Use behaviour, not blunt asks
Practitioners recommend building engagement scores from actions like event attendance, volunteering, email opens and web visits, then layering in giving history to route alumni into targeted reactivation journeys. Simple cold‑email reactivation sequences and segmented curiosity drives — combined with tailored stewardship events — are practical ways to revive ‘dead’ lists without leaning on a single donation ask. (x.com) (x.com) (x.com)
A lot of alumni lists look “dead” only because schools keep measuring one behavior: who gave money last time. The Council for Advancement and Support of Education now tells institutions to track four separate kinds of engagement — philanthropy, volunteering, experiences, and communications — instead of treating a missed gift like total silence. (case.org) That shift changes who gets attention. If an alumna opened three emails, visited the reunion page, and showed up at a regional event, the record says “still here” even if the giving line shows zero. (case.org) The industry data already shows why that matters. In the latest Council for Advancement and Support of Education survey, communication made up 57.5% of measured alumni engagement, experiences made up 21%, philanthropy made up 16.9%, and volunteering made up 4.5%, which means most engagement is happening outside the donation form. (case.org) More than half of participating institutions, 51.8%, reported an increase in engagement in 2024 even as many schools were still dealing with losses in alumni donors. That is the clearest sign that a shrinking donor file and a shrinking alumni relationship are not the same thing. (case.org) Fundraising vendors are building around that exact idea. Blackbaud and Almabase frame alumni data as a set of measurable actions that can be scored and interpreted, with examples built around search behavior, event participation, and other engagement signals that help teams decide what to do next. (blackbaud.com) That is why practitioners talk about “reactivation journeys” instead of one big comeback ask. A person who volunteered at class reunion last year needs a different message from a person who has not opened an email since 2021, even if both sit in the same lapsed-donor report. (case.org) The practical playbook is usually simple. Teams start with a low-friction email that asks for an update, a preference, or a small click, because a reply, an open, or a page visit gives the database a fresh signal before anyone asks for money. (evertrue.com) Then they sort people by behavior. Someone reading athletics stories can get athletics content, someone clicking career pages can get mentoring or networking invites, and someone attending local events can get stewardship invitations that feel like hospitality instead of solicitation. (case.org) (blackbaud.com) The point is not to avoid asking forever. The point is to stop treating every quiet alumnus like a closed door when the record may already show opens, visits, registrations, or volunteer activity that say the relationship is alive and just needs the right next step. (case.org)
