How an alumni management system can enhance university fundraising

That’s just the tip of the alumni fundraising iceberg. According to the most recent CASE-Ross Report, the money universities raise from alumni donors comes from less than 1% of contactable alumni. Imagine the heights the sector could reach if it could increase that number by even a fraction of a percent!

There is so much potential just waiting to be tapped. That’s why we want to take this chance to look at how an alumni management system can help your team overcome common fundraising challenges, and take your alumni fundraising to the next level. We’ll also share a case study of our CRM in action, and the difference investing in a contact resource management tool can make to your team.    

Which areas of university fundraising can an alumni management system improve?

Alumni fundraising can be challenging. For many teams, it means managing hundreds of thousands of graduate records from countries all over the world. Add changing jobs, changing locations and changing priorities into the mix, and it’s easy to see why so many fundraisers struggle to keep in contact with their alumni and make the most of their income potential.

But don’t worry. Help is at hand! In the next section we’ll be looking at some of the common challenges alumni fundraisers face and how a CRM can help you overcome them.

Challenge: getting a clear picture of your alumni

First things first. To raise money from your alumni, you need to know who they are, how to contact them, and to what extent they’ve been involved with the university since their graduation. Remember, alumni engagement doesn’t always mean giving money. Some people will prefer to attend events, or volunteer time or skills rather than make a donation.

The more you understand about your alumni and their giving habits, the stronger your fundraising foundation will be. But with so many variables out there, and thousands of alumni to keep track of, it can be difficult to build a clear picture of your supporter base - especially if you’re working across multiple spreadsheets and files.

Solution: engaging with key analytics

An alumni management system will help you paint this picture. More powerful than any combination of spreadsheets, an alumni management system acts as a central hub in which all your alumni information can be stored. A handy dashboard provides quick-access insights, while a suite of reporting templates makes it quick and easy for you to analyse and understand your data.

In just a few clicks, you can:

• build an overview of your core supporter base,
• track giving histories and income trends, and
• identify and profile different donor groups.

You will be amazed at what this information can help you achieve. With a clear view of your alumni supporter base, you will soon be able to segment your donors, nurture potential new prospects, and create data-driven stewardship plans that help build long-term support.

Challenge: successfully engaging with your alumni

Of course, having a clear view of your alumni supporter base is just the first step. Establishing – and maintaining – connections is key to keeping people engaged. The key here is to make sure you’re reaching out to the right people, at the right time, and that you follow-up and maintain regular communications wherever you can.

This can be very challenging, especially if you don’t have the tools you require to develop your prospect pipeline, track donor engagement, and response rates. You may find yourself wasting time trying to reconnect with donors who have shown little to no desire to engage, missing out on the conversion of likely new prospects, or neglecting a regular high-value giver and letting the lead go cold.

Solution: arranging a targeted calling campaign

Telephone fundraising campaigns are a great way to engage new and current donors, and to help reactivate lapsed relationships. Done right, a phone call offers a personal touch that other type of communications – emails, newsletters, direct mail – simply cannot replicate. There is no replacement for speaking to someone personally, taking the time to ask questions, get to know them, and build a real, human connection.

In the old days, planning and delivering a targeted call campaign would be a time-consuming and laborious task. But our alumni management system has a dedicated calling app to help you streamline the process and make the most of each and every conversation.

An integral part of our core CRM, our step-by-step instructions will guide you through the campaign development process, allowing you to:

• Set up the parameters of your campaign, its name and financial target
• Write your own script, or choose from one of our template options
• Select your campaign destination and contact groups
• Identify priority contacts and assign preferred callers
• Log donations, set up a regular gift or update key donor information
• Keep track of who you’ve called and any incoming donations

Of course, it’s easy to track campaign progress and pull a final report so that you can monitor your impact, make adjustments as you go, and use lessons learned to improve future campaigns and grow your fundraising income.

Intrigued? Find out more about our dedicated Calling app

Challenge: difficulty managing events

Events are another essential piece of the alumni engagement puzzle. As any event manager will tell you, the key to running a successful event – whether it’s an online webinar, lecture, reunion or gala dinner – is organisation. There are a number of moving parts to keep track of: marketing, speakers, technology, catering, and of course attendees.

If you’re doing the latter using a series of spreadsheets and manual logs, it can be hard to keep a clear view of who’s been invited and who’s attending. This can make pre and post-event communications a challenge. It can be all too easy for the odd invite, information pack, ticket, or thank you letter to go awry!

Solution: end-to-end event management

An alumni management system is the perfect approach to help streamline your event management processes and bring your vision to life. Our own solution offers end-to-end event management capabilities that allow alumni fundraising teams to manage different elements of their event through a single source hub. Activities include:

• Web-specific integration for event bookings and registration
• Seating chart development (yes, really!)
• Payment logging and tracking
• Automated workflows for pre and post-event communications
• Post-event reports and analysis.

Follow the link to find out more about our event management features.

Challenge: using different software for different elements of fundraising

Looking back on the points above, when it comes to alumni fundraising, you’ve probably noticed that one of the biggest challenges people face is data management. It takes time to work across multiple spreadsheets and data sets. It may work for smaller organisations, but when you’ve got thousands of alumni on the books and years of historical giving records, manual systems will soon end up costing your team precious time - leading to duplicated efforts and missed opportunities.

Solution: streamline your fundraising data

In contrast, an alumni management system offers you a central hub to store all of your supporter information and use embedded tools to:

• Automate and streamline core tasks
• Capture incoming student and graduate records
• Keep alumni information, contact details and employment history up-to-date
• Easily manage consent for GDPR compliance
• Pull reports and analyse campaigns and giving trends

Not only does this allow you to build a fundraising strategy and plan donor journeys based on solid data and information, it also saves time. Don’t underestimate the value of this!

Imagine all the hours your team spend working across multiple files, making manual updates, and cross-checking data and information. Now imagine what they could achieve if they could redirect this time into the development of data-driven campaigns, evidence-based strategies and targeted supporter communications. They’re fundraisers after all, and your alumni management system is there to help your team do more. 

That’s not all! Follow this link to find out more about our alumni management system tools and features.

How an alumni management system supported the University of Roehampton

The experience of the Alumni Relations & Development Team at the University of Roehampton is the perfect case in point. Recognised for its commitment to student satisfaction and research prowess, Roehampton has earned its place as a leading institution in London and beyond.

Alumni relations are an important source of income, but with a vast and diverse network spanning the globe, managing the data linked with 100,000 records, while nurturing relationships and maximising fundraising potential presented something of a challenge.

That’s where our alumni management system came in. As Louis Lovegrove, Alumni Relations & Development Officer explains, their new CRM has helped the team stay on top of their data and use the information it holds to develop and refine their fundraising strategy.

Louis highlights the ease of navigation, customisable reporting tools, and quick data updates as key benefits of the system. This empowered the team to create engaging interactions which have helped them build stronger relationships with university graduates and boost their fundraising income.

Inspired? Click to read the customer story in full

Speak to a member of our alumni management system team

Data is the foundation of alumni fundraising. An alumni management system is a great way to bring new clarity to your alumni portfolio, and to make sure that your team have the information they need to create and deliver a person-centred fundraising strategy that works for everyone.

If you want to find out more, download our CRM brochure, or get in touch with our expert team who are on-hand to answer any questions you may have.