The Terrilink blog
Analyses, field feedback, and best practices for running an alumni network or diaspora. Written for directors and community managers who want to move forward without fluff.
Latest articles
Multi-campus alumni networks: one database, several identities
Three campuses, two merged schools: why one database per site costs more than it returns, and the four governance decisions to settle before choosing a tool.
Read the article → Business ClubBusiness club meeting minutes: structure, template and tracking
Good minutes are not an archive: they are the starting point of the next meeting. The structure, a reusable template, and how to track decisions and business referrals.
Read the article → Business ClubWhich legal structure for a business club? Association loi 1901, company or informal
A business club that wants a bank account, dues, or contracts needs a legal existence. How to structure it — association loi 1901, company or informal — with the official French texts and the no-profit-sharing red line you must never cross.
Read the article → Business ClubBusiness referrals in a club: recommendation or paid referrer? The legal framework
In a business club, members recommend clients all the time — free of charge and free of consequences. But the moment a referral is paid via commission, a precise legal and tax framework kicks in. What triggers obligations, backed by official French sources.
Read the article → Business ClubThe ROI of a business club: measuring and proving the value you create
A business club rarely loses members for lack of value — it loses them for lack of proof. How to measure the real business value your members exchange, confirmed by the beneficiary, and turn it into a president's dashboard that justifies every renewal.
Read the article → Alumni2026 alumni networks barometer: the key numbers (sourced)
The 2026 reference figures to run an alumni network: graduate employability (CGE 2025), the network's weight in jobs and rankings, and the software market. Every figure sourced and dated.
Read the article → AlumniEngaging young graduates: the segment that drops off (and how to win it back)
The graduates from your last three classes drop off the alumni network fastest — right when it could help them most. Why they never activate, five concrete levers to win them back, and the hidden stake: they're the ones who feed your rankings.
Read the article → AlumniBuilding and running regional and international alumni clubs
Almost every school knows how to launch a local club; almost none knows how to make it last. The 3 causes of a club's death, the light governance that holds, the activity rhythm, the international chapters, and the 90-day launch plan.
Read the article → AlumniAlumni network and school rankings: how much it weighs (and how to activate it)
At the Financial Times, 56% of a school's score comes from its alumni's answers — and below 20% participation, the school isn't ranked at all. What rankings really owe to your network, and the plan to make it a lever.
Read the article → AlumniBack-to-school alumni membership drive: the backward plan
Back-to-school is the best window of the year to relaunch membership and dues — but it's prepared in July. The week-by-week backward plan, from July to the September launch, to arrive ready to launch, not scrambling.
Read the article → AlumniAlumni software pricing observatory 2026
Data across 9 platforms: who publishes prices, who stays quote-based, and the ranges observed (€0 to $8,000/year). Sources cited, June 2026.
Read the article → AlumniAlumnForce vs Datalumni: the 2026 comparison (+ alternative)
Pricing, reviews, hosting, target: the factual, sourced comparison of the two French alumni platforms — and where Terrilink, the public-priced alternative, fits.
Read the article → DiasporaHow to federate a regional diaspora online: the guide
List, map and animate a community scattered across the world. The 6-step method, the Aveyron Worldwide case (Terrilink's founding project), and the tools to turn a scattered population into a living community.
Read the article → AlumniApprenticeship tax 2026: capture the balance via your alumni network
France's SOLTéA campaign is open until 21 October. The balance is freely allocated by employers — the 5-step method to get designated through your graduates already in companies. Official calendar included.
Read the article → AlumniAlumni data sovereignty: dedicated or shared database?
Is your alumni data in a database shared with other schools, or in one that belongs only to you? The multi-tenant architecture models explained, and what they change for isolation, GDPR and reversibility.
Read the article → AlumniHow much does alumni management software cost in 2026?
From free to €15,000/year — but most vendors say "quote-based". The real market price bands, the hidden costs to flush out, and why public pricing should be your first criterion.
Read the article → AlumniBest alumni network software in 2026: the comparison
Terrilink, AlumnForce, Hivebrite, Graduway, Datalumni, Mighty Networks, HelloAsso: verified pricing, hosting, target audience. The factual comparison to choose for your profile — no spin.
Read the article → AlumniMeasuring the value of your alumni network: the board-ready dashboard
The number of registrants proves nothing. The indicators that prove a network's value — value vs N-1, churn risk, company network, decision-makers — and the dashboard ready for a board or an accreditation file.
Read the article → DiasporaDiaspora activity report: what to present at your general assembly?
Five-block structure, figures compared to N-1, network value and churn risk by country: the report that convinces a general assembly and partners — without losing your nights.
Read the article → DiasporaDiaspora solidarity fund (tontine, mutual aid): how to structure it online?
Tontine, mutual aid, common fund: the method to make a diaspora fund last — written governance, permanent transparency, separation of roles, online payments and legal framework.
Read the article → AlumniAlumni platform reversibility: getting your data back
What happens to your database if you switch tools? Data ownership, export format, reversibility clause: the 7 questions to ask before signing so you're never trapped.
Read the article → DiasporaDiaspora dues: how to collect them from abroad?
Card and Stripe for members abroad, Mobile Money for the country of origin: the honest mechanics to collect at a global scale, with currencies, tiered pricing and reminders.
Read the article → DiasporaHow to map your diaspora? Method, data and tools
A diaspora has no central registry. The 5 levers to build an up-to-date base (form, import, referral, map, social channels), which data to collect, and the GDPR framework.
Read the article → AlumniAlumni career center: building an internal job board that doesn't go empty
An alumni job board dies from a lack of offers, not candidates. Seed supply, cut posting friction to 30s, bring both sides back: the method to keep it full.
Read the article → AlumniLinkedIn or a dedicated alumni platform: which one wins in 2026?
Honest 10-criteria comparison. What LinkedIn doesn't (and won't) do, where it stays relevant, the hybrid scenario that actually works.
Read the article → AlumniAlumni directory: Excel, Google Sheets, or SaaS? The honest comparison
Until how many alumni does Excel work? Real cost, tipping point, honest comparison between spreadsheet, Notion/Airtable, and dedicated platform.
Read the article → AlumniAlumni dues: pricing, reminders, payment (2026 benchmark)
Pricing tiers that work, payment methods, reminder sequences (+42%). The 2026 playbook to structure your alumni dues collection.
Read the article → Alumni7 KPIs every alumni director should track monthly
Membership, dues, event participation, internal NPS, placement, admin activity: the full grid to run an alumni network on numbers, not hunches.
Read the article → AlumniFrom Excel to an alumni platform: migration in 4 phases
Audit, target schema, import, launch: the tested method on bases from 500 to 25,000 alumni to migrate without breaking anything.
Read the article → AlumniCGE survey response rate: decoding your numbers (benchmarks by school)
Benchmarks by school type, 5 levers that add +10 points, mistakes to avoid: truly understand what your placement figures say.
Read the article → AlumniReviving a dormant alumni network: 5 concrete steps
80% of alumni who no longer read your emails? The method to pull a network out of dormancy without burning your deliverability — and without spending 12 months on it.
Read the article → AlumniAlumni mentor/mentee matching: process in 3 hours per month
Go from 10 hours a week to 3 hours a month on mentor/mentee matching: 4 criteria, 5-step process, avoiding ruptures.
Read the article → AlumniGDPR and alumni directory: 12-point checklist before going live
The 12 GDPR points to validate before launching your alumni platform. To avoid getting blocked by the DPO 3 months after signing.
Read the article → AlumniAlumni events that fill up: registration, reminders, ROI
2,000 invites, 30 attendees? The 4 broken links, segment-based targeting, the right ticket price, real attendance measurement.
Read the article → DiasporaDiaspora platform: 7 pitfalls to avoid
Hosting, time zones, Mobile Money, multi-language, political moderation: the 7 specific pitfalls of a diaspora platform project.
Read the article → AlumniAlumni NPS: 3 surveys required per year
Stop the single annual NPS. The 3 surveys to launch (membership, event, employability) with questions and benchmarks by moment in the cycle.
Read the article → AlumniFrench-law 1901 alumni nonprofit: choosing or migrating status
School-affiliated 1901 nonprofit, independent nonprofit, foundation, internal service: which status for your alumni network. Taxation, governance, migration.
Read the article → AlumniCGE survey calendar 2026: the complete month-by-month timeline
The annual CGE report stacks two overlapping campaigns — the 6-month survey on the n-1 class and the 30-month survey on the n-3 class. Here is the operational timeline, month by month, for 2026.
Read the article → AlumniAnalyzing CGE survey results: from XLSX to board reporting
The survey is done, but the analysis is where schools stumble. A 4-phase method to turn a raw 29-column XLSX export into a board-ready slide deck — with the right indicators, external benchmarks, and interpretation traps to avoid.
Read the article → AlumniPre-filling an alumni survey: real impact on the response rate
Pre-filling a CGE survey from the alumni profile cuts completion time by 5 and lifts the response rate from 40 to 65%. How it works, worked figures, the trap of confirming stale data, and the GDPR legal bases to get right.
Read the article → Alumni7 mistakes that sink a CGE placement survey (and how to fix them)
Most schools cap out at 40-50% CGE responses when 65-75% is entirely within reach. The gap comes down to seven mechanical mistakes — each with a concrete, campaign-to-campaign antidote.
Read the article → AlumniCTI vs CGE survey: the 8 differences that shape your questionnaire
Many RNCP engineering schools answer to both the CGE and the CTI, and their frameworks diverge on 8 precise points. Why a single shared questionnaire costs you — and how two forms with a shared core keep both files clean.
Read the article → AlumniCommunicating your CGE/CTI placement results in 2026: complete guide
The 2026 placement results are landing now, opening a narrow few-week window that shapes the next recruitment campaign. How to publish cleanly, on which channels, and with which methodological and GDPR precautions.
Read the article → AlumniMigrating from Google Forms to CGE survey software: why and how
Google Forms is free, but on a recurring 6-month + 30-month CGE campaign the manual reprocessing costs 3 to 5 person-days per campaign. Why RNCP schools switch to dedicated software, plus a 5-step migration method with zero data loss.
Read the article → AlumniStudent → alumni transition: why your directory is probably out of date
On most platforms, the switch from student to alumni is an admin field nobody ever triggers — leaving databases full of mislabeled graduates. How Terrilink automates the switch (D+1 email, profile banner, D+30 safety net) with zero admin intervention.
Read the article →A new article every two weeks. Book a Terrilink demo in the meantime.
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