Harris Connect

With ever-shrinking budgets, public high schools across the U.S. are realizing that their alumni are not only a valuable resource - but also a largely untapped one. The simple fact is that you can no longer afford not to cultivate a sense of community among your graduates.

The Role of the Alumni should never be underappreciated. Alumni are important in maintaining traditions and preserving continuity. They strengthen the school for the future. Making it obvious that alumni are important to the school will help insure a successful future for the school and its students. – National Association of Secondary School Principals

Make each graduate count.
Just as colleges, universities and private schools have for years - you too can leverage the power of your alumni. Your graduates are well-positioned to provide financial support to help bridge the growing gap between state funding and operational expenses, serve as volunteers to get a foundation or alumni association off the ground or act as mentors to existing students. And Harris Connect’s No-Cost Graduate Connection® Research and Directory Program is designed specifically to help you garner the support you need to accomplish all your goals. Just ask the over 2,000 public high schools across the U.S. that have already benefited from our more than 40 years of experience to:

• Launch fundraising appeals for equipment, teacher grants, sports and arts
• Create an alumni association or foundation, or strengthen an existing one
• Build a network of volunteers and mentors
• Rally support for school activities or referendums
• Create a Hall of Fame

Systematic research that works for you.
The challenge for public high schools, of course, lies in tracking down graduates after years of being out of touch. That’s why we begin with our proven, systematic research - often finding up to 70% of your graduates from as far back as 1945. Using whatever information you have, even if that’s just name and address when in school, we search through a vast array of public records and cross-reference our findings with the U.S. Postal Service’s National Change of Address (NCOA) to obtain current address information. We then reach out to your alumni by mail, email and phone to verify that we have the most up-to-date information available.

A valuable resource for you and your graduates.
For you, the result is a comprehensive database with complete alumni records that include personal and professional information, email addresses, names of spouses and children and more. We can deliver this data to you in virtually any format you need to work with your existing systems or we can offer you our own proprietary Reconnect database program. With this information literally at your fingertips, you can easily begin rebuilding relationships with your alumni.

Alumni profiles are also published in an attractive print directory, which serves as both a lasting keepsake and handy networking tool for your graduates. In addition, we can use the data gathered as the basis for building your Graduate Connection® Online site. With Web-based access to your directory, a useful Career Center, online ClassNotes complete with photos and Reunion Message Boards - your alumni will come back time and time again. And, most important, you will have the ability to do broadcast emails to all the alumni on scheduled events, fundraising activities, surveys or certain class years or your entire alumni base. Our Harris Connect alumni site is the only one to obtain Safe Harbor status with the U.S. Department of Commerce.

All at no cost to your school.
Our long-standing no-cost model has worked for over 2,000 public high schools across the U.S. already. Now is the time to bring your graduates back and secure the future of your school!

Read the success stories of other public schools that have partnered with us.