After a CRM conversion, advancement shops face challenges in system adoption, data integrity, and training all while maintaining momentum in closing gifts. Illinois Real-time Reviews address these challenges using a well-defined process cocreated by advancement services and frontline fundraisers. Conducted in a cross-functional 90-minute sessions, Real-time Reviews bring high priority prospects into focus for fundraisers, outlining next steps and align expectations around data entry.

Learn about the outcomes of the process, including quantifiable progress, improved system adoption, recommendations for additional business improvements and improved working relationships across the advancement enterprise.

The Orchard School had not pursued a campaign in 20 years. Learn how a small development office organized a group of volunteers into a powerhouse campaign cabinet and achieved their campaign goal 18 months ahead of schedule. We will discuss successful campaign goals, improving annual fund challenges, reinvigorating a dormant planned giving program, and how to recruit, train, motivate and retain a top-notch campaign cabinet.

The days of the outdated “telefund” or “phone bank” are long gone. To remain viable and a cost-benefit to your university, it is time to reimagine the possibilities. Using new integrated systems and services, and adding texting and video messaging, you can engage donors in new ways, and more fully utilize your talented student employees.

Your giving day just broke another record. Time to do it again. So, what’s next? How do you amplify engagement and excitement for something we’re all doing every year? Join us for this panel discussion of how to “level up” your giving day with things like social engagement, new giving methods, multi-tiered challenges, competitions, and elite level volunteers to keep excitement high. We will also share key pivots and changes institutions made during the pandemic- and what worked. And, we'll take a look at data on over $500M in results across higher education to see key benchmarks, metrics, and new tactics are as you take your giving day to the next level.

Movies have a way of bringing people together and broadening our perspectives which is why they can be an incredible tool to engage alumni, students, faculty and staff in important conversations. This presentation will outline how a movie club centered around DE&I and social justice topics can add value to any alumni strategy looking to reach disengaged alumni. By the end of the presentation, participants will learn how to implement an online social justice movie club with zero cost and only a few hours of staff time each month.

Can university fundraisers and donor relations officers adapt the goats and chickens model to scholarships and professorships? Okay, so we’re a university. We don’t have chickens. Or goats. Or cows. But you’ve probably heard or received those solicitations from other charities. Sure, you know your money may not actually be going to purchase THAT specific goat for THAT particular family, but the illusion is a great way to ask you for a gift, and it gives you an idea of its actual impact, whether large or small.

We are embarking on the largest transfer of wealth in human history. As baby boomers age, the number of elderly donors to higher education likewise increases. The need is great to develop an ethical framework of guidelines and best practices to support advancement staff when dealing with donors that may have cognitive impairment. Tony Pomonis, CFRE, from the University of Illinois Foundation and Tara Adams, Ed.M., JD, from the University of Illinois College of Law will share their odyssey of developing and implementing advancement guidelines for the cognitively impaired.

In March 2021, the Eastern Michigan University Foundation publicly launched its Give Rise Campaign, a comprehensive campaign focused on raising over $100M for student, program, and beyond-the-classroom support. Our event set multiple institutional records in attendance, giving, and campus engagement. How did we do it? While public phase kickoff events have become commonplace in the advancement world, our approach was not. Rather than attempting to host an in-person event, we opted for one that was fully virtual.

This session will highlight how advancement leaders can use the power of data analytics to understand trends, changes, and areas of growth. Through data analytics, the Sinclair Foundation was able to harness hundreds of thousands of diverse data points, and organize them into a structure for trustees, leadership, and donors.

A campaign can be a defining event in the life of your institution and in your career but keeping up with the many demands can be a challenge. A small college VP may not have the same resources as those at larger institutions. How do you keep all of the balls in the air when you are juggling the demands of a large campaign, managing staff, and maintaining your ongoing events and annual fund goals? We’ll discuss the challenges, share insights, and help you determine how to prioritize your time.