The changing financial environment for independent schools is placing greater emphasis than ever before on fundraising as a complementary source of income.

After all, schools are facing multiple challenges: a weak economy and burgeoning competition are restricting fee revenue growth, while developments like the recent Charity Commission requirement to provide more bursaries and forge closer links with state schools are increasing costs.

Such trends are making the creation of better relationships with alumni a growing strategic necessity for independent schools everywhere.

So when WCBS attends the Institute of Development Professionals in Education (IDPE) annual conference at the Oxford Belfry Hotel next week (10 – 11 June), it will be focusing on a single factor: why its webALUMNUS solution is emerging as the key tool for engaging with alumni.

Sales Director Peter Heginbotham explains.  “Quite simply, it offers by far the best value for money of any solution on the market that enables a school to develop and deliver friend-raising and fundraising campaigns that really work.

“Key additional factors that drive the success of webALUMNUS are its abilities to allow quick and efficient communication with former pupils, and to enable them to communicate with one another via a branded community website that adds a whole new face to the school.”

WCBS is a sponsor of the IDPE conference, and Peter will be manning our stand along with Simon Lewis, our webALUMNUS specialist, in the Trinity Suite at the Oxford Belfry.

As Peter says, “We’re very much looking forward to meeting school development professionals at the event, so if you’d like to arrange a meeting there, call us on 01458 833344 or email sales@wcbs.co.uk  Otherwise, just show up at the time – it will be great to see you.”

“The Association here is very busy with events, and webALUMNUS is an outstanding tool for helping them to build and manage a strong rapport with former pupils.  That’s a vital element in ensuring excellent future relationships that will underpin the campaigns we run using webALUMNUS.”

You’ll find these words from Emilia Sowells of the development office at Bath’s Kingswood School in a brand new mail piece from WCBS, which explains why so many schools now regard webALUMNUS as their former pupils’ communications tool of choice.

The reasons for this are many and varied, including:

•    It’s extremely cost-effective when compared with other comparable systems on the market
•    It’s the only solution that is web-based, hosted and fully integrated with a powerful fundraising toolkit
•    It gives anytime, anywhere access for administrators and alumni
•    It means no additional burden for a school’s ICT infrastructure.

For Emilia, however, its ease, speed and flexibility of use are the most important benefits of webALUMNUS.  As she says, “I find it an invaluable tool almost every day in my job – it’s so quick and efficient for managing mailings and emails.”

Click on the picture to read the full Case Study.

If in the meantime you would like to find out more about what makes webALUMNUS so special, don’t hesitate to contact us on 01458 833344 or email sales@wcbs.co.uk

WCBS has just made available a special four-in-one case study sheet that explains some of the benefits that schools from Kent to Yorkshire, the Midlands to Hertfordshire, are gaining from webALUMNUS, our unique online fundraising and alumni management solution.

Comments from users include:

 "We find webALUMNUS to be a great friendraising and fundraising tool."
Karen Urquhart, Senior's Officer, Benenden School, Cranbrook, Kent

"It is allowing us to segment our communications and so improve relationships.  For example, people who make a donation like to have it acknowledged, so we can refer to their generosity when we write to them."
Pam Bainbridge, Development Director, St Georges VA School, Harpenden

"Because WCBS host it for you on their remote server, it doesn't place any additional burden on our own IT provision.  That's very valuable indeed."
Andy Beales, Development Director, Giggleswick School, North Yorkshire

We have used it to grow "membership to 6,639, of which 2,230 have actively registered.  The database of members is growing daily, and over 30% of the total are regularly logging on, updating and contributing."
Megan Griffiths, Foundation Office Administrator, Bromsgrove School, Worcs

You can download the PDF here to find out more about webALUMNUS and the benefits that schools everywhere are already gaining.