Most alumni programs cost the school money to run. The Business Directory does the opposite — it turns the alumni community into a sustainable source of revenue, often substantial enough to fund the entire platform.

What it is

The Business Directory is a paid listings directory that lives inside your alumni site, your school website, or any external page where you choose to embed it. Alumni and parent-owned businesses pay to list, the school sets the pricing, and the listings are displayed across your community to drive visibility and referrals.

It's the rare alumni-engagement feature that produces revenue rather than consuming it. And because the school controls the pricing and listing approval, the directory grows on terms the school sets.

Why the economics matter

An alumni program funded entirely by directory revenue is a fundamentally different proposition from one funded by the school's budget. It's self-sustaining, scales with the size of the alumni community, and demonstrates real value to the alumni businesses paying to participate.

Here's what the maths can look like across the schools running BD on Alumnly today. These figures use realistic ranges — what schools actually charge, how many listings they typically grow to over time. The Pro plan benchmark is the headline reference point ($11,388/year):

The directory grows over time. A school that starts with twenty listings in its first year often reaches sixty or eighty within two or three years, as alumni businesses see the listings driving real traffic and referrals.

The alumni community shouldn't be a line item on the school's budget. It should be a value exchange — and the Business Directory is the simplest way to make that exchange real.

How it works for schools

Standard and Premium

Each directory supports two listing plans. Schools configure both — the price, the features included in each, and whether listings are paid or free. Standard listings are typically straightforward business listings; Premium listings include enhanced visibility, larger imagery, and category prioritisation.

Listing pricing varies enormously across schools — some run entirely free directories to build community first and monetise later; others charge $500/year for Premium listings from day one. There's no right answer. The platform supports either model.

What you keep, what we charge

Subscription fees from business listings flow directly through your school's Stripe account. Alumnly takes no commission on directory revenue — every dollar collected belongs to your school. Stripe's standard processing fees apply, but no platform fee from us.

The directory is included in our Pro plan. There's no per-listing charge, no setup fee, no commission. The economic model is intentional: we want directory revenue to flow to the schools running it, because that's what makes the program sustainable.

Who's already running one

Schools using the Business Directory include Long Bay College, Salesian College Chadstone, Whitefriars College, St Bernard's College, Yarra Valley Grammar, and others. Two publicly visible examples worth looking at:

• Long Bay College Business Directory
• Salesian College Chadstone Business Directory

Worth knowing

The Business Directory is available on Pro plans and above. Schools on lower plans considering BD typically upgrade once they've grown their alumni community sufficiently to make the directory commercially viable — usually somewhere around 1,000 active alumni records.

alumnly  ·  Building stronger alumni communities for schools that take engagement seriously.