Writing about alumni work, not about software marketing
Most alumni programmes are run by two people and a spreadsheet, next to their real jobs. What gets written here is aimed at them: what to do first, what a decision actually costs, and where the software helps or gets in the way.
This is a new site and there is not much here yet. Everything published so far is listed below, in full, with nothing held back for a newsletter.
Everything we have written
The long pieces landed first because they were the ones people asked for. There are no short posts yet, and filling this page with them just to look busy would waste your time.
How to start an alumni association
The founding committee, what belongs in a constitution, how to build the first member list from records you already have, and how to fund the first year.
Guide - for new associations
Installing alumni management software on cPanel
A full walkthrough of putting a self-hosted alumni portal on ordinary shared hosting, from the database to the first admin login.
Guide - technical, no terminal needed
Running a giving day on your own website
What an alumni fundraising site has to do, how a campaign page and a donor record fit together, and where a $49 self-hosted tool stops.
Use case - fundraising
Building a class reunion website
A dedicated event page, RSVP tracking with a capacity limit, and a batch-year directory that turns one reunion into a permanent group.
Use case - reunions
All guides
The hub for longer, step-by-step pieces, including the ones being written now.
Hub
Product changelog
If you would rather read what changed in the software than what we think about alumni work, start here.
Updated with every release
What this blog covers
Six subjects, chosen because they are the questions that arrive by email. They are listed without links because those pieces are not written yet.
Alumni engagement
Getting people to come back after graduation, what a first email should say, and why a directory nobody uses is usually a permissions problem rather than a design problem.
Fundraising and giving
Annual funds, giving days and class gifts for institutions with no development office, including how to ask when you have asked nobody before.
Events and reunions
Capacity, RSVPs, no-shows and the awkward maths of catering numbers. How to run a reunion that produces a member list rather than just an evening.
Data and ownership
Where alumni records should live, what happens when a vendor is acquired or shuts down, and what to ask before you hand a database to anyone.
Choosing software
Build, buy or self-host. What a subscription really costs across five years, and the questions that get a straight answer out of a sales call.
Volunteer-run associations
Committees, handovers, elections and the single biggest risk to a small alumni association: everything living in one person's inbox.
How we write here
We sell alumni software, so read everything on this site with that in mind. These are the rules we hold ourselves to anyway.
No invented customers
AlumDeck is new and has no customer base to point at. You will not find a testimonial, a logo wall, a star rating or a case study with an impressive percentage in it, because we would have to make them up.
Prices are published prices
When we quote what a competitor charges, it comes from their own pricing page or from third-party review sites, and we say which. We do not repeat figures from a sales call as if they were a public price, and we do not pretend a range is a quote.
We will tell you when to buy something else
Self-hosted software is the wrong answer for plenty of institutions. If you need someone else to patch the server, an account manager to call, or a system that plugs into an existing fundraising CRM, a hosted platform is worth its subscription and we will say so.
Published when there is something to say
There is no posting schedule. A weekly post written to fill a slot is worse than nothing, and you can tell within two sentences.
The product behind the writing
AlumDeck is a complete alumni portal you install on your own hosting. One payment of $49 per installation, unlimited members, and your data stays on your server.
Got a subject you want covered? Send it to hello@alumdeck.com.