Alumni relations glossary: key terms defined

Engagement and community terms

Alumni relations: Alumni relations is the work an institution does to build lifelong relationships with its former students, through communication, events, career support, volunteering and giving. It is usually run by an alumni office or cell, often with a volunteer alumni association.

Alumni association: An alumni association is an organised body of former students, often legally registered, that represents alumni and runs activities with or alongside the institution. In India it is commonly registered as a society, a trust or a Section 8 company.

Alumni engagement: Alumni engagement is the degree to which alumni actively participate with their institution and each other — attending events, mentoring, volunteering, giving or reading communications.

Engagement score: An engagement score is a single number that summarises how active an alumnus is, calculated from activities such as events attended, donations, posts, connections and mentoring. Connect My Alumni calculates an engagement score from these activities in the analytics dashboard.

Alumni chapter: An alumni chapter is a local or interest-based group of alumni — usually by city, region or country — with its own leads and events. Chapters keep alumni connected between large reunions.

Batch representative: A batch representative is an alumnus who acts as the point of contact for their graduating class, helping the alumni office reach and organise that batch.

Reunion: A reunion is an event that brings a graduating class or several classes back together, often on a milestone anniversary such as 10, 25 or 50 years.

Alumni directory: An alumni directory is a searchable list of alumni profiles, usually visible only to verified members, with filters for batch, location and profession.

Alumni verification: Alumni verification is the process of confirming that a person who signs up is a genuine former student, for example by matching records, reviewing documents or admin approval.

Alumni mentorship: Alumni mentorship pairs experienced alumni with students or younger alumni for career and academic guidance.

Official sources: Societies Registration Act, 1860 (India Code)

Related: All alumni platform features · Engagement analytics

Fundraising and tax terms

Annual fund: An annual fund is a recurring yearly appeal for unrestricted gifts that support an institution’s general needs.

Endowment: An endowment is a fund whose principal is invested and preserved, with the returns used to support purposes such as scholarships or chairs. The legal and accounting treatment of endowments in India depends on the entity holding them; take professional advice.

Restricted gift: A restricted gift is a donation the donor has designated for a specific purpose, such as a named scholarship or a lab, which the institution must use only for that purpose.

Donor stewardship: Donor stewardship is how an institution thanks, informs and reports back to donors about the impact of their gifts, to build trust and repeat giving.

80G: 80G refers to the provision of India’s Income-tax law that allows donors to claim a deduction for donations to eligible institutions holding a valid 80G registration. Eligibility, limits and procedures change; India’s new Income-tax Act, 2025 may renumber provisions. Verify with the Income Tax Department or a tax professional.

12A / 12AB registration: 12A (now 12AB) registration is the income-tax registration that lets an eligible charitable trust, society or Section 8 company claim exemption on its income. Check the Income Tax Department’s official guidance for current rules and section numbers.

Section 8 company: A Section 8 company is a not-for-profit company registered under the Companies Act, 2013 to promote objects such as education or charity, which cannot distribute profits to members.

Official sources: Income Tax Department: 12A/12AB and 80G · Societies Registration Act, 1860 (India Code)

Related: Alumni fundraising guide · Registering an alumni association

Data protection, accreditation and platform terms

DPDP Act: The DPDP Act is India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023, which sets rules for how organisations collect and process digital personal data, including consent and data principal rights. Rules under the Act set out implementation details and timelines; verify current status with the official source.

Data fiduciary: Under the DPDP Act, a data fiduciary is the organisation that decides why and how personal data is processed — for alumni data, usually the institution.

NAAC criterion 5.4: NAAC criterion 5.4 is the Alumni Engagement key indicator in NAAC’s accreditation framework, looking at the contribution of a registered alumni association to the institution.

Alumni microsite: An alumni microsite is a branded public website for an alumni community, showing news, events, stories and a sign-up path into the private portal.

Admission referral: An admission referral is a recommendation by an alumnus of a prospective student — often their own child or a relative — to the institution.

Official sources: NAAC (official site) · Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (MeitY)

Related: DPDP Act and alumni data · NAAC alumni criteria

How do these terms fit together in practice?

A typical alumni programme in India brings most of these ideas together. The institution, acting as data fiduciary under the DPDP Act, keeps an alumni directory and verifies who joins. The alumni association, perhaps registered as a society, trust or Section 8 company, runs reunions and chapters with the help of batch representatives. The alumni office tracks engagement scores to see who is active, invites engaged alumni to mentor students, and runs an annual fund alongside restricted gifts for named scholarships, issuing 80G certificates if the receiving entity is registered. The same records later help with NAAC documentation.

Connect My Alumni supports the operational side of this — directory, verification, events, chapters, mentorship, donations, elections, analytics and a branded microsite — on one platform with INR pricing.

Official sources: NAAC (official site) · Income Tax Department: 12A/12AB and 80G · Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (MeitY) · Societies Registration Act, 1860 (India Code)

Related: Pricing · Request a demo