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 key is to engage alumni early and often, giving them a reason to come back. The least likely alumni to make a donation are those who have been out of school for one, two or three years, because they still don’t have much money at that point. But Nanni says it’s vital to get alumni in the habit of giving early, even if only at a modest level.