All times listed are Eastern Standard Time (US & Canada)
View the Online Program
11:30–11:45 AM
Welcome, Introductions and Setting the Stage
Join conference chair, Emily Rankin, to meet the faculty, review conference highlights and learn how to get the most out of your time online.
11:45 AM–12:45 PM
Beyond the Billion: Recommitting to Stewardship in a Major Campaign
As the University of Houston System surpassed its $1 billion campaign goal, the University’s first in 25 years, it provided the exciting opportunity to create a systematic stewardship model that will endure long past the current campaign. Add to this a WFH, socially distanced pandemic as the campaign closed, it was the perfect catalyst to rethink what current donors and volunteers want and need, as well as what future donors and volunteers will expect. Through this case study, we will explore what the “new, better normal” in stewardship can be when we reassess our assumptions and use this unique confluence of events to ensure we tie volunteer and donor expectations to impact.
Speaker: Eloise Brice, Vice Chancellor for University Advancement, University of Houston System
12:45–1:00
Stretch Break
1:00–1:45
Elective Sessions (Select One):
Developing a Strategic and Comprehensive Stewardship Plan
Getting sick of the same old handwritten note on acknowledgment letters? Stuck searching the internet for the perfect giveaway? Or, are you waiting for the thank you to your thank you? Then it's time to get more strategic! In this session you will learn how to align stewardship to your fundraising and office goals and move donor relations forward before, during and after your engagement activities and events. You will leave this session with the tools to create a comprehensive stewardship plan and armed with ideas you can try with your own donors.
Speaker: Nicole Martz, Assistant Director of Development, William Penn Charter School
Ethical Storytelling: Conscious Crafting of Student Stories
Development professionals in higher education play an important and powerful role in telling student stories to convey the impact of philanthropy. What are our ethical responsibilities as storytellers? How can we share powerful stories that feature diverse experiences without exploiting students? In this hands-on workshop, participants will engage in discussion and critical thinking to apply ethical storytelling principles. From the viewpoint of the storyteller, participants will be guided through the process of distilling raw student interview content into a compelling story of impact. Participants will work together to consider common ethical challenges in storytelling. By the end of the workshop, participants will have gained conscious story crafting skills, and will leave feeling empowered to implement new storytelling practices in their own work with students.
Speakers: Bree Grim, Campaign Coordinator & Assistant to the Associate Vice President for Development and Bianca Milevoj, Development Officer, The Evergreen State College
1:45–2:15
Stretch Break
2:15–3:00
Elective Sessions (Select One):
The LEAN, Mean, Donor Relations Machine: LEANING Your Donor Relations Practices
Is your Donor Relations or Advancement shop working too hard? LEAN* processes can help. Learn how to apply the same principles that have worked in business and industry for decades to your acknowledgments, reporting, gift processing, and communications pieces to get the most out of your limited resources and impress leadership at your organization. Two LEAN Greenbelts lead the way to show you how they eliminated waste, improved processes, and boosted morale among staff at Berea College.
*LEAN is a system for developing continuous process improvement. Its focus is on eliminating wasteful practices and improving efficiency.
Speakers:Candis Arthur, Associate Vice President for Philanthropic Operations and Mindy Townsend, Executive Director of Donor Experiences and Services, Berea College
Charity Begins at Home: Stewarding Relationships Within Your Organization
Donor Relations professionals focus much of their time and energy to build stewardship programs and strategies for their external constituencies, but it is just as important to focus our attention at home within our own teams and colleagues. This session will explore leveraging these external donor stewardship strategies and applying them internally to strengthen relationships, foster collaboration, and build partnerships within our own organizations.
Speakers: Sandra Campero, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Advancement Operations and Heidi Rosano, Senior Director of Donor Stewardship, University of California, Irvine
3:00–3:30
Stretch Break
3:30–4:30
Stewarding Transformational Donors
This panel discussion will provide insight into the unique opportunities and challenges surrounding stewardship of transformational donors and gifts. From the perspective of a large, anonymous gift to the Rady School of Management at the University of California San Diego to a historic gift that made national headlines for Prairie View A&M University, the advancement leaders who have stewarded these donors will reflect on their experiences. Panelists will talk about the stewardship components before, during and following these historic gifts. Whether you are currently stewarding a principal gift donor or are hoping to do so soon, you are sure to hear helpful insights from our presenters.
Panelists: Kate Heusner, Managing Director of Development, University of California San Diego; Karlee Simek, Assistant Director, Alumni and Donor Programs, University of California San Diego; and Carme Williams, Vice President for Development, Prairie View A&M University
Moderator: Jesse Pisors, Vice President, Advancement & External Relations, University of Houston - Victoria
4:30–5:15
Networking Reception
Pour yourself a cocktail (or mocktail) and meet virtually with conference attendees, faculty members, and exhibitors.
5:15
Conference Adjourns for the Day
11:15 AM–12:15 PM
Small Group Coffee Conversations (Select One)
Join faculty leadership and fellow conference attendees for interactive discussions on hot topics in the profession.
How to Build DEI into Your Stewardship Programs
Facilitator: Mo Cotton Kelly, Vice President, Alumni Relations, Marketing and Communications and Annual Giving, University of Connecticut
What Exactly Does Donor-Centered Advancement Mean to You?
Facilitator: Jesse Pisors, Vice President, Advancement & External Relations, University of Houston - Victoria
Closing A Campaign in a Virtual Environment
Facilitator: Emily Rankin, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Development, University of California, Riverside
12:15–12:45
Stretch Break
12:45–1:30
Elective Sessions (Select One):
How Inclusive, Collaborative Teams Achieve Exemplary Donor Communications
Explore the role of diversity, collaboration, cross-disciplinary training, and customized technology in achieving excellence in donor-centered communications and supporting fundraisers in maintaining exemplary donor relations. This session will share how an intentional approach to team building and interdisciplinary skills-training contribute to exceptional donor communications and advances the institution’s DEI goals. Valerie Harris, Senior Director, Stewardship Communications, will discuss how the University of Pennsylvania uses collaboration supported by customized technology to protect and maintain exemplary donor relationships in two primary stewardship processes in higher education—gift acknowledgments and scholarship reporting.
Speaker: Valerie Harris, Senior Director, Stewardship Communications, University of Pennsylvania
The Path to Stewtopia: Building a University-Wide Stewardship Program
Stewtopia refers to the nearly perfect utopia we envision when donors are strategically and appropriately stewarded. The University of Arizona's Development Program launched efforts to create this state of magic with a comprehensive, university-wide stewardship program and a centrally based stewardship team. A cross-campus collaborative program development team—the Stewardship Leadership Team (SLT)—was established with a diverse group of frontline fundraisers, administrative leaders and unit-based staff with stewardship responsibilities. Over the course of 18 months, the SLT worked together to develop university-wide baseline donor stewardship standards and guidelines. This presentation will provide both the vision of the magical land of Stewtopia along with the map of how to get there. Lots of unicorn images will be included.
Speakers: Tana Jones, Senior Director of Stewardship and Andrea Miller, Senior Vice President, Constituent Relations, Marketing/Communications, Giving Programs, University of Arizona Foundation
1:30–2:00
Stretch Break
2:00–2:45
Elective Sessions (Select One):
What's the ROI? When to Go Digital vs. Paper vs. Both
Old school professionals believe that paper and handwritten notes are the gold standard. Millennials are excited by the cost-effectiveness and video opportunities with digital. What is the ROI to both, and when is it most advantageous to use paper, digital or a hybrid model? We'll look at a few case studies from when our experiments have soared and flopped, and lessons learned in the process. Case studies include acknowledgments, annual report, impact reporting, handwritten notes, video cards and custom coffee table books.
Speaker: Margaret Stutt,Associate Director, Donor Stewardship, University of California, Berkeley
The donors of today and tomorrow are different. In higher education, the increasing diversity of our student population has not translated into diversity among our engaged alumni and major gift donors. Before we request, we need to invest in building relationships with BIPOC, LGBTQ2S and differently abled alumni. This session will explore critical considerations and strategies to inclusive advancement practices. From hiring and supporting diverse advancement professionals to leadership and volunteer engagement to major gifts strategies and collecting the data to inform decisions and establish benchmarks.
Speaker: Tanya H. Rumble,Director of Development, Faculty of Arts, Ryerson University and Mariya Yurokova, Senior Development Officer, Arts, Queen’s University
2:45–3:00
Stretch Break
3:00–4:00
The 360 Degree Constituent
As our goals to engage and steward donors increase, there is a need to expand our efforts to collect data on the whole of our constituents—not only the usual school/college/student activity focus, but the much broader aspects of who a person is. Incorporating all of this data coherently to see, engage and communicate with all of a person is very important and an increasingly complex challenge. The emphasis of this discussion will be on issues to consider, best practices, and emerging tools that harness the collect and desire for data to emphasize optimal engagement and stewardship.
Speaker: Dwight D. Dozier, Chief Information Officer, The Georgia Tech Foundation
