Hi Brigitte,
Well done that you and your school are thinking about starting out the right foot.
I started an Alumni program from scratch 30 years on from my school’s establishment and began with 1000 lost Alumni to find :(
Re data to capture
> 1. Details of their name, DOB, start/end years (cohort) and bonus if you get anything else from time at school
> 2. Contact data – email (personal), mobile, postal & physical if possible which changes as they move around :)
> 3. Post school plans … usually related to study intentions
What I would focus on at this stage is your “WHY”. Specifically be clear about why they would continue to stay in touch.
> First year out reunion was a big part of that why for my program when I started.
> Ask the graduating year what they want ie survey them or run a focus group
I am very happy to walk you through what i did and wish I had done! if you’d like to get in touch.
I now work at toucantech.com which is an end to end Alumni CRM/platform and did use them as a customer to support my program.
This article might be of use to you https://toucantech.com/news/alumni-management/313/313-How-to-find-lost-alumni-and-build-your-contact-database
Cheers Merryn (Merryn@toucantech.com)