See the alumni you’re team is missing
Your alumni are getting promoted, changing companies, starting their first jobs, stepping into leadership — right now. We find those moments, draft the outreach, and deliver it to your team ready to send. Starting with your newest graduates.
Spark Plug is a managed service — not software. We do the research and deliver a finished report. Nothing for your team to install, learn, or manage.
No obligation • No IT involvement • Delivered in 7 days
THE RESEARCH IS CLEAR
Alumni don't feel known. The cost is real.
The 2026 National Alumni Survey — 82,000+ alumni across 31 institutions — confirms what practitioners have sensed for years: most alumni don't believe their institution knows who they are. Not their career. Not their interests. Not what they care about. Meanwhile, 82% of alumni are actively giving — just not to their alma mater.
14%
feel their institution understand their career
The other 86% feel partially or completely unknown.
42%
don't consider their alma mater a philanthropic priority
That rises to 59% among Gen Z graduates.
24x
more likely to donate when they feel "very connected"
Connection is the strongest predictor of giving.
$500K+
average lifetime giving when alumni feel "extremely well known"
Versus under $4,000 when they feel not known at all.
Source: 2026 National Alumni Survey — 82,252 respondents across 31 colleges and universities
WHAT WE DO
We find what your alumni are doing right now — and prepare the outreach for you.
Your team doesn't need another platform. It needs someone to do the research, identify the moments that matter, and deliver a finished product you can act on immediately.
Step 1: Research
We see what your CRM can't.
Our data partner monitors 18 public data sources — not just LinkedIn — surfacing current, verified career signals across your alumni base, with 70–80% coverage on most institutions.
Step 2: Prioritize
We identify the moments that matter.
Not every update warrants outreach. We surface the moments that are meaningful, timely, and realistic for your team to act on — starting with your newest grads and scaling out from there.
Step 3: Deliver
We hand you outreach, ready to send.
Your team receives a finished Activation Pack: named alumni with strategic context and draft outreach for each — personalized, in your team's voice, ready to send or adapt.
We do the work. Your team reviews and decides what to send. No software to install. No CRM integration. No new platform to learn. The first finished deliverable lands within a week.
WHAT YOU RECEIVE
Not a data feed. A finished deliverable.
Every Proof Scan, Intelligence Workspace and Activation includes strategic intelligence and ready-to-use outreach — not raw data for your team to interpret.
Each activation card recommends specific engagement pathways tailored to your institution
START HERE
See what you're missing — for free.
We'll research your alumni base and deliver a finished Proof Scan showing what's actually happening right now — career moves, leadership changes, geographic shifts — with strategic context and sample outreach your team can use. It's not a sales pitch. It's proof of what's out there.
No data uploads · No CRM access · No obligation · Delivered in about a week
WHY WE START WITH RECENT GRADS
The promise was made at orientation.
"We told them this network would last a lifetime. The first 12 months is when we either prove it — or quietly break it."
Every alumni office inherits a promise made at orientation: that the relationship would last, that the network would matter, that the alum would be seen. The 12 months after graduation is when that promise is either kept or quietly broken — and it's the window where most institutions go silent.
That's why every Spark Plug engagement now starts with your most recent graduating class. It's the segment with the densest career signals, the highest lifetime giving upside, and the lowest institutional visibility. Get the first 12 months right, and you've built the foundation for everything that comes after.
$500K+
Lifetime giving when alumni feel "extremely well known"
Versus $3,732 when they don't. The trajectory is set early — most often in the first decade post-graduation.
First 12 mo.
When career signals are densest
First jobs, location moves, grad school decisions, founder moments. Recent grads generate more recognizable signals per capita than any other cohort — and almost none reach the institution.
86%
Of alumni feel partially or completely unknown
The gap starts in year one. Recent grad activation is how you stop it from becoming permanent.
HOW TO WORK WITH US
Start with proof. Scale when you’re ready.
Three ways to engage — one free, two paid. Every paid engagement starts with your Class of 2026 cohort and expands from there. Annual pricing scales with your alumni population.
START HERE
Proof Scan
FREE
No obligation · Delivered in about a weekA finished report showing one specific alumni opportunity visible in the data but invisible in your CRM. A named alumnus at a notable moment, a geographic concentration without programming, or a recent-grad pattern worth investigating.
Built from your actual alumni base
Class of 2026 cohort cut included
One named insight with strategic context
Sample outreach your team can adapt
INTELLIGENCE LAYER
Alumni Intelligence
from $5,000
Annual flat fee · Alumni-population-basedTwelve months of historical alumni signal data, plus quarterly refreshes and strategic recalibration calls. The intelligence layer — built for teams who want clear sight on their alumni and prefer to handle outreach in-house.
Interactive, drillable workspace — every alumnus named
Quarterly refreshes + analytical narrative
30-min strategic recalibration call each quarter
100% credit toward Always-On if you upgrade
FULL OPERATING CAPABILITY
Always-On Activation
from $18,000
Annual · Alumni-population-basedThe full operating system. Continuous monitoring, weekly Activation Packs, intelligent routing across colleges and officers, and Spark Plug IQ live for your team. Alumni engagement as an institutional capability — not a campaign cycle.
Continuous monthly signal monitoring
Weekly or bi-weekly Activation Packs
Intelligent routing by college, officer, region
Spark Plug IQ live for your full team
Quarterly strategic recalibration
BUILT BY A PRACTITIONER
“I spent 20 years as the person in the seat you’re in now. I built the service I always wished I had.”
I led alumni engagement and annual giving at Ohio University, Ohio State, Western Governors University, and the University of Oregon. I watched alumni hit career milestones my team never saw and sent outreach that arrived months too late. Spark Plug exists because I know what it's like to care deeply about this work — and not have the visibility to do it well.
Erin Essak Kopp | Founder & CEO, Spark Plug
“This surfaced alumni moments we care about — but don't consistently see. It immediately felt usable.”
— Director of Alumni Engagement, Private University
Start with proof, not a pitch.
See what’s already happening for your alumni — and what becomes possible when those moments don’t pass quietly.
No obligation · No IT involvement · Delivered in about a week