Engagement standards have evolved, and so should our ways of viewing them
Digitization has changed the definition of engagement. We have emerged to live in a new digital ecosystem, where everything important to us must be in our grasp, and engagement must feel easy and personal.
Alumni Relations are not exempt from these expectations. And so, to our best efforts, we leverage solutions to give our alumni experiences that align with their expectations.
Where, then, may the gap exist?
It's in how we limit our lens to view their engagement in sign-ups, gifts, and event registrations. But, Alumni Relations have a much larger scope.
Showcase a more accurate picture of engagement that is more than just "Sign-ups."
Sign-ups are a critical measure of how well our constituents have adopted the platform, but they tell us only half the story.
They don't give us a holistic view of engagement, which can mean many more activities beyond sign-ups, event registrations, and gifts - activities that happen only once a year, disregarding the many other ways they engage with us.
Moreover*, sign-ups* don't align with the tendencies of our alumni; our alumni sign up on the platform, but how often are they logging in to engage?
To overcome this, Almabase enables constituents to engage without necessarily going through the hassle of logging into the platform every time.
Making the most of our efforts: Viewing engagement as a continuous phenomenon.
Our alumni are engaging with us in many ways throughout the year; they are replying to emails, liking social posts, visiting a job board, or viewing an archive of newsletters - all of which have taken much effort from the Alumni Relations office to set up.
Each interaction tells us so much more about them, giving us additional opportunities to engage them further.
And yet, these engagement activities don't show up in our reports, leading us sometimes to wonder why our efforts don't lead to higher engagement.
A step towards continuous engagement with a revamped admin dashboard.
Almabase will soon revamp its admin dashboard to start helping us shift from focusing solely on sign-ups to viewing results of everything our alumni do across channels and programs, all at our fingertips.
This change will give us a view of how many alumni have engaged and in which ways, showing us an instant view of the value we create for alumni and a better sense of direction for us.
Stay tuned for early access to the revamped admin dashboard, which will come your way shortly.
Blackbaud, the leading provider of software for powering social impact, and Almabase, the digital-first alumni engagement solution, have announced the expansion of their partnership to the education sectors of Canada and the United Kingdom. The partnership will provide institutions with a modern, digital-first solution to improve constituent data, drive self-serve engagement, and boost event participation.
A Unified Vision
The partnership aligns with Blackbaud’s commitment to customer-centric innovation across digital engagement, Advancement CRM, and financials.
“Partners bring integrated capabilities that extend capabilities and outcomes for Blackbaud customers. We are thrilled that Almabase’s offering, integrated with Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT® and leveraging Blackbaud’s best-in-class payment solution, Blackbaud Merchant Services™, is now available to even more of our customers around the world.”
- Liz Price, Sr. Director of Global Partners at Blackbaud