Turn Alumni Connection Into Structured Giving
Connect To Give helps colleges and universities identify alumni leaders, organize peer-powered Giving Circles, and create a stronger path to multi-year financial investments.
What is often missing is a structured way to turn affinity into accountable, community-driven action that deepens connection.
Only 8% of Alums Give Back.
Schools do not need more asks. They need better strategies to form connection, foster trust, and fortify loyalty. Many institutions have alumni who care, but lack the strategy and systems to turn care into collective impact.
8%
Low Annual Giving
On average, only 8% of alums make annual financial contributions to their alma mater.
56%
Weak Endowments
The top 1% of institutions (around 36 schools) hold about 56% of all total endowment assets in the U.S.
11%
Increased Need for College Scholarships
Tuition costs have more than doubled over the past 30 years. Only 11% of college students will receive a scholarship.
Under-Givers & Sporadic Givers
Loyal alums who give inconsistently because there is no compelling case to invest and poorly stated value for the giver.
Emerging Givers Never Give
Alums who care but never make a financial commitment due to feeling disconnected.
Networks of Influence Untapped
Alumni relationships and peer connections remain disconnected from fundraising strategy.
Limited Staff Bandwidth
Advancement teams lack the structure to organize community-driven giving at scale.
A Different Premise
When alumni who share identity, trust, and purpose are organized into Giving Circles, schools can create stronger commitment, better accountability, and a more practical path to earlier and larger gifts over time.
A Practical Model for Peer-Powered Giving
Connect To Give helps schools organize the people, structure, and follow-through that donor circles require. The model starts with a school and a focused activation opportunity.
Institutional Context
The School
Provides priorities, audience focus, and appropriate access points for activation.
Operating Model
Connect To Give
Delivers strategic framing, activation support, and leader-identification approach.
Alumni Influence
Circle Leaders
Trusted alumni who mobilize peers around shared commitment and purpose.
Community Action
Donors
Participate in a social, visible, and accountable pathway to giving.
The Process
Identify leaders and opportunity areas
School + CTG
Organize a Giving Circle around shared purpose
CTG + Leaders
Support peer outreach and accountable follow-through
Leaders + Donors
Track progress and refine with the school
All Stakeholders
The Model Was Not Imagined in Theory
A Spelman-centered giving-circle story anchors the proof behind Connect To Give.
$500K
Endowed Scholarship
20+
Alumnae
100%
Participation
The strongest proof behind Connect To Give comes from real-world giving-circle work connected to Spelman. That story matters because it demonstrates the core premise: alumni relationships, leadership, and shared accountability can be organized in ways that support stronger fundraising outcomes.
Spelman College 2020 Visionaries
The Giving Circle that inspired Connect To Give
Ecosystem Fit
How CTG Integrates With Your Environment
Connect To GiveWorkflow Control
Data System
Designed With the Blackbaud Ecosystem in Mind
For many institutions, fundraising innovation only matters if it fits the operating reality of advancement work. That is why Connect To Give is framed with Blackbaud ecosystem relevance in mind.
Ecosystem Alignment
Positioned to support schools that already operate in the systems and workflows advancement teams know.
Institutional Relevance
Designed with the operating reality of advancement work in mind, not as an outside disruption.
Complementary Layer
The goal is not to replace institutional systems of record but to support activation and engagement.
Workflow Context
Connect To Give controls the workflow that drives data systems for the institutions.
Want to Help Activate Your School?
Claiming your school helps Connect To Give understand where alumni interest exists and who may want to lead, join, or support a Giving Circle.
From Pride to Participation
Pride
Alumni raise hand for their school
Signal
CTG captures school-level interest
Identify
Leaders and participants emerge
Activate
Future circles can be organized
How Alumni Interest Helps
Schools need more than passive goodwill. They need visible signals of where momentum, leadership, and shared purpose already exist. Claim My School helps create those signals.
Signal your connection and commitment to your school
Choose your level of participation in Giving Circles
Make institutional leaders aware of real alumni momentum
Receive updates on opportunities and next steps
Claim My School
Signal your commitment to your alma mater and help activate your school's Giving Circle.
Get StartedBecome a Pilot Partner
For institutions ready to explore a more structured approach to alumni activation and Giving Circles. The pilot path is designed for schools that see opportunity in underactivated alumni networks.
What Schools Provide
What Schools Receive
“Pilot participation is intended to be collaborative. Schools bring institutional context, priorities, and appropriate access points. Connect To Give brings the operating model, activation framework, and strategic support needed to shape, test, and refine the approach.”
Start with a conversation about fit, timing, and what a focused pilot could look like.
Built by Leaders Who Know the Work
Connect To Give is grounded in fundraising strategy, operational thinking, and lived experience with the donor behaviors the model is designed to address.
Tycely Williams
Co-Founder
Advancement Strategist
Tycely Williams is a veteran fundraising strategist and trusted relationship builder with nearly three decades of experience in advancement. Over her career, she has helped raise and manage over $600 million, building deep expertise in donor engagement, major gifts, and the relationship-centered strategies that drive long-term philanthropic growth.
At Connect To Give, Tycely brings the institutional insight and fundraising credibility behind the platform's mission to help schools unlock more giving through peer influence, shared purpose, and structured donor circles.
Britt Hogue
Co-Founder
Operator & Living Proof
Britt Hogue is a strategist, operator, and social impact leader with more than 20 years of experience designing and scaling multi-million-dollar solutions. A former investment banker and corporate strategist turned nonprofit management consultant, she brings both analytical rigor and firsthand donor insight to Connect To Give.
Britt also serves as the living proof behind the model: after years of giving to Spelman in small amounts, she joined a peer-led Giving Circle that helped mobilize a $500,000 endowed scholarship, demonstrating the power of connection, accountability, and collective giving to transform overlooked donors into major supporters.
Advancement Credibility
Direct relevance to donor behavior, institutional fundraising, and Giving Circle design.
Operator Perspective
Understanding of both the relational side of fundraising and the discipline to operationalize it.
Human-Centered Design
Bridging model design with human motivation and usability.
Proof Tied to Practice
Shaped by people who understand the challenges schools face with alumni giving.
When you work with Connect To Give, you work with people who have sat in advancement meetings, organized Giving Circles, written gift agreements, and experienced firsthand what it takes to turn alumni affinity into measurable participation.
Context, Proof, and Sector Relevance
Explore the resources, mentions, and ecosystem signals that help explain why this model matters.
Spelman Giving Circle Story
The flagship proof that anchors the Connect To Give model — $100K+ raised through intentional peer-led giving.
bbdevdays Hackathon Recognition
Connect To Give was recognized by Blackbaud for innovation in social impact technology at their annual developer event.
Giving Circles & The Missing Middle Donor
Research on how Giving Circles effectively engage mid-level donors through peer influence and community, from The NonProfit Times.
Our Founders Share the Connect To Give Story
Watch our founders discuss the origin of Connect To Give and their vision for peer-led alumni Giving Circles.
Questions Institutions and Alumni Will Ask
A clearer answer now saves time later. The FAQ section exists to remove predictable friction.
General
Connect To Give is a relationship-driven fundraising model that helps institutions activate alumni through structured Giving Circles, leader identification, and more organized follow-through.
This site is primarily for school-side decision makers, especially advancement leaders, operations stakeholders, and institutional sponsors exploring pilot participation.
No. It is positioned as a complementary activation model, not a replacement for your system of record.
For Schools
It helps schools organize alumni networks more intentionally, especially where under-givers, sporadic givers, and emerging donor leaders are present but underactivated.
A school would collaborate on scope, identify the right internal stakeholders, support the activation path, and help define success measures.
The public story is pilot-stage and partner-ready. The site should not imply that every future-state platform component is already live.
For Alumni
Claim My School is the alumni action path within Connect To Give. It lets alumni express interest, surface demand, and indicate whether they want to lead, join, or stay informed.
No. This is not a donation page. It is an interest and activation signal.
Your submission is reviewed as part of the broader Connect To Give process. You may receive updates, follow-up questions, or future activation opportunities depending on school readiness and initiative stage.
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