“Show me someone like me.”
Ready to activate, build or connect your alumni network?
Future First will help you to leverage the experiences and achievements of your alumni to support your careers programme and to inspire current learners. We can also help you to collect and maintain accurate data on alumni destinations to build and sustain these networks effectively. This data can also be used to evaluate the impact of the careers programme and inform personalized support for current learners.
As a member, you will receive practical support to help you build your network, train volunteers and design in-person and virtual events. Our programmes help you to meet the Gatsby Benchmarks, providing connections with alumni, employers and one-to-one guidance.
Build and Connect members get access to the Future First Hub, our safe, social media style platform which enables schools to build and manage every aspect of their alumni network in one centralised place.
The Future First Hub - Providing a user-friendly, secure and safe place for staff, alumni and students to come together. The Future First Hub is the space where you build your network, manage engagement, promote school events and communicate with volunteers. It is also where volunteers share their experiences and profiles, and where learners can find out more about sectors that interest them.
The Hub is a great space to capture sustained and longer-term destinations data for your alumni and helps to build and maintain that network. This data can also be used to inform personalized support for current learners and identify gaps where other employee volunteers may be able to support.
Hub Tech Support - The Membership Team is on hand to help you make the most of the Hub. Along with regular Tech Clinics, we can support ad hoc enquiries.
Online resources toolkit and termly CPD - Templates and ‘how to’ resources are available to support with volunteer engagement so that you can manage your time effectively. Termly CPD provides careers leads with an opportunity to network with other professionals and gain insights into good practice engagement.
Access to Future First’s national volunteer network - To enhance your own network, the National Network gives you access to over 15,000 volunteers who want to give back to state schools and colleges, enabling students and schools to expand their reach and connect with volunteers with destinations or backgrounds they relate to.
Annual strategy session: set priorities for the year ahead - We work with you each year to understand your strategic career priorities and to produce an alumni and employee volunteer action plan that can support these. We help you ensure that this is achievable and builds year on year.
Termly Strategy ‘Check in’ Meetings and ongoing support - Once a term your dedicated Membership Coordinator will arrange a planning meeting. They will help you review progress against your strategy, and make recommendations for next steps. They will share details of the latest Future First resources, and make suggestions for time appropriate campaigns. They are also available throughout the year to answer queries and provide support.
Experiences of the workplace opportunities - Future First works with a diverse range of employers across the UK to bring learners a wide range of meaningful experiences. They are employer-led in design and cover many sectors, enabling schools to provide young people targeted support. Opportunities include Insight Days, mentoring, work experience and networking sessions.Employers are also often happy to support curriculum leads.
Networking Workshops for students - Led by Future First in school these workshops enable learners to work with a diverse range of role models, and experience a variety of employers, employees and self-employed pathways. Focusing on ‘how to build your network’, this practical session shows learners what people like them can achieve.
Our alumni Fast Track programme
Designed with state schools in mind and backed by our 15 years of experience, Future First’s new Alumni Fast Track Programme gives careers leaders and advisers the training, tools and confidence to build a thriving alumni network that opens real opportunities for students.
Across a 12-week term, a cohort of 15 schools will take part in three live webinars and one in-person session, with gap tasks in between.
It’s an opportunity to invest in the future of your students and your careers team.
Waiting list
We know that school resources are under pressure. We work with funders and employer partners to raise funds to support school memberships, in part or in full.
Are you:
Working in a school with a higher than average rate of pupils on Free School Meals?
Supported by your leadership team to enhance your careers education programme?
Committed to working with your alumni and role models?
If you answered yes to all of those, please consider joining our waiting list! We cannot guarantee if or when funding will become available but we will endeavour to match you with a funder as soon as possible.
FAQs
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By signing up to Future First, you’ll be joining a national cross-sector movement to fight educational inequality.
We’ll work with you to build a thriving alumni community that will help you do even more for your students. We will provide resources, share best practice and guide you through the process of embedding alumni engagement across the school.
Using our secure web platform which is fully compliant with all data protection requirements, you will be able to build a sustainable network of former students that you can access for generations to come.
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With three annual membership packages to choose from, we will help you build, engage and sustain a thriving network. We offer the expert support, technology and resources needed to harness the power of your alumni community, delivering significant, measurable impact for a small investment of time and money. Through themed activities, tailored support materials, and our expertly crafted timesavers and tools, our programme and specialist team can make a real difference for your learners, school and wider community. As a Connect member (our highest tier of membership) you will receive:
Expert support from a dedicated Membership Coordinator
Access to the Future First Hub
CPD events, resources and opportunities
A facilitated workshop run by your Membership Coordinator, helping your pupils understand, and get to grips with, the idea of progressional networking. We will recruit volunteers and alumni to support the workshop.
Staff training and support to deliver resourced sessions
Digital resources including a strategy plan tailored to your school, timesavers and tools
Access to employers, employer programmes and work experience opportunities
Access to our National Network of over 14,000 volunteers who are looking to support schools.
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We want to help every UK state school and college build an alumni network that they will engage for the long term. To make this work, schools and colleges need to commit to making alumni engagement a whole school priority and dedicate staff time to running the programme.
Schools and colleges should appoint a strategic lead who sits in the senior leadership team to have oversight of the programme and an operational lead should be given approximately 30 minutes or so per week to work with your Membership Coordinator to run things day-to-day. If you’re on a Build or Connect membership, your Membership Coordinator could support with training other staff members in using the hub.
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We are a charity and operate on a non-for-profit basis. However if cost is a barrier for your school or college, please get in touch as we would be happy to explore fundraising options we could pursue in partnership or you could join our waiting list for a sponsored place.
We are supported by sponsors and trusts to develop our current programmes, design innovative new programmes and packages that contribute to best practice and offer the latest thinking, tips and resources for our member schools and colleges.
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Our Future First Hub platform is a core part of the service.
It enables you to store your alumni data (including capturing data from those leaving school each year) securely online and makes keeping in touch easy, so that you never lose track of what your students go on to do. Your network can update their information whenever they wish, and have full control of their preferences, which makes the system compliant with the Data Protection Act 1998 and EU General Data Protection Regulations.
You will be able to access our “National Network” where we have over 14,000 volunteers waiting to support schools in a number of different ways
You’ll be given a unique link to a page where your school’s alumni can sign up. It will ask for their personal details, information about their education and employment, the year they left and what sort of support they’d like to offer to current students.
You’ll be able to login to view all alumni details as your network grows. You can search and filter your network of former students in a range of ways, such as by leaving year, what they studied at university, or what support they would like to offer. For example you could look for students who have left since 2004, studied science at A-level, and are willing to act as a mentor.
You can create events, invite alumni to RSVP, and keep a record of attendees.
You can send direct e-mails, updates and newsletters to your alumni through the platform.
You can invite ‘friends’ of the school or college to sign up.
Our Digital Toolkit is also available on your portal. We continue to develop the toolkit in line with best practice, providing detailed guidance, lessons plans, templates and resources to support alumni sessions; mentoring relationships; and work shadowing. The toolkit will also support you to recruit and communicate with alumni.
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Our staff will provide you with the help and support necessary to make sure all of your leaving students are signed up.
Your current students can either sign up via your bespoke online link, or you can upload your leaver data in bulk via a spreadsheet.
We recommend briefing your students on the purpose and benefits of joining your alumni network beforehand as they will be far more likely to respond to the tracking survey we send if they are expecting it.
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There are lots of ways to reach out to your former students including:
Posting information on your website and social media (we can also help with this with templates and suggestions)
Sending promotional materials to school or college staff and parents to sign up those they are in touch with
Signing up your school leavers
Asking those alumni already in your network to spread the word
Looking for existing online groups on Facebook, LinkedIn etc
Collating the existing data within the school
Get in touch to hear more ways of reaching out!
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We are committed to ensuring that all information and data we collect is secure. We have put technical and organisational measures in place that are designed to safeguard and secure the information that we collect, and our systems and processes are fully compliant with the Data Protection Act 1998 and EU General Data Protection Regulations.
Individual student records will only be accessible by staff of your school and Future First. Every member of Future First staff with access to the data receives full data protection training.
We are registered with ICO and you can find further details in our privacy policy.
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Future First is currently available to any state-funded secondary school or college in the UK.
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Get in touch! You can email info@futurefirst.org.uk and we will always be happy to talk in more detail about the service, what we can do for your school or college, and answer any queries you might have.