About Punahou School

The independent K-12 school, recognized as the largest in the nation, is situated on a single campus in the vibrant city of Honolulu, Hawai‘i. It boasts a thriving student body of 3,750 individuals and has an extensive network of over 30,000 alumni spread across the globe. Each year, the school celebrates the graduation of a senior class of around 430 students, marking their transition into a wide array of future endeavors and contributions to society.

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What were some significant challenges that Punahou struggled with?
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While Punahou’s alumni connect over shared experiences, Punahou realized how their community was more comfortable with online virtual networking technology. Punahou also felt a significant gap in:

• The means for alumni to discover and network independently with fellow alumni.
• Absence of dedicated spaces for the community to connect based on shared interests or affinities over time
• Connecting with relevant peers and alumni for career guidance or employment opportunities.
• Designing a website that is reflective of their unique brand and culture to evoke a sense of nostalgia for the alumni whenever they interact with the web pages
• Getting reports and insights on their overall digital engagement to understand what the community cares for

How did Punahou leverage Almabase to achieve 7,000+ average monthly alumni on their platform?

Punahou School adopted Almabase to enhance global networking through an alumni directory. However, the school quickly recognized the limitations of not leveraging other programs.

Improving career outcomes with a self-serve job board

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Punahou alumni often contacted the school to seek help connecting with mentors or seeking better career opportunities. This prompted the school to create a way for alumni to network independently with peers and industry leaders. Punahou created a self-serve digital job board, allowing the community to find opportunities and network with relevant peers, eliminating the need to contact the school.

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Helping alum businesses grow with an automated gift-guide directory

During the gift season, Punahou recognized the opportunity to support its alumni entrepreneurs in promoting their businesses within the community. The school set up an easy way for alumni to submit their business details, which would then automatically display their business in the gift guide directory and share it with the network through personalized email digests. This self-serve approach set engagement on autopilot, allowing alumni to effortlessly promote their businesses and community members to enjoy exclusive discounts and gift cards.

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Providing secure, engaging spaces exclusive to chapters & class-groups

Despite strong ties with its alumni, Punahou struggled to drive peer-to-peer engagement. Recognizing the need for a self-serve digital community, the school set up secure, personalized spaces exclusive to its alumni. Today, the alumni community at Punahou self-sustains these regional chapters by posting announcements, sharing customized resources, or directly connecting with relevant peers.

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Designing an experience reflective of the school’s unique brand and culture

Punahou School aimed to evoke a sense of nostalgia whenever their alumni interacted with them digitally. To achieve this, they focused on maintaining brand consistency across all digital touchpoints, including any new web pages they create. The school leveraged the WordPress integration to integrate and customize the design of its new homepage by adding images and brand colors to replicate the look and feel of its existing alumni website.

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Key Results

✅ 2,000+ self-serve interactions recorded on job boards
✅ 7,000+average alumni engaged monthly
✅ 19,000+ engagement with resources

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