11:15–11:30
Welcome, Introductions and Setting the Stage

11:30 AM–12:30 PM
Inside the data nerd's studio
What are the best ways to benchmark your fundraising and engagement results versus peers, that lead you to actually improve strategy? And what about all this new “engagement” data? What does it actually mean for our relationship with alumni and supporters? We now have a mountain of information, both at our own institutions and from great sources like CASE, to see trends and how we compare to peers. But few of us are using it in a practical way to impact results. Let’s unpack what’s available and what it means to benchmark in a meaningful way with sources like the VSE and Alumni Engagement Metrics. Then, let’s talk about how we can use predictive and prescriptive cue in our own data to drive a better donor experience. Join Jenny Cooke Smith, Senior Strategic Consultant with AMAtlas at CASE and Brian Gawor, Vice President for Research at RNL for this lively discussion – with real examples, of how you can start using the data available to you right now to drive greater results from your donor engagement and create a better donor experience.

12:30–12:45 
Break / Live Exhibit Hall Chat
Use this time visit the virtual exhibit hall to view resources and setup appointments.

12:45–1:30 
Elective Sessions (Select One): 

• Giving Day for the People
  Giving Days have become an anchor point in many annual giving calendars but where does it go? How big is too big? What is your purpose in having a Giving Day? What does the future hold for these days? In this interactive session, Howard Heevner and Christina Sebastian will share their perspectives on what happens next. At the conclusion of this conversation you will have a list of questions to think about as you consider the future of your own Giving Day activities.
• Pipeline for Progress: Building a Collaborative Team of Frontline and Direct Marketing
  A new trend in Annual Giving connects both sides of the traditional fundraising shop - direct outreach and frontline. Many teams find themselves looking for ways to integrate their mass communication learnings in support of their leadership annual gift officer team. But how do you do this in a data driven way that drives results for success, outcomes, and partnership, over time? Moreover, how do you create deliverables in your program that help moves key prospects and donors through a meaningful journey toward major gift conversations. This program proposes some simple implementations you can try today in creating this connectivity.

1:30–1:45
Break / Live Exhibit Hall Chat
Use this time visit the virtual exhibit hall to view resources and setup appointments.

1:45–2:30 
Elective Sessions (Select One):

• Sustainers. Make it Simple
  We all know that sustaining gifts will increase revenue, boost retention rates, and decrease fundraising costs for our programs. So why is higher ed not knocking it out of the park? What is holding us back? During this session we discuss the challenges we face in growing our sustainer programs and how we can overcome them. We will hear from Deb Ashmore, a Principal Analytics Consultant at Blackbaud, who has extensive experience with sustainer programs outside of higher ed along with Maggie Utsch from the College of Saint Benedict who leads their program with 17% of their annual giving donors as sustainers. Deb works closely with public radio and television and will share key strategies they implemented to launch their programs. This session will give you a better understanding of what you need to do to bring your sustaining program to the next level. If you haven’t started a sustaining gift program, you will have the confidence to move forward. 
• We live in a digital world, now what?
  Fundraising professionals devote time to perfecting their craft. Multi-channel, omni-channel, and more—are we evolving fast enough with so many new digital tools and trends to pick from? If we don’t adapt to the digital age, are we at risk of getting left behind? In this session, we will share digital strategies to increase engagement and fundraising results. At the end of this session, you will walk away with actionable ideas to test and try at your own institution.

2:30–3:00
Break / Live Exhibit Hall Chat
Use this time visit the virtual exhibit hall to view resources and setup appointments

3:00–4:00 
General Session - To Be Announced

4:00–5:00
Networking / Live Exhibit Hall Chat
Pour yourself a cocktail (or mocktail) and meet virtually with conference attendees, faculty members, and exhibitors.  Use this time to check out resources in the library, visit the virtual exhibit hall or participate in the optional live chat

5:00
Conference Adjourns for the Day

11:30-12:30 PM
Expanding the Pipeline – Using Engagement Benchmarks to Inform Annual Giving Strategies
The alternate title to this session might be “what happens when an annual giving junkie gets to manage a survey on alumni engagement.”  Jenny Cooke Smith spent fifteen years analyzing annual giving trends prior to joining the team at CASE and brings that lens into this conversation of engagement metrics.  In 2019, CASE launched the global Alumni Engagement Metrics (AEM) survey, the culmination of a more than decade-long journey to establish a framework and standard for measuring ways alumni interact with their alma mater.  In this session, learn why annual giving professionals can and should play a pivotal role in the adoption of engagement metrics and more importantly, in guiding how they are used for greater good.  We will share results from the second year of analysis, in which 372 respondents from 16 different countries provided key inputs on engagement in four modes: philanthropy, volunteerism, experiential, and communication.  We will also discuss why engagement rate is merely the start of more complex conversations, and what other measures should be layered in for charting success.   

12:30–1:00
Break / Live Exhibit Hall Chat
Use this time visit the virtual exhibit hall to view resources and setup appointment1s

1:00-2:00 PM
Elective Sessions (Select One):

• Transforming Phonathon
  It worked for decades, and then the world changed. Reaching donors through phone calls became harder, and the way many of us were doing it just annoyed donors. Enter integrated, mobile technology that lets you contact donors across calling, texting, and video messages, all driven by powerful analytics. The phonathon has transformed, students can work remotely, and we can maximize ROI and the donor experience with this new technology. And advancement leaders are realizing that this engagement is about way more than the annual fund: supporting events, major/planned giving, surveying and alumni engagement are now common. We’ll share results of the largest ever student ambassador survey, key data on impact of this transformation, and you’ll hear from leaders that transformed their programs, then engage in a discussion about how you can take the next step beyond “dialing for dollars.”

• Reimagining your Faculty and Staff Campaign During COVID-19
  In 2020, COVID-19 presented many challenges to fundraising and to fundraisers. Our industry had to shift and re-think how many of our fundraising strategies needed to change. Events and face-to-face donor interactions ended and shifted to virtual engagements. In this session, learn some of the strategies Texas Southern University used to reimagine their Faculty and Staff Campaign and turn it into a three-week 100% virtual campaign generating a 45% increase in giving. By attending this session, attendees will learn: Ways to keep your zoom participants engaged; Creative games and interactive activities; Digital strategies that inspire giving; Ways to engage your leadership donors; and Ways to get your Deans invested in success

• Increase ROI by Becoming Besties with Research & Prospect Management
  Traditionally associated with major gift fundraising, Research & Prospect Management (RPM) has untapped potential in supporting annual giving fundraising efforts. By attending this session, attendees will understand how building a better working relationship between the two departments can result in opportunities not only to increase annual dollars, but also to: 1. Reverse engineer data for predictive modeling; 2. Identify future affinity-based fundraising segments; and 3. Develop reports and metrics to create and enhance leadership annual giving.

2:00–2:30
Live Exhibit Hall Chat
Use this time visit the virtual exhibit hall to view resources and setup appointments.

2:30–3:15
Roundtable Discussions

3:15-3:30 PM
Stretch Break/Live Exhibit Hall Chat
Use this time visit the virtual exhibit hall to view resources and set-up appointments.

3:30–4:45
Closing Session and Thoughts with All Faculty

4:15
Conference Adjourns

11:15–NOON
Roundtable Discussions
Bring your breakfast or lunch and connect with attendees in small groups.  Each group will receive discussion prompts and will be encouraged to participate in the conversation on timely topics affecting our industry.  This is a great time to connect with peers to share best practices, ideas and support.

NOON–12:15 PM
Break / Live Exhibit Hall Chat
Use this time visit the virtual exhibit hall to view resources and setup appointments

12:15–1:00 
Elective Sessions (Select One):

• Leading the Change 2020
  Annual Giving teams are often put in the position to sit in a push and pull place of change in advancement organizaitons. Sitting at the nexus of service to campus and fundraising outcomes these teams have the unique opportuntiy to inspire and drive change both within advancement operations and throughout institutions. Christina Sebastian and Howard Heevner will look at strategies they have incorporated at their respective institutions to navigate change and moving change forward. You will leave this session with a list of strategies that you might deploy at your own institution.
• Auditing your Program - make your work, work for you!
  Whether starting a new program or optimizing exisiting work, evaluating your program and setting baselines for success is a critical exercise. There a number of ways to accomplish this, the important this is consistency. Where do you start? What do you audit? How do you set identify areas of opportunity and set a timeline for implementing new ideas? What stays? What stops? What gets "sunset"? Join this interactive conversation where we'll look at one audit model and discuss best practices amongst the group.

1:00–1:15 
Break / Live Exhibit Hall Chat
Use this time visit the virtual exhibit hall to view resources and setup appointments

1:15–2:00
Elective Sessions (Select One):

• Elective Session - To Be Added
• Elective Session - To Be Added

2:00–2:15
Live Exhibit Hall Chat
Use this time visit the virtual exhibit hall to view resources and setup appointments.

2:15–3:00
Elective Sessions (Select One):

• Parents: Do You Know Who Your Best Parent Donors are Today? 
  Parents fundraising has represented a key revenue opportunity for institutions for many years. However, frequently, we have thought of these donors as transitory. We have often functioned with the assumption that after 4 to 5 years of the students experience the Parents would disappear from our giving landscape but is that true. In this session we will look at data that suggests some of your best parent donors give for many years past their students time on campus. At the end of this session you will walk away with new understanding of parent behaviors and insights how to grow your parents giving program.
• Using personas to drive donor engagement
  The commercial world has used them for years: actionable "personas" that integrate the backgrounds, viewpoints and history of our supporters to drive personalized outreach. How do they actually work in donor engagement? We'll cover what personas, are, what they look like, and using predictive models to craft them. We'll share the experience of kicking them off, how to engage across your insititution with key stakeholders, and how to get started with tight resources. If you've heard the word "persona" and wondered, 'what does that really mean?,' this session will give you actionable steps to get started or improve your use of this key engagement tool.

3:00–4:00
Let's Get Real: The tough annual giving questions
What are the best ways to benchmark your fundraising and engagement results versus peers, that lead you to actually improve strategy? And what about all this new “engagement” data? What does it actually mean for our relationship with alumni and supporters? We now have a mountain of information, both at our own institutions and from great sources like CASE, to see trends and how we compare to peers. But few of us are using it in a practical way to impact results. Let’s unpack what’s available and what it means to benchmark in a meaningful way with sources like the VSE and Alumni Engagement Metrics. Then, let’s talk about how we can use predictive and prescriptive cue in our own data to drive a better donor experience. Join Jenny Cooke Smith, Senior Strategic Consultant with AMAtlas at CASE and Brian Gawor, Vice President for Research at RNL for this lively discussion – with real examples, of how you can start using the data available to you right now to drive greater results from your donor engagement and create a better donor experience.

4:00–4:15
Closing Remarks

4:15
Conference Adjourns