How PeopleGrove Benefits University Development Offices

Universities face the challenge of attracting attention from alumni, who are looking for an authentic way to stay connected to their alma mater and classmates, give back to students, and advance in their own careers.

PeopleGrove is the premier alumni success team platform used by hundreds of universities — including the University of Michigan, Georgetown, and Wellesley — to meet the growing demand of alumni needs and advancement goals.

More than ever, universities are finding that giving isn’t just about social events anymore, it’s about providing lifelong value to their alumni in the form of career success and making genuine connections. Providing this enhance the value of the institution’s degrees and equalizes access, which can often result in more donations to the university.

“Equalizing is really what it’s about. It’s about giving the Bard network to every Bard student, and giving them a career network that is as powerful as someone’s personal network,” said Steven Swyryt, Assistant Director of Alumni Affairs at Bard College. “The number of alumni that reach out and want to connect with students is impressive, but connecting them with individuals is quite a task.”

At PeopleGrove, we work with many different university colleges and departments, from student enrollment to career services. We also support university development by activating your alumni network, helping you engage across departments using relevant data, and providing value through lifelong career support. Here are three key ways development offices use PeopleGrove to support their efforts:

Increase fundraising. Alumni give based on what they feel they’re getting. Offer them the power of your school’s entire alumni base. Some of our partners have discovered that alumni who participate on their PeopleGrove platform are significantly more likely to give financially to the university.

Scale support. You know your alumni deserve best-in-class support, but your staff doesn’t have the time to connect one-on-one with every alum. So let your alumni community help! PeopleGrove makes it easy to connect students and alumni in similar careers and industries, enabling universities to provide personalized support no matter the size of its staff.

Use data for prospect research. It’s easy for alumni directories to become stale. Use PeopleGrove to help maintain these directories so it’s clear who is engaged, where they live, and what their occupations are so you can better target giving campaigns.

Institutions across the country continue to search for authentic ways to engage prospective and current students, and offer lifelong value to their alumni, and PeopleGrove works to support more students and alumni than ever before.

“Students want engagement on a 1:1 level and it’s only going to become more important to offer something in return,” Swyryt said. “It’s a big task to connect specific individuals, and keep up with relevant data. PeopleGrove is a tool that’s accessible to everyone.”

Interested in learning more about PeopleGrove? Request a demo today to see how our platform can help your institution better target giving campaigns, provide value for alumni, and increase donations.