The client is the alumni umbrella organisation of the FHNW whose branch office management has recently changed. Due to this shift, Alumni FHNW aimed to find out what the requirements and challenges of its members are, and which services they as an umbrella organisation should offer them. The members of the client consist of ten independent associations and one club.

Initially, a thorough literature review was undertaken to define the term alumni and research the purpose, mission, benefits and challenges of an alumni organisation. To understand how alumni networks work in practice, interviews with the CEOs of the alumni network of the University of St. Gallen and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich were conducted. Furthermore, representatives were interviewed to understand the requirements and challenges of the client’s members. Once the interviews were transcribed and encoded, the analysis was conducted and recommendations were formulated.

The most mentioned challenge by the representatives of the associations and the club was the acquisition of new members. Consequently, that area was voiced as a subject where the members would appreciate the support of Alumni FHNW. Based on these findings, this paper suggests becoming more active on social media in order to attract current students and recent graduates. Furthermore, it is recommended to welcome the bachelor’s and master’s degree students at the beginning of their studies and present the various benefits of an alumni membership. Most of the client’s members would appreciate a closer collaboration within the alumni community. This could be achieved by administering a retreat with all Alumni FHNW board members where ideas can be collected on how the client can better support its members and the collaboration can be improved, or by organising more events across different alumni organisations. It is of utmost importance to practice transparency and strive for a good exchange with everyone involved to ensure that the planned measures do not overstep the mark and are perceived as added value to all stakeholders.