Northeastern University
Global Reach, Personalized Impact: Modernizing Donor Relations Across 13 Global Campuses
The Challenge
Northeastern University has one of the fastest-growing alumni networks in higher education, spanning 13 global campuses and tens of thousands of supporters.
With such scale, donor relations faced two major challenges:
- Scaling personalization: Delivering meaningful, 1-to-1 experiences for a diverse global audience.
- Modernizing engagement: Moving beyond static, printed reports that lacked interactivity or measurable impact.
Northeastern’s stewardship team needed a way to streamline operations while deepening donor relationships across its worldwide community.
The Solution
Northeastern partnered with iFOLIO to launch a hybrid creative agency + technology model tailored for higher education philanthropy.
This approach enabled the university to deliver immersive, personalized digital reports that combine storytelling and data-driven insights. Each donor receives a secure, branded link (PURL) 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 iFOLIO platform also allowed the team to:
- Build 20+ standalone PURL templates for campaigns and 1-to-1 sends.
- Add unlimited personalization with data attributes.
- Expand 8 report templates to showcase up to 15 students.
- Automate outreach while preserving a high degree of personalization.
The Results
Global Reach
Seamlessly engaging supporters across 13 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 of recent reports and communications 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 is expanding to 1 Million touchpoints across the donor base per year.
