Ngage Press Release: Announcing Ngage Now LLC, an technology start up that aims to disrupt alumni relations and philanthropy using digital engagement

A female founded company that works at the intersection of digital engagement and alumni relations.

Chicago, IL. (Aug. 03, 2021) "Ngage Now LLC" has been founded by two advancement employees at the University of Illinois, Nancy Rampson and Ella van Wyk. Its purpose as a company is to build engagement products that offer new methods for data analysis, fundraising and alumni participation through creativity, agility and innovation.

Rampson and van Wyk successfully completed the accelerator program of UIDEA through the University of Illinois Foundation and secured seed money to build a prototype of their first product, a suite of online alumni games named IlliniNgage. After the accelerator program was completed, Rampson and Van Wyk received a grant from AWARE (Accelerating Women and Underrepresented Entrepreneurs) and completed the NSF ICorps, both programs offered through Research Park at the University of Illinois. Their prototype suite of games is poised to be launched over the 2021 - 2022 academic calendar. Illini Trivia, Illini Basketball and Illini Puzzles are slated to be released first.

Both Rampson and van Wyk recognized that in their respective efforts to engage alumni, Rampson through major gift fundraising, and van Wyk in engagement, that shifts occurring in the field of alumni relations are demanding new paradigms of thought and a level of experimentation that a large institution just isn't built to support, "The gravity of a higher educational institution is formidable and can make it a challenge to step outside of our well known boxes in order to evaluate or create new opportunities. Nancy and I had a lightbulb moment where we imagined a small company that could be that space, orbiting far enough away from the institution to be creative and agile, but close enough serve it's goals authentically," noted van Wyk.

Recognizing that digital engagement is the new frontier of alumni relations, Rampson and van Wyk focused their research on that space and have realized a market where they see potential alignment of their audience with mobile gaming and online micro-donations that could forge new ground in their field and provide data to help institutions inform their strategies moving forward. The upcoming suite of online alumni games is the prototype to test their theories, capture data, refine their product market fit and help propel them forward to realize their phase two goals.

The games can be found at www.illiningage.com and you can follow Ngage Now on Facebook, Instagram and twitter.

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