Your alumni network is your greatest asset.
AskScout helps advancement teams, alumni relations directors, and career services find exactly who they need — and reach them through someone who already knows them.
Thousands of alumni. No clear path to them.
University advancement teams sit on one of the most valuable networks in the world — yet the average gift officer visits only 52% of their prospect portfolio each year. Cold emails land at a 1–5% response rate, and most prospect research tools still rely on stale wealth ratings that fewer than a third of officers find effective.
The hardest part isn't knowing what you need. It's knowing who to start with — and who on your team already has a relationship that opens the door.
Search. Match. Warm intro.
Three steps to find the right alumni, donor, or partner — and reach them the right way.
Describe Who You Need
Type a natural-language description of your ideal prospect — a major gifts donor with tech sector wealth, an alumna in healthcare policy, or a regional employer for career placement partnerships. Scout builds the criteria automatically.
Scout Searches & Scores
AskScout simultaneously crawls the web and maps your team's combined network — email and calendar data create a relationship graph showing who knows who and how well. Every result is scored and verified in real time.
Reach Out Through a Warm Door
Every result shows you exactly which team member has the strongest relationship. No more cold emails — your team makes a warm introduction, dramatically increasing response rates.
| Name | Role | Gift Capacity | Connection | Via | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sarah Chen, '04 | VP Engineering, Stripe | $250K–$500K | Dean Martinez | Direct | Top Match |
| Marcus Webb, '98 | Partner, Andreessen Horowitz | $1M+ | Prof. Lisa Park | 2nd Degree | High Match |
| Priya Nair, '11 | CFO, Brex | $100K–$250K | Alumni Dir. Tom Walsh | Direct | Top Match |
| Jordan Kim, '07 | Founder, Finix Payments | $500K–$1M | Provost Williams | 2nd Degree | Top Match |
Your team's combined connections are your superpower.
AskScout crawls your team's Gmail and calendar history to build a weighted relationship graph — understanding not just who you know, but how well you know them based on frequency, recency, and depth of engagement.
- Invite your entire advancement team, alumni relations staff, and faculty — everyone's network becomes searchable together
- Every prospect is surfaced with a clear warm introduction path through your team
- Relationship strength is scored automatically — know if it's a casual connection or a deep relationship before you reach out
- All alumni search results appear within 1–2 degrees of your combined team network
One platform. Every use case.
Major Gift Prospecting
Identify alumni with major gift capacity and find the warmest possible introduction path through your team. AskScout surfaces wealth signals, career trajectory, and philanthropic history — then shows you exactly who on your team already has a relationship.
Advisory Boards & Speakers
Building an advisory board for a new program? Recruiting a commencement speaker? Scout searches your alumni network for people with the exact background you need and surfaces who on your team knows them best.
Student Placement & Mentorship
Connect current students with alumni in their target industries for mentorship, internships, and full-time roles. Instead of cold-posting on job boards, use AskScout to find alumni who are actively hiring and reach them through a warm intro.
Research & Industry Partners
Identify corporate partners for sponsored research, endowed chairs, or experiential learning programs. AskScout helps you find decision-makers at companies with aligned interests — and the alumni connection that makes the conversation start right.
Everything your team needs. Nothing it doesn't.
Live Web Intelligence
AskScout searches the web in real time, verifying that each prospect meets your criteria with up-to-date career, leadership, and philanthropic information.
Relationship Graph
Your team's Gmail and calendar history powers a weighted network graph that scores relationship strength — so you always know who's the right person to make the ask.
Team Network Pooling
Invite your entire team — advancement officers, faculty, alumni staff. Everyone's network becomes part of the shared search, dramatically increasing coverage.
Live Criteria Scoring
Results populate in a live table as Scout searches, with each criterion scored and verified. See exactly why a prospect matches at a glance.
Warm Intro Paths
Every prospect comes with a clear map of who on your team can make the introduction, including second-degree connections and relationship strength scores.
Privacy-First Design
Network data is never shared externally. Each team member controls their own data, and all connection mapping is done securely within your institution's workspace.
Gift officers manage an average of 142 prospects but visit only 74 per year — and less than a third find their wealth and propensity ratings ‘highly effective.’ The gap isn't effort. It's knowing who to prioritize.
Ready to find the right people?
Join advancement teams, alumni relations directors, and career services professionals using AskScout to unlock the hidden power of their institution's network. Request a personalized demo for your university.
No credit card required. 30-minute personalized walkthrough.