Alumni Don’t Stop Caring. Institutions Stop Connecting.
Giving to higher education hit $58 billion in 2023. But the donor base is narrowing. Engagement is declining. Institutions are increasingly reliant on a small percentage of major donors. The problem isn’t that alumni don’t care. It’s that institutions haven’t given them a meaningful way to engage.
18%
decline in young alumni giving over the past decade
93%
of alumni donors engage via platform interaction first
156%
more likely to donate when alumni participate in mentoring
How Bettera Helps
CRM: Knowing Your Alumni
ServiceNow CRM maintains rich, continuously updated alumni profiles—educational history, campus involvement, career trajectory, event attendance, giving history, and engagement patterns. When a student graduates, their profile doesn’t reset. It evolves.
Tenon: Personalized Outreach at Scale
Move beyond the mass email blast. An invitation to a local networking event for a young professional. A research update in the field they studied. A volunteer opportunity aligned with their career. As alumni interact, engagement scores update in real time.
FullCast: Managing Major Gift Operations
Territory assignment, quota management, pipeline tracking, donor reassignment when staff turn over—the operational mechanics that determine whether a capital campaign succeeds. No donor relationship falls through the cracks.
Alumni Portals
A digital hub where graduates manage profiles, discover networking opportunities, find mentorship programs, register for events, and track giving—all in one place. Self-selected engagement feeds richer data back into the CRM.
The Challenge
When a student graduates, their profile resets. The rich data captured during enrollment and student success—interests, involvement, career aspirations—is lost. Advancement teams start from scratch, sending generic appeals to alumni they no longer know.
Only 25% of alumni relations professionals use advanced analytics to tailor engagement. Only 20% of alumni are even aware of the benefits their alma mater provides.
