overload, you are making giving straightforward for your constituents.

Set and showcase campaign goals to inspire healthy competition: You can set gift and participation goals for each campaign you create within a hub. A real-time goal progress thermometer appears on the campaign page whenever a goal is set. The best part — although all thermometers across campaign pages are independent of each other, they can be configured to add up to the primary thermometer of your pillar giving page.

Showcase donor names: Seeing a buddy's name on a campaign is likely to grab a potential donor's attention. You can choose to display or hide donor names for each campaign.

Create personalized campaigns with participation challenge: A participation challenge lets you create campaigns for a specific group of constituents based on conditions like affiliation, funds chosen, and more. So now it’s possible to create a campaign just for the class of 98’ or just for parents. Only the names and contributions of people that satisfy the conditions will be displayed on the campaign page that has participation drive enabled.

Unique shareable links for each campaign: Spreading the word for each campaign can’t get easier. Donors can share any campaign they are on with their peers. A unique link ensures potential donors  see only campaigns that are relevant to them. More focused information. More focused giving.

Arrange campaigns in a hub in any order you prefer

Play around with the position of campaigns within a hub until you find the perfect order. This feature will help you spotlight campaigns that you want constituent’s to see first.

Our Campaign Hub feature is available starting today.

If you’re an Almabase customer, simply log into the platform to create your first Campaign Hub.

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Any educational institution’s most valuable asset is its alumni body. By cultivating relationships, you’ll transform alumni into recruiters and advocates for their entire lives. Ultimately, positive alumni relationships are crucial to what your institution can accomplish now and down the line. That’s why ongoing communication is vital, and email is among the best channels.  

Sending alumni emails allows you to keep in touch with former students and inspire them to continue supporting their alma mater years after graduating. If you’re responsible for sending outreach to your alumni, that’s not a task you should take lightly! 

After all, email accounts for 28% of online charitable giving and has the highest ROI of any outreach channel, according to Double the Donation’s fundraising statistics page.

To help you tap into this channel, we’ll cover some best practices for writing effective alumni emails. In turn, you’ll be able to maximize your open and response rates, ultimately cultivating stronger relationships. When crafting outreach, stick to these tips:

1. Give your alumni a reason to connect.
2. Concisely tell alumni why they should care.
3. Bridge the gap between your content and value proposition.
4. Capture alumni’s attention with compelling visuals.
5. Feature a clear call-to-action in your alumni emails.
6. Create eye-catching subject lines.

Your alumni emails can generate real value for your institution and former students if you put some thought into your messages. Let’s dive in.

1. Content: Give your alumni a reason to connect.

Give your alumni a reason they should connect with you — a reason to care. For a moment, forget about your school and its advancement goals. Dive deep into what your alumni want. Know you may not be able to take a one-size-fits-all approach. Your Gen Z segment may want something completely different from your Boomer segment.

If you’re unsure specifically what your alumni want, start with some general survey data from the industry. Kwala’s guide to nonprofit newsletters provides some excellent content recommendations. Here are some of the most common things alumni look forward to from their schools:

• Milestone updates for recent initiatives, like fundraisers and new programs
• Stories on current students, donors, and fellow alumni
• Upcoming alumni events
• Recent awards, recognition, or achievements
• An informative blog post or other relevant news stories
• Community highlights

Not every alumni email needs to feature hard-hitting news. Remember, you’re trying to reinforce your mission, showcase success, and communicate progress. If executed properly, this inevitably creates a fear of missing out on what’s happening within your school’s community, pushing more people to engage.

2. Value: Concisely tell alumni why they should care.

Don’t ramble in your alumni emails! You need to explain why they should care without all the extra fluff. Your alumni are busy people, and with attention spans shorter than ever, you need to tell them why they should care as quickly as possible.

Maybe you’re encouraging them to:

• Stay connected with your alma mater because it builds a sense of community
• Volunteer or mentor to support current students’ learning
• Donate to improve a program they were once involved in
• Give to provide a scholarship recipient with the opportunity to learn

It won’t be easy and will take a lot of iteration, tweaking, testing, and wordsmithing before you get it right. However, concise communication is tremendously powerful when you nail it.

3. Connection: Bridge the gap between your content and value proposition.

This is the heart of your alumni email. Explain why you picked the content you did in step 1 and why it’s valuable to your alumni. This could be as short as a sentence but no longer than four sentences.

Remember, our attention spans are decreasing. People spend less than 10 seconds reading an email, so brevity is our best friend here. Take these for example:

• “Your donation would help fund a scholarship for a deserving student, providing them with a valuable educational experience.”
• “Attending our upcoming virtual mixer will provide valuable networking opportunities.”
• “See how your generous contribution helped rebuild our marketing program.”
• “Serving your community on behalf of our university is a great way to make a difference and support your alma mater.”

At this point, you should have three things in your alumni email: a reason to connect, a transition word or statement, and more information on why you’re reaching out.

4. Graphics: Capture alumni’s attention with compelling visuals.

Visual content is just as important as written content! Put simply, images and other visuals are more memorable than text alone. Your alumni will likely engage and retain your content if you pair it with stunning visuals. Plus, this will help get your point across, contributing to your ability to communicate information quickly. 

As you jump into the design phase of your alumni email, keep these tips in mind:

• Brand your email using your school’s logo, colors, and fonts.
• Be mindful of your colors, ensuring you’re providing sufficient contrast.
• Establish a visual hierarchy and organize your content effectively.
• Humanize your content with images of current students created or enhanced (using a photo editor.)
• Optimize the size of your graphics to reduce load speed.

Not every email from your institution needs a highly detailed infographic. However, touching up your alumni emails with images, colors, and graphics will help capture readers’ attention.

5. Call-to-action: Feature a clear call-to-action in your alumni emails.

Don’t forget why you’re there in the first place. Did you just want your alumni to read your email and get back to whatever they were doing?

Prompt your reader to take action with a call-to-action (CTA) at the end of the email. Keep your CTA reasonable, such as:

• Donating to a university fundraiser
• Signing up for your new alumni app
• Registering for an event
• Signing up to volunteer at a university event

Be concise with your wording. Your CTA should be another one-liner like “Click here to confirm you’ll attend the annual gala.”

Ideally, make the ask as low as possible and only include one CTA. The bottom line doesn't make it hard for them to say yes — make it dead simple and easy.

6. Close: Create eye-catching subject lines.

It may seem counterintuitive to do this last, but the subject line reflects the content of your email. Therefore, you should write it last. If you write the subject line first, you’re biasing the rest of the email and will risk overlooking relevant information by trying to conform your content to the subject line.

Keep it short and sweet, ideally nine words and 60 characters max. Think back to the reason you’re reaching out to connect. Then, compose an intelligent subject line that reflects the content and communicates urgency.

It could go something like:

• “Last chance to join us at the Regency Scholars Luncheon!”
• “Our student center got a makeover! Take a look at exclusive photos.”

First impressions mean everything. Your subject line can mean the difference between someone clicking your email and scrolling past it. Put thought behind your subject line, and you’ll ultimately see more clicks.

Reviewing Your Alumni Emails

‍At this point, step away from your email and come back later with a fresh set of eyes. When re-evaluating your alumni email, walk through this checklist:
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☐ Is it personal? Emails that are obviously automated are immediately ignored. Remember, customization is not personalization.

☐ Does it sound like a sales email? People love to give but hate to be sold to. Lean into the value for alumni.

☐ Does the email flow? Stitching otherwise meaningful sentences may make up a confusing paragraph. One sentence should lead right into the next, and reading the email should be effortless. Also, be sure to write in a conversational tone.

☐ Is it concise? After your first draft, cut it in half. Then cut another 20%. Remove extraneous words that don’t add to the message.

☐ Does it offer value? This may seem obvious, but how many emails have you received that don’t offer any value?

☐ Does the design make it clear that your school wrote it? Making sure your organization’s brand shines through will help establish trust.

☐ Would you open it, read it, and respond to it? Step into their shoes. Would you feel compelled to respond or scroll past it?

☐ Was it written with alumni in mind? Use the word “you” more than “I.” Make it obvious that you took the time to research the recipients.

Most templates follow this relative structure. You can get creative with the email's content, but if you use this general outline, you can quickly and easily create effective alumni emails. 

Free Alumni Email Templates You Can Copy

Now, let’s look at a few solid templates that you can take inspiration from for your own emails:

1. Event invitation

Subject Line: “Join Us for the 2025 Alumni Homecoming Weekend!”
Dear [First Name],

As a valued member of the [University Name] Class of [Graduation Year], you’re invited to reconnect with classmates at our Homecoming Weekend from [Dates]. This year’s agenda includes:
- A keynote speech by [Notable Alumnus] on [Topic]
- Campus tours showcasing the new [Facility Name]
- Networking sessions in [Industry-Specific Groups]
RSVP by [Date] to secure your spot and enjoy early-bird pricing. We’d love to hear how [University Name] shaped your journey!

Best regards,
[Your Name]
Alumni Relations Office
[University Name]

2. Fundraising appeal

Subject Line: “Help Shape the Next Generation of [University Name] Leaders”
Dear [First Name],

Did you know 85% of current students rely on scholarships made possible by alumni like you? Your gift of [$50/$100/$500] directly funds:

- Merit-based scholarships for first-generation students
- Cutting-edge research labs in [Department Name]
- Campus sustainability initiatives
Click here to make a tax-deductible donation before [Fiscal Year-End Date]. Every contribution, no matter the size, makes a difference.

With gratitude,
[Your Name]
Advancement Team
[University Name]

3. Post-event follow-up

Subject Line: “Thank You for Attending [Event Name]!”
Dear [First Name],

On behalf of [University Name], thank you for joining us at [Event Name]. We hope you enjoyed [Keynote Speaker’s] insights and reconnecting with classmates.
Share your feedback via our survey to help us improve future events. As a token of appreciation, you’ll receive early access to [Upcoming Resource/Event].

Stay connected:
- Follow us on [Social Media Links]
- Save the date for [Next Event] on [Date]

Warm regards,
[Your Name]
Events Team
[University Name]

4. Mentorship program invitation

Subject Line: "Share Your Expertise: Join Our Alumni Mentorship Program"
Dear [First Name],

Your journey since graduating from [University Name] in [Year] with a degree in [Major] has been remarkable. Your work at [Company/Organization] exemplifies the kind of success we hope all our graduates achieve.
Would you consider sharing your professional insights with current students through our Alumni Mentorship Program? The commitment is flexible:

- Virtual mentoring sessions (1-2 hours monthly)
- Career panel participation (quarterly)
- Resume review opportunities (as your schedule permits)
Last year, 87% of student participants reported that alumni mentorship significantly influenced their career decisions. Your expertise in [Industry/Field] would be invaluable to students exploring similar paths.
Please complete our brief interest form by [Date] to join our mentor network. We'll match you with students based on your field and availability.

Warm regards,
[Your Name]
Alumni Relations Coordinator
[University Name]

Inspiring Quotes To Use in Your Alumni Emails

If you're looking for some quotes to inspire your alumni or add a motivational flair into your emails, here are some you can consider using:

• "The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you." – B.B. King
• "Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful." – Albert Schweitzer
• "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." – Eleanor Roosevelt
• "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." – Nelson Mandela
• "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." – Henry David Thoreau
• "It always seems impossible until it’s done." – Nelson Mandela

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All of this is surely not a magical formula. They’re just pointers to guide you in the right direction. Embrace the process of crafting engaging alumni emails. The best way to keep yourself in the game is by monitoring data and what’s working for your emails. This will help you strengthen your outreach and figure out what inspires alumni to engage.

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Frequently asked questions

How do I write an effective alumni email?  

To write an effective alumni email, focus on crafting a clear and concise message. Use a friendly and professional tone, and ensure your content provides value to recipients, such as updates, opportunities to network, or engaging stories about fellow alumni. Incorporate a strong call-to-action to encourage interaction.  

What makes a good subject line for an alumni email?  

A good subject line is short, compelling, and relevant to your audience. Personalize it when possible by including the recipient’s name or references to their graduation year. Use action-oriented language or tease intriguing content to encourage recipients to open the email.  

How do I personalize alumni emails at scale?  

To personalize emails at scale, use an email marketing tool that offers dynamic content fields or personalization tags. These tools allow you to include individual-specific details like names or programs automatically. Additionally, segment your audience based on shared interests, graduation years, or past engagement to tailor content effectively.  

How often should I send alumni emails?  

The frequency of your emails should balance engagement and value. Monthly or quarterly communications are ideal for maintaining consistent connection without overwhelming recipients. Adjust the frequency for special occasions, campaigns, or updates to ensure relevance.

Often, institutions with hundreds of funds struggle to direct their donors to the relevant funds, which results in donors being unable to donate to the fund of their choice.

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With our recent updates, we've hugely simplified how donors participate in giving campaigns that have a plethora of fund options.

Let's dive in!

Highlight Priority Funds

The feature lets you highlight funds that you want to drive attention to.

The highlighted funds ensure undecided donors— donors keen to participate in a Giving Day but don't know which cause to give to—don't get overwhelmed by the massive volume of fund options available.

For instance, if the Area of Greatest Need Fund is of high priority and all unsolicited donors should be able to view it at first glance, now you can highlight the fund on the giving form.

Enable Search For All Your Funds

Donors can now search through other funds and contribute to any fund of their choice. The capability ensures donors who know exactly what fund they want to donate to have a swift giving experience.

The capability comes in super handy when you are trying to list a large volume of memorial or scholarship funds.

Control How Constituents Donate

No two giving campaigns are similar. That’s why it’s crucial to have customization capabilities that let you tailor the giving experience.

With a push of a toggle you can decide if constituents can donate to multiple funds, if they can contribute to funds that haven’t been highlighted and if they can donate to a custom fund in case they don’t find a fund of their choice.

Giving just got more intuitive!

Showcase leaderboards that you think are most effective with Leaderboard Reorder

The ability to showcase each donor's impact on the Giving campaign through various leaderboards by class years, location, athletic groups, and custom parameters help drive more urgency and build healthy competition.

Now, you can reorder these leaderboards according to your preference.

You can also hide default leaderboards if you are trying to create a Giving Page with minimal information.

Major update coming your way

These features are only a small part of an exciting major update called Campaign Hub, which will be coming your way very soon. We know you'll love it because you will be able to create and organize campaigns like never before!

Stay tuned, there is (a lot) more to come!

We are thrilled to announce that we have been featured as a Top Community Software by three Gartner Digital Markets sites, Capterra, Software Advice and GetApp in their following flagship reports:

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These reports evaluate verified end-user reviews, positioning the top scoring products based on their usability and customer satisfaction ratings for small businesses. Almabase earned an incredible overall rating of 4.7 (out of 5). Almabase was also crowned as The Best Alumni Management Software Company Of 2021 By Digital.Com. Read the full story here.

Here’s what our customers have to say about us: ‍‍‍

About Gartner Digital Markets

Gartner Digital Markets comprises the three leading B2B software search websites — Capterra, GetApp and Software Advice. Together, it is the top destination for software buyers to discover, research and connect with the best software for their needs It is the world’s premier source for software vendors to connect with in-market buyers, through research, reviews, and lead generation.

About Almabase

Almabase is the world’s most loved alumni management software. Our platform empowers advancement teams with the right Lego blocks to build, grow, and sustain alumni-centric programming. Almabase has partnered with advancement teams of more than 300 leading institutions across the U.S. to unlock more participation and drive more donations from their alumni.

Let’s say your higher-ed institution is conducting or planning a capital campaign. This exciting project will transform your institution’s ability to grow, serve students, and pursue its mission. For many schools, a campaign will be designed to accomplish a mix of different objectives, like new building projects, equipment investments, or growing endowment and scholarship funds.

Whatever the purpose of your campaign, you’ll rely on contributions from many people to get you there. 

One key group that you must connect with during your campaign is your alumni. After all, your relationships with alumni are inherently special. They’ve seen and benefited from your institution’s work firsthand. They’ve had personal experiences worth sharing with future generations of students and researchers. Many are likely in positions to contribute meaningfully to your campaign and help your institution grow to the next level.

Let’s walk through four tips for engaging alumni and motivating them to give during a capital campaign.

1. Create a compelling case for support.

Your case for support is one of the most important tools for your entire capital campaign. It explains the campaign’s purpose, the positive impact it will have, and the amount of money that you’re seeking to raise. Your case tells the story and lays out the argument for why your campaign is important and worth supporting. 

The most effective cases for support answer these key questions:

1. What’s the theme, concept, and tone of the campaign?
2. What’s the challenge that the campaign is designed to solve?
3. What’s the solution you’re proposing?
4. Why is your organization the one to drive this solution?
5. Why is it important to take action now?
6. What will it cost to get there?
7. Why does it matter, and what will the impact be?
8. How can donors help?

Answering these questions will help you articulate your vision in a clear, compelling way that resonates with alumni. This shared vision is essential for engaging them in the campaign, and drafting the case for support will get you started. 

From there, you can compile a more complete communication plan and distill your message into the various documents that you’ll need during the campaign. These include campaign brochures, pledge forms, letterheads, various graphic assets, web page wireframes, slide decks, emails, and much more. 

You’ll also need materials for one-on-one discussions with potential alumni donors during the earlier phases of the campaign. Donor discussion guides should be fully rooted in your case for support but simplified and customized to reinforce your unique relationships with each prospect—another best practice to keep in mind during your campaign. 

2. Use messaging to reinforce your relationships with alumni.

All of your communications with alumni during the campaign will need to be anchored in their unique relationship with your institution. 

As part of your communication plan, create messaging guidelines to use when talking with alumni. This guide should describe the emotional connections you’re seeking to tap into and outline the specific language that will help you do it. Brainstorm a list of unique traditions, landmarks, and other things that set your school apart so that you can feature them in your messages.

Heading into the campaign’s quiet phase, you’ll develop a list of lead prospects by examining their giving capacity, affinity, and connections to your school. But go further than traditional prospecting markers to pull information like:

• The years that a prospect attended
• Their academic major
• Extracurricular activities
• Career highlights since graduating
• Their donation history with your school
• Their alumni event attendance history

Use this information to shape your outreach to these prospects—the added customization will help reinforce the relationship and remind them of the role your institution has played in their lives. This is most immediately helpful in your conversations with prospects, but get creative to find ways to further customize the printed/digital materials you create for them, too. For example, pull photos of campus from their time in school and position them alongside renderings of your proposed project.

3. Encourage peer-to-peer engagement.

Your school has fostered a community of alumni over the years—infuse your campaign with that sense of community by encouraging alumni to interact with each other. 

Organizations of all sizes rely on peer-to-peer engagement techniques for two key reasons: they can lessen your team’s workload, and they provide powerful social proof. When we see loved ones and respected colleagues publicly supporting a cause or project, we’re naturally inclined to give it our attention. For your campaign, this added visibility can help you drive more engagement and reach new donors.

The exact tactics you might use will take different forms at different stages of the campaign. For example, you may ask alumni to:

• Personally introduce your team to other alumni or potential donors
• Host or co-host events to engage other top prospects and explain the campaign
• Serve as campaign “ambassadors” to help spread the word, host events, and more as part of a more formal volunteer role
• Participate in online peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns during the public phase
• Share your social media posts and contribute to “share your memories” content campaigns during the public phase

Get creative to identify ways your alumni can help put you in touch with new prospects throughout the duration of the campaign. The nature of this peer-to-peer engagement will shift as your audience broadens out toward the end of the campaign, but the underlying concept is simply to tap into the connections that are already there.

4. Offer recognition opportunities.

Capital campaigns open up plenty of opportunities for recognizing donors. For many donors, leaving a lasting legacy at your institution could be an important motivator to engage with and contribute to the campaign. 

Having a recognition strategy in place allows you to discuss it ahead of time rather than scrambling to come up with one after the fact. A clear, approved recognition plan will give you a helpful roadmap to engage legacy-minded donors. Recognition tactics can take many forms, including:

• Prominent naming opportunities
• Donor recognition walls
• Plaques on benches, sculptures, or other installations
• Exclusive donor events
• Shoutouts in institution publications and newsletters

The exact options you offer a donor should align with the scale of their gift. Creating a tiered system of standardized recognition opportunities like public shoutouts, followed by engraved bricks, then increasingly prominent positions on a recognition wall, and so on is a tried-and-true strategy for many institutions. If this approach to recognition works for your campaign, sketch out its details in advance so that you can use it to engage prospects.

Working with your lead donors on a recognition plan tailored to their interests and desires can show them your school cares about their experience and further deepen the relationship. 

Attitudes toward naming opportunities are shifting as institutions are more aware of the need to be equitable and inclusive. So rather than just doing what your organization has done before, take some time to discuss the plan for donor recognition internally to make sure it is in keeping with your organization's values. 

We recommend first determining what your institution wants to do or is comfortable doing to recognize lead donors. Develop a plan that is approved by your campaign committee or even your organization’s board. Then use that plan when talking with your donor during fundraising conversations. While you will want to develop a somewhat flexible recognition approach for each lead donor, the plan must stay within the parameters of the approved recognition plan. 

From developing your case to support in the planning stage, to discussing donor recognition opportunities in the quiet phase, to encouraging peer-to-peer interactions in the public phase, there are all kinds of ways to use your school’s capital campaign to engage alumni. Adapt these tips to your unique needs, study up on best practices for planning a capital campaign, and you’ll be off to a strong start.

After graduation, it can be difficult to stay in touch with your sorority or fraternity’s alumni as they pursue careers or graduate school. That’s why having an engaging newsletter is critical to alumni engagement. Your newsletter keeps your alumni brothers or sisters in the loop and interested in your chapter with digestible tidbits of information written by current members. It’s a perfect place to highlight upcoming events, show appreciation for alumni volunteers and donors, and link to your donation page. 

That being said, your newsletter is only useful if your members are enticed to read it and click through to your resources. Your alumni likely get tens (if not hundreds) of emails daily, so it’s critical to stand out from the crowd so your message gets across. Let’s explore how to craft an informative and interesting newsletter to boost alumni giving and engagement. 

Essential Elements of an Alumni Newsletter

No matter your chapter’s focus, there are several fundamental strategies for developing a winning alumni newsletter that you should know. They are:

• Update contact information: The first step in boosting your newsletter engagement is ensuring your alumni receive it in the first place! That’s why keeping your contact information updated is critical for your success. According to Double the Donation, appending contacts’ email information will keep your database up-to-date, so your communications are successfully delivered to alumni’s current email addresses. 
• Segment your newsletter’s recipients: Sending separate messages to alumni groups based on certain qualities is useful for aligning your newsletter with their interests. For example, you might send different versions of your newsletter to first-time donors than you send to returning donors. 
• Incorporate your chapter’s branding: Your alumni share a deep connection with your chapter. Be sure to incorporate your chapter’s unique branding to appeal to your alumni’s fond memories of your chapter.
• Prioritize UX: If you’re sending your newsletter over a digital channel such as email, remember to prioritize user-friendliness in your design. Ensure your newsletter is accessible to everyone, mobile-friendly, and intuitively formatted to maximize engagement.
• Keep a consistent schedule: The last thing you want to do is flood your alumni’s inboxes and turn them off from your chapter. Stick with a consistent mailing schedule to stay organized and decide how often you’ll send the newsletters. Most chapters send out newsletters once or twice a month.
• Offer multiple delivery options: While newsletters are widely associated with email, you can offer multiple delivery options to your alumni. Have your alumni pick from options like direct mail or email. They’re more likely to read your newsletter if it’s delivered in a format they prefer.

Also, don’t forget to use your fraternity and sorority management software to collect and store your alumni data securely. Keeping all of your data in one centralized location will help you draft and distribute your newsletters seamlessly. Plus, according to OmegaFi, you can even communicate with alumni through this software, making it a convenient option to deliver your newsletters.

How to Engage Your Alumni Through Your Newsletter

Now that you know the basics of newsletter distribution, let’s discuss how to make an eye-catching deliverable to interest your alumni readers.

1. Tailor your content and user experience to alumni

While you’ll be updating your alumni about your chapter’s current activities, you should still keep a strong focus on the alumni community itself. For example, you might include an alumni spotlight section highlighting a different brother or sister in each issue. Also, remember to highlight alumni-centric events or fundraisers, whether they’re digital, hybrid, or in-person. If you’re referencing any specific alumni, include their graduating class in their title so your readers can easily identify them.

Everything should be created with your alumni in mind, including the user experience. Your newsletter should be a handy resource for your readers to find any relevant information regarding your chapter. If you’re sending your newsletter over a digital channel, include clearly marked links directly to important pages, such as your donation form or RSVP page. 

2. Incorporate eye-catching nonprofit graphic design elements

Part of your newsletter’s appeal is that it’s informationally and visually stimulating. This format will complement your written updates with your graphic design elements. Incorporate all your branded components, such as your color scheme and font, while including photos of your chapter’s members in action. For example, you might include your chapter’s logo on the letterhead of every newsletter so your alumni instantly recognize the organization. 

Don’t forget that while your overall branding should remain consistent, you should include new branded elements for upcoming campaigns or events. For instance, you might incorporate holiday-themed graphics into your December newsletter. This will help diversify your visual appearance, keeping your newsletter’s appearance fresh and interesting.

Finally, remember to receive written consent from your photo subjects with a release form to avoid any legal repercussions. Also, avoid using copyrighted images or branded elements that your chapter doesn’t own. 

3. Personalize your newsletter

While you should already segment your donors for an extra layer of personalization, focus on personalizing email communications further. Use a mail merge template to input your alumni recipient’s demographic information, such as their name, graduating class, and relationship to your organization. Your alumni will be more likely to take the time to read content that specifically pertains to themselves, so take every opportunity to tailor your content to your alumni.

4. Leverage the subject line

35% of email users click on emails based on the subject line alone. That’s over one-third of your alumni members that you can immediately engage with. So, leverage this opportunity by optimizing your subject lines. Your subject lines should:

• Be snappy and straightforward (40-50 characters)
• Directly address alumni by class or name
• If possible, mention the newsletter’s month for organizational purposes
• Stress the urgency of an upcoming campaign with specific dates
• Tease alumni events by naming speakers, activities, or venues

The subject line is meant to entice your readers to click through to your email, so make it as compelling and informative as possible.

Wrapping Up

Start the drafting process on the right foot by examining your marketing materials that have performed well and model your next alumni newsletter after them. For instance, if your recipients respond better to puns in the subject line, make an effort to incorporate them into your newsletter rollout.

Once you’ve made your first draft, run it by the rest of your management team to catch any errors or spots for improvement. As long as your newsletter is visually attractive, organized, and personalized, you’ll catch your alumni’s attention month after month.

We are constantly adding new capabilities to our integration with Raiser’s Edge NXT to help you create delightful alumni experiences while minimizing the resources and time you spend collecting, cleaning, reporting and updating data.

That’s why today we’re thrilled to introduce the gift-pull feature that makes it effortlessly easy for you to pull gifts from Raiser's Edge NXT based on various criteria like fund, campaign, appeal, and date-range and relay them back to specific giving pages.

No more going back and forth to check if the gift data across your systems are the same. Gift-Pull ensures they will be.

Let's dive into the key highlights of this feature:

Keep gift data consistent across NXT and Almabase

While previously you could push gifts received on Almabase in one click into Raiser’s Edge NXT, now you can pull any gift from Raiser’s Edge NXT. We’ve provided a range of filters like campaign, appeal, gift type and date-range to ensure you’ve complete control over what gifts you import.

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Craft personalized outreach to your donors

We just one-upped the raft of filters that let you create personalized email outreach campaigns. Thanks to the gift-pull feature, your constituents’ gift history is now updated on Almabase, which means you can now build email lists based on giving behavior.

Planning a targeted email campaign just for LYBUNTS? Let’s do it.

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Showcase up-to-date information on your Giving Pages

Adding a gift manually to Raiser’s Edge NXT? No problem. Now you can relay that gift data back to Almabase, thus ensuring your leaderboards and campaign goals on the giving pages reflect the latest donations received. You can also configure automated gift-pull workflows at intervals you like for your ongoing campaigns.

Additionally, special care has gone into ensuring duplicate entries don’t crop up either in Almabase or Raiser’s Edge NXT every time a pull is made.

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Get email notifications for every pull

Keeping any collaborators informed will help avoid any unplanned imports. You can create a list of recipients to notify every time a gift-pull is completed.

Our gift-pull feature is available starting today.

If you’re an Almabase customer, simply log into the platform to create your first gift-pull.

If you’re not an Almabase customer, click here to learn more about our industry-leading integration with Raiser’s Edge NXT.