CASE Insights on Alumni Engagement Key Findings FY25-Slides

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CASE’s 2025 Alumni Engagement preview reports on data from 398 institutions across 18 countries, with 271 institutions participating in all three recent years for trend analysis. Overall engagement is rising, but alumni counts are rising faster, so the share engaged is not keeping pace. The global median of contactable alumni engaged in any mode is 14.7% (16.3% in US/Canada). Non-monetary engagement is strengthening: more institutions reported increases in communication, experiential, and volunteer activity than in alumni giving, where donor counts continue to decline even as revenue grows.<br /><br />A major finding is that institutions are collecting better data on engagement, but challenges remain around CRM systems, staffing, and data quality. Many organizations use multiple platforms, and some still lack a CRM. Confidence is highest for communication, lower for experiential and volunteer engagement.<br /><br />The report also highlights that alumni generally feel positive about the “product” of their education—value of education, student experience, reputation, and overall perception—but are less satisfied with their current relationship as alumni, especially younger graduates. This suggests institutions are stronger at delivering the educational experience than sustaining long-term relationships.<br /><br />CASE notes that engagement is increasingly being used strategically rather than just tracked. Institutions are applying the CASE Alumni Engagement Framework to set KPIs, benchmark performance, improve reporting, identify prospects, and demonstrate impact. Examples from schools such as London Business School, UNC Wilmington, Caltech, UT Arlington, and the University of Iowa show how engagement metrics are being embedded in campaign planning, dashboards, fundraising strategy, and institutional planning.<br /><br />Overall, the message is clear: alumni engagement is moving from measurement toward strategy, but institutions must improve data, collaboration, and infrastructure to turn engagement into long-term value.

Keywords

alumni engagement

CASE 2025

institutional benchmarking

contactable alumni

non-monetary engagement

alumni giving

CRM systems

data quality

engagement strategy

fundraising planning