A new role and a fresh start

For years, alumni relations at Hills Road sat quietly, with no proactive fundraising behind it. The college had used ToucanTech once before, around 2015, but without anyone to look after it the network slowly faded. A volunteer-led Old Boys' network, inherited from the predecessor school, had also dwindled, and a pre-COVID attempt to relaunch in 2019 never got off the ground.

In February 2025, the college created a dedicated role to change that — and brought in Liz Brinsdon, from the charity sector, to lead fundraising and alumni engagement. A part-time colleague, Laura, joined a year later to focus on the website, social media, and nurturing engagement, freeing Liz to concentrate on major gifts. It's a small team — effectively one and a half people — covering both development and communications.

Rather than start from zero, Liz reactivated the existing database and launched a new alumni website at the very end of October 2025 — holding on to the records and information the college already had.

Why ToucanTech, again

The decision to return to ToucanTech was partly practical and partly personal. The platform already held the college's data, plus ToucanTech’s co-founder, Sian, is herself a former Hills Road student — a connection Liz loved.

For Liz, the real value is the link between the database, the newsletter, and the website — the everyday, low-pressure engagement that means alumni aren't only ever hearing from the college when there's an ask.

Rebuilding engagement, term by term

With active numbers low after years of dormancy, the strategy has been steady and deliberate — what Liz calls a "drip, drip, drip" approach. Termly newsletters and Laura's social media both point alumni back to the website.

The single biggest driver of growth has been a leavers survey, run with year 13 students each April. Around half opt into the network on their way out, adding more than 600 new members in a year — a fast and repeatable way to grow the mailing list.

The newsletter itself performs well, with an open rate of around 50% across the 6,000–7,000 alumni mailed each term. The team is steadily moving content into the body of the email, rather than relying on a click through to a PDF, which helps to lift engagement further.

Reunions are still being tested. This year's model was milestone anniversaries — 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 years — alongside a dedicated event for the Cambridge High School for Boys community. Several didn't gather enough traction and were paused, leaving the 30-year reunion and the predecessor-school event to go ahead. It's an honest and relatable learning curve, and the plan for next year is to broaden the approach — perhaps polling alumni first or grouping by decade.

Fundraising from the ground up

Hills Road had never fundraised much before, so the team is building the programme carefully. At its centre is the Shape the Future Fund — a flexible fund for anything above what state funding provides, from Social Action Week to outdoor spaces. Within it sits a bursary extras fund, which helps students from lower-income families take part in trips and opportunities they'd otherwise miss. A separate sport-focused giving circle speaks to alumni who played sports during their time at the college.

The first appeal went out a few weeks before the call — and was framed as sowing seeds rather than making a hard ask.

That first appeal brought in 10 to 15 gifts, including one significant donation. Just as important, the mechanics are working: funds are set up in ToucanTech, alumni can give directly through the platform, and a small handful of regular donors are now giving by direct debit.

The sixth-form college difference

This is where Hills Road's story stands apart from most schools and universities. Students are only at the college for two years, which changes everything about how — and how quickly — you build connection.

The team's answer is to build community first and fundraising second: create genuine, low-level engagement, invite modest one-off gifts, and over time draw out the supporters with the capacity and the affection to give more. Liz has already spoken one-to-one with 70 to 80 alumni since starting.

For a sixth-form college, the smooth supporter experience matters more than bells and whistles.

Looking ahead

The programme is still young, and the roadmap is firmly about building relationships:

• More fundraising messaging, layered in gradually as the community grows
• One-to-one contact with alumni — Liz's main focus, and the foundation for longer-term support
• Rethinking events — broadening beyond rigid milestone years, and possibly polling alumni or grouping by decade
• Exploring clubs for interests like sport or performing arts, further down the line

Mentoring is on the radar but approached with care — safeguarding makes student mentoring complex, and alumni-to-alumni mentoring needs the staff capacity to do it well.

Advice for other sixth-form colleges

• The database and comms link is the point. Low-level, regular engagement through a connected newsletter and website means alumni aren't only ever contacted with an ask
• Use the leavers survey. Capturing year 13 students before they go is the fastest, most repeatable way to grow the network
• Build community before you fundraise. With only two years to form a bond, modest engagement now lays the ground for meaningful giving later
• Don't underestimate the formative pull. Sixth-form alumni can feel a connection as strong as — sometimes stronger than — the one they feel for university