The University of Notre Dame Alumni Association recently unveiled an online engagement center with social-networking capabilities fit to engage — and elicit gifts from — even the feistiest of the Fighting Irish alums.

By Abny Santicola

The technology also makes it easier to manage alumni, which are, on the whole, very engaged. About one-fifth of alumni are dues-paying members of their local clubs, and a large number participate in local service projects. Irish Online offers the association a content-management system so it can keep a file that tracks alumni interests; what they want to hear about from the university; and what they want to know about their local communities. Having that information makes it easier for the alumni association to deliver alumni the information they want — the first step to breaking through marketing clutter.