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Latest stories, guides, and benchmarks from the world of alumni relations, fundraising, donor engagement, advancement services, events, and higher-education philanthropy

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 →

Assisted Fast Pass Migration from BBNC to Almabase

Featured

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

Read

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.

A person with a paddle raise or auction paddle — *Photo by* *Anita Jankovic* on Unsplash

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!

Featured

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

Read

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:

The three R’s of nonprofit storytelling: resonance, relevance, and respect

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.

Featured

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.

Alyssa Jefferies

September 3, 2026

12 minutes

Read

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!

Featured

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

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Major gifts can be real game changers for any institution. We’ve heard the stories of how alumni or donors made a major gift, which led to the creation of something marvelous for the institution. However, not many recognize the effort and time it took for the team to cultivate such a generous amount.

To understand one such incredible journey, from a student to a major alumni donor, we spoke to Adam Platzer, the AVP for college advancement at Rochester Institute of Technology. Adam developed, cultivated, and closed a $50 million gift – in collaboration with university leadership – delivering the largest philanthropic donation in RIT’s history!

📖The Story Behind the $50 Million Gift

Here's some quick context before we dive into the story: RIT is one of the finest institutions in upstate New York with a focus on technology, computing, design, and art. Furthermore, it promotes entrepreneurship and innovation.

It all started when Adam's career services team introduced him to Mr. X, a young RIT alumnus, who never really focused on academics when he was in college but always had a true entrepreneurial spirit. He’d started his own tech company upon graduating.

⏩Fast forward a few years, he was visiting RIT to recruit interns for his company. After a brief introduction, the team at RIT took a two-pronged approach by tapping into his passion and supporting his professional work.

A Step-by-Step Engagement Plan

Here are multiple ways in which they meaningfully engaged Mr. X -

Invited him as the keynote speaker for an entrepreneurial conference at the university.
The alumni relations team invited him for Homecoming events.
They held recruiting events where his company could meet students and potentially hire.
Got him onboard to mentor businesses under RIT’s entrepreneurship program.
His company would sponsor hackathons and he would personally travel there to work with the students as a mentor.
The Engineering School at RIT offered complete assistance using their lab to test his products.
The Government Community Relations team assisted him in opening an office in Rochester, which facilitated more recruitment from RIT. This eventually become one of their larger offices.
The team would host exclusive luncheons for RIT alumni at this office. In order to converse with them and provide updates on what the university is doing, they would also be accompanied by the president and a faculty member.
He was also appointed as a member of the Board of Trustees, where he actively participated by offering ideas and inputs.
The president developed a remarkable friendship with him. Small actions like writing him a personalized email and being resourceful helped the relationship go a long way.
He was invited as the commencement speaker once.

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Give value before you seek value.

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All this value-driven engagement, coupled with the amazing relationship the entire team built with him, eventually helped them make an ask.

When he sold his company, he was more than happy to give 10% of the value of his company — a whopping $50 Million!

This enormous amount went towards developing the Global Cybersecurity Institute and professorships at RIT, and the construction of the Students Hall for Exploration and Development (SHED).

The generous and humble person he is, Mr. X didn’t want anything named after him, but rather after his elementary school teachers who played an integral role in shaping his initial years. A dream donor indeed!

In retrospect, this wouldn’t have been possible if not for the various teams across functions - from Career services to University leadership, collaborating to engage with him meaningfully.

Key takeaways from the session💡

A major gift is a long-term game — it’s not possible to engage everyone. It’s important to focus on the top 20% of the donors and design a plan to meaningfully engage with them with the help of various departments across the advancement office.

Meaningful engagement can begin by tapping into a prospective donor’s passions and being resourceful. Help them further their career and pursue their passions in any way possible. Plan your programming around the top 20% — you could invite them as speakers, help them recruit, make them an active member of the board or do anything that would be of value to them.

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“We play a small role in the donor’s lives, so it’s important to be lightning fast with your response.”

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Want to become an efficient Major Gift Fundraiser?

Here’s an action plan that Adam has drafted which you can start implementing right away!

About the speaker

Adam Platzer, the AVP for college advancement at RIT is an experienced university fundraiser who has secured transformational funding from alumni, corporations, and parents. Adam has traveled extensively throughout the country with the president, deans, and VP of Student Affairs. He specializes in developing creative engagement strategies that are matched with targeted solicitations – leading to maximum gift potential. He also started Forward Fundraisers in 2018.

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What it takes to raise a $50 million gift?

Major gifts can be real game changers for any institution. To learn more about it, we spoke to Adam Platzer, Assistant Vice President for College Advancement at RIT, who developed and secured a gift of $50 million. Read on to find out what goes behind cultivating a major gift.

August 22, 2022

12 minutes

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Earlier last month, I had the chance to meet my good friend Joseph Volin, Senior Director of Constituent Engagement at Illinois Tech, in downtown Chicago. Over a cup of coffee, Joe and I geeked out about everything alumni engagement — from engagement analytics, to the age-old correlation vs causation debate.

What is causation and correlation? What is the debate all about?

The most common confusion in alumni relations and fundraising offices is the relation between engagement and giving. So, let’s use that example to understand correlation and causation.

Correlation: If an alum attends an event, they are more likely to donate.

Causation: An alum who attended an event is more likely to donate because they attended that event.

The difference here is subtle, but it leads to deeper questions — Is it worth investing in alumni engagement, volunteering programs, or even mentorship programs? And how does this translate to better fundraising?

What Joe said: We’re asking the wrong question

Joe offered a very interesting perspective — It doesn’t matter whether it’s correlation or causation. What’s paramount is that we focus on that particular segment. For example, what if the folks at Illinois Tech learned that the segment of alumni who visited the campus library were donating much more than the average alum?

Is there a causation there? Maybe, maybe not. We need to realize that there's now a segment of alumni who frequent the campus library or a segment of alumni who've gone to the campus library in the last, let's say, 12 months. We must allocate some resources and money behind marketing for that particular segment to drive more donations.

Going further down the rabbit hole, I realized we need to find segments where there is a correlation to whatever outcome you're trying to drive. Let’s take the example of former athletes. Are they giving comparatively more than the average alum? If so, can you execute a marketing program? Or a specific outreach for athletes who haven't given back, but who you know belong to a segment that is worth focusing on?

The foundation? Data!

Identifying these segments is an important lesson for everybody in the industry. A lot of institutions don't even track data beyond event attendance and donations; because people are not able to make the case for why tracking this data is critical.

The frame of reference has now changed; it's not about figuring out causation, it's about identifying segments and then learning what to do with that information. And how do you identify these segments? By tracking more data. It informs you which segments are worth spending more time on, given whatever outcome you're trying to achieve.

What this means for alumni relations teams and Almabase

Our conversation made me realize there must be a certain level of deliberation when we’re building engagement metrics programs, engagement reports, engagement studio features etc. on the Almabase platform. We have to ask ourselves how we can build them in a way that informs segmentation, rather than trying to figure out causation.

We have all the data — we know who made the donations, who attended events, and everything else. Can we leverage this data to create smarter segmentations? For instance – people who interacted with a business directory are 3x more likely to attend an event. And is it possible to automate this process?

This would help alumni relations professionals prioritize more important segments, and focus on targeting them for specific appeals or campaigns. **This way, alumni directors can also make the case for tracking more data to identify segments and allocating more resources to engage with them. This beats the age-old way of non-targeted engagement, which relies on periodic newsletters to your entire database, and the occasional Facebook post.

My conversation with Joe yielded some great ideas that may well be the way forward from here. While we were done with coffee, I was left wanting to pick Joe’s brains for much longer. Maybe over Zoom sometime! I can certainly see how his thought leadership is so valuable to our industry. Thank you, Joe. 🙌

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Correlation, Causation, & the Chicago Connection

The most common confusion in alumni relations and fundraising offices is the relation between engagement and giving. So, we will use that example to understand correlation and causation.

August 8, 2022

12 minutes

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Donors are the foundation of your university, and getting new alumni and supporters to start their donor journeys can be a challenge. Small donations from first-time donors today can eventually by grown into recurring, planned, or even major gifts down the road. Cultivate donors at each step of the giving process to captivate their interest, garner their support, and steward recurring donations.

While your university has an obvious connection to new alumni donors, you can also connect with other new donors through a variety of channels, such as your networks of current supporters, volunteer opportunities, and community events. To reach potential donors, educate your current base about their donation’s impacts on your university and provide them with shareable content like social media graphics and forwardable email newsletters to help them reach out to their own networks.

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To help your university connect with alumni and other first time donors, this article will explore three ways you can energize your current supporters and attract new ones. Let’s get started.

Awareness Campaigns

Awareness campaigns are a great way to reach new audiences. Try creating content that can easily be optimized for multiple platforms to spread awareness about your newest institutional projects.

Awareness campaigns should share information about what projects your institution is working on, who it helps, what you’re doing to make a difference, and if there are other opportunities for supporters to get involved in addition to donating. Keeping donors in the loop about your ongoing initiatives will make your university more transparent. Plus, many alumni donors will likely be interested in what their former departments, professors, and friends are doing now.

Spread the word about your ongoing projects on several communication channels. Choose your channels based on your new target audiences. For example, your university’s most recent graduates are Gen Z, who are more likely to be interested in social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram, rather than Facebook.

Take note of how your audience responds to your messages. While each platform you leverage in a multi-channel marketing strategy can help by creating a new touch point, some may have notably higher engagement and conversion rates than others. To start, try sharing your awareness campaigns through these channels:

Email newsletters
Social media
Ambassadors
Local events
Virtual information panels
Text
Direct mail

To leverage your current supporters’ networks, have your school’s ambassadors share your campaign on their social media accounts and within their personal networks. You can also reach out to high profile alumni or nonprofit influencers with large social media followings and ask if they would be willing to share your current initiatives.

When reaching out to supporters, offer them multiple engagement opportunities. In addition to requesting donations, let them know when you have upcoming events, how they can learn more, and other activities open to supporters.

Recruit Volunteers for Your Organization

Many of your alumni will be excited at the opportunity to give back to their university. Your alumni volunteers dedicate their time because they believe in your school and want to invest in their alma mater. Inviting new alumni volunteers to your organization can be the first step in stewarding them to eventually become donors.

Your school should access your volunteer databases and alumni databases to see who has previously helped your organization. Take note of these volunteers and conduct prospect research to see who has the potential to give or even become a major donor.

As alumni join your volunteer programs, continue stewarding them by regularly messaging them about other opportunities, sharing your university’s latest news, and showing your appreciation. Here are just a few ways you can show your gratitude to your alumni volunteers:

Mail a thank-you letter
Conduct a phone call, especially with prospective major donors
Create social media spotlights

Your volunteers can become some of your most reliable donors, and vice versa. Use your CRM to create profiles for each supporter and note if they’ve volunteered or donated. Then, send them messages that align with how they’re currently engaging with your university, as well as a few encouraging them to try getting involved in new ways

Events

To get new donors involved with your university, host events that are open to the public, alumni, and major donors alike. You can charge an entrance fee, but be sure the main event is not donation based when trying to secure new donors. Here are some of the best ways to make your events more inviting and appealing to new donors:

Donation kiosks: This can make donating at events less overwhelming for individuals who prefer to donate discreetly.
Information tables: Have volunteers talk about their experiences with potential donors to humanize your volunteer and donation process.
Emphasize scalable impact: Explain how every little donation counts, and highlight tangible ways that different amounts can impact your university.

If interested individuals are unsure about donating, encourage them to sign up for your newsletter or volunteer opportunities to stay engaged with your organization. This way you can collect their data and connect with them later to begin the stewarding process.

Your university needs new donors to continue funding your programs. To connect with alumni and community members who might be interested in giving, host a variety of opportunities to give them as many chances as possible to make that first step on their donor journeys. From there, you can begin stewarding monthly gifts and even uncover prospective major donors.

3 Ways to Connect with First-Time Donors

Connecting with new donors can seem overwhelming if you don’t know where to start. Learn how to make the most of your network connections to inspire new donors.

Philip Schmitz

August 4, 2022

12 minutes

Read

Billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg made his first donation of $5 to his alma mater, Johns Hopkins University, at the age of 23. Since then, he has donated close to $1.8 billion to support research, teaching, and financial aid at the university.

What if one of your young alumni is the next Michael Bloomberg? You see them every day in the hallways, on campus, and at events. They’re your future donors and advocates! And yet, we all know that engaging young alumni can be challenging. It takes time, energy, and resources to build lasting relationships with these future donors.

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But exactly HOW do you engage with your young alumni, you ask? To answer this question, we spoke to Dr. Glenn Kosse in a recent LinkedIn live session. Dr. Glenn recently published his dissertation on “The Relationship Between Young Alumni Participation and Giving”, and he shared some expert insights on what it takes to get your young alumni engaged.

But first, who is a young alum?

The average age of a young alum is between 22-32 years. However, this can vary depending on the type of institution. For example, a young alum from a business school would typically be older than a young alum from, let’s say, a university.

However, what remains constant is that most institutions classify those who’ve graduated in the last decade as their young alumni. In other words, they’re usually Graduates Of the Last Decade (or GOLD for short).

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Why invest your time and resources into young alumni engagement?

Between 2001 to 2014, alumni participation went down from 14% to 8.3%. Here’s what’s more alarming – although there has been a rise in the total gifts received, there has been a steady decline in the number of new donors.

With institutions struggling to build a fresh pipeline of new donors, this trend will only continue if we do not put the time, effort, and resources to meaningfully engage the young alumni.

If you take a quick look at all your major donors, you might notice that their first gift was probably a few dollars when they were just out of college. Young alumni engagement is a long-term game where you sow the seeds while they’re young, nurture them consistently, and reap the benefits down the line.

💡A young alum donor is 5.6 times more likely to give in the future than a young alum non-donor.

Factors that impact young alumni giving

Student Experience

The student experience has a strong influence on future alumni giving. Positive experiences like developing deep relationships with faculty and staff, receiving financial aid/scholarships, and having a holistic learning experience can play a vital role. After all, those who strongly identify with their institution are more likely to give back in the future.

Alumni Experience

Being an alum means you're part of something bigger than yourself – you belong to a community that can help shape your future. Those with enriching alumni experiences are more likely to give back to their alma mater. That’s why it’s necessary for your institution to create alumni-centric programs that cater to your alumni’s needs at various stages in their lives.

Here are a few low-effort, high-impact ideas to elevate alumni experience:

Mentorship/networking opportunities for recent graduates
Child-care facilities for middle-aged alumni
Happy hours or virtual reunions for your older alumni

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Alumni Motivation

Motivation to give can also stem from a personal affinity for a cause or mission. Whether this originates from past or present experiences, people develop connections with the institution and become inspired to lend support.

Demographic factors

Demographic characteristics such as age, proximity, income, and gifts to other organizations are predictors of giving as well.

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💡Ideas to engage with young alumni

A comprehensive mentorship program

Bellarmine University pioneered a young alumni mentorship program in collaboration with the career services department to connect students with alumni based on their career paths and shared interests.

🔥95% of the participants said they felt a deeper sense of connection to their alumni association and 99% of them said that they would recommend it to their friends

Career workshops

Focus on interactive and skill-enhancement workshops - Resume reviews; Workshops on Office etiquette, Soft Skills, and Professional Skills.

Networking events

‍Every institution has an alumni base that they can boast of. So, why not leverage it to create opportunities for both the alumni and students?

Lifelong learning initiatives

Learning needn’t end after graduation. Help your alumni pursue personal interests, passions, or professional ambitions by creating a repository of courses that help with upskilling. You could also host webinars and create content repositories that provide value to your alumni.

Affinity groups

‍For institutions with different segments of alumni (based on interests, purposes, life experiences, and social identity), affinity groups help create a safe space for alumni where they can communicate freely and collaborate on ideas.

Social events

‍If there’s one thing alumni around the world will always love, it’s to get together for a social event and reminisce the good old days. Why not leverage this and create fun events that will help your alumni connect with each other? From cocktail parties and sporting events, to live game screenings and happy hours – the possibilities are endless!

A young alum who attended an event gave 2x more compared to those who didn’t attend.

Glenn’s closing thoughts on Young Alumni Engagement

So that wraps up our take on why young alumni engagement is the need of the hour. We thought we'd leave you with Glenn's thoughts on young alumni engagement and its impact on giving and participation.

“We have found that young alumni look for engagement that goes beyond social events. While social activities are important, initiatives that provides career advice, mentorship, and potential career opportunities can help leverage the alumni association’s role with new graduates, and create a positive association with engagement and giving.

”Studies show that those who get engaged and give at a young age are more likely to give and remain engaged throughout their career. Engaging alums with current students keeps the mission and the outcomes of the university on top of their minds and reinforces engagement.”

‍About the speaker

Glenn F. Kosse, Ph.D. is Vice President of H2R Consulting LLC and focuses his expertise on fundraising development, non-profit management, and strategic planning. Prior to joining H2R, he enjoyed a 35-year career in development and non-profit leadership experience with Bellarmine University, University of Louisville, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in increasing levels of leadership.

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Source: Glenn Kosse's dissertation

Young Alumni Engagement - Need of the Hour

How exactly do you engage with your young alumni? We spoke to Dr. Glenn Kosse in a recent LinkedIn live session to answer this question.

July 25, 2022

12 minutes

Read

Your university’s brand is one of its greatest marketing assets and a key part of your alumni marketing strategy. For many alumni, the university they attend is a core part of their identity, and it’s common for alumni to remember their school’s colors, mascot, and theme song decades after graduation.

As such, universities looking to engage their alumni should leverage their brand to form a sense of community. When alumni then feel a sense of kinship with their former university, they’re more likely to donate, volunteer, and otherwise support you.

To help your university make strategic use of its brand, this guide will explore digital outreach strategies for higher education institutions.

1. Expand your brand beyond your logo and color palette.

Consider Nike’s branding. Beyond the memorable “swoop” logo, Nike’s brand is exemplified in its written messaging with the tagline “Just Do It” and its visual assets, which often depict the stories of everyday people pursuing greatness in their personal fitness journeys. Nike’s audience isn’t just professional athletes but the everyday athletes who aspire to something greater. The company built its brand on empowering and encouraging individuals to do just that with the aid of its products.

Nike is one of the most recognizable brands in the world, and it’s far from the only company to recognize that branding extends beyond logos and well-coordinated color palettes.

If your organization hasn’t refreshed its branding strategy in some time, it’s worthwhile to revisit your university’s current positioning and how you can further refine, expand, and elevate your brand. Address the following aspects of your brand:

Visual Elements: This includes your logos, photo and video assets, color palette, and typography. Visuals are your strongest asset for evoking your audience’s emotions. When curating your visual brand, consider how you want alumni to feel when they receive your communications or visit your website. Nostalgic? Proud? Hopeful? Motivated?
Messaging: What key phrases or topics do you want to be associated with your university’s brand? What is your brand personality when greeting alumni—formal and businesslike, or nostalgic and lighthearted?
Channels: Consider how you will adapt your brand for various communication channels and platforms. These are minute differences that still pack the full power of your brand, such as using different abbreviated logos on social media posts.

When crafting any external outreach materials, consider how you will infuse your brand into them. This applies to everything from personalized emails that might include your logo in the heading to events with branded banners and posters.

For direct communication with individual supporters, such as email outreach, strive to create a personalized but branded experience. This means referencing specific details about that alumni’s engagement history while speaking to them with your university’s branded voice, whether it’s warm and friendly or formal and inspirational.

2. Conduct research to understand how your brand will perform.

Once you’ve refined your brand, research how it performs with your alumni audience by:

Sharing surveys. Send out a preview of your organization’s updated branding to a sample of your university’s alumni audience. Attach a survey that asks respondents about their opinions on the changes, staying open to a diverse range of perspectives and responses.
Conducting focus groups. Ask a few of your university’s most active alumni to participate in focus groups where they’re shown your brand and invited to share their opinions. Consider segmenting groups by different demographics, such as having a group full of recent graduates and a group of older alumni.
Reviewing existing data. Review granular data from your previous alumni outreach campaigns, including those shared on your website, social networks, and via email. Which campaigns had the most positive responses? Which campaigns were largely unsuccessful? What made those campaigns unique, and how can they inform branding updates?

By conducting this research, you can understand what your alumni respond well to, whether it’s phrasing changes (such as leveraging a positive, upbeat tone) or content updates (such as highlighting workplace giving in fundraising appeals). With this knowledge, you can continue to develop and refine your branding strategy.

3. Highlight what makes your university and alumni unique.

When refreshing your branding for alumni outreach, highlight what makes your university and alumni unique.

Your alumni don’t feel a connection to your university simply because they attended it. It’s because of the experience they had while at your institution—the small, specific details that made up their time at your school and how they can help foster similar experiences for generations to come.

Consider how you can highlight that connection in your marketing materials, such as adding “throwback” images and stories from a memorable football season, hosting campaigns tied to the memory of beloved instructors, or even launching forward-thinking campaigns, such as one that highlights successful alumni and their careers after attending your institution.

To keep consistent records of your university’s marketing efforts, brand identity, and history, ensure you have software with cloud storage and extensive integration capabilities. For instance, universities that use tools like Salesforce Education Cloud can continually update and customize their technology as their school grows and evolves.

4. Tap into shared nostalgia.

Avoid considering your brand in isolation, and instead, think of what it means to your alumni specifically. Most alumni have or will develop a sense of nostalgia for your university, and you can tap into that feeling in your outreach strategy.

Associate your university’s brand with past positive experiences by:

Sharing old campus photographs. Tell stories about past events accompanied by old photographs. Ensure your university keeps an archive of old promotional photos, and if it currently doesn’t, now is the time to start one. This not only helps with outreach but also preserves your university’s history.
Incorporating past branding into new outreach materials. Give alumni a blast from the past by playing with old branding. For instance, on your university’s founding anniversary, you might create fundraising materials that showcase how your logo has evolved over the years.
Connecting alumni with each other, not just your organization. Alumni are more likely to continue supporting your school if they are part of your greater alumni community. Encourage graduates to develop local alumni societies, offer excursions for former students and their friends and family, and host events that invite alumni back to campus.

Nostalgia is a powerful feeling, and the right branding strategy can leverage it to earn tangible support. When contacting alumni from specific graduating classes, reference campus events they’re likely to remember to transport them back to their time as students.

5. Connect your alumni brand to the future.

One of your university’s main marketing objectives is garnering support for future generations of students. Share this goal with your alumni to motivate them to help fund positive experiences similar to the ones they had.

For instance, you might invoke specific clubs or departments alumni were a part of, encouraging them to keep those organizations going far into the future. Use language like “Help secure the debate club’s future,” “Make an impact that lasts,” and “Keep our community going now and for years to come.”

As part of your marketing, you might even have current students get involved. Ask them to share their stories that explain how alumni contributions fund their current experiences. Then, have them sign messages with their name and future graduation year to emphasize your university’s commitment toward the future.

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Conclusion

Branding is one of your university’s strongest assets for inspiring support. Refine your brand identity by gathering alumni feedback, then create messages that invoke alumni’s past to encourage them to fund the future.

Strategic Branding Ideas to Use in Your Alumni Outreach

Discover powerful alumni marketing strategies that help universities build lasting connections, inspire giving, and strengthen community through brand-driven digital outreach.

Carl Diesing

July 19, 2022

12 minutes

Read

After over a decade of front-line fundraising for worthy causes, I'm starting a new chapter as VP, Community at Almabase and Host of the Donor Participation Project

My first real job in this industry began almost exactly ten years ago, when I networked my way into the alumni office of my alma mater, the University of Tennessee-Knoxville as an administrative assistant with an MBA and a Ph.D. The passion for the backend of fundraising has remained with me ever since. How do things get done in fundraising offices? What processes help—or hinder—our success? Will looking at things differently help? Or are we “building on the shoulders of giants” and shouldn’t change what isn’t broken?

However, my passion for the space started much before that.

Armed with a stack of resumes, the Internet, and a place to stay in NYC, I ran my first direct response campaign to find myself an internship. As I think of the outcome now, the results were life-changing and yet the ROI at the time didn’t feel so great: maybe an early fundraising lesson?

I landed two internships at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and a similarly prestigious boutique consulting firm: AEA. Lincoln Center’s CEO at the time was known for his fundraising prowess. Reynold Levy would tell his employees that the only reason he would ever interrupt their meetings was if a trustee was calling. As I progressed into more strategic roles, planned successful fundraising campaigns, and managed talented teams these early lessons stayed with me.

Fast-forward ten years, and here I am with Almabase and as the founder of the fastest-growing professional organization in philanthropy (joindpp.org).

To those who aren’t familiar with Almabase or what we do – we are a team of 40-something innovators on a mission that’s very dear to me: making quality education accessible to everyone.

This is what brought me to this organization. Their heart is in helping nonprofits, mainly in higher education, improve in the area of biggest opportunity in our industry. How do you make it easy to run highly engaged communities? How do you connect engagement to giving behaviors? What do annual giving, alumni affairs, and communication professionals need to do a better job? Yes, they have an incredibly user-friendly software but their true superpower is in caring about the right things.

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How I Discovered Almabase and their Mission

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When Kalyan flew in to meet at my neighborhood coffee store, he had an interesting idea to run by me: powerful communities are poised to rule the non-profit sector, but the problem right now is in setting up these communities.

That’s where I came into the picture. With my experience building thriving communities like the Donor Participation Project, I could see where Kalyan was headed with this vision, and naturally, I wanted in.

A pic of Kalyan and me… he’s definitely a lot taller in person

However, having an interesting problem to work on is only half the reason I chose to join Almabase. The other half, the one that resonates with me on a personal level, is about their values.

Firstly, Almabase’s mission speaks to me deeply. They’re on a mission to democratize quality education, and make it affordable and accessible to everyone. As an outsider, I had my own set of challenges getting a foothold in the industry, so I appreciate what Almabase is trying to do here.

With student debt being a growing challenge, it's only natural for alumni to be the bridge that makes education accessible to all.

Secondly, I think they have a fantastic product that empowers advancement teams of all sizes. Here’s what I told Kalyan over our coffee:

"If I were to create a platform to support our community-building and fundraising work, it would be Almabase."

Finally, it’s the culture, stupid. They say culture eats strategy for breakfast. In this case, because of the time change with Bangalore it is more likely supper, but the principle holds. The Almabase team is full of incredibly hard-working and passionate individuals. It is hard to imagine such a group not succeeding at whatever they set their minds to do. All of this is evident by the amazing things they’ve done so far.

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How Communities can Shape the Future of Alumni Relations and Advancement

Almabase is making a huge bet on communities being one of the central drivers of success for nonprofits in the next few years, and I’m thrilled to get a front-row seat on the ride.

Almabase lives and swears by alumni-centricity – the idea of building value-driven relationships with your alumni network. Incidentally, creating and sharing value is what makes a community strong and purposeful for all its members. Clearly, there are common threads between the two.

The way I see it, if institutions want to get better at alumni centricity, they need to leverage the power of strong alumni networks. That’s how I come into the picture – I’ve had my fair share of experience building communities that work. That’s why I’ll be working with Almabase’s vast network of institutions in helping them shape these communities.

It’s a big bet, but powerful alumni communities lead to higher donations raised with lower costs, which can empower the next generation of students with quality education. Everyone’s a winner, and I’m thrilled to see how this shapes up.

So there you have it – the not-so-brief recap of the events over these last few weeks. What are your predictions for the future of this space?

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About Louis

Louis Diez is an expert in annual fund development, digital fundraising, and engagement strategies. He's the founder and host of the Donor Participation Project and VP, Community at Almabase.

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Louis Diez, Community & Fundraising Expert, joins Almabase as VP, Community

Veteran fundraiser Louis Diez, Founder of the Donor Participation Project, recently joined Almabase as VP, Community. Read on to learn more about his journey so far, and the future of communities in alumni relations.

July 11, 2022

12 minutes

Read

Your university likely often brainstorms new fundraising ideas to engage alumni, from Giving Tuesdays to tele-a-thons. However, one of the most effective ways to earn alumni support is to demonstrate your appreciation before pitching for a donation.

According to NPO Info’s charitable giving statistics report, alumni are an important donor group for higher education institutions, contributing approximately 26% of all gifts to colleges and universities.

Theoretically, your university should see a regular increase in alumni giving year after year as each class graduates and enters the workforce.

However, universities will only be able to set themselves up for this growing support if they take the proper steps to retain their alumni donors. To help your university improve your alumni donor appreciation strategy and increase fundraising, this article will explore how to:

Send personalized messages.
Send custom merchandise.
Host alumni events.

When reaching out to current and potential alumni donors, keep in mind that just because an alumni isn’t able to give now, doesn’t mean they won’t be able to in the future. Keeping these relationships strong long-term can be well worth the effort.

1. Send personalized messages

Each of your alumni had a unique experience at your university, making life-long connections with professors, faculty, and fellow students. Show them that they are still an important part of this community by reaching out to them with personalized messages.

Basic personalization includes doing small things like addressing your alumni by name. But you can go a step further and create messages that will truly capture their attention by:

Creating segmented messaging lists: While there are some emails you may want to send to all of your alumni, such as a monthly newsletter, you can create more personalized messaging experiences for alumni through segmentation strategies. For example, try dividing your alumni donors based on graduation year, donation history, and even major.

Getting your current students and other alumni involved: Messages from universities often feel more personal when they come from another student rather than a faculty member. Consider employing some of your current students to share their stories and send messages to alumni. Or, consider reaching out to current alumni volunteers too and have them get in touch with their peers to fundraise for your university and connect with their old classmates at the same time.

Sharing their impact: Your alumni want to know that your university continues to improve and give current students an even better experience than when they attended. When reaching out to alumni about donating, share stories about how the campus has improved.

Personalized messages strengthen your donation requests and show your alumni that your university acknowledges and appreciates their support. Additionally, be sure to reach out to alumni volunteers to thank them for their efforts. This will help secure their support long-term, and may even lead to future donations as volunteers can often turn into donors.

2. Send custom merchandise

Chances are that you or someone (or many people) you know still have school spirit for their alma mater, even decades later. You can help your alumni continue to represent their school years after graduation with custom merchandise with your university’s name and logo.

Of course, your university likely already has an on-campus store where visiting alumni can pick up merchandise. However, you can give them more options by creating an online storefront or even sending merchandise in the mail as a thank-you for donating.

When it comes to creating custom merchandise, you can stick to old classic designs or mix things up to create apparel that plays with your university’s branding in a unique way to make items that are stylish and maybe a bit out of the box, but still unquestionably represent your university. For example, try playing with the color and even the overall style of items to create something eye-catching.

You can also create merchandise lines exclusively for alumni who donate or volunteer. This can make alumni feel not just appreciated, but that they are members of an exclusive group powering their school’s success.

3. Host alumni events

Although with time, your alumni will move on with new friends, coworkers, and raising families, many of them will likely enjoy reconnecting with old college friends and professors, revisiting campus, and reliving the time spent at their alma mater. Alumni events provide the opportunity for them to do just that and are an impactful way to show that their alma mater still considers them to be a valuable member.

You can gather your alumni together to show your appreciation and garner support with events like:

Galas and mixers: Chances are that most of your alumni will primarily want to attend events not to participate in any specific activity but to socialize with old classmates and professors. Formal galas give them the opportunity to meet up with one another. You can also host a more informal mixer to create an environment where alumni who may not have met before can break the ice and get to know each other.

Talks and presentations: One of your university’s greatest assets is your academic excellence and network of experts and professionals at the top of their fields. While many of your alumni may work in different industries than their major, many will still likely be interested in the same subjects they studied and be interested in attending a talk or presentation about new research in their fields of interest.

Virtual events: While some of your alumni may have stayed close to campus, others likely moved far across or even outside the country. You can maintain these connections by hosting a variety of virtual and hybrid events throughout the year.

To host an alumni event, use your alumni management tools to identify alumni you would like to invite, create personalized invitations, and track how your event turned out. After each event, follow up with alumni to thank them for attending and create a communication stream to strengthen your relationship and encourage them to make a contribution in the future.

Your alumni will have a connection to your school forever, and you can transform those feelings into lasting support with the right appreciation strategies. Show donors that their contributions matter by reaching out to them with custom messages, providing them with custom merchandise, and bringing them back to your university with numerous events. Good luck!

3 Alumni Donor Appreciation Ideas to Inspire Lasting Support

To help your university improve your alumni appreciation strategy and increase fundraising, send personalized messages, custom merchandise, and host alumni events.

June 30, 2022

12 minutes

Read

Many educational institutions rely on well-run Giving Days as a significant component of their annual fundraising strategies. After all, these fundraising campaigns can be an excellent opportunity for all sorts of donors⁠—including current students, families, alumni, and community members⁠—to support your ongoing efforts.

With so much riding on an annual Giving Day, however, it’s important that you go into your campaign with a detailed fundraising plan and some tips for success in your pocket. This will enable you to maximize revenue while better engaging with your donors.

And luckily, if you’re looking for new ways to elevate your upcoming Giving Day, this is the guide for you! We’ll walk through these tried-and-true best practices:

Provide multiple ways to give to the campaign.
Empower supporters with peer-to-peer fundraising.
Inform and remind donors about matching gift opportunities.
Target alumni supporters in your fundraising appeals.
Promote your Giving Day fundraiser online.
Motivate donors with gamification strategies.
Follow up with Giving Day donors post-campaign.
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Ready to get started? Let’s dive in with our first Giving Day fundraising tip.

1. Provide multiple ways to give to the campaign.

One of the best things you can do to increase participation in your Giving Day is to diversify the ways in which donors can give. At the very least, this should include:

Online donation forms
Text-to-give
Direct mail

You might even want to consider non-traditional support methods such as event contributions, volunteer hours, in-kind gifts, gifts of securities, cryptocurrency donations, and more.

Everyone has their unique preferences when it comes to donating charitably. The bottom line is that the more ways an individual can participate in your Giving Day campaign, the higher response rates you’re likely to see.

2. Empower supporters with peer-to-peer fundraising.

Peer-to-peer giving is a top fundraising strategy for all sorts of organizations⁠—higher education included. And it can be a particularly great way to elevate an institution’s Giving Day.

After all, peer-to-peer fundraising empowers individual supporters or groups to raise money on behalf of your institution. These volunteer fundraisers are then able to solicit donations for the campaign from their own family members, friends, colleagues, and other community members.

Thus, it offers a powerful opportunity to get in touch with new first-time donors and raise awareness for your cause.

3. Inform and remind donors about matching gift opportunities.

Corporate matching gifts offer one of the simplest and most effective ways to elevate your institution’s Giving Day results⁠—all without asking donors to give more. In fact, by combining matching gifts with your school’s fundraising efforts, you can easily double financial contributions, see significantly elevated donation impact, and better engage with your donors.

More than likely, a solid portion of existing and prospective donors to your cause work for companies with employee matching gift programs. Unfortunately, many of these individuals have likely never been made aware of the opportunity. When you integrate matching gifts into your Giving Day strategy, however, you can inform donors about matching gifts, collect employment information to identify match-eligible gifts, follow up post-donation to guide supporters through the process, and see more matches driven to completion.

4. Target alumni supporters in your fundraising appeals.

For many school fundraisers, the institution’s alumni are some of the most prominent supporters. As your next Giving Day approaches, taking the time to target this segment of your donor base can be a great way to go⁠—keeping in mind that the more you know about your alumni supporters, the better you can adjust your fundraising efforts in their favor.

For example, did an individual graduate with a degree in biology? Consider sending a donation appeal to support the expansion of your institution’s science lab and research department. Did they participate in your school of interior design? Request a donation for a program supply fund for students in need!

The better the alumni donor can relate to the fundraising appeal, the more likely they are to contribute to your Giving Day.

5. Promote your Giving Day fundraiser online.

More and more institutions are beginning to understand the vast power and potential of online fundraising⁠—and promoting their fundraising efforts online. In today’s day and age, it’s one of the most effective ways to spread the word about an upcoming campaign and solicit donations from supporters. And that’s exactly why it’s such a crucial strategy for upcoming Giving Days!

But how exactly can you leverage the influence of the internet to best promote your Giving Day fundraiser? We recommend:

Creating a hub of Giving Day information on your website
Sharing Giving Day fundraising materials on social media
Encouraging supporters to interact with and share your online content

Your institution’s website is likely one of your most valuable marketing assets. But the vitality of the internet doesn’t just stop there⁠—increasing online presence can involve social networking sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and more. From these platforms, you can share Giving Day materials (including an overview of ways to get involved) and incorporate links back to additional content on your main website.

6. Motivate donors with gamification strategies.

Gamification, or the act of applying elements typically associated with gameplay (such as winning and losing, point-scoring, and more), can be one of the most effective ways to elevate fundraising participation among donors and prospects.

Here are a few of our favorite ideas:

Goals and goal-tracking ⁠— Set specific, tangible, and realistic goals (for example, the number of donations or total fundraising revenue collected).
Leaderboards ⁠— Publicly recognize recent and high-level donors with an online leaderboard that updates in real time.
Incentives and rewards ⁠— Motivate donors (and volunteer fundraisers if you go the peer-to-peer route) by offering incentives to give and collect donations. This can be as simple as a digital “badge” gifted to those who have given or collected the most dollars.

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The idea of fundraising gamification leverages a sense of healthy, friendly competition in order to drive engagement. Plus, it can be a particularly smart strategy when it comes to time-based campaigns⁠—like Giving Days⁠—that already depend heavily on urgency as a motivating factor for giving.

7. Follow up with Giving Day donors post-campaign.

Ideally, the donor journey doesn’t end once an individual submits their donation. This is especially true when it comes to significant campaigns⁠—such as your institution’s Giving Day.

Instead, it’s important to follow up with your supporters after they give. This can include:

Thanksgiving Day contributors for their support (e.g., “Thank for your generous donation of $1,000 to our school’s annual Giving Day.”)
Sharing success stories and fundraising totals (e.g., “We raised more than $516,982 in a 24-hour period, due largely to donors like you! With this funding, we’re able to expand our research and improve upon student programming.”)
Reminding donors about matching gift potential (e.g., “Did you know that your gift is likely eligible for a corporate match through your employer, the Home Depot? Click here to submit your online donation match request.”)

Strategic follow-ups such as these will enable your team to further engage with its supporters. When done effectively, it will even leave a positive lasting impression of your cause, encouraging donors to give again in the future.

Giving Days have huge potential to raise a ton of support for educational institutions and other types of nonprofit causes. By simplifying the giving process, increasing your reach with peer-to-peer efforts, highlighting matching gift opportunities, strategically targeting alumni donors, utilizing online promotional tools, and gamifying your campaign to engage supporters, you’ll be all set to see elevated Giving Day success.

Then, remember to follow up with campaign participants afterward to show your appreciation, communicate impact, and keep your institution at the forefront of their minds. You won’t regret it!

7 Tips for Making the Most of Your Institution's Giving Day

These fundraising campaigns can be an excellent opportunity for all sorts of donors⁠—including current students, families, alumni, and community members⁠.

Adam Weinger

June 23, 2022

12 minutes

Read

See how leading institutions put these ideas into action

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Why transparency matters during a migration

1. Kickoff: Getting the project off on the right foot

Your data doesn't have to wait for the build

2. Discovery and inventory: weeks one and two

3. Sign-off: deciding what moves forward

4. Build and launch: 30 days for each product

5. Cutover: moving from NetCommunity to Almabase

What happens when something doesn't fit the standard scope?

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What is a Paddle Raise?

How does a Paddle Raise work?

How to Run a Successful Paddle Raise (Step-by-Step)

1. Pick the right cause/project for your targets and set your targets

2. Decide the contribution levels or tiers

3. Pick your emcee or host

4. Decide the schedule and script

5. Pick the right tools for your event

6. Running the paddle raise itself

7. Gratitude and stewardship

A Few Tips to Enhance Your Paddle Raise

Almabase - A Powerful Tool for Hosting Your Paddle Raise

1. Center Authentic Student Storytelling

2. Highlight Impactful Giving Opportunities

Matching Gifts

Recurring Giving

Legacy Giving

3. Leverage Donor Data for Highly Personalized Appeals

Is LinkedIn outreach worth the investment?

LinkedIn Alumni Outreach Strategies

1. Build an Active Presence Before You Send a Message

2. Build a Segmented List

3. Get the Subject Line Right

4. Keep the Message Short and Simple

5. Personalize Beyond the Name

6. Templates for Common Outreach Scenarios

7. Time Your Outreach Well

8. What to Do When Alumni Reply

Build a LinkedIn Alumni Community (and not just another contact list)

Measure Your Progress and Know Your Blind Spots

Final Thoughts

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📖The Story Behind the $50 Million Gift

A Step-by-Step Engagement Plan

Key takeaways from the session💡

Want to become an efficient Major Gift Fundraiser?

About the speaker

What is causation and correlation? What is the debate all about?

What Joe said: We’re asking the wrong question

The foundation? Data!

What this means for alumni relations teams and Almabase

Awareness Campaigns

Recruit Volunteers for Your Organization

Events

But first, who is a young alum?

Why invest your time and resources into young alumni engagement?

Factors that impact young alumni giving

Student Experience

Alumni Experience

Alumni Motivation

Demographic factors

‍💡Ideas to engage with young alumni

A comprehensive mentorship program

Career workshops

Networking events

Lifelong learning initiatives

Affinity groups

Social events

Glenn’s closing thoughts on Young Alumni Engagement

‍About the speaker

1. Expand your brand beyond your logo and color palette.

2. Conduct research to understand how your brand will perform.

3. Highlight what makes your university and alumni unique.

4. Tap into shared nostalgia.

5. Connect your alumni brand to the future.

Conclusion

How I Discovered Almabase and their Mission

How Communities can Shape the Future of Alumni Relations and Advancement

About Louis

1. Send personalized messages

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💡Ideas to engage with young alumni