Girls Who Invest Alumni Portal
Girls Who Invest is a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the number of women in portfolio management and executive leadership in investment management. The industry has long struggled with a lack of diversity, with hiring pipelines historically drawn from a narrow talent pool. As a result, the industry continues to miss out on the perspectives and talent of women and gender nonbinary professionals.
Because investment firms often cite a lack of diverse candidates in their applicant pools, Girls Who Invest proactively builds a strong, prepared pipeline of talented individuals. It’s critical for alumni of their educational programs to have an online platform to network, find opportunities, access support and resources to help navigate their careers, and continue their professional development.
When Girls Who Invest came to Message Agency, they were struggling with their alumni portal’s user experience and data silos. It was difficult for partners to search for candidates and for alumni to engage with the platform. The interface was clunky and outdated, lacking intuitive navigation and a compelling reason for users to return. Data was not easily shared across a number of bespoke solutions. The portal was not meeting industry standards or user expectations, which prompted the need for a complete rearchitecture and redesign.
The Challenge
Alumni need a centralized hub where they can connect, share knowledge, and access job postings, events, and mentorship opportunities. Additionally, the platform must not only support alumni and current scholars but also include partners, mentors, and other professionals who can contribute resources and opportunities.
The portal’s lack of accurate, real-time data made it difficult for Girls Who Invest to track alumni’s career progression, measure impact, and refine programming. Without a streamlined way to collect and analyze key engagement metrics, employment outcomes, and partner interactions, Girls Who Invest struggled to make data-driven decisions that could enhance both scholar experiences and employer partnerships. A more sophisticated data infrastructure was essential for measuring progress toward their organizational goals, such as increasing representation in investment management, and providing partners with valuable insights on talent engagement.
For partners, sourcing diverse, highly qualified candidates remained a challenge. Employers need an intuitive, efficient platform that allows them to search, filter, and engage with alumni who have been vetted and trained through Girls Who Invest’s programs. Additionally, partners require a space where they can share recruitment resources, showcase career opportunities, and track engagement with potential candidates in real time.
To address these challenges, we needed to transform the existing portal into a powerful ecosystem that would foster connection, career development, and measurable impact for scholars, alumni, and industry partners alike by:
- Create a thriving community where scholars, alumni, and partners can connect, learn, and grow.
- Leverage data to inform programming and track long-term career impact.
- Enhance recruitment capabilities by making it easier for partners to discover and engage with top-tier talent.
Our Approach
Our first step was a comprehensive discovery phase to gain a deep understanding of the client’s existing portal, its limitations, and the specific needs of alumni, scholars, and partner firms. This phase allowed us to:
- Analyze user pain points related to searchability, engagement, and functionality.
- Assess gaps in data collection, reporting, and integration with existing systems.
- Identify opportunities to enhance networking, personalization, and recruitment capabilities.
- Provide the client with a clear, informed roadmap for the portal’s redesign.
By prioritizing user experience, accessibility, and system efficiency, we were able to develop a structured, two-phase approach for the redesign.
Phase 1: Foundational Enhancements
The first phase focused on improving core functionalities to create a more seamless and valuable experience for all users. Key enhancements included:
- Redesigned Alumni & Partner Profiles: Improved data accuracy, added two-way Salesforce sync, and enhanced profile privacy settings.
- Enhanced Search & Filtering: Created separate alumni and partner directories with expanded search, filter, and sorting options.
- Improved Job & Application Management: Integrated job alerts, expanded application tracking, and added bulk download options for partners.
- Stronger Partner & Alumni Engagement: Developed personalized dashboards, "Saved Alumni" and "Saved Partners" features, and real-time updates on events and job postings.
- Event Management: Streamlined event creation and registration for both Girls Who Invest and partner-hosted events.
These foundational changes set the stage for deeper personalization, increased engagement, and better data collection in the next phase.
Phase 2: Personalization & Advanced Features
The second phase focused on enhancing user engagement, personalization, and reporting capabilities to create a truly dynamic and impactful platform. Key improvements included:
- Expanded Job Alert Preferences & Career Tracking: Alumni could fine-tune job alerts based on location and asset class while partners gained deeper insights into career progression trends.
- Advanced Data & Reporting Tools: Integrated detailed analytics and Salesforce tracking for improved decision-making and impact measurement.
- Networking & Community Features: Strengthened alumni-to-alumni and partner-to-alumni interactions, creating a richer ecosystem of mentorship and career support.
- Customizable CMS & Role-Based Experiences: Built a flexible content management system allowing for tailored experiences based on user type (alumni, scholars, or partners).
Impact
By implementing these enhancements, we transformed the portal into a powerful, user-friendly hub where alumni, scholars, and partners could connect, collaborate, and grow professionally—ultimately advancing our client’s mission of fostering a more inclusive investment management industry.
From the time that the redesigned portal launched in July 2023 to January 2025, there were more than 2,000 alumni logins and 400+ new partners in the portal.