Finding your alumni and keeping track of them Alisa Martorano Alumni Relations Director Resurrection College Prep High School

 How many schools have a database with at least all the names of your alumni?  How many have partial lists?

 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.

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

Make 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.

 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?

 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

 Have a contest for alumni and parents to collect people’s s or contact information  On the bottom of your s always have an option where the alumni can “forward to a friend.”  Include a link on your s where alums can update their info.

 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

 Where can I look on-line? Free On-Line Search Engines:  Whitepages.com  Zabasearch.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.

 Where can I look on-line?  AlumniFinder.net  Harris 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 Engine  Target Analytics / Blackbaud Analytics

 You have data – now what? How do I keep track? An Alumni Database is essential to your success! o Excel o eTapestry o Sage o PDS o Raiser’s Edge

 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

Feel free to contact me: Alisa Martorano Resurrection College Prep High School Ext 142