Community engagement is central to Antioch College education, beginning with shared governance among administration, faculty, and students. Long after leaving campus, alumni continue their ties with one another and support the College through geographical alumni chapters, affinity groups, volunteer campus work projects, annual alumni reunions, and fund-raising.

Despite having an engagement strategy in place, Illinois Tech found its existing strategies ineffective for fostering meaningful connections, often resulting in a reliance on the university for engagement. Today, the university has rebuilt its digital engagement strategy for students and alumni, focusing on enhancing peer-to-peer networking and proactively measuring constituent engagement.

Despite being a one-person shop, Merchant Taylors' School leverages Almabase to run multiple impactful programs for different generations of alumni. The result? A remarkable increase in annual average donations by 3X.

While Concordia College takes pride in its heritage, it recognizes the need to adapt and thrive in a digital-first world. To empower its community and achieve its mission, the college re-invented its engagement strategy to nurture its alumni community, segment communications to tell better stories, and leverage data to improve future engagement and fundraising strategies at scale.

Almabase enabled Thomas Aquinas College to set up their alumni community online. At the same time, we also helped them create a contactable alumni database.

Previously faced with the challenge of a tedious donor experience and low alumni participation with respect to its giving day campaigns, St. Ignatius College Preparatory set up an online giving platform that ensured secure donations and increased alumni participation by facilitating peer-to-peer fundraising and social giving. Within a year, the institute was able to successfully raise their giving day donations by 80%.

Up until 2013, Providence Day School witnessed 4% alumni giving participation. The school aimed to grow alumni giving by maximizing event attendance via targeted events for diverse alumni groups. With this initiative, the school adopted a holistic alumni-centric approach and grew alumni donor participation to 20%.

Keeping track of over 1500 contacts across 30 years was a major challenge for a single-person team at The Master’s Seminary. While the institution was collecting alumni information at events, that was inadequate to keep the alumni database updated. With Almabase’s ability to pull alumni contact information from LinkedIn and Facebook and automatically update it on Raiser’s Edge, The Master’s Seminary was able to completely automate its process of updating data.

Like hundreds of universities across the country, William Peace University’s Office of Advancement struggled to find the right way to welcome the newest members of the Alumni Association and celebrate the Class of 2020 amid the constraints of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Knowing new graduates would be unable to celebrate their commencement with traditional WPU events, but the office found a way to recognize the class and toast to their success. William Peace University launched a series of virtual engagement opportunities to toast to the success of the Class of 2020.

William Peace University was faced with a dilemma when mid-way through their first-ever Founder’s Day of Giving, the university had to send students home and cancel all campus events in the wake of the Coronavirus crisis. The university’s Office of Advancement had to think on the go to adjust to this new normal and the team decided to complete its first-ever Founder’s Day of Giving online, raising over $42,800 in 24 hours.

Thomas Aquinas College witnessed great success through their Alumni Giving Weekend 2021. They were aided by the support of more than 600 alumni donors to smash their fundraising goal by 142%. By leveraging modern gamification elements on their fundraising page and an alumni-centric engagement strategy they drove success to their Alumni Giving Weekend 2021, which helped solidify their position among the top institutions in the country with the highest alumni donor participation rates.

During a year when universities could no longer rely on traditional in-person alumni engagement initiatives, The University of Texas at El Paso successfully brought its alumni community together digitally via its alumni-centric approach. By automating its database update process facilitated by Raiser’s Edge NXT and social sync, the university was able to capture updated alumni information. The University successfully drove 3X alumni membership amidst the pandemic by implementing a robust alumni-centric engagement strategy.

French American International School sensed the economic impact the COVID-19 crisis would bring. In an effort to support itself and the families associated with it, the school successfully completed its 48 Hours of Giving campaign, crossing its goal of $200,000 by 181%, raising a whopping $362,575.

With COVID-19 forcing alumni to be confined to their homes, the College of Idaho is adopting a unique approach to support its alumni during these testing times. The college is hosting a month-long 5K virtual run/walkathon that alumni can participate in from any location and any time during the month of April. With the 2020 Coyote Dash [Virtual 5K] race, the college is creating an opportunity for alumni to virtually engage with one another while being socially distant and take actionable steps towards their health and well-being.

As the COVID-19 outbreak forced St. Francis High School to move Class of 2020’s commencement ceremony online, the school went above and beyond in ensuring that their new alumni brethren receive a warm welcome. The school’s alumni community came forward with video messages extending a hearty welcome to their new community members and brightening up Class of 2020’s virtual commencement ceremony.

Considering how the pandemic was disrupting all in-person plans for the year, Samueli Academy went completely virtual for their 4th annual virtual networking event - 2020 College Get Down. The high school brought in 27 volunteers from their community and a special keynote speaker to talk to their newest batch of alumni during the unique 2-hour networking event.

Piedmont University sensed the economic impact the pandemic would bring. In an effort to maintain academic continuity and transform students' lives, the univeristy went fully virtual for its Lions Share-a-thon giving campaign and successfully raised $322,375, growing alumni donor participation from less than 3% to more than 5% in a year.

With a small team overlooking alumni functions for over 9000 alumni, Northwestern Health Sciences University found it challenging to keep its alumni database updated and drive consistent engagement. Additionally, the pandemic prompted the university to rethink its alumni programming with alumni at the center. The University leveraged the Almabase & Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT integration to update its alumni database while successfully engaging alumni digitally.

Like hundreds of institutions adhering to social distancing norms amidst the pandemic, Misericordia University went completely virtual for its Annual Homecoming in 2020. Keeping the health and safety of its community as the utmost priority, the Misericordia Alumni Relations Team planned a series of virtual alumni-centric engagement initiatives throughout the day and also encouraged members to donate in support of their beloved students. The university successfully transitioned to a Virtual Homecoming format, finding creative ways to drive high participation and provide value to alumni.

With 8000 alumni across 80 years, Mercy High School Burlingame found it challenging to keep track of all its alumni. While the school was gathering updates from alumni at events, that was insufficient to keep the database updated. The institution was then able to utilize Almabase’s ability to pull alumni contact information from LinkedIn and Facebook and update it seamlessly on Raiser’s Edge to create a completely automated process. Mercy High School achieved the following results just within the first quarter of 2019:

In an effort to continue providing quality education to its students and keep them from dropping out of school due to financial concerns amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Germanna Community College’s first-ever Give Day focused on three critical funding priorities - helping first-generation high school students realize their full potentials, providing need-based scholarship programs, and supporting students with more emergent needs. The college successfully raised $503,855 in 24 hours and surpassed its initial goal of $300,000 by 168%.

Despite strong ties with its alumni, Punahou School faced challenges in fostering a thriving digital community exclusive to its alumni. Due to a lack of dedicated spaces exclusive to the school's alumni community, Punahou alumni struggled to discover and network with fellow alumni. The school aimed to create a thriving digital community for its alumni to drive self-serve engagement, network with relevant peers for career guidance, and connect with alumni independently, without contacting the school.

Furman University struggled with considerable challenges with its previous event management system for its lack of user-friendliness, especially on mobile devices, leading to an alarmingly low registration rate and a steady stream of complaints from users who found the system clunky and unresponsive. The college was in dire need of a system that could streamline its event management process, enhance the user experience, and ultimately boost participation in college events.

On May 10th, Calvert Hall College High School hosted its 4th Annual All Day Hall Day Giving campaign with Almabase, with the goal of surpassing 1,175 donors in honor of its 1,175 students. Leveraging Almabase’s powerful giving module and social media outreach, the school reached 85% of its goal with a total of 1,008 recorded donors. Calvert Hall was successfully able to increase its Giving Day donations by 202% in 3 years.

Boyd-Buchanan was tasked with building a digital-first alumni community from the ground up that is packed with value for its members. Simultaneously, they wanted to inspire engaged alumni to give back to the school. To tackle these challenges, they made Almabase the one-stop shop that provided alumni with all the tools to effortlessly stay updated on school events, connect with peers, and seamlessly donate. Their first-ever giving day hosted on Almabase was a smashing hit—they surpassed their giving day goal by 201%.

Almabase enabled Archer Center to set up their alumni community on a digital platform. Doing so, let the team establish an up-to-date alumni database in just 30 days.

With limited team members overlooking alumni relations functions and an outdated alumni database, Archbishop McCarthy Alumni Association found it challenging to keep its alumni engaged throughout the year. The institution decided to capture the attention of its alumni with annual 10-Year reunions. With this, the institution was able to successfully capture 80+ attendees for 3 years in a row.

Almabase enabled LLUSM to leverage the power of digital engagement for fundraising success. They did not just see a higher participation rate by the alumni engaged online, but also an increase in the average donation amount.

Almabase enabled Archbishop Riordan High School to set up effective Giving Day campaigns to significantly improve their alumni participation. With an emphasis on allowing secure donations and driving more participation with social giving and peer-to-peer fundraising, the institute now hosts successful giving days continuously.

Almabase enabled the Cloud County Community College to host their 38th Annual Scholarship Auction Event, using a digital platform. The institute raised $67,000 from the attendees of this event.

With the goal of maximizing alumni engagement over emails, Samueli Academy optimized its email lists by segregating alumni into multiple dynamic groups and creating highly personalized email outreach campaigns. With Almabase, Samueli Academy sent over 25,000 emails, engaging 97% of its alumni network, over the last two years.

Since DMBA was just getting started, the institute did not have a budget set aside for such a software. With the alumni convinced that a digital platform was as beneficial for them - for jobs, mentoring, professional networking, etc., the advancement team came up with an idea. They used Almabase itself to run a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for the subscription.

Previously faced with low alumni participation and an outdated alumni database, Upper St. Clair was able to successfully turn things around and achieve increased participation for its upcoming event. With a single-person team managing all alumni relations functions, the institution was able to get 40% of its Class of 1988 to attend their 30-year reunion.

With an emphasis on increasing participation for its Homecoming & Family Weekend 2018 event, College of Idaho built a centralized platform to help its alumni interact with peers and stay on top of any updates concerning the event. The institution was able to successfully overcome the challenge of inefficient event management and subsequently double the participation of its Homecoming & Family Weekend 2018 event.

With a two-member team handling all alumni relations functions for 49,000+ alumni, Nicholls State University has the responsibility of maintaining a strong brand image and keeping its large alumni population engaged. The institution has been successful in achieving the above by showcasing outstanding alumni achievements on its digital alumni network, monthly newsletter, and social media.

Focused on increasing alumni engagement over emails, Gann Academy leveraged Almabase’s smart segmentation feature, achieving 40% email open rates. With in-built email templates and dynamic alumni groups, Gann Academy is now able to engage its alumni with frequent outreach campaigns that are highly personalized.

Scranton Preparatory School hosted its first large-scale Annual Giving Campaign with Almabase and successfully raised over $77,000, crossing the estimated goal of $40,000 by 194%. The institution used strategic communication and a peer-to-peer approach to target alumni, successfully increasing its Giving Day donations by 5 times within a year.

One of the key goals for Greenwich Academy was to engage alumnae actively. The institution successfully completed its Annual Reunion 2019 event with Almabase and was successful in bringing over 140 alumnae to attend the event and raising more than $6300 in ticket revenue.

With the younger generation of alumni often overwhelmed with their new college life, Charlotte Christian School came up with a fun way to help them de-stress. Each year, the school organizes a good old-fashioned pizza party inviting young alumni to spend time with their fellow classmates and friends. The school has been consistently hosting the free event for five years, ensuring to provide value as a way to beat stress and network with fellow alumni and teachers.

With young alumni often stressed about managing personal finances the right way, the college wanted to provide them with all the help that they needed. The College of Idaho decided to do this by organizing a free workshop on ‘Saving Money & Paying Off Debts’, with the goal of providing valuable support and fostering lasting relationships with the younger generation of alumni.

As one of the top 20 largest healthcare management firms in the United States, COPE Health Solutions has a huge responsibility of maintaining its brand image. In order to achieve this, the organization showcases the outstanding achievements of its alumni, through its Alumni Spotlight program. With a multi-format approach of using both text and video, they are able to build their brand image and also engage alumni effectively.

With QuestBridge alumni spread all across the United States and their limited exposure to each other, the institution knew that it had to focus heavily on bringing its alumni together to be able to create a close-knit network and foster lasting connections. With the implementation of ‘Dinner with QuestBridge Strangers’ program, the nonprofit has successfully organized 29 sponsored dinner parties across 19 US states, bringing together 350+ alumni in less than a year.

Catering to over 10,000 alumni across 195 years, Centenary College of Louisiana successfully moved to a centralized platform for streamlining all alumni relations functions in 2019. Within 6 months of shifting to this platform, the college was able to successfully raise over $108,000 in online donations.

Like hundreds of schools across the country, Greenwich Academy also had to either postpone or cancel all of their in-person alumnae events due to the pandemic. However, the school could not afford to let down its alumnae by cancelling or postponing the much-awaited flagship event - the Annual Alumnae Reunion. Overcoming the constraints of social distancing, Greenwich Academy adapted to the trend of virtual alumnae events and successfully hosted its first day-long virtual alumnae reunion.

Like hundreds of schools dealing with the economic impact of COVID-19, Christian Brothers Academy is following its mission by striving to ensure that no student leaves the Academy due to financial concerns. Amidst the need for financial assistance and to bring its community together during these tough times, the school went fully virtual for its first-ever Giving Day, successfully raising over $77,000 in 24 hours.

With a small team overlooking alumni functions for over 9000 alumni, Northwestern Health Sciences University found it challenging to keep its alumni database updated and drive consistent engagement. Additionally, the pandemic prompted the university to rethink its alumni programming with alumni at the center. The University leveraged the Almabase & Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT integration to update its alumni database while successfully engaging alumni digitally.

Like hundreds of institutions adhering to social distancing norms amidst the pandemic, Misericordia University went completely virtual for its Annual Homecoming in 2020. Keeping the health and safety of its community as the utmost priority, the Misericordia Alumni Relations Team planned a series of virtual alumni-centric engagement initiatives throughout the day and also encouraged members to donate in support of their beloved students. The university successfully transitioned to a Virtual Homecoming format, finding creative ways to drive high participation and provide value to alumni.

In an effort to continue providing quality education to its students and keep them from dropping out of school due to financial concerns amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Germanna Community College’s first-ever Give Day focused on three critical funding priorities - helping first-generation high school students realize their full potentials, providing need-based scholarship programs, and supporting students with more emergent needs. The college successfully raised $503,855 in 24 hours and surpassed its initial goal of $300,000 by 168%.

William Peace University was faced with a dilemma when mid-way through their first-ever Founder’s Day of Giving, the university had to send students home and cancel all campus events in the wake of the Coronavirus crisis. The university’s Office of Advancement had to think on the go to adjust to this new normal and the team decided to complete its first-ever Founder’s Day of Giving online, raising over $42,800 in 24 hours.

Piedmont University sensed the economic impact the pandemic would bring. In an effort to maintain academic continuity and transform students' lives, the univeristy went fully virtual for its Lions Share-a-thon giving campaign and successfully raised $322,375, growing alumni donor participation from less than 3% to more than 5% in a year.

Considering how the pandemic was disrupting all in-person plans for the year, Samueli Academy went completely virtual for their 4th annual virtual networking event - 2020 College Get Down. The high school brought in 27 volunteers from their community and a special keynote speaker to talk to their newest batch of alumni during the unique 2-hour networking event.