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Alumni event ideas: how an alumni CRM can help bring your vision to life
For many alumni, university is more than a memory. It’s part of who they are, personally and professionally. For many alumni, supporting their university isn’t just an act of charity, it’s a way to keep that connection alive and give back to the institution that helped shape them.
As fundraisers, it’s important to remember and respect this. Alumni events are about so much more than raising money. They are about keeping that connection alive and building a community of supporters. In this article, we’re going to dive deeper into this world, explore different ideas and events, and the ways in which an alumni CRM can help bring your vision — and alumni programme — to life.
Why are alumni events important?
When you work in fundraising, it is very easy to focus on the bottom line: donations. Yes, you have a financial target to meet. But good fundraising will always be about relationships, and alumni events are the perfect way to build them.
An essential part of an individual giving programme, events are all about engagement. Every contact is a chance to nourish your relationships, get to know your alumni, and make them feel part of university life. When people feel personally connected to the university (and each other) they have more reason, not just to give, but to stay with you.
It costs money, of course. Event fundraising will always require an upfront investment, and more than a little staff time. But it’s worth it. Well-run alumni events don’t just deliver donations. They will help you create a community of lifelong advocates and supporters.
Alumni event ideas you should consider
There is more than one road to Rome. From intimate gatherings to large-scale fundraisers, alumni events can take many forms — each offering unique ways to engage your graduates and strengthen their connection to the university.
Here are five tried-and-tested alumni event ideas to consider:
1. Class reunions: A classic alumni event that brings graduates together to reconnect with old friends and professors, fostering nostalgia, and renewing ties to the university.
The University of Cambridge takes the idea of a class reunion to a whole new level. Their annual ‘Alumni Festival’ is open to graduate communities around the world and includes a whole weekend of events and activities.
2. Guest lectures: Hosting an alumni speaker or industry expert allows graduates to engage intellectually, while showcasing the value of ongoing connection with the university’s academic community.
Each year, the University of Manchester hosts the Cockcroft Lecture. Although the event is not exclusive to alumni, its impressive line-up of speakers attracts many graduates looking to stay connected to their alma mater.
3. Networking and social events: Mixers where alumni can connect with fellow graduates (and your team!) in a relaxed, informal setting, are a great way to build and deepen long-term relationships.
The University of Exeter has an active alumni event calendar with activities ranging from formal guest lectures to networking socials, museum visits and carol services.
4. Family days: Fun, family-friendly events encourage alumni to bring their families back to campus and reignite their connection to the university in a casual and welcoming environment.
A number of colleges at the University of Oxford hold regular family days, such as the Keble College Garden Party, which comes complete with lawn games and a family treasure hunt!
5. Gala dinners: A night of fine dining, networking, and inspiring speeches is the perfect way to celebrate alumni achievements and contributions – all while raising much-needed funds.
The University of Leicester’s Alumni Awards dinner is a great example of a popular awards event, with last year’s silent auction helping to raise money for priority projects, including the Student Hardship Fund.
How an alumni CRM can help bring your alumni event idea to life
Project management is the key to running a successful alumni event. And we don’t just mean the day or evening itself. Event management is a process. It starts with conceptualisation and planning, and moves swiftly into logistics, registration, staffing and on-the-day management. And let’s not forget that all-important follow-up!
There are a lot of balls in the air, and when you’re working across multiple systems and spreadsheets, it can be difficult to keep them all up. It doesn’t have to be. An alumni CRM is a centralised hub that brings these processes together and helps you streamline and strengthen your event management. Read on to find out how…
Phase 1: Planning and logistics
Our alumni CRM has a dedicated module that makes it easy to log and create different types of events. Behind each one, you’ll find a host of options to add more specific information – from date and location through to your target audience, attendee type (e.g. adult, child concession), budget and registration fees.
With a selection of templates and customisable fields to choose from, you can build a picture of what the event looks like, and the required tasks and timeframes. You can even use your alumni CRM to assign tasks, create teams, groups and table plans, and monitor event income and expenses.
Phase 2: Invites and registration
Every event needs attendees! A good alumni CRM will make it easy for you to:
- Segment and target specific groups of alumni
- Create and send personalised, tailored invitations
- Track open rates and registrations and generate real-time event updates
- Keep user-profiles up-to-date and tag alumni as ‘event attendees’
Depending on your selected features, it’s even possible to integrate your event management with third-party applications like Eventbrite, or create a dedicated web page that links registrations and payments directly to your alumni CRM.
Find out more about the benefits of an alumni CRM integration tool
Phase 3: Information sharing
By sending reminders and sharing event information in advance, you can set expectations, boost attendance, and help ensure a positive event experience. A good alumni CRM will help you stay on top of this process by enabling you to schedule communications in advance, quickly personalise information, and track open and response rates.
Phase 4: On the day
The day has arrived, and we know you’ll be pretty busy running the show, chatting with alumni, and making sure it all goes smoothly. Your alumni CRM is there to help. Third-party integration tools link contactless check-in apps (e.g. Eventbrite) directly to your database, while links with MailChimp and Twilio make it easy to send live updates and notifications.
Phase 5: Follow-up and reporting
The secret to a successful event is to plan for follow-up right from the start. Afterall, the event itself is just one step in your alumni’s journey with you. To make sure you make the most of the connections made, you can use your alumni CRM to:
- Send a personalised ‘thank you’ message: donors who are thanked within 48 hours are four times more likely to give again — a philosophy that easily carries over into alumni event management and engagement.
- Collect feedback: use CRM integrations to send feedback surveys and use this information to assess the event's success and identify lessons learned.
- Data analysis and reporting: quickly generate reports on attendance, engagement, and fundraising outcomes and inform future event planning.
Talk to us about your alumni event ideas
If you work in event management and are looking for a tool to help bring your ideas to life, we’re here to help make sure you find a suitable platform for you. Follow the links to download our CRM brochure and find out more about our event management features and CRM integration tools.
Are you ready to make a case for an alumni CRM to senior stakeholders? Find out more about building an alumni CRM business case.
Keep that connection alive and build a community of supporters
