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Alumni Data 101 July 29, 2025 by Katie Gibson - At Wavelength, we work with a lot of schools who have a variety of data types and health scores. While there isn’t one right way to house and report on your data, there are definitely ways to improve your data. In this Round Table, we explore the dos and don’ts of the data space. Some...
Preparing Graduates to Become Engaged Young Alumni February 9, 2024 by Katie Gibson - Wavelength recently hosted a webinar: Preparing Graduates to Become Engaged Young Alumni. Synopsis below. Watch here. Slides can be found here Building a Strong Alumni Network: Strategies for Engaging Young Graduates Introduction Building a strong alumni network is crucial for any educational institution. It not only helps in fostering a sense of community and pride,...
Ensuring Data Privacy and Security for Alumni Engagement January 11, 2024 by Katie Gibson - Introduction In today’s digital age, schools are increasingly turning to engagement platforms like Wavelength to connect with their alumni. These platforms offer a range of benefits, from fostering a sense of community among alumni to facilitating networking opportunities. However, with the growing concerns around data privacy and security, schools need reassurance that their alumni’s data...
Staff turnover: keep alumni happy with these three easy steps July 12, 2022 by Katie Gibson - There has been a significant increase in job openings for schools since the pandemic started, with the most amount of turnover in 2022. With these staffing changes, it is important to keep your alumni community in mind. Their key school contacts and core teachers they have memories of may be departing the school. Here are...
The top challenges to alumni relations and how technology can help July 11, 2022 by Maggie Amaral - Institutions like yourself are seeking ways to engage meaningfully with alumni. However, the challenges of lower budgets, staff changeover, and lack of time makes it hard to consistently feel connected with alumni. With alumni relations headcount declining by 18% since 2017, technology can offer a cost effective, long term solution to resource strain that helps...
The top 5 considerations to ensure a seamless transition for your graduates to become young alumni March 30, 2022 by Katie Gibson - The spring is always a busy time for schools. College acceptance, graduation, staff hiring and transitions, alumni reunions, and more. As a development team it is important to consider the senior class transition to young alumni status. Without a transition plan, you may lose touch with a very important group of future donors, volunteers, and...
Better Data Metrics for Your Alumni Community December 2, 2021 by Katie Gibson - It seems like everyone is always talking about getting better data. But what does that mean, exactly—and why do you need better data for your alumni community? Collecting data has been the cornerstone of marketing for decades. But until recently, it was an inefficient and often fruitless endeavor because we simply lacked the resources to...
Everything You Need to Know about Alumni Data December 2, 2020 by Katie Gibson - This guide will help you audit, iterate, and improve your alumni community with better data. Skip to the Alumni Data Guide Maybe you are a school with an in-house alumni team, a student group with a spreadsheet, or a camp starting to engage its counselors. Likely, you have some alumni and a strategy to engage them....
How to Lead a Brainstorm and Strategy Session December 1, 2020 by Katie Gibson - Throughout this year, schools have had to pivot and innovate quickly to adjust to COVID needs and student learning. Below are a series of exercises to support in your ongoing efforts to lead strategy sessions. The link to full document is here. 
Maintaining Data Accuracy October 21, 2020 by Katie Gibson - Accurate data is necessary to maintain meaningful contact with your constituents. Unfortunately, ensuring up to date data is difficult for several reasons: Data decays at 25% a year as people move, change jobs, and more. Reminding an alma mater of their changing information is last on someone’s mind as they go through these major life...- Wavelength’s Multinetwork- How to Make Alumni Networks Actually Work October 21, 2020 by Katie Gibson - Wavelength’s Multinetwork- How to Make Alumni Networks Actually Work Originally posted by Chris G., CEO and Founder of Wavelength Connecting with people on social media takes time, effort, and in some cases, luck. Adding another social media platform to the mix doesn’t do anyone any favors, so we didn’t. Instead, we made Wavelength all about the...
- How Wavelength Communicates with Your Alumni about Data October 20, 2020 by Katie Gibson - How Wavelength Communicates with Your Alumni about Data Alumni know that you will likely use third parties to keep up to date. But they want to know you are a good steward of their private information. Transparency is key. You should be able to answer questions about: Where you get your data How you get your...
Privacy is Key to Creating a Strong, Modern Alumni Community. October 20, 2020 by Katie Gibson - You are a steward of your alums’ information. You need this information to engage alumni. But how do you nurture your community while maintaining user privacy? Strong, private communities value two things, transparency and control. Transparency means that your alums know what you and other alums know about them. Control means that they can change this...
A New Reality: Alumni Engagement During COVID September 22, 2020 by Katie Gibson - Schools I work with are frequently asking me how peer institutions are engaging with alumni as the pandemic extends into the fall/winter. Below I’ve captured a few ways our customers are interacting with alumni. Entertainment Nights: Your alumni are talented individuals. One school is mobilizing its alumni to provide Zoom entertainment from cooking classes (just...
Princeton Day School Seeks New Ways to Engage with Alumni During COVID-19 September 11, 2020 by Katie Gibson - Princeton Day School (PDS) is exploring new and innovative ways to interact with their alumni from afar. Below are a few concepts that they’ve begun to test in response to COVID-19. PDS recently launched a Panther AlumLIVE initiative that regularly showcases alumni and their talents on Facebook live. By asking alumni to share their abilities...
Data as a Development Asset September 11, 2020 by Katie Gibson - Your alumni and donor data is your most important development asset. It helps you segment your population, keep in touch with important community members, and personalize your outreach. Each constituent attribute fulfills one of these functions. For instance, net-worth info indicates when you should contact a person, an email address indicates whether you can, and...
