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Alumni Engagement & Communications

Alumni who still answer, years after graduation

Most chapters only contact alumni when they need money, then wonder why nobody replies. Engagement is the work that happens in between, and it's what makes the ask land when it finally comes.

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Alumni engagement is the ongoing communication that keeps former members connected to a chapter between campaigns. It runs on accurate contact data, a regular publishing rhythm in print and email, and personal correspondence. Done consistently it's what makes a later fundraising ask land, rather than arriving cold.

The four steps below are how that gets done.

How it works

What does a year of engagement look like?

Engagement isn't a campaign, it's a rhythm. These four run continuously, and the order matters less than the fact that none of them stop.

Talk through your chapter's situation

Step 1

Get the contact data right

Alumni move constantly, and a program built on stale addresses reaches nobody. We automate the tracking of physical and email addresses so contact management stops being guesswork, and so everything downstream actually arrives.

Step 2

Publish on a rhythm

Print newsletters still work, because people who've stopped opening email haven't stopped opening mail. Digital reaches everyone else on whatever device they're using. Running both means you're not choosing which half of your alumni to lose.

Step 3

Write to people, not lists

Directed emails and specific mailers do the work a newsletter can't: bringing a prospect back into the conversation, and filling seats at an alumni event.

Step 4

Ask, receive, and thank

The annual campaign is the backbone of a development effort, and it only works on top of the three steps above. Gifts get collected and processed, and donors get reminded and recognized, which is what makes next year's ask easier than this year's.

Print newsletters

Even in a digital world, people still love paper. Your alumni base is generationally mixed and preferences differ person to person, which is why print still reaches readers email never will. You get the highest quality product and the contact management behind it, so the right people stay in the loop all year and you can take pride in what lands in the mailbox.

Digital newsletters

Email is an easy way to communicate with your alumni, and they read it on whatever device is nearest. We design, automate and send digital newsletters built for desktop, laptop and phone alike, so your chapter's news arrives looking right and alumni have a reason to open the next one.

A chapter seal set into the floor of a house.

Member management

Alumni move, change jobs and change addresses, and a program built on a stale list reaches nobody. We automate the tracking of both physical and email addresses so contact management stops being guesswork. Accuracy is the part nobody sees and the part everything downstream depends on.

Personalized communications

Outside the regular publishing rhythm there are moments worth a direct approach. Directed emails and specific mailers jump-start a campaign, bring a lapsed prospect back into the conversation, or fill the seats at an alumni event, which is the attention a general newsletter cannot ask for.

Delta Gamma at SMU breaking ground on the new chapter house.

Annual campaigns

The annual campaign is the backbone of a development effort, and it does more than produce a steady flow of funding. It secures new donors, turns occasional givers into regular ones, and moves your best supporters toward deeper involvement. We plan and run it with you, from creative themes and messaging to schedules and stewardship, so the whole program works together.

AEPi at Georgia Tech, members outside the chapter house.

Gift management

Gifts of every size have to be collected, processed and acknowledged, and it is the part most often overlooked. Donors tell us that poor acknowledgment of a past gift is a leading reason they give less the next time. We provide the back-office support to deposit contributions securely and auditably, craft and send the acknowledgment letters, and remind donors when a scheduled pledge payment is due, work that otherwise lands on volunteers.

What is alumni engagement?

The ongoing communication that keeps former members connected between campaigns. It runs on accurate contact data, a regular rhythm of print and email, and personal correspondence. It isn't fundraising, but it's what decides whether fundraising works when you get there.

Why do print newsletters still matter?

Email is fast and efficient, but it competes with hundreds of other messages for our attention. A well-designed print newsletter creates a physical connection, stays in the home longer, and gives alumni an opportunity to engage with your organization away from the noise of an inbox.

How is this different from an annual campaign?

The annual campaign is the ask. Engagement is everything around it. A chapter that only contacts alumni when it needs money is starting cold every year; one that's been publishing and writing all along isn't.

Can we run this ourselves?

Some chapters do. What's hard to sustain from inside is the rhythm: volunteer boards turn over, and the newsletter that slips one quarter tends to slip the next. The value of counsel here is that it keeps happening.

Start with the people you already have

A conversation first. We'll look at what your contact data can actually reach today.

Reach Out

We start with your contact data, not a pitch
Print and digital together, not one or the other
Engagement is what makes the later ask land