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"From an operations standpoint, having our entire system on the Kintera Sphere® platform has enabled us to increase efficiency and control our costs." Mark Wilcomb,Director of Operations, WSU Alumni Association |
The Washington State University Alumni Association is focused on proactively increasing WSUAA membership and expanding the ways alumni and friends of WSU can become meaningfully engaged with the University. There are more members than ever before in the history of WSU. In the past year alone, more than 4,500 alumni and friends have joined (more than in any other one-year period ever). The WSUAA is now the fastest-growing alumni association in the Pac-10. We've dramatically increased and enhanced the vast array of benefits and services all WSUAA members enjoy. Today, more than ever before, it truly pays to be a member of the WSUAA. Additionally we've expanded the Association's involvement in alumni outreach, student recruitment, equity and diversity initiatives, and University advocacy, to name just a few. Membership is now more meaningful than ever, which helps to explain why so many new members have joined.The WSUAA is making a significant difference for WSU.Like many alumni associations, the Washington State University Alumni Association struggled to increase its Internet presence. And like many alumni associations, they chose Kintera to help create a Web presence that met the association's strategic goals.
Before implementing Kintera's Alumni Engagement Center solution, WSU's alumni Web site had few pages and only offered basic information. The site had no automation and was difficult to maintain. Jud Preece, WSU Alumni Association's director of marketing notes, "Our Web site consisted of a few pages within the University's site and didn't meet the growing online needs of alumni and friends of WSU.We couldn't update our pages easily and if something was down or not working, we had limited ability to fix it."
The WSU Alumni Association wanted a robust Web site that had more features, was easy to maintain, and would help the Association improve its branding. Most importantly, the site needed to help the Association meet its strategic goals. From both a marketing and operational perspective, Kintera's Alumni Engagement Center was the only solution that integrated everything the Association wanted and needed into one comprehensive platform.
"From an operations standpoint, having our entire system on the Kintera Sphere® platform has enabled us to increase efficiency and control our costs," said Mark Wilcomb,WSU Alumni Association's director of operations. "The backend reporting has really helped make us more efficient and we were able to leverage Kintera's solution to create a new Web site without waiting to hire a web designer or IT specialist."
With Kintera's Alumni Engagement Center Solution, the Association has been able to give alumni a dynamic, interactive Web site where visitors can easily find what they want. Whether they want to become a member, find alumni events in their area, or become involved in the university, the opportunities are all right there on the home page. "All the major key points of our strategic plan are right on the Web site," said Preece. "We really had no idea how much it would take to create a Web site that met our needs and those of our alumni, but with guidance from Kintera and researching other universities, we are 100 percent confident that we made the right decision and are on the right track."
Kintera's solution has revolutionized what the small-staffed association can do. It has given Wilcomb access to world-class tools that are just a click away. Kintera's robust content management solution gives him the ability to easily enable almost any sophisticated feature that his co-workers may request.
"Click, click, and I'm done," he said.
Overall, the Association couldn't be more impressed or relieved by the Kintera solution. To have the capability to update their site as needed is rewarding and saves the association a significant amount of time.
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