Every photo taken at sports day, every alumni story shared on LinkedIn, every video of a school concert... that’s tomorrow’s archive. Yet most of it will be lost. Schools and universities often assume history will somehow preserve itself, but digital clutter and platform fragility mean today’s memories risk disappearing before they become tomorrow’s heritage. This article explores the concept of the living archive: a proactive, technology-enabled approach to capturing and curating school or university life as it happens.

Join us this October as we bring you two exclusive webinars designed to spark fresh ideas and showcase practical ways to engage your community.

From reimagining how shared history can fuel alumni giving, to building a careers library of voices that inspire the next generation, these sessions are packed with insight, innovation, and real-world applications you can put into practice.

The Latymer Foundation has transformed its archive from a backroom collection into a powerful tool for connection, storytelling and fundraising. By integrating history with alumni engagement and development, and using platforms like SocialArchive, the school has shown how archives can strengthen belonging, inspire giving and reconnect communities across generations.

Parents aren’t just reading brochures anymore, they’re asking AI: “Where will my child belong?” If your school’s authentic stories aren’t visible and discoverable, you risk being invisible to the very families you want to reach.

In a crowded education market, facts alone don’t drive enrolment decisions, feelings do. Families want more than prospectuses and league tables; they want to know what life at your school really feels like. Story-first marketing, powered by authentic voices from students, alumni, and parents, builds the trust and emotional connection that turns curiosity into enrolment.

Join our September webinars to discover how to turn your shared history into a powerful digital engagement tool.

In these webinars, we’ll show schools and universities how SocialArchive combines tradition with innovation, helping you breathe new life into your archive, build vibrant alumni communities, and drive advancement with confidence.

Generic newsletters won’t cut it. With alumni expecting relevance and emotional connection, personalised content has become essential to meaningful engagement. Discover how segmentation, storytelling, and smart tools can help you build stronger relationships and drive better results, without overwhelming your team.

Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) can boost alumni engagement, strengthen school communities, and enhance careers education by capturing alumni and student voices. SocialArchive provides MATs with the tools to collect and showcase inspiring career journeys, build trust-wide pride, and drive fundraising campaigns, all from one central, easy-to-manage platform. Read the full article to find out more.

Forget rusty boxes buried under buildings, today’s time capsules live online. Discover how your school or university can create a digital time capsule to mark your next anniversary or milestone. Capture memories, voices, and a wide variety of content, with the option to reveal stories in stages, keeping your community engaged for years to come.

Every school and university has a story to tell, but it’s the voices of those who lived it that truly bring history to life. From the first-day jitters to lockdown memories and everything in between, oral history captures the emotion, personality and depth often missing from written records. In this guide, we explore how schools and universities can collect and preserve spoken memories from alumni, staff and students, creating powerful, living archives that engage communities and inspire future generations.

For many of today’s students, “careers education” still means a one-off talk or annual event, but in an ever-changing job market, that’s no longer enough. Pupils need continuous, relatable and embedded support to make informed decisions about their futures. This article explores why careers guidance should move beyond isolated events and become an integrated, reflective and digitally supported journey.

In this article, we explore how to turn your archival content into short, engaging video stories that capture attention, spark emotion and build meaningful connections with alumni, donors and future students. From selecting the right content to matching formats for Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube and beyond, discover practical tips to make your school or university’s history a powerful, shareable digital asset.

Inspired by Irfan Latif’s keynote at AMCIS 2025, this article explores why authenticity is now central to school marketing, and how to achieve it through real stories, digital archiving and community-powered storytelling.

Alumni don’t give because they’re asked; they give because they remember. From old school trip photos to a long-forgotten team victory, your archive holds more than history, it holds multiple ‘memory triggers’.

In this post we explore how the past fuels alumni giving, and how schools and universities can turn their archives into powerful fundraising tools using platforms like SocialArchive.

The classrooms, corridors, and courtyards of a school are more than just bricks and mortar. For alumni, reconnecting with these spaces can unlock powerful memories and deepen their bond with their alma mater.

This article explores the concept of place attachment, the rising importance of virtual experiences, and how schools can use immersive digital tools like SocialArchive’s Virtual Spaces to reconnect with alumni, drive engagement, and inspire giving.

Planning a 50th, 100th, or even 150th anniversary? This article is packed with creative and practical ideas to help you celebrate in ways that are meaningful, engaging, and built to last.

From digital archives and alumni storytelling to immersive virtual tours and legacy campaigns, discover how to turn your next big milestone into a celebration with lasting impact.

Join us this May/June for our upcoming webinars exploring innovative ways to engage your alumni.

Whether you're looking to breathe new life into your archive or build a vibrant digital community, these sessions are packed with practical ideas and inspiration for schools and universities.

Discover how St Peter’s School transformed its digital archive by welcoming a university volunteer into the process. With minimal investment and the right tools from SocialArchive, they saved time, managed costs, and built a self-sustaining model that’s future-proof and engaging.

Learn how your school or university can do the same.

Today’s students expect content that’s personalised, engaging, and available whenever they need it, and careers education should be no exception.

This article explores how schools and universities can take inspiration from platforms like Netflix and Spotify to deliver on-demand, student-led careers advice through alumni stories, searchable archives, and digital tools.

Are likes and shares really enough?
Schools and universities are investing heavily in digital outreach, but many are stuck chasing vanity metrics. True alumni engagement goes beyond the scroll. It’s time to move past fleeting clicks and build lasting connections through smarter, nostalgia-driven content strategies. Here’s how.