How can a smaller shop use the new AI tools to work smarter and find more prospects for its fundraising team? I am one person working for eight fundraisers. We are a new team with big goals. I am experimenting with AI like ChatGPT to see how I can use it to find corporations and individuals and what information we can find out about them - quickly, because I have a long and growing list of requests for prospects. AI is changing and developing fast. I will discuss some of the sites and methods I have used and some of my thoughts around prompt engineering and fact checking. This session will finish with a Q and A and a discussion.

Reunion celebrations are the culmination of a year's worth of event planning, volunteer engagement, fundraising, and outreach. So why not start the festivities sooner? Join the University of Chicago team to gain insight into additional opportunities for reunion programming and team collaboration to build momentum for Reunion Weekend and class giving. This session will discuss spreading the magic of reunion milestones throughout the year with pre-reunion engagement, collaborating with signature events, and leaning on your volunteers to make reunion a success.

Senior leaders identified the most significant challenge facing Advancement as “Scarcity of Talent.” The lack of qualified staff and turnover is a significant challenge at all levels of the advancement profession. How do you begin/continue growing your own talent? The session will help participants understand strategies to embrace the needs of emerging leaders, realize how to engage students, and enhance ones one’s on skillset to advancement the talent pipeline shortage.

Increasing cost. War on woke. Financial constraints. Curbs on international students. Each of these issues is a challenge but combined they have created an incredibly perilous political environment for educational institutions worldwide. And this is in a monumental year of elections across the globe. What are the implications of these difficult and uncertain times for colleges, universities, and schools and their advancement offices? Our panel of leaders will share their perspectives on this question with a particular focus on Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Often career advancement within higher education advancement requires moving into frontline fundraising or leadership positions. It takes a skilled person to balance the demands of leading a fundraising team while achieving personal fundraising metrics. So You Want Me To Lead AND Make It Rain, will help anyone new to management or leadership, offering tips, experiences, best practices, and discussions on balancing the demands of both worlds. Attendees will learn from others with similar roles, how to pivot leadership types, effectively manage up and down, be a champion for your team, and overcome obstacles that arise through the challenges of our work.

This session will provide tools to navigate conversations with dissenting opinions, and harness the power of honoring traditions and values of the past while forging a relevant and progressive future. Attendees will learn how to engage alumni and donors in a way that empowers them to join in the vision, and identify when to detach from donors who do not uphold the institution’s current mission and vision.

What are the latest trends in advancement and what do they mean for your institution? How can you ensure you have collaborative strategies in place to make data-informed decisions? This session will draw on recent CASE Insights research to explore trends that are impacting advancement practices in educational institutions, as well as contextualizing our research with what we are learning from our members around all eight districts and the rest of the world! This session will also incorporate how institutions are using artificial intelligence to support their advancement activities, focusing on current attitudes and ethical use of this disruptive technology. Walk away with ideas to incorporate key metrics across integrated advancement and tips of how you can become a data-informed leader, regardless of where you sit on the organizational chart.

What keeps high performers with your team? Join this session to discuss strategies for engaging, retaining, and advancing the careers of your best talent and building a healthy, high-performing team.

The minute you walked through the university I could see you were a grateful individual A real big spender Good mannered, so inspired Say, wouldn't you like to know what's goin' on your alma matter? So let me get right to the point I want to show our stories to every alumni Hey big spender, Pay a little attention to me Wouldn't you like to feel good, good, good How's about a few stories, stories I could show what we've been up to Let me show you what we've been up to!

We’ve heard about the enrollment cliff and its likely impact on higher education. For her dissertation, Dr. Carrie Phillips researched how marketing strategies might help mitigate this cliff. This session shares findings from visiting with chief marketing officers about how they’re preparing. The session will begin with a high-level overview of the enrollment cliff followed by a deep dive into how marketing strategies might lessen the impact. You’ll hear about the challenges participants face, strategies they’re exploring and best practices to consider. As you’re looking to navigate change at your institution, this session is a great place to start.