Blackrock College, a day and boarding school in Dublin, Ireland, has a thriving alumni network with its association, Blackrock College Union, dating back to 1898. Their mission to connect alumni and the college is upheld across the world, with branches of the union across Ireland, Great Britain, North America and the world. The union works closely with the college, playing a key role with events such as careers talks, interviews, debates and the graduation ball.

Meteoric rise in online members

Blackrock College Union is the largest past pupil’s union in Ireland, and it was clear how engaged their members were as their online members quickly rose past 1,000 in under one month, and reached over 2,000 in February 2021. When launching their new site, the Union clearly showed how to sign up to their private community portal by creating a profile, including screenshots of all the brilliant content such as college and school news, event round-ups and past pupil highlights, that has been added to the site ready for members to explore. 

Supporting the Union through events

Blackrock College has a wide range of notable alumni, including many budding and seasoned entrepreneurs. They were thrilled to have been able to go ahead with their Businessman of the Year event, with over 50 attendees. Through their event registration on their site, they offered the chance to make a voluntary contribution to the Union, and raised €1,170 in just five days. 

Keeping up to date with the whole community

Blackrock College Union has a buzzing news page, covering updates from the Union, College and alumni. With over 1,800 views of their news articles last month, members have been enjoying reading about what their peers have been up to through their ‘Past pupils Q&A’, write ups of reunions around the world, as well as charitable efforts from the Union and its members.

Building engagement through clubs

With the new club management feature, the Union has appointed over 20 keen volunteers to manage different clubs for their members to join. From regional branches in the UK, America and Asia-Pacific, to individual year group clubs, and even a golf club, members can now connect with those sharing their interests and organise events. 

The Blackrock College Union online community has had an incredibly successful first few months and with such a highly engaged alumni network, they will continue to create opportunities for their members and forge valuable connections.

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