FUNDAPEC: New business models and alumni platform

At a glance

• Sector: Education finance and alumni engagement
• Focus: New business models and a modern alumni platform
• Approach: Evidence first, simplified journeys, clear ownership, trustworthy analytics
• Result: Validated member growth and a reliable engagement engine

Context

FUNDAPEC expands access to education in the Dominican Republic. The legacy alumni site listed about 20,000 registrations but had little clarity on who was active. Journeys were complex, governance was unclear, and analytics did not provide a single source of truth for decisions.

We started with a new business models exploration, Track A. The findings were clear. To support credible growth options, the organization needed a redesigned and relaunched platform, Track B, with simpler journeys, clear ownership, and trustworthy analytics, which became Comunidad FUNDAPEC.

Comunidad FUNDAPEC in one line: simpler journeys, clearer ownership, better signals.

Who benefits first: alumni relations, partnerships, and growth teams that need clearer signals.

Key risks and mitigations

• Activation risk: Mitigated with clearer onboarding and re engagement flows.
• Data quality risk: Mitigated with a single source of truth setup and routine validation.
• Ownership risk: Mitigated with a named owner, Communications, and a simple editorial cadence.

What we did

Phase 1, Track A: New business models exploration

• Baseline and direction: Ran a ClarityScan diagnostic to surface risks, align stakeholders, and sequence the work.
• Evidence first: Used MicroCanvas to map segments, students, alumni, employers, partners, define value propositions, shape early OKRs, compare solution options and purpose, and specify processes for discovery and initial validation.

  Evidence pack: problem and assumptions, segment and JTBD, experiment plan and results, artifact links, decision memo, next step.

  Insights are coded into a signal library to inform next experiments and the roadmap.

• Offer probes: Ran offer level probes, no pricing, to assess viability and signal strength.
• Governance and roadmap: Defined decision gates, owners, and criteria to move from discovery to piloting, with a clear 24 month growth roadmap.

Phase 2, Track B: Comunidad FUNDAPEC redesign and relaunch

• Co design: Reworked information architecture and content model, profiles, opportunities, events, and resources, with accessibility basics.
• Simplified journeys: Clean, linear onboarding and re engagement flows that reduce friction.
• Evidence loops and analytics: Platform analytics now provide a single source of truth for participation, growth, and engagement trends.
• Clear governance: Communications owns the platform, no code, so updates do not depend on other teams. Editorial cadence, moderation rules, and periodic reviews are in place.
• Delivery system: Cadence, gate reviews, and decision owners in place.
  • Gate 1: Go or No Go after discovery, based on evidence packs.
  • Gate 2: Go or No Go before scale, based on adoption and risk.

  Governance model: RACI per initiative; weekly cadence; gate checklist per stage; decision log and risk register for traceability.

  KPI tree by stage: Discovery, signal quality and interview coverage; Validation, conversion to key action and time to decision; Development, cycle time and escaped defects; Scale, activation, engagement, and unit economics.

  Capability baseline: governance, measurement, and delivery cadence at kickoff, tracked quarterly against the KPI tree.

  Operational rhythm: weekly reviews, monthly gate checks, and quarterly capability snapshots.

  Artifacts: charter, gate checklist, RACI, evidence pack template, weekly review.

Timeline

• Kick off, Track A: December 2023, ClarityScan baseline, interviews, offer probes, early OKRs.
• Decision: June 2024, redesign and relaunch approved, 24 month roadmap set.
• Redesign and build, Track B: July 2024 to November 2024, IA, journeys, governance, analytics foundations.
• Relaunch: November 2024, Comunidad FUNDAPEC live, member migration and validation begins.
• Growth checkpoint: September 2025, active members grew from 10 a year earlier to 515, validated members at 4,000.

What changed, how we measure progress, and key numbers.

Outcomes

• From registrations to reality: Cleaned the legacy base from about 20,000 registrations to 4,000 validated members.
• Active membership growth: Active members increased from 10 to 515, as of September 2025, and continue to grow.
• Reliable engagement engine: Comunidad FUNDAPEC now supports future growth options from Track A.
• Faster, clearer decisions: Gate reviews, evidence packs, and accountable owners reduced decision latency.

Tracked families, as of September 2025: decision latency, cycle time, activation and engagement, and capability growth.

See the case diagrams below for the system flow and capability progression.

Why it mattered

• Linked mission and sustainability by tying alumni value to credible growth options.
• Replaced guesswork with a single source of truth and visible progress signals.
• Gave Communications control, no code, which shortened cycles and improved responsiveness.
• Built momentum with small wins, clear ownership, and simple user journeys.

Case diagrams