How Northeastern University Scaled Personalized Donor Engagement Across 14 Global Campuses with iFOLIO's PURL ABM
The Challenge
Northeastern University has one of the fastest-growing alumni networks in higher education, spanning 14 global campuses, each with its own distinct brand and community, unifying under One NU. Supporting a $1.7 billion campaign across tens of thousands of donors, NU's stewardship team faced three converging challenges:
With such scale, donor relations faced three major challenges:
- Scaling personalization: Delivering meaningful, 1-to-1 experiences across a diverse global donor base and 14 distinct campus identities, without scaling headcount alongside it.
- Modernizing engagement: Moving beyond static, printed reports with no interactivity and no way to measure whether donors ever engaged.
- Building a system: A repeatable infrastructure for personalization at scale, flexible enough to honor each campus's individual voice while supporting a unified NU brand.
Northeastern needed technology that could match the ambition of its campaign, streamlining operations while deepening relationships across a truly global, multi-campus donor community.
The Solution
Northeastern partnered with iFOLIO to launch a digital creative + technology model tailored for higher education philanthropy, powered by PURLS, iFOLIO's account based marketing (ABM) solution for 1-to-1 digital engagement at scale.
Each donor receives a secure, personalized PURL link featuring
- Rich media elements including video messages, animations, and interactive visuals.
- Personalized impact data tied to their specific fund or scholarship.
- Calls to action for continued giving or engagement.
- Real-time analytics to measure opens, click-throughs, and engagement time.
The System
The iFOLIO platform also enable the NU team to:
- Build 32+ standalone templates for reports, newsletters, and 1-to-1 sends.
- Apply unlimited personalization through custom data attributes.
- Automate report generation while preserving a high degree of personalization and each campus's distinct identity.
The Results
Global Reach
Seamlessly engaging supporters across 14 campuses.
Efficiency & Scale
Automating communications while customizing at the individual donor level.
Data-driven Strategy
Unlocking actionable insights through patented analytics.
Elevated Storytelling
Delivering engaging, branded digital reports that inspire giving.
Examples include:
The Impact Ahead
By pairing innovative digital storytelling with actionable data, Northeastern has set a new benchmark for modern donor engagement in higher education. With iFOLIO, the university is not only transforming annual reporting and impact communications, it is pioneering a model for global stewardship at scale.
After a successful transformation and template buildout, and building on strong results and donor feedback, Northeastern renewed their contract through 6 years with expanded volume.
