ALUMNI RESEARCH

Finding your alumni and keeping track of them

Alisa Martorano

Alumni Relations Director

Resurrection College Prep High School

ALUMNI… HOW DO WE FIND THEM? How many schools have a database with

at least all the names of your alumni? How many have partial lists?

DATA COLLECTION & MANAGEMENT Clean, searchable, up-to-date data on

your alumni is critical to maintaining relationships.

Off-Line and On-Line Processes to help you collect and manage data.

WHERE DO YOU START?

Start by knowing who you are looking for and filling in the blanks.

School Records: Class Lists Permanent Records

Parish Records: Past Bulletins

Graduation Announcements Parishioner Files

GET THE WORD OUTMake Connections: Current Parents who are alumni Alumni Parents who keep in touch with

everyone Bulletin/Newsletter Articles Enlist Class Reps that are “in charge” of

updating the school on the where abouts of their classmates

Have a place on your website where alumni can update their information.

GET THE WORD OUT

GET THE WORD OUT

Door Prize Raffles Everytime we have guests in

our building I have a “door prize raffle”

Contact other schools your alumni may have attended

Talk to you Faculty - Who still keeps in contact with alumni?

US MAIL Returned Mail – make

sure you are updating your database.

Mail Houses or other services can run your list through the NCOA (National Change of Address) database Gives you a list back that

provides you with updated information on people who have recently moved and changed their addresses

FINDING ALUMNI ON-LINE

GATHERING E-MAILS Have a contest for alumni and parents

to collect people’s e-mails or contact information

On the bottom of your e-mails always have an option where the alumni can “forward to a friend.”

Include a link on your e-mails where alums can update their info.

FINDING MISSING ALUMNI Where can I look on-line?Find & Connect with Alumni via on-line communities:

Great for reconnecting and finding out business information

New Graph Search Search by School attended

FINDING MISSING ALUMNI Where can I look on-line?

Free On-Line Search Engines:Whitepages.comZabasearch.com

The more information you know about someone, (spouse name, age/year of birth, city they live in) the better your chances for a match.

3RD PARTY TOOLS Where can I look on-line?

AlumniFinder.netHarris Connect

Takes your lists and contacts alumni to get updated contact information to put together a directory of your alumni

Prospecting Tools – once you know who your alumni are and want to find out more about them – wealth screening

Wealth EngineTarget Analytics / Blackbaud Analytics

DATABASES You have data – now what? How do I

keep track?An Alumni Database is essential to

your success!

o Excelo eTapestryo Sageo PDSo Raiser’s

Edge

GETTING IT DONE Let’s face it – we don’t have full-time

Researchers or Database Administrators on our staff

Research and Updating your Alumni Records can be overwhelming

Enlist Volunteers Class Reps

Set a Goal # of new names entered a week Work on research for a specific number of hours a week

QUESTIONS?

Feel free to contact me:

Alisa MartoranoResurrection College Prep High School

773.775.6616 Ext 142amartorano@reshs.org