.svg){kind=logo}
Uniting alumni from four heritage schools under one inclusive community
AKS Lytham, a co-educational independent school in Lancashire, serves over 800 pupils from ages 0 to 18. The school was formed in 2012 through the merger of Arnold School and KEQMS (itself a merger of King Edward VII School and Queen Mary School), creating a unique challenge: engaging alumni from four distinct heritage schools, each with their own proud traditions (and in some cases, fierce rivalries!)
When Sarah Walton joined the school as Director of Development and Alumni Relations in September 2022, the school had no formal alumni program, no database, and no history of fundraising. Within just two and a half years, AKS Lytham has raised over £318,000 and built a thriving community of more than 1,200 registered alumni.
Starting from scratch with complex demands
The development office faced an unusually complex set of challenges. With four legacy schools came four separate alumni groups who still identified strongly with their original institutions — so strongly that Old Arnoldians and King Edward alumni couldn't comfortably sit at the same reunion dinner table.
Sarah and her lean team, who were essentially operating as a team of two, had to navigate:
- No alumni data beyond scattered pre-GDPR spreadsheets and word-of-mouth information
- Four distinct alumni identities requiring separate heritage-based engagement while building a unified foundation
- Limited resources to manage events, communications, fundraising, and database growth simultaneously
"We needed to respect each heritage school's identity while bringing everyone together under OAKS — the Old AKS alumni association. Everything had to start with building quality data from the ground up," Sarah said.
Launching OAKS Connect with strategic timing
In September 2022, with an ambitious three-month deadline, the team implemented ToucanTech as their all-in-one platform, and launched OAKS Connect on Boxing Day — strategically timed to coincide with the school's largest annual alumni event: a rugby match between Old Arnoldians and King Edward alumni that draws 1,000 attendees each year.
The launch was carefully planned to honour each heritage school. Business cards and flyers were created in each school's colours (green for Arnold, blue for King Edward, orange and brown for Queen Mary), which all led back to OAKS Connect. The team captured the event through photography and immediately created locked photo galleries that required registration to view — a tactic that became their most effective growth strategy.
"We had 200 people in hospitality and another 750-800 in the stands. That single event gave us the platform to share our story, and within the first 12 months, 800 alumni had registered."
Building a comprehensive engagement ecosystem
Today, ToucanTech serves as the complete infrastructure for AKS Lytham's development program, supporting everything from events to major gifts.
The platform powers 24 annual alumni events, from heritage-specific reunions to careers mentoring sessions, with ticket sales, RSVPs, and photo galleries all managed in one place. After each event, locked photo galleries drive new registration, with the Old Arnoldian Reunion Dinner alone generating 23 new signups from alumni eager to access photos.
Fundraising campaigns run entirely through the platform, from their first Giving Day (raising £30,000) to their new "Game Changer" regular giving program. The integrated payment processing, engagement tracking, and donor management tools make it possible for their small team to run sophisticated campaigns.
ToucaTech’s activity tracker has also become essential for team collaboration. With a shared inbox and multiple people supporting development work across marketing and events, anyone on the team can instantly see the complete engagement history with any alumni — from email opens to event attendance to donation history.
Careers and mentoring functionality also connect alumni with students through the platform. The team is rolling out "Beyond AKS," allowing sixth form students to register on OAKS Connect and be matched with alumni mentors, helping to create lifelong connections before students even graduate.
"The all-in-one nature of ToucanTech has been critical for us. We can't afford multiple systems or plugins. Being able to run events, manage donations, share galleries, and track engagement in one place means we can actually operate effectively as a team of two."
Remarkable results from a strategic approach
The impact has exceeded expectations. From zero alumni data to over 1,200 registered alumni (with an estimated 12,000 still to reach). From no foundation to launching the AKS Lytham Foundation in May 2023 and raising over £318,000 in just 2.5 years.
The school’s first Giving Day raised £30,000, and helped catch the attention of an Old Arnoldian who had quietly been watching the team's work. He explained that in his business, "you need 17 engagement touchpoints before making an ask," and through OAKS Connect, the team had done exactly that. He donated £50,000, plus another £50,000 a year later.
Year two fundraising reached £126,000, driven by a mix of major gifts, corporate partnerships, and a growing base of regular donors. Every event, photo gallery, and careers talk creates a pathway from initial engagement to eventual support.
"What really works is offering multiple ways to engage. Alumni might not be ready to donate, but maybe they'll attend an event, or speak to students about careers, or mentor a sixth former. Each touchpoint builds the relationship, and the activity tracker lets us see that journey really clearly."
Essential for ambitious small teams
The ToucanTech platform has been transformative for managing the team’s workload. When the development office merged with marketing due to budget pressures, ToucanTech's central system allowed the combined team to maintain momentum.
A single point of data entry eliminates duplication, automated email tracking removes the need for manual logging, and the ability to reconcile accounts directly through the platform streamlines financial reporting. Most importantly, the entire team can access and contribute to the database without confusion.
"For a busy department that wants to do it all, ToucanTech excels because we can accomplish so much with one system. If we had to manage separate platforms for our website, database, events, and payments, we simply wouldn't be able to deliver at this level."
Advice for other institutions starting their development journey
Start with data quality and growth. Alumni engagement and fundraising can only succeed with good data, and that database needs to keep growing. Make data management a top priority from day one.
Create a clear strategy with board approval. Get your headmaster, governors, and senior leadership team bought in with realistic expectations. The IDPE Benchmarking Survey helped AKS Lytham set appropriate goals and demonstrate progress.
Respect heritage while still moving forward. When dealing with merged schools, honour each institution's traditions through heritage-specific events while creating an inclusive umbrella identity for shared causes like bursaries.
Offer multiple engagement pathways. Not everyone is ready to donate, but they might attend reunions, mentor students, or speak about their careers. Each interaction works to strengthen the relationship.
Learn from peers. Visit other schools, attend conferences, and share best practice. The development community is remarkably collaborative because the fundamentals are universal.
Choose integrated systems. For small teams, having everything in one platform — website, database, events, payments, communications — isn't just convenient, it's essential for sustainable operations.
With ToucanTech as their foundation, AKS Lytham transformed from a school with no alumni program into a thriving community that's funding transformational bursaries and enriching student education through mentoring, and it was all accomplished by a lean team with a strategic approach and the right systems in place.
