WGA Student &Alumni Portal

As many of you know, the WGA is looking for ways to spend $100,000 of its present surplus in ways that benefit the entire Wharton community. One student-generated idea is to provide a student/alumni portal that gives Wharton graduates a useful tool to keep in touch with friends, stay connected to the school, and network.

One of the key decision variables for the Committee will be measuring student and alumni support for the various ideas. With that in mind, wed like to try to get 4,000 students and alumni signed up on a petition before the March 3rd WGA Committee Decision deadline.

Presently, 4,000 of Wharton's 77,000 alumni have registered for the online alumni database, WAVE. When Stanford University launched an alumni portal, 5,000 friends were added to the alumni network the first day and by the end of the first month, there were 20,000 unique users.

One of the principal attractions of Wharton as a top business school and one of the reasons many of us chose to attend is the 77,000 strong alumni network. An alumni portal will strengthen the ties that bind alumni and students to the greater community of Wharton. Strengthening the Wharton community is the number one thing Wharton can do to strengthen its brand.

A Wharton Student/Alumni Portal is the perfect project for the WGA surplus. Students & young alumni, the very people who the surplus belongs to, would be the biggest beneficiaries. Without the proactiveness of the WGA, a portal might not happen for a long time. Finally, portals that have been successful at other schools can be launched at a cost within the $100,000 spending target. Here is how the portal could make Wharton better:

Students

Imagine having lifelong access to facebook content. Additionally, you would get enhanced features similar to what are available on social networking sites like Tribe.net & Friendster.com.
Trying to find Wharton alumni in a particular region, or at a particular company? With a networking tool like this, you'd be able to find those people, figure out who your mutual friends are, and have a key introduction made for you.
Club leaders can have a simple powerful tool to maintain valuable contact with club alumni.

Alumni
Looking out for Wharton grads would be almost as easy as checking your email. Imagine if you knew of a job opening at your firm that would be good for Wharton alumni, but didn't know how to inform the right people. You'd be able to determine who the opening is appropriate for: former members of a career or cultural club, alumni in a particular age range, or alumni who work for a particular company.
Want an easy way to invite Wharton grads in your area to a social event, with an "E-vite"-like way to manage RSVPs? In the first month of operation, Stanford's alumni portal was used to organize 150 alumni events.
Stay in touch with the communities you were a part of even after you leave. You'll be able to associate yourself with the organizations you belonged to, such as the Private Equity Club or Follies, and see what is going on with them. You'll receive communications and be able to see and search among all the current and alumni members.

Administration
This would be a great tool for faculty and administrators to disseminate research and extend the life of our Wharton learning experience in a similar vein to Knowledge@Wharton.... give finance professionals access to Jeremy Siegel's market commentary, and inform marketing professionals of the newest research on pricing or branding.
Students and alumni using the portal frequently would help External Affairs keep addresses updated. For example, in the first 3 months of operation of Stanford's alumni porta, they received over 8,000 updates to alumni contact information.
External Affairs would have a great way to let alumni know about fundraising efforts in a non-intrusive manner.
A Wharton Alumni Portal is the perfect project for the WGA surplus. Thank you very much.