Wesleyan University drove almost 1,900 new users to its alumni & student platform with 74% consistently returning and engaging

Key stats
1,900
new users
1,900 new alumni platform users in one year
74%
return rate
74% consistently return and engage on platform
17%
of 7,000+
17% of platform users express an interest in mentoring
About Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University is a private, non-sectarian liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, founded in 1831. Wesleyan offers its 2,900 undergraduates and 200 graduate students a demanding educational environment that fosters creative, independent and experimental work. It has more than 40,000 alumni and a dedicated staff member managing the platform within the context of broader engagement programs.
The challenge
Wesleyan University faced growing interest from its alumni to build stronger connections both with fellow alumni and current students at the school. These alumni were looking for ways to not only engage but also to give back to the university.
Following some staff transitions, as well as a shift in digital platform usage coming out of the pandemic, Wesleyan’s existing alumni directory was not being fully leveraged to meet alumni and university needs. With Homecoming + Family Weekend 2023 fast approaching and needing a solution, Wesleyan faced the challenge of not only revitalizing the platform but also generating excitement and engagement around the upcoming public launch of their campaign, This Is Not A Campaign. This Is Wesleyan. It became clear that a major refresh and new rollout were necessary to reinvigorate alumni interest and create a thriving online community.
The solution
Wesleyan’s Engagement team embarked on a relaunch of its alumni platform in collaboration with Gravyty. The university relaunched the platform in tandem with the public launch of a capital campaign. By incorporating valuable information that ties directly to the giving campaign, alumni are incentivized to join and engage with the new platform.
The relaunch was also aligned with Wesleyan’s annual Homecoming + Family Weekend, and the platform was highlighted throughout the weekend. For the alumni engagement staff, the ease of use and ability to highlight upcoming and past events via the platform’s news feed and events calendar has been an engagement win. Wesleyan’s team, with support and best practices from Gravyty, planned out a dynamic content calendar, ensuring there was always something new posted to the feed, keeping the platform feeling fresh, organic, and exciting for its users.
Morgan Milhomens,
Associate Director of Advancement Event Operations, Wesleyan University
The outcome
In just one year, Wesleyan’s alumni platform welcomed over 1,800 new users. 74% of these new users have returned to visit the platform, consistently engaging with the university, other alumni, and current students. The robust content calendar has been instrumental in driving users to return to the platform as well.
Alumni themselves have started contributing more frequently on the platform posting directly to the feed and adding to the organic growth of the community. The most popular feature has been the alumni and student directory, which allows users to easily search for and connect with former classmates and other members of the Wesleyan community.
Even better, 17% of the 7,184 alumni and students using the platform have expressed interest in becoming mentors. By offering an easy and effective way for alumni to pursue mentorship, Wesleyan has created valuable career development opportunities for both mentors and mentees.

Solution spotlight
Gravyty’s alumni and community engagement platform enables schools to create a thriving community of alumni through a tailored network platform. With mentoring tools, exclusive groups, job and internship boards, and personalized multi-channel messaging at scale, the platform fosters deep connections and professional success. Automated mentor matching, milestone badges, video messaging, and custom survey tools further enhance the experience, allowing alumni to build lasting relationships and pursue career development opportunities.