Alumni Relations
Partnership of CollegeNET, Switchboard Aims To Strengthen Alumni Engagement
CollegeNET,
a company that provides cloud-based technology to higher education
institutions, will partner with Switchboard,
an online engagement platform that
also focuses on colleges and universities.
CollegeNET focuses
on supplying software services that help with prospect and admissions
management, tuition processing and alumni development. Switchboard
is an online platform
that communities can use to connect members. Members can post "asks"
and "offers"
and comment to each other.
CollegeNET
will offer
access to Switchboard to its client institutions, giving them a way to
create
stronger connections to students, alumni and patrons, as an added
service. CollegeNET
will target institutions that use its online services for donation and
registration management.
The
hope is that its
customers will be able to increase donations among young alumni while
fostering
economic opportunities by helping students connect with alumni
employers.
"Our
customers know
that, in order to get value in the form of tuition and donations, they
must
first demonstrate value to their communities," said CollegeNET Vice
President
of Finance Ed Trachtenbarg. "Our partnership with Switchboard aligns
those
objectives by building on the strengths of both technical platforms to
provide
a more comprehensive service."
The
arrangement was
tested this summer at Reed College, the alma mater of
the founders of
Switchboard, Mara Zepeda and Sean Learner. Reed students and alumnae
who saw
the value in Switchboard were asked to make a donation to the college
using
Contribute.com.
"The
test efforts
yielded results that helped us reach our donor goal," said Reed College
Alumni
Relations Director Mike Teskey. "It is important for us that alumni see
the
connection between the services they value and supporting the college."
About the Author
Michael Hart is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and the former executive editor of THE Journal.
