St John’s College, a residential college in the University of Sydney, is the second oldest college and is home to over 250 undergraduate and postgraduate students each year. Over 10% of St John’s College students come from overseas, so an online community is essential keeping in touch with their global alumni network. They launched their first online community in November 2020 and have since had over 450 sign ups to the platform, powered by ToucanTech.  

The online community is a celebration of their alumni achievements, as well as a place for alumni to connect with one another, access the mentoring programme, join clubs and read the latest updates from the college.  

“We have been very impressed with ToucanTech and the functionality of the portal. The integrated forms, news, email engine, events system, groups, mentoring, payments and branded app is a complete CRM solution for engaging with our alumni and supporting our philanthropic goals. The support team is very responsive and helpful and having a friendly, knowledgeable, local ToucanTech support person in Sydney is a definite bonus.” 

Sanchia Osborn, Associate Director of Philanthropy and Alumni Relations,
St John's College (within the University of Sydney) 

‘Where are they now’ alumni profile series 

To celebrate 20 years of women attending St John’s College, they have launched an alumni profile series. Their first series is focused on the proud alumnae of the college, with former students from 2002 to 2018 sharing their experiences and career paths. From starting an independent swimwear business, to being awarded an MBE for services to the environment, St John’s College alumnae have had illustrious and fascinating careers and it’s great to see them celebrated. 

The news page of the alumni portal is a wonderful way for alumni to hear the latest news about their alma mater, sharing updates on both the current school and alumni network. In their latest update, they shared an inspirational story on the two St John’s alumni who won gold at the Tokyo Olympics, plus a great video from their virtual open day, which had over 100 attendees from all over Australia.  

The team at St John’s College are also making great use of galleries to house alumni images past and present and running active fundraising campaigns and events. Their online alumni community is already a hive of activity, packed with content and new members joining every month - we can’t wait to see what this community can achieve over the next year! 

To find out more about building your own online community, with an integrated CRM, email engine and database, speak to a member of the ToucanTech team.