Salesforce Partners Weigh In: How Education Cloud Modernizes Alumni Engagement and Fundraising

Quick take: Salesforce partners Accenture, PwC, and Cloud for Good share why educational institutions should be investing in digital transformation. 

Just 10% of students feel “very” connected to their student or alumni community, according to Salesforce research. 

Salesforce Education Cloud helps institutions engage with these groups by providing connected, personalized experiences at every step of the learning journey — from recruitment and admissions to advancement and alumni relations and beyond. 

Salesforce Education Cloud helps institutions engage with these groups by providing connected, personalized experiences at every step of the learning journey — from recruitment and admissions to advancement and alumni relations and beyond.

Salesforce partners provide expertise and solutions to help institutions implement Education Cloud, and tailor those implementations to specific organizational needs. Here’s what three of these partners had to say about the technology and its power to modernize higher education.

Q. Why is now the right time for institutions to invest in digital solutions like Education Cloud? 

• “Every day, we hear from institutions about the need to modernize their technology infrastructure, data, and applications while navigating cost and inflationary pressures. A single technology platform allows an institution to consolidate costs across licensing and system development, maintenance, training, and support, each representing a further potential return on investment,” said Samantha Fisher, Managing Director, Global Education Practice at Accenture. 

• “Today’s generation of learners want interactive, personalized experiences that resonate with their individual needs. By investing in digital solutions like Education Cloud, universities can create hyper-personalized, connected experiences with students, alumni, and donors. Education Cloud allows for scalability and flexibility in today’s digital-first world, empowering institutions with the tools and resources they need to be agile and pivot as situations change,” said Caitroina McCusker, UK & EMEA Education Leader at PwC.

• “Today’s donors seek experiences akin to their favorite brands – like Amazon or Netflix. If institutions are providing out-of-date experiences, they are risking that donor relationship. And, when every donor dollar counts, they need to make the process easy and inspirational. This is what Salesforce is doing. With Education Cloud, we are helping our clients break down internal barriers so they can provide better experiences for their donors and alumni community,” said David Sicoli, Managing Director, Education Practice at Cloud for Good. 

Q. How does technology support alumni engagement and fundraising? 

• “Successful alumni engagement and fundraising are rooted in human connection. Technology helps empower advancement offices with actionable, data-driven insights so they can personalize engagements and communication with alumni. For instance, we’re seeing technology help streamline efficiencies, freeing up time for advancement officers to spend more hours interacting with alumni,” said Fisher. 

• “Today, technology is critical for maintaining key relationships. We see this daily with friends and family, and education organizations are no different. Technology can help alumni relations teams identify the interests of an individual based on what we know about them and their career since they left education, and then use that information for more effective marketing campaigns. This is critical to building and maintaining a link between alumni and the organization,” said McCusker.

• “Technology helps institutions raise more funds and allow them to better engage and communicate with their donors and alumni. Technology becomes even more powerful when used in tandem across the student lifecycle, giving organizations a wealth of information to personalize the donor and alumni experiences for the institution,” said Sicoli. 

Q. How does Education Cloud help institutions reach their advancement and alumni relations goals? 

• “Trusted data and insights are the foundation for personalized connection, which helps organizations meet their goals. A scalable solution like Education Cloud can enrich alumni datasets by providing a full historical view of a constituent – from which student organizations they joined to sports team affiliations and academic relationships. The whole picture of an alumnus’ institutional engagement can help predict how likely they are to participate in alumni programs,” said Fisher.

• “Education Cloud empowers educational institutions to connect and engage with alumni and donors from a single, integrated platform. Historically, alumni relations and fundraising operations have operated in silos, and advancement officers lacked access to critical insights and associated data. Now, institutions can unlock valuable insights to unleash new engagement opportunities in one place,” said McCusker.

• “With Education Cloud, institutions now have access to all of the innovation taking place across Salesforce, helping them better support fundraising teams so they can focus on driving donations,  personalize engagement with alumni, and streamline advancement opportunities. And, by helping institutions connect data from across all of their departments, Education Cloud helps institutions surface better insights to drive better decision-making and improve the online giving experience,” said Sicoli.

Go deeper: 

• Learn more about Salesforce Education Cloud here
• Learn more about Salesforce’s partner ecosystem here
• Follow @partnerforce on X, formerly known as Twitter, check out the @partnerforce Instagram account, and discover Salesforce Partners on LinkedIn