This is your conference, let’s start it out right! Join conference faculty to kick off the program, meet your fellow attendees, and set the stage to make the most of our time together.

Whether you’re new to your institution or you’ve been there for decades finding your voice and learning how to talk about the impact of annual giving on your campus is a must. In this session, each faculty member will talk about how they learned the ethos, culture, and narrative of their institutions and how they leverage that knowledge to produce results. Storytelling is an important part of the annual giving framework, and each campus has a uniquely special story to tell -- what’s your story?

Giving Days have taken the advancement world by storm in recent years. Whether you have one, plan to add one, or continue to be asked about it by leadership, donors, or colleagues, Giving Days are a topic that keeps coming up. In this session, we’ll review the benefits, struggles, planning process, and scalability of giving days, so you can decide if adding this tactic is right for your institution and most importantly, your donors.

Engage in these 10-minute mini-presentations by the Faculty, followed by Q&A. • Quick appeal checklist • Excel formulas we love • Senior Class Gift to Young Alumni • How to talk about U.S. News and World Report rankings

The concept of a data-driven program can feel overwhelming or like you need a background in statistics. Not very many of us bring that to the table, and yet data is the lifeblood of any annual giving program. We use it to report on results, evaluate our success, build our plans, and improve performance. In this session, we’ll talk about how to effectively track your key performance indicators for each channel, segment, and project. Learn how to use data to help manage your decision-making and planning processes. Discover how to report results internally and externally effectively. And, because it’s fun, we’ll get nerdy with some equations (no math degree necessary).

In a busy world of multi-channel communications, direct mail continues to be a tried-and-true vehicle for Annual Giving. When competing for attention, what makes your mail piece stand out and get noticed? We will talk about what makes for a compelling mail piece and how different types of institutions, both big and small, can get big results from direct mail.

Once an anchor for many annual giving programs, the use of phone has been faced and refaced over and over. Is your outreach working for you? Is your ‘program overboard,’ or can we ‘right the ship’? It depends. But how do you know whether your institution is ready (and willing) to ride the wave with how quickly this work is changing? Are you looking for a few more buoys? This session is for you. We will engage in a candid discussion about the best use of the phone in our work. Starting from the dock by reviewing the changes in the industry, we’ll venture out to discuss and tackle the storms we’ve faced along the way. Then we’ll explore deeper waters with emerging trends and new ideas. Come prepared to explore fresh ways to redefine call center success, student outreach or even staff calling for the next century – or at least until the next major wave.

Giving Days are an all-hands-on-deck experience for advancement shops—especially for Annual Fund teams. When you’re working with a small crew and want to continue to expand the scale of your Giving Day, it might be time to consider recruiting Giving Day captains across your advancement team to help spread the word, build excitement, and troubleshoot questions. Join this session to learn best practices for building a Giving Day staff volunteer program from scratch, and scaling your program to increase your institution’s Giving Day success!

DXO. DGO. DDO. Regardless of what they are called, virtual gift officers are revolutionizing relationship development in higher education fundraising. In a world that experienced a digital quickening in 2020, it will be imperative for future-focused advancement organizations to embrace digital-first fundraising to meet donors where they engage. This revolution will be FaceTimed, livestreamed, podcasted, messaged, and emailed. Join this session to learn how your team can leverage digital-first solutions that deepen relationships with donors to renew, retain, and upgrade donors at your institution.

Is your reunion program on repeat? Does your affinity group programming need an upgrade? Or, are the gatherings great, but recently you’ve noticed a “disconnect” between the party and the purpose? Participants in this interactive session will engage in brainstorming activities that generate fresh ideas to boost these vital programs and build volunteer structures that help fuel their success. Take away tangible resources that inspire buy-in, engage volunteers, and help you do more with less. Then, explore techniques to integrate these programs in ways that help shape the engagement and giving lifecycle for participants.