How to Make a Plan for Your Alumni Community

Developing a plan for your alumni community helps align your team on a shared vision for success. By collaborating early, you can set clear expectations, gain organizational support, and ensure a smooth launch.

If your organization already has a Strategic Plan, use it as a guiding document for implementing your community platform. Otherwise, take a few minutes to define key priorities:

• Community goals and structure – Identify your top engagement priorities and how your community should be organized.
• Platform feature planning – Determine how each feature will support your objectives.
• Engagement strategy – Outline how members will interact and what success looks like.

Key Questions to Consider:

• Who will be part of the community (alumni, students, faculty, paid members, etc.)?
• What alumni/member data would be valuable for engagement (employment history, hobbies, extracurriculars, and educational history, etc.)?
• What affinity groups are important to the organization now and which might start in the near future?
• What events are held every year?
• What are the priorities for career strategies and support for your members such as job postings and mentoring?
• What are your on-going fundraising efforts?
• What information can be shared on the platform to make it an Information hub through Headlines, RSS feed, and social media?
• What are standard communications that have a template such as a Newsletter? Which departments are responsible for email and other communications?

Use your answers to draft a Year-One Roadmap, including measurable goals and a rollout plan for key platform features. Your strategic decisions will help determine what to launch immediately and what to introduce over time.

Action Items:

✔ Review your organization’s Strategic Plan, or use the guiding questions above to create one.
✔ Document responses to the key questions about platform features and engagement.
✔ Draft a Year-One Roadmap for your alumni community.

Our team is here to help—reach out anytime to discuss your strategy!

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