What does meaningful alumni engagement look like when it truly aligns with university strategy? You get a clear look into the strategic alumni model of the University of Vienna and how modern alumni relations work in practice. We look at how to measure alumni engagement in a meaningful way and how to reach young alumni early. You learn why structures, roles and governance decide success or failure in alumni work. International best practice examples show what works and what to avoid.

For Aalto University, as for many universities, fundraising is not simply about asking for support. It is about fundamentally changing how society understands the university’s role, relevance, and value. In contexts where donating to universities is neither widely understood nor commonly practiced, fundraisers face distinctive challenges: public skepticism or indifference, assumptions that public funding is sufficient, limited awareness of societal impact, and a weak emotional connection between individuals and institutions. This keynote explores how Aalto University crafted and delivered a fundraising campaign that addressed these challenges head-on. The campaign aimed to make the university’s societal impact visible, concrete, and personally relevant—successfully engaging both major institutional donors and individual private supporters, despite the absence of a strong philanthropic tradition.

A case-for-support outlines what needs funding, why it matters, and why your university is best placed to deliver it. With clear costs and timelines, it becomes a strong offer for donors. Effective fundraising relies on accessible, rigorous cases that show societal impact and align priorities across faculties. In the workshop we will discuss how to create compelling cases and collaborate with stakeholders to reach financial goals.

This interactive session explores key questions many fundraisers encounter in international fundraising, particularly in the USA, UK, Europe, and Kenya. The focus will be on major gifts, foundations, and private donors, with practical insights into how partnerships can be initiated and nurtured from scratch, while taking cultural differences and their impact into account. The session will cover topics such as identifying prospects, approaching foundations and high-net-worth individuals internationally, and building strong, trust-based relationships. Participants will also be encouraged to reflect on the importance of internal processes within their own organisations, including what needs to be in place before making an ask and what follows after it has been made. Participants are warmly invited to bring concrete questions related to tools, systems, and back-office aspects of international fundraising. Questions can also be submitted in advance.

This workshop explores what real value an alumni network creates for a university and how it can be used as a strategic tool rather than just a community of former students. Participants will reflect on how alumni can support broader goals such as reputation, recruitment, research, fundraising, and societal impact, and what kinds of value matter most in different institutional contexts. The focus is on clarifying, strengthening, and making visible the value alumni networks can bring to the university as a whole, and the benefits of harnessing networks directly in alumni engagement efforts. After the presentations, participants will break into working groups to reflect, share and apply the ideas to their own contexts, shaping practical approaches they can take back to their institutions.

A CRM system is made of the technical platform, the processes run on the platform, and the people who use it. A lot of times focus is on which platform to choose, whereas the processes and the people are expected to fall in line by themselves. We challenge this approach and put emphasis on rethinking the processes and securing the commitment of the users. At the same time, the technical solutions are developing rapidly, affecting the entire landscape. In this interactive session, we will talk about our experiences and invite you to share yours

This session will cover: - What do I do if the leadership and/or academic faculty are not committed to advancement? - How do I argue for a fair share of my university’s budget for advancement? - We have a very small budget and shop: where should we focus our resources?

What is the right mix for effective alumni communication? What channels are currently most effective for engaging alumni? Join this discussion on Navigating Alumni Communication, where we will share best practices regarding alumni communication across a variety of channels. We will discuss trends and shifts within the field, our biggest challenges, and how we measure success across different channels.