From the Nominator

"The University of Miami Alumni Association is proud to promote businesses owned and operated by alumni, known as our ’Cane Biz partners. We do this through an online directory that features their great work, showcases our global footprint, and empowers our partners to offer benefits to fellow ’Canes. 

However, our online directory, hosted by a third-party software firm, only allowed businesses to be categorized by location, which limited engagement with the ’Canes network. Recognizing an opportunity to provide more meaningful engagement opportunities for this targeted constituency, we reached out to ’Cane Biz owners, gathered their feedback, and rebuilt our online directory with the following goals:  

• Increasing the number alumni-owned business listings  
• Increasing alumni traffic on the website 
• Partnering with alumni-owned businesses to host events and secure sponsorships   

After six months of intense activity, we launched a redesigned online directory with our ’Cane Biz partners categorized by type of service or industry and then by location. The project was a dramatic success, which can be replicated at any institution, with the following results: 

• We added 205 alumni-owned businesses to the directory (31% increase) through an online form that alumni were invited to complete--a huge engagement win
• Website traffic nearly doubled (98% increase in page views over prior year) due to a restructuring of the site and presenting the data in a user-friendly style 
• We also hosted four events with a ’Cane Biz partner, raising more than $4,800 in sponsorships for the first time ever"

From the Judges

Well done! Love how they looked at the problem differently and developed a strategy that surpassed their goals. The numbers are amazing! And they are correct: this could be easily replicated at other institutions. Because of this redesign and increased engagement, they raised money, too! #greatjob