Elevate your alumni magazine – and your fundraising

A professionally produced alumni magazine is a great way to share news and boost your alumni engagement. Done well, it gives you a platform for celebrating success and helps you demonstrate the impact of your development goals. It can also be key to fostering a sense of belonging that, for many alumni, triggers a powerful urge to give back.

So, how do you make the most of this important communications tool?

Design and publish

If you’re planning to publish an alumni magazine this year, now's the time to design your content. September to November is when most schools choose to mail out, using the publication to:

• Reflect on the past academic year
• Share staff changes and achievements
• Showcase recent events and reunions
• Launch or support a fundraising appeal
• Reconnect alumni with your school’s mission and future

Transforming alumni engagement at Solihull School

We recently worked with Solihull School to elevate their alumni magazine – from editorial planning through to full design and distribution. The result is a beautifully presented publication that’s on-brand, engaging, and supports the School's wider development plans. Scroll down to see a gallery of the finished magazine.

We also supported Solihull with a full suite of campaign materials for their latest fundraising endeavour which you can read more about in our fundraising case study.

"Working with Leigh and his team on campaign materials for Solihull School was not only a real pleasure but also key in the success of the project, helping us in communicating a clear and compelling message to potential donors. We built up such a creative rapport that we asked them to take over the design of our alumni magazine. On both projects from concept to final production, their attention to detail, creative flair, and professionalism ensured a high-quality result that perfectly captured the school’s ethos. The team was responsive, collaborative, and committed to delivering outstanding work. We highly recommend for any organisation looking for exceptional design and branding support." (Lucy Lunt, Director of Development and Alumni Relations, Solihull School)

At Gifted, we help schools and organisations take their alumni communications to the next level. Whether you've already decided on your content or need help developing it from scratch, we offer a complete service that includes:

• Full in-house design, aligned with your brand guidelines
• Content planning and editorial support
• Structuring your magazine with a strong narrative flow
• Selecting or advising on the right cover story
• Editing supplied stories for tone, consistency and impact
• Sourcing high-quality stock imagery or commissioning new photography
• A clear masthead (your magazine’s distinctive title and design header)
• Cover teasers and engaging pull quotes
• Feature story design
• News pages and alumni updates
• Colour-coded sections and photographic style variations for clarity and visual interest

We can also handle proofing and production, delivering an exceptional magazine ready for print and mailing to your alumni database. If you're looking to save costs, there's also the option to go with digital formats including flip-page editions and downloadable PDFs for your website and email distribution

Get in touch

If your alumni magazine needs a rebrand or a refresh, why not get in touch? Our Communications team can help you produce a publication that stands out for all the right reasons and actively supports your development strategy.