James Madison Preparatory School

 Alumni Newsletter 

Opportunity

During the Covid pandemic, while completing my MFA in Creative Writing, I saw an opportunity for my high school alma mater: 

I proposed and drove the creation of an alumni relations program at James Madison Preparatory School, my high school alma mater, in Tempe, Arizona, with the goal of connecting alumni and growing the school's donor network. This entailed me successfully pitching the idea for an alumni newsletter and working closely with school leadership to sell the idea and align on messaging. Now, I plan and produce all content using Mailchimp’s CRM software. I track readership and other KPIs with a test-and-learn mindset, reflecting on and adjusting our content strategy as we go. 

Sample Issues

Winter 2022 - Eight Minutes on Mars issue

Fall 2021 - Six Minutes of Orwell, Twitter, and "students losing their minds" issue

Spring 2022  - Thank you, donors! issue

Spring 2023 - Barbeque Food Truck issue

Summer 2022  - Broadway & D.C. issue

Data-driven Decisions

• Mail chimp data showed that alumni click more on alumni profiles than videos from former faculty so we reduced the video content and focused more on the written alumni profiles. 

• Data also shows that students open emails more quickly on a Tuesday or Thursday morning so we send out all messages at that time. 

Impact

The JMPS Alumni Dispatch currently reaches about 20% of our alumni population, with an email open rate of 67%.  We hope to eventually reach 90% of our alumni. 

Growth Strategy

Continue social media outreach and word-of-mouth to increase audience engagement and donations to the school. Advocate for and schedule in-person events to continue community growth.