Case study

How CERN unites alumni for continued innovation

The scientific organization partnered with Hivebrite to unlock the immense value of its diverse alumni community.

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CERN customer story

0 to 10,000

members in 7 years

75%

account activation rate

85%

average engagement rate

“Hivebrite has been instrumental in building and nurturing our CERN Alumni Community. Its flexibility and robust features allow us to connect our alumni globally, ensuring they remain engaged and connected to CERN’s mission. With Hivebrite, we’ve created a dynamic platform that not only supports our organizational goals but also fosters meaningful relationships among our members. The support and receptiveness of the Hivebrite team to our needs have been exceptional, making them an invaluable partner in our community-building journey.”

Rachel Bray / Head of CERN Alumni Relations, CERN

About CERN

CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) is the world’s leading particle physics laboratory. Uniting scientists from over 120 countries, CERN is where cutting-edge research and groundbreaking discoveries take shape, powered by advanced facilities like the iconic Large Hadron Collider.

Mission

In 2017, CERN embarked on a mission to create a thriving alumni community with four core objectives:

  • Foster meaningful connections between alumni and CERN.
  • Cultivate a network of ambassadors to champion CERN’s future projects
  • Showcase the profound societal impact of the CERN experience.
  • Support early-career professionals transitioning from academia to industry.

Visit the community.

The community challenge

Before 2017, CERN lacked a structured means of maintaining contact with its alumni. Understanding the immense value of its alumni, it set out to find a community management platform that could support a global, multilingual community, facilitating member-to-member connections while adhering to strict technical and legal standards.

The Hivebrite solution

After a comprehensive evaluation of options, CERN chose Hivebrite in 2017 as their trusted community management platform. Hivebrite not only met CERN’s technical requirements, including stringent data privacy and seamless integration capabilities, but it also aligned perfectly with CERN’s vision.

Hivebrite offers a suite of features tailored to CERN’s goals, such as an interactive directory complete with a member location map and direct messaging to foster peer-to-peer connections. The platform is a hub of opportunity, offering job postings, mentoring, member spotlights, and inspirational content to support the professional growth of its members.

Hivebrite’s powerful analytics system empowers CERN’s admin team to track key performance indicators and swiftly create reporting dashboards for stakeholders, ensuring transparency and progress.

Thanks to Hivebrite’s flexibility, CERN could customize user fields, menus, and features to suit their unique needs. They are implementing a gamification strategy with badges and crafted personalized onboarding journeys, significantly boosting user engagement and retention.

The outcome

With Hivebrite, CERN has built a centralized platform that fulfills all its alumni needs.

  • The community has achieved remarkable milestones, including:
  • Growing from 0 to 10,000 members in just seven years.
  • Activating 75% of accounts.
  • Engaging over 85% of the community with weekly digests.
  • Involving more than 500 alumni ambassadors as speakers, interviewees, and event volunteers.