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For leaders of research organizations

Prove your impact on talent. 

No settling for headcounts.

You know your programs shape careers. Alumni Analyzer delivers the benchmarked evidence of talent impact that funders reward, so you can walk into your next funding renewal with proof rather than promises.

If a funding renewal or major ask is on your horizon, the time to build the evidence is now.

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trusted by world-class research organizations

“The alumni study of the student and postdoc users of the Canadian Neutron Beam Centre provided compelling, quantified evidence of the impact neutron facilities make through the training of highly qualified people — evidence that the Canada Foundation for Innovation review committees explicitly recognized as a strength of our successful Innovation Fund proposal for a $37M project.”

Bruce Gaulin, Distinguished University Professor and Brockhouse Chair in the Physics of Materials at McMaster University

A client of Alumni Analyzer set out to show a funder that it was training the highly skilled workforce of tomorrow. In a funder engagement, it presented findings from our alumni study alongside alumni telling their own career stories in person. The organization secured its operating funding renewal with a seven-figure annual increase above its original request, and credited that 'workforce of tomorrow' message, backed by our evidence, as central to the outcome.

Proving your impact is hard. And it just got harder.

Research organizations increasingly have to prove — not just assert — they train the highly skilled workforce that funders care about. Yet the career data that would prove it is scattered, incomplete, and hard to analyze. Manual searches and small surveys yield inconsistent, anecdotal results, leaving institutions unable to answer basic questions about the people they’ve trained: where they work, how fast they advance, whether they stay in the country.
And most critically, they can’t show how those outcomes compare with peers who never had access to their research capabilities or training — the comparison that turns a claim of impact into credible evidence. When a funding renewal is on the line, that gap can cost real money.
The bar has risen. Funders increasingly expect evidence of societal return on investment, not assertions. Counting how many people passed through your programs no longer distinguishes you from every other applicant making the same claim.
The data is no longer public. LinkedIn profiles are no longer fully published — and with them goes the ethical basis for scraping career data at scale. Just as funders raise the bar, the shortcut institutions relied on has closed.
Evidence takes lead time. A credible, benchmarked study takes months to assemble, not weeks. If a funding renewal or major ask is coming in the next year or two, the work has to start now — not when the funder asks.
 
Wondering how your current impact reporting would hold up?
Three questions a funder may ask about your alumni is a good place to test it.

Proving your impact can be done. You don't have to do it alone.

Research organizations are already proving their impact on talent with hard evidence — and getting rewarded for it. It takes the right data, the right comparison, and methods that hold up to scrutiny.

Benchmarked results

We benchmark your alumni's outcomes against a matched control group — people of similar background who never had access to your programs or facilities — turning data into credible evidence.

First-hand attribution

We interview alumni to capture how and why your programs shaped their careers — first-hand accounts that explain what the benchmarks show. The numbers measure it. Your alumni explain it.

Ready-to-use findings

We determine how fast your alumni advance, whether they stay in your funder's jurisdiction, and in which sectors they build careers — all benchmarked and ready to drop into a proposal or pitch deck.
You don't need to build this capability in-house or start from scratch. We've done it for leading research organizations — using methods that respect privacy and platform terms — turning scattered records into evidence that stands up when the funding is on the line.

Inside the Service

How fast alumni advance  — speed of promotion and tenure with employers

 Alumni of a research organization who began their careers as individual contributors reached executive positions at nearly five times the rate of a matched control group ten years in (7.4% vs 1.6%) — advancing faster into management in their first five years and into executive roles in the following five.

 Where alumni build careers — retention within your funder’s jurisdiction

Alumni of a research organization remained in-country at 87%, versus 73% for a matched control group — and were employed in the host region’s high-tech and research-intensive sectors at fourteen times that region’s share of national GDP in those sectors.

Which sectors they enter — high-tech, research-intensive, and beyond

Alumni of a research organization were 40% more likely than a matched control group to work in high-tech and research-intensive sectors in-country (52% vs 37%), including four times as likely to be in scientific R&D.

90% of alumni of a research organization now work in universities or research-intensive roles, and land academic jobs at nearly twice the control rate (57% vs 29%)

How far they go in education — continued studies at advanced levels

Undergraduate engineering alumni of a research organization were twice as likely to earn doctorates as a matched control group (16% vs 8%) and 65% more likely to pursue any higher degree.

PhD alumni of a research organization pursued advanced medical training at more than three times the rate of a matched control group (25% vs 8%).

Alumni interviews to reveal the mechanisms of impact — how and why your organization’s programs and talent development activities shaped career decisions and trajectories.

Across our studies, alumni have consistently traced specific professional capabilities back to specific features of their experience.

Alumni from one research organization gained early exposure to managing teams, communicating across specialties, and understanding how complex organizations function — foundations they credited in interviews for their later moves into leadership.

Alumni from multiple research organizations consistently attributed their professional discipline — precision, quality standards, and planning for what can go wrong — to the demanding, high-stakes requirements of the research they conducted at these organizations.

Customized scope to fit your institutional priorities, including cohort selection, allowing you to define groups to analyze (student users, staff, grant recipients, etc.)

Ethical data collection and handling — gathered in line with platform terms, compliant with GDPR and US/Canadian privacy law, and stored securely

Presentation-style reports  — with graphs, figures, and key findings, ready to use in your funding case

Client Stories

“Thanks to Alumni Analyzer, CMC can now tell a clear, concise, data-driven story about the value of CMC to our government partners.”

Gordon Harling

President & CEO, CMC Microsystems

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“Alumni Analyzer’s findings were immediately useful in CLS government relations’ activities, enabling us to tell objective, data-driven stories about our impact on the training of highly qualified personnel.”

Bill Matiko

CEO, Canadian Light Source

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“The findings support our message to funding partners about our impact on the workforce of tomorrow. I look forward to using their services again!“

Dr. Jodi Cooley

Executive Director, Snolab

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“Alumni Analyzer’s findings provided the data to clearly demonstrate to our funders and stakeholders the long-term impact of TRIUMF’s undergraduate student work program, which is one of the ways that TRIUMF enhances Canada’s pipeline of talent and future leaders.”

Dr. Nigel Smith

Executive Director, TRIUMF

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“Alumni Analyzer’s report provided an objective, data-driven way to showcase long-term impact from Brain Canada’s investments in students and trainees. The results demonstrate that Brain Canada is helping to develop the next generation of research leaders—both within academia and beyond—and provided compelling evidence of value created through the Canada Brain Research Fund.”

Viviane Poupon, PhD

President and CEO, Brain Canada Foundation

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FAQs

  • But we already report on numbers of people trained. Isn’t that enough?

    It depends on what your funder is comparing you against. A count of people trained tells a reviewer how many came through, not what became of them — and every applicant submits a count. What distinguishes a case is aggregate outcome data and a benchmark: how your alumni actually performed, and how that compares to people who trained in the same fields without access to your programs.

    If you’d like to test how your current reporting would hold up, Three questions a funder may ask about your alumni works through what a reviewer is looking for.

  • Do you interview alumni?

    Yes, when the scope includes it. We speak directly with a sample of your alumni to understand how and why your programs shaped their careers — the mechanisms behind the benchmarked results. Alumni describe specific skills, turning points, and opportunities they credit to your organization, in their own words, with their consent.

  • How long does a study take?

    Once agreements are in place and we receive your input data, studies take 2–5 months depending on scope, depending on the size of your alumni sample, options in your scope of work, and how many other studies are in our queue.

    Evidence takes lead time. Beyond the study itself, you may need months of lead time for a privacy review, procurement, and gathering your alumni lists. Organizations that start when the renewal is already on the calendar may find the window has closed.

  • How much does it cost?

    Costs are determined based on the precise scope of work customized to meet your needs, and will depend on the number of alumni to be included in the study, and the options that you select. As a guide, we recommend a group of 1,000 or more alumni for the strongest results, though we are happy to work with smaller groups. Past projects have typically been in the range of $10K to $40K. For context, one client’s study accompanied a funding case that secured a seven-figure annual increase above what it originally asked for. 

  • In what format do you deliver the study results?

    Most clients receive a presentation-style PDF report with graphs and figures, a summary of key findings, and if applicable, alumni testimonials. Some data may also be delivered in a spreadsheet for integration into your alumni database.

  • What about privacy and compliance?

    We act as a data processor under your direction. You remain in control of your data. All information is stored on secure servers with USA, EU/UK GDPR, and Canadian compliance built in.

  • What Alumni do you study?

    You decide who to include. Alumni can be former users, staff, or anyone who benefited from your facilities, programs or funding, within a given period. This may include students, interns, post-doctoral researchers, as well as other scientists and professionals. 

  • What data do you need for a study?

    We typically need alumni names, home university, if applicable, and the year in which they were associated with your organization. Additional details can add further value. Consider including how often or in what capacity they engaged (e.g. on-site user, data user, funding recipient) or demographic information.

  • What if we don’t already have Alumni data?

    That’s okay. Alumni Analyzer can help you collect it. We can reconstruct a sample of your alumni using publicly available information, such as research publications, professional profiles, and organizational websites.

About Us

Daniel Banks

For research organizations that must prove to funders they train the highly skilled workforce, Alumni Analyzer turns scattered career records into benchmarked evidence a funder will reward — without building the capability in-house or settling for anecdotes and headcounts.

We exist so that these organizations’ claims of impact on developing talent rest on evidence, not assertion. Our studies gather career records as a third party, compare them against a matched group from outside the organization, and report the results in full, including the measures where results are modest. A small team of trained analysts carries out the work, using methods refined with each engagement.

Alumni Analyzer began with a question at a national research facility: we trained hundreds of students and postdocs, so where are they now? Daniel Banks, then helping run the Canadian Neutron Beam Centre, commissioned a prototype study to find out how much career data could be found and usefully analyzed. Even that first study was later recognized by a funding review committee as a strength of a successful $37M proposal.

Daniel holds a PhD in physics and an MBA, and has helped research organizations secure more than $175M in successful funding proposals.

Start with a conversation

Every study is scoped to what you need to show. You decide which alumni to include, which outcomes matter most to your funder, and whether interviews are included — so the findings speak to your case within your budget.

Let's talk about what you need — including when your next funding decision falls.
No obligation, and no pressure to decide anything on the call.

Book A Free Consultation