Why Alumni Relations Offices Choose FlyFit

Alumni offices don't need convincing that engagement has slipped. Here's why more of them are turning to a mobile wellness platform to bring alumni back — and what that actually looks like in practice.

The Problem You’re Solving For

Alumni engagement is harder to sustain than it used to be. The data backs up what most advancement teams already feel:

• 49% of institutions report alumni engagement has declined or flatlined since 2020.

• 40% of alumni say they feel disconnected from their institution, and nearly half feel ill-informed about what it’s doing.

• 68% of institutions report opt-out rates rising or failing to improve — a 13-point increase since 2017.

• Alumni relations budgets have lost 16% of their spending power since 2016, even as teams are asked to do more.

The alumni who are engaged still care. Younger alumni especially haven’t stopped wanting to give back — they’re just more selective, and they expect the relationship to go both ways before they show up for the institution again.

That’s the gap FlyFit is built to close: a low-pressure, genuinely useful reason to open an app from your school, every day, not just during giving season.

Why Wellness Is the Right Wedge

Email newsletters and annual fund asks compete for attention alumni have already decided to tune out. A wellness challenge doesn’t. It gives alumni something for themselves — movement, community, a little friendly competition — while quietly rebuilding the habit of engaging with your institution.

That’s why fitness and wellness challenges have become one of the more effective tools in modern alumni relations: they’re inclusive (any class year, any fitness level, anywhere in the world), they create natural class- and chapter-based team structures, and they give alumni a reason to reconnect with each other, not just with the institution.

FlyFit turns that idea into infrastructure your office doesn’t have to build or maintain.

What Alumni Relations Offices Actually Get

Recurring engagement, not a one-off event

Most alumni touchpoints are single moments — a reunion weekend, one email, one ask. A FlyFit challenge runs for weeks, with alumni opening the app daily to log miles, check the leaderboard, and see how their class or chapter is doing. That’s weeks of consistent brand contact instead of one.

Built-in community structure

Alumni are grouped into teams — by class year, chapter, region, or however you want to organize them — so the challenge naturally surfaces the class-and-chapter identity your office already relies on for everything else, from reunion giving to regional events.

Real engagement data, automatically

Every mile logged, streak kept, and leaderboard check is a signal of who’s active and paying attention. That gives your office a live, low-effort way to see which classes or chapters are most engaged — useful input for segmenting outreach, without extra staff time spent tracking it manually.

Zero lift on your end

Fly Bodies sets up and runs the challenge — branding, teams, prizes, leaderboard, support — so your office gets the engagement outcome without adding a project to your team’s plate.

How It Works

1. We build your challenge. Custom teams, prizes, branding, and timeline, based on how your alumni are organized.

2. Alumni join through the FlyFit app. They pick their team — class year, chapter, whatever structure you choose — and their steps and mileage track automatically.

3. The leaderboard keeps it going. Real-time standings, team feeds, and progress tracking give alumni a reason to check back in day after day.

4. We wrap with a celebration. Final standings, stats on participation, and — if you want — a tie-in to your alumni fund or a cause your community cares about.

More Than a Step Counter

FlyFit is a full wellness platform, which means the engagement doesn’t stop when the challenge ends. Beyond the challenge itself, alumni who download FlyFit get:

• Wearable sync — Apple Health, Google Health Connect, and Fitbit connect automatically, so there’s no manual logging friction.

• Workout tracking — alumni can log and revisit their own training, keeping a reason to open the app between challenges.

• Wellness content — quizzes, tips, and blog posts on nutrition, fitness, and mental well-being give your alumni office a channel for positive, non-ask communication.

That means the relationship your office builds during a 30-day challenge has somewhere to live for the other 335 days of the year.

The Track Record

• 195,000+ miles tracked

• 100+ challenges administered for organizations

• 2,500+ movement streaks maintained by users

• 1,600+ workouts logged

Why It Pays Off

Institutions with strong, structured alumni engagement programs see donor participation rates up to 40% higher than those without one. Engagement isn’t just a warm feeling — it’s the leading indicator for giving, event attendance, and long-term alumni relationships. A recurring wellness touchpoint is one of the more straightforward ways to move that number without adding another ask to your calendar.

Give Your Alumni a Reason to Reconnect — Not Just a Reason to Give

Talk to a specialist, get custom pricing for your alumni population, and launch within days. Reach out at admin@flybodies.co or (424) 262-1031, or visit flybodies.com/lead-collection to see how a Fly Bodies alumni challenge works.