Alumni Travel Programs for Schools & Alumni Offices
Varsity Voyages turns alumni trips and class reunions into a strategic alumni travel program that supports advancement, engagement, and giving priorities. Your fundraising travel becomes a built‑in reunion experience that deepens connections, tells your school’s story in a fresh way, and generates meaningful support—without adding another major project to your team’s plate.
Turnkey Alumni Travel that Supports Your Goals
Alumni travel is a powerful way to advance your school’s engagement and giving goals. A well-designed alumni travel program turns reunion trips into relationship‑rich, fundraising‑friendly experiences that fit naturally into your advancement strategy.
How Alumni Travel Supports Engagement & Giving
- Creates more meaningful alumni touchpoints beyond mailings and events.
- Generates fresh storytelling content from shared travel experiences.
- Opens a new pipeline for first‑time and lapsed donors.
- Deepens stewardship for your most engaged alumni and volunteers.
- Strengthens class and regional communities while supporting key funding priorities.
How Our Process Works for Your Team
Our process is designed to be simple for your staff and high impact for your alumni. We guide you through each step so your alumni travel program feels clear, well‑supported, and aligned with your engagement and giving goals.
Step 1 – Strategy & Goals for Your Alumni Travel Program
We start by understanding your institution’s priorities, alumni segments, and desired outcomes for engagement and giving. Together, we define the role alumni travel will play in your advancement strategy and set clear goals for your first Varsity Voyage.
Step 2 – Custom Alumni Group Travel Itinerary & Fundraising Structure
Next, we design a custom alumni group travel itinerary that reflects your school’s story, class years, and preferred style of experience. At the same time, we build a transparent fundraising structure so each booking directly supports the scholarships, programs, or initiatives that matter most.
Step 3 – Promotion Support for Your Alumni Network
Your team receives ready‑to‑use tools to promote the trip, including alumni email copy, social posts, and simple interest forms. This makes it easy to invite alumni, share the impact of the travel fundraiser, and keep your advancement calendar running smoothly.
Step 4 – Post-Trip Reporting on Participation and Funds Raised
After travel, we provide summary reporting on participation, funds raised, and key highlights from the trip. Your team walks away with concrete results, engaging stories to share with stakeholders, and insights to shape future alumni travel programs.
What Schools & Alumni Offices Receive
When you partner with Varsity Voyages, you gain a strategic alumni travel program that supports your advancement goals without overloading your team. Every Varsity Voyage is structured to be easy to manage internally while delivering clear engagement and fundraising outcomes you can share with leadership and stakeholders.
- A clear, simple fundraising structure tied to each alumni trip, so you know exactly how travel supports your priorities.
- A ready‑made, community‑building event that strengthens alumni relationships with minimal staff time or new infrastructure.
- Professional group travel planning and vendor management handled by an experienced advisor, not your advancement team.
- Built‑in storytelling opportunities—photos, testimonials, and highlights you can use in newsletters, social media, and donor reports.
- Post‑trip insight on participation and funds raised, giving you concrete results and data to inform future alumni engagement efforts.
How the Fundraising Piece Fits In
Each Varsity Voyage is built with a clear, transparent fundraising structure so you know exactly how travel translates into impact for your school. You choose the priority—scholarships, programs, or facilities—and the trip helps bring it to life in a way that feels natural and engaging.
- Flexible models: per‑traveler contribution, shared trip margin, or optional add‑on gifts.
- Easy to message: “Travel together and help fund scholarships, programs, or facilities.”
- Post‑trip recap: simple participation and impact summary to share with your community.
We Do the Heavy Lifting for You
Varsity Voyages is designed so your advancement or alumni team can say “yes” to an alumni trip without taking on another full‑scale event.
What Varsity Voyages Handles
- Curating and contracting the right cruise or land‑based itinerary.
- Coordinating with trusted partners, guides, and on‑trip hosts.
- Creating co‑branded marketing pieces: emails, social posts, and flyers.
- Managing inquiries, reservations, payments, and traveler communications.
- Providing an on‑trip point of contact so your staff can relax and engage.
What Your Team Provides
- Chooses the fundraising priority and approves key messages.
- Helps identify and support an alumni champion or class rep.
- Shares trip information through your usual alumni communication channels.
Is an Alumni Travel Program Right for Your Institution?
An alumni travel program can work for a wide range of schools, from independent K–12 schools to colleges, universities, and academies. It is especially powerful for institutions that value relationship‑based fundraising, want more high‑quality alumni touchpoints, and need solutions that respect limited staff time and budget.
- You serve engaged alumni who enjoy reconnecting with classmates at reunions, regional events, or affinity gatherings.
- You want to deepen alumni relationships and giving but cannot add another large, staff‑heavy project to your advancement calendar.
- You are looking for fundraising opportunities with clear financial structures and minimal institutional risk.
- You care about brand alignment and want alumni travel experiences that feel on‑mission, on‑message, and reflective of your school’s values.
If you see your institution in these descriptions, a thoughtfully designed alumni travel program can become a natural extension of your existing engagement and giving strategy.
Partner with Varsity Voyages
Varsity Voyages is a specialized brand of River and Vine Travel, an independent travel agency based in St. Cloud, FL and affiliated with Nexion, a Travel Leaders Network agency. As a licensed seller of travel in Florida and California, we bring professional group travel expertise, vetted supplier relationships, and a deep understanding of alumni communities to every program we design.
FL Seller of Travel #ST38545, CA Seller of Travel 2071045.
Ready to explore whether alumni travel is a fit for your advancement strategy?
Sample Alumni Journeys for Your School
You can start with a proven Varsity Voyage concept and tailor it to your school’s calendar, class years, and fundraising goals. Explore cruise, land‑based, and long‑weekend alumni journeys that have been designed with engagement and giving in mind.
Designed to Protect Your School’s Good Name
Your school’s reputation matters. Varsity Voyages partners with vetted travel providers and applies clear standards around safety, conduct, and communication so your alumni trip reflects well on your institution from first invitation to final farewell.
- Established travel partners, professional guides, and dedicated cruise or tour managers.
- Thoughtful itinerary design that aligns with your community’s expectations and values.
- Co‑branded materials reviewed by your team before they go to alumni.
A Simple Timeline from Idea to Departure
Most schools launch their first Varsity Voyage 9–12 months before departure. Here is how the process typically unfolds.
- Explore the idea (Month 0–1): Quick call to match trip concepts with your goals and calendar.
- Design & approve (Month 1–2): Confirm itinerary, fundraising structure, and co‑branded materials.
- Promote and fill (Month 3–8): Share the trip with your alumni; Varsity Voyages manages responses and bookings.
- Travel & report (Trip + after): Alumni enjoy the voyage; you receive a simple impact recap to share with your community.
Pilot Your First Varsity Voyage
Whether you serve a single graduating class or a wide alumni base, a Varsity Voyage gives you a low‑risk way to test travel‑based fundraising and deepen connections with your school’s biggest advocates—its graduates.