UTC Reading launches education initiatives with Advanced solution

UTC Reading, the leading University Technical College (UTC) in the UK, has chosen Donor Strategy from Advanced as its specialist solution management system. The UTC, recently rated outstanding by OFSTED, delivers computer science and engineering courses for 14-19 year olds in the Reading area and has industry partners including Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Network Rail, and Peter Brett Associates.

The implementation of Donor Strategy will be pivotal in the launch of two new education initiatives for the College. The first will be the introduction of an e-learning scheme for pupils where parents will be able to contribute to the provision of laptops, software and IT support over a two year period. Donor Strategy’s online alumni and supporter portal Web Connect will ensure that parents can make payments online through a direct debit sign-up scheme.

The College will also launch its own Alumni Network, where past pupils will be able to keep up to date with the latest news and events from UTC Reading as well as making financial donations. Donor Strategy will capture all this data together to support a community driven strategy. This will allow Industry Partners to keep in contact with alumni once they have left the College and started their apprenticeships, as well as manage all donations to the alumni scheme.

Michael Halliday, Business Relations Manager, UTC Reading, explains, “We turned to Advanced as we could see the benefits of implementing Donor Strategy and how it could help drive connections and manage financial contributions to the College.”

Donor Strategy, which will go live in September 2015, was also chosen for its intuitive analysis of donor and fundraising data in addition to its ease of implementation which will be deployed across the College.

Halliday says, “Donor Strategy will be able to import data from our school information system ensuring that we can launch our e-learning scheme and Alumni Network effectively. The education sector can truly benefit from the implementation of specialist management solutions and we are confident that other UTCs in the UK will soon see the benefits too.”

Simon Fowler, Managing Director at Advanced (Specialist Solutions) says, “This is an exciting development for the education sector particularly as UTC Reading will be able to deliver two new college schemes with the support of Donor Strategy. 

More and more educational institutions are starting to look at new methods of engaging with their pupils and the wider network. The implementation of Donor Strategy will ensure that the team at UTC Reading has a holistic view of its supporters and donors, from pupils through to their parents and alumni. With better managed campaigns we look forward to seeing an improved return on investment from UTC Reading’s fundraising and community engagement activities.”