The challenge: many institutions, one alumni experience
With alumni spread across different schools, programs, and geographies, Qatar Foundation faced a familiar problem: strong communities existed—but often separately. The Alumni Office needed a way to bring graduates together under one QF Alumni umbrella without losing the richness of their diverse backgrounds.
“A huge pain point that we looked at is that alumni from each university were sometimes in silos,” explains Asmaa Al-Kuwari, Alumni Engagement Manager at Qatar Foundation. “The whole purpose of our office is to bring all of them together under the QF umbrella.”
That meant creating a single place where alumni could reliably find updates, opportunities, and ways to engage—whether they were based in Doha, Paris, London or New York.
It also meant building trust from the start: this wasn’t meant to be an open community. Access needed to be reserved for verified Qatar Foundation alumni.
The solution: one secure hub for connection and career support
Qatar Foundation chose Hivebrite to create a centralized alumni portal designed for communication, connection, and employability-focused programming—without the operational complexity of managing multiple disconnected channels.
The team wanted a space that felt clear and cohesive for alumni, while remaining easy to manage internally: a home base for initiatives, outreach, and engagement—plus the ability to keep membership exclusive to verified graduates.
Getting it going: make joining part of graduation
Instead of treating the portal as “one more thing” alumni might discover later, Qatar Foundation embedded registration into the graduation journey. Seniors sign up before they leave campus—so their alumni experience begins immediately, not months (or years) after.
The result is a smoother transition into post-graduation life: graduates don’t just leave with a diploma—they leave already connected to the broader alumni community and the opportunities it can unlock.
“Once they are graduating, they have this portal as a mainstream for them to continue their journey and be part of QF Alumni,” explains Asmaa.
How they use the community today
Today, the portal acts as a practical, everyday destination—where alumni return not only for news, but for real value.
Career support lives alongside community connection. Alumni explore roles through the job board, engage through mentorship programs, and stay connected through events and ongoing content. Behind the scenes, the Alumni Office also gains clearer insight into alumni journeys—helping them plan programming with more relevance by region, chapter, and need.
“That gives us an opportunity to know where to open our chapters… and also to cater to the different events and the different opportunities… within the different locations,” explains Asmaa.
The impact: stronger engagement—and a shift in employability
From 2024 to 2025, Qatar Foundation saw meaningful growth across engagement signals that matter: more alumni activating their accounts, far more returning to use the portal, and a clear increase in interactions across programs and resources.
But what made those numbers important was what they enabled: a change in how employability works at scale. The portal didn’t just help alumni search—it helped Qatar Foundation actively showcase and mobilize its alumni talent network in a way institutions could easily access.
“Before, employability for our alumni was based on what they seek with the corporations. Now that we have this portal, we’ve become a resource and a reference for institutions to come to us to find top-notch candidates from Qatar Foundation,” says Asmaa.
Why Qatar Foundation recommends Hivebrite
For Asmaa and the team, the value is both strategic and day-to-day: a clearer alumni experience, less fragmented communication, and a platform that supports consistent delivery of benefits and initiatives—without losing the human element that makes an alumni community work.
“Hivebrite has really supported us on our day-to-day work… [we’ve] been able to create a one-stop shop… and… streamline all communications… through the portal,” explains Asmaa.
And beyond the platform itself, she highlights the importance of ongoing partnership—especially when sustaining engagement and continuously improving the member experience.
“We have built a great relationship with our Customer Success team… not only in launching the platform, but also in sustaining and creating a great user experience for our customers and for us as well,” says Asmaa.
