Graduway vs. Studiously:
which model fits your school?
The short answer: Graduway is a broad, branded alumni community with member registration, mentoring, events, giving, and integrations. Studiously is a narrower K-12 workflow: import the school's alumni records, run research-based enrichment without waiting for alumni to build profiles, let students search the private directory, and let alumni answer outreach from email. Choose the model that matches the job you need done; compare the exact integration scope and total quoted cost before deciding.
Side by side
What matters to K-12 advancement teams
Six practical criteria for an independent-school evaluation. Graduway facts below are based on Gravyty's current public product materials; Studiously facts are based on the current product implementation.
| Criteria |
Studiously
Built K-12-first
|
Graduway
Now part of Gravyty
|
|---|---|---|
|
K-12 / independent-school fit
Architecture, scale, and workflow match
|
Independent K-12
is the sole market |
K-12 + higher ed |
|
Student-alumni mentorship
First-class use case, not an add-on
|
Core use case;
searchable directory |
Community + mentoring features |
|
How records gain professional data
Whether enrichment depends on member profile activity
|
Research enrichment across
imported alumni records |
Profiles + data from community activity |
|
Published integration scope
Verify objects, direction, frequency, and permissions
|
RE NXT + Veracross
alumni-record import |
RE NXT + Salesforce; custom open API |
|
Alumni response experience
What an alumnus must do to answer outreach
|
Reply from email;
no alumni account required |
Register and use the branded community |
|
Product breadth
Focused workflow versus broad community suite
|
Focused directory,
outreach, and data workflow |
Broad community, events, mentoring, giving |
Fair assessment
Where Graduway fits — and the key model difference
Graduway, now part of Gravyty, is a broad alumni engagement and mentoring platform. Gravyty explicitly serves K-12 schools as well as higher education and nonprofits. Its public product materials describe a secure branded portal, member sign-up, events, giving, mentoring, native Raiser's Edge NXT and Salesforce integrations, and a custom open API. A school seeking that full community experience should evaluate it.
The structural difference is the starting point. Graduway starts with a community that members register for and use. Gravyty says profile, mentoring, and professional data can flow one way from that experience into RE NXT without overwriting core advancement data. Studiously starts with the school's imported alumni records, runs research-based enrichment across those records, and lets alumni answer student outreach from email without first creating a community account.
Neither starting point is universally better. Ask whether your primary goal is to operate a destination community or to activate existing alumni data for student connections with minimal alumnus behavior change. Then verify the objects, direction, frequency, permissions, implementation work, and total cost included in each proposal.
Gravyty publishes customized Graduway pricing rather than a fixed price list. Its current materials also advertise native RE NXT and Salesforce integrations and a custom open API.
Official sources: Graduway product and pricing FAQ · Gravyty's integration guide
“We used Graduway in the past and it fell completely flat. It was another platform for alumni to login to. We were seeing almost everybody that created a profile never come back again.”
“We used it for years. After everything, fifteen hundred of our five thousand alumni ever created a profile. You spend all your energy tracking sign-ups instead of tracking actual relationships.”
What Studiously delivers
What you get with Studiously
Studiously was built from the ground up for independent K-12 and prep schools — not adapted from a university product. Every design decision reflects the reality of a small advancement team, a familiar alumni community, and a student body that genuinely needs career mentorship.
- A directory built from the school's alumni records. Studiously does not wait for alumni registrations to create the directory. Eligible imported records go through matching and enrichment review, and alumni can later claim and refine their profiles.
- Alumni reply from their own email inbox. When a student reaches out, the message arrives in the alumnus's everyday email as a school-branded message. The alumnus hits reply — no account or platform login is required to answer. Alumni can still claim and refine a profile if they choose.
- Direct Raiser's Edge NXT import and controlled write-back. Studiously imports alumni constituents through the Blackbaud SKY API. After enrichment review, an authorized administrator can select records and fields to push to mapped custom fields or supported native RE NXT objects. Conflicting non-empty values are surfaced for review rather than silently overwritten.
- Veracross partner integration, with a clear boundary. Studiously can import alumni information from Veracross. Veracross does not provide the career information used for enrichment, and Studiously does not claim Veracross career-data import or write-back.
- Built with K-12 privacy expectations. Student contact details stay behind Studiously's routed email workflow rather than being disclosed as direct personal contact information. The alumni directory is limited to approved professional and education fields, not sensitive student or family data.
- A staged, reviewable implementation. Connection permissions, alumni population, import results, enrichment review, and destination field mappings are verified before write-back. Timing depends on the school's data and integration access rather than an unsupported universal launch promise.
Common questions
Frequently asked
It can be when the school's priority is a K-12-specific student-alumni directory, research-based enrichment across imported alumni records, and outreach that alumni can answer from email without creating an account. Graduway is a broader branded community and mentoring platform that serves K-12, higher education, and nonprofits. The better fit depends on whether the school wants a community portal or a narrower data-and-outreach workflow.
Gravyty does not publish a fixed Graduway price. Its official product page says pricing is customized to the institution's needs and alumni-community size, with a tailored quote provided through the demo process. Buyers should compare implementation, integration, support, and renewal costs in addition to the quoted subscription.
Yes. Gravyty's official Graduway materials name native Raiser's Edge NXT and Salesforce integrations and a custom open API. Gravyty describes Graduway profile, mentoring, and professional data as flowing one way into RE NXT without overwriting core advancement data. Confirm the exact objects, direction, frequency, and API access included in a proposal.
Studiously imports alumni constituents through the Blackbaud SKY API and retains the Blackbaud System Record ID as the link to RE NXT. After enrichment review, an authorized administrator can select records and fields to push into mapped custom fields. Matching values are skipped and different non-empty values are flagged instead of overwritten.
No account is required to answer a student. A Studiously message arrives in the alumnus's email inbox, and the alumnus can reply from there. Graduway is designed as a branded community portal where members sign up and use the community experience.
Yes. Studiously is a Veracross partner and can import alumni information from Veracross. Veracross does not provide the alumni career information used for enrichment, and Studiously does not claim Veracross career-data import or write-back.
See Studiously
built for your school
We'll show you how schools like yours are connecting students and alumni — without asking anyone to change their habits. Schedule a demo tailored to your school's advancement goals.
Ask for the current implementation scope, timeline, and pricing for your school's alumni population.