Give Alumni a Place to Tell Their Stories
Give alumni a place to tell their stories, and turn the best of them into public-facing content that brings your community to life — with full admin control over what gets published.

Overview

The Alumni Stories module lets your alumni share their own stories — career journeys, memories, milestones, reflections — directly on your platform. Admins decide whether stories publish automatically or require approval first, so you stay in control of what appears.

Approved stories display on your Alumni Stories page inside the platform. Stories marked as public can also appear on your landing page, where anyone visiting your site can read them — no login required. It's a simple way to turn genuine alumni voices into some of the most compelling content your school can share.

Why use Alumni Stories

Alumni stories are among the most powerful engagement content a school has — but they're usually locked away in newsletters, or never captured at all. This module makes it easy for alumni to contribute their own stories, and easy for you to curate and showcase them.

✍️ Alumni tell their own stories Alumni submit stories directly from their profile — no need for staff to write on their behalf.

You stay in control Choose whether stories publish automatically or require admin approval before going live.

🌏 Showcase publicly Mark stories as public to display them on your landing page, readable without logging in.

Feature your best Highlight standout stories at the top of the page as featured stories.

🗂️ Organised by category Group stories by theme — community, networking, and any categories you create.

📅 Publish on your schedule Schedule stories to go live at a specific date and time.

Getting started

There are two quick setup steps before stories start flowing: configuring your approval settings, and adding categories.

1. Configure your settings

From Alumni Stories → Setup, you can configure:

  • Notification email — the email address that receives a notification when an alumnus submits a story to view and/or approve.
  • Approval requirement — choose whether alumni stories publish automatically, or whether they require admin approval before appearing on the platform.
     

2. Add categories

From Alumni Stories → Categories, click Add Category to create categories that help organise your stories — for example Community or Networking.

Enter the name of the category and save. You can edit or delete categories from this same page at any time.

Managing stories

The Alumni Stories → Stories page is your control centre. From here you can add stories, access setup, and see the total number of published stories. Stories are organised across three tabs:

  • Published — all stories that are live, including those added by admins and alumni stories you've approved.
  • Pending Approval — alumni-submitted stories waiting for review, shown here only when your setup requires approval before publishing.
  • Archived — stories you've archived.
     

For any published story, the action buttons let you View the story, Preview how it appears to alumni, Edit it, or Delete it.

Adding a story as an admin

Click the Add Stories button and complete the following:

  • Title — the title of the story.
  • Description — the body of the story.
  • Cover image — an image for the story, such as an alumni photo.
  • Featured story — mark a story as featured to display it at the top of the stories page.
  • Visibility — choose private or public. When private, only logged-in alumni can view the story. When public, non-alumni visitors can read it from your landing page.
  • Publishing schedule — enter a specific date and time to publish the story.
  • Categories — select a category to organise the story.
     

Stories added by an admin do not require approval — they publish according to the visibility and schedule you set.

How it works for your alumni

From the Alumni Stories page, alumni have two areas:

  • Explore Stories — where alumni browse and read all published stories.
  • My Stories — where alumni submit and manage their own stories.
     

An alumnus can submit multiple stories, and all of them live in their My Stories area. When approval is required, a submitted story stays there until you review and approve it — at which point it publishes to the Explore Stories page for everyone to read.

While a story is still awaiting approval, the alumnus can edit or delete it themselves. Once a story is approved and published, only admins can edit or delete it — keeping your live content stable and under your control.

Showcasing stories on your landing page

When you mark a story as public and Alumni Stories is activated for display on your landing page (Site Settings → Landing Page Builder), that story becomes readable by anyone visiting your site — no login needed. This is the setting that turns a great alumni story into public-facing content that helps tell your school's story to prospective families, donors, and the wider community.

Stories left as private remain visible only to logged-in alumni within the platform.

Frequently asked questions

  • Do alumni stories go live automatically? That's your choice. In Alumni Stories → Setup, you decide whether submitted stories publish automatically or require admin approval first.
  • Who gets notified when an alumnus submits a story? The email address you set in Setup receives a notification to view and/or approve the submission.
  • Can alumni edit their story after submitting? Yes — until it's approved and published. While a story is pending approval, the alumnus can edit or delete it. Once published, only admins can edit or delete it.
  • What's the difference between private and public stories? Private stories are visible only to logged-in alumni within the platform. Public stories can also be displayed on your landing page and read by anyone, without logging in.
  • Can I highlight particular stories? Yes. Mark a story as a featured story to display it at the top of the stories page.
  • Can I schedule a story to publish later? Yes. When adding a story, use the publishing schedule to set a specific date and time.
  • What happens to stories I no longer want displayed? Archive them. Archived stories move to the Archived tab and no longer appear as published.

Related help

Landing Page Builder — customize your alumni landing page to create a professional branded experience for your visitors.

Membership Payments — collect one-time or recurring alumni membership dues automatically.

SIS / SMS Integration — automatically invite students to your alumni community when they leave school.