By establishing a structured system for alumni membership collections, SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRMIST) has generated over ₹4 crores in fees over the past six years. As of October 2025, the institution has already collected ₹70 lakhs from its outgoing final-year students and ensured every student registers on the alumni portal before graduation.
Vaave supported this effort by enabling membership payments through the portal and streamlining reconciliation and reporting, making the entire process faster, transparent, and significantly more manageable. This structured approach has helped SRMIST turn membership fee collection into a well-managed operational process, rather than a separate initiative requiring additional time and resources.
Aspirations & Challenges
The institute-managed alumni association of SRMIST had long hoped to build a large alumni corpus fund by collecting membership fees from alumni and final-year students. The fund was intended to support institutional development and provide benefits to paid members, helping strengthen their relationship with the alma mater even after graduation.
The alumni association relied on offline fee collection, and limitations with their previous portal vendor, AlmaConnect—particularly around support and feature flexibility—made the experience cumbersome. This prompted the institution to explore solutions better suited to their goals. After evaluating options, they chose Vaave, impressed by its intuitive portal flow, and engagement-oriented features such as newsletters and dashboards.
The Approach: Strategy Meets Technology
The alumni association devised a smart strategy to secure consistent portal registrations and membership fees. With nearly 7,000 students graduating each year, the institution identified the potential of this massive would-be alumni base and decided to integrate the process into an existing academic requirement. Days before final-semester exams begin, students must obtain a No Objection Certificate (NOC), and SRMIST made alumni portal registration and payment of the life membership fee a mandatory step in securing it.
To handle payments at this scale smoothly, Vaave digitized the entire process through a comprehensive fundraising module with an integrated payment gateway for seamless transactions. Students can register on the portal, pay the fee, and instantly become life members of the association. To maintain transparency and operational ease, Vaave also enabled transaction and settlement reports and supported payment reconciliation.
Here’s a sample payment representation that comes in the new user registration process:
Through this approach, SRMIST not only built a significant alumni corpus fund but also achieved something many institutions overlook — a registered alumni database (~70%) that now serves as the foundation for long-term alumni engagement.
Conclusion
SRMIST’s journey demonstrates that alumni membership collection doesn’t have to be complex, manual, or inconsistent. With a clear strategy, a structured process, and the right technology, the institution transformed a long-standing challenge into a sustainable system that delivers both financial and operational value.
Today, the alumni association not only holds a substantial corpus fund but also maintains a verified alumni base that strengthens communication, engagement, and long-term community building. SRMIST’s success stands as a strong example for institutions looking to streamline alumni membership processes and build meaningful alumni relationships at scale.
