In August 2022, CSUSB invested in its advancement team by creating a position dedicated to professional and leadership development. Since then, we have hired 20 new team members, promoted 5 of our staff, created an Advancement Academy, developed a professional development program, and administered an engagement survey. We have created magic with the help of our friends in strategic communication, academic affairs, and human resources, and we agree with Walt – it’s kinda fun to do the impossible! Help us spread the magic as we share our recruitment and engagement strategies, our mistakes, and our successes over the last year.

Disneyland is known as The Happiest Place on Earth. Shouldn’t our respective schools at least be The Second Happiest Place on Earth? A major role of Advancement staff is that of hospitality. In this session, we will draw from the Disneyland guest experience and relate it to the constituent experience at our educational institutions. How can we help ensure that our school brand is as positive and reassuring as that of the Disney brand?

Don’t let a milestone anniversary slip by with a simple slice of cake or balloon emoji on Instagram. Take the time to plan out a comprehensive marketing and communication strategy that is intentional and multi-faceted to really leverage the momentum of the big occasion. Share your company’s origin story and lean into all the triumphs and achievements throughout the years. Tap into nostalgia. Nostalgia strengths people’s emotional connection with your company and deepens their loyalty and brand affinity. Your audience will be delighted with special edition product releases and/or retro branding. Infuse all these elements into social media, advertising, PR efforts, design, web content and more. Historical dates and photos can be throwback posts on social media. Create a special commemorative logo that can visually brand the anniversary. Highlight the founders of the past while also celebrating current employees in videos and blog content. Now is the best time to control the narrative, tell your brand’s story by highlighting the past and outlining the vibrant future yet to come.

Step into the future and discover how the latest AI-powered advancements can elevate the impact of all your communications, from marketing videos to social media and email campaigns. “Lights, Camera, AI” is packed with practical advice from Stanford senior creative producer Steve Fyffe and University of Oregon senior director of strategic engagement Michelle Joyce that will save you time, money and countless hours of experimentation. It’s designed for anyone who wants to take advantage of AI to work faster and smarter.

Steve will guide attendees through the process of creating captivating and inclusive videos with global reach through AI-powered brainstorming, voiceovers and translation. Michelle will show you how to train your own, customized GPT models, integrate plug-ins, conduct in-depth research and streamline your email management.

Don't miss this opportunity to harness the power of AI and take your university’s storytelling, marketing and communications to new heights.

Ghostwriting, or writing for someone else, can be a frightful journey. In this session, learn top tips for taking a message (e.g. speech or letter) you’re writing for a dean, board chair, or other campus leader from request to delivery. How do you start? Where can you find information and inspiration? How do you capture someone else’s voice — even when you rarely interact with them? What processes can help create structure and momentum in successfully completing the project? We will also meet a few demons that can stand in our way — Imposter syndrome? Eek! Mean responses? No! — and share ways to slay them. To cap off the session, we will brainstorm ideas for messaging a few different scenarios.

This session will teach you how to grow and run a successful Give Day program at your own institution through the lens of Western Washington University's FY23 Give Day--one of the largest in District VIII, raising over $1.1 MM from over 3,100 donors--and how an Annual Giving team of just two people leveraged their relationships with peers, colleagues, campus partners, and external constituents to pull it off.

In particular, we'll discuss strategies to:

1. Plan and launch your Give Day successfully
2. Identify, prioritize, and build relationships with campus partners who will help your Give Day be most successful. Western has hundreds of people across campus participate in planning and fundraising on Give Day every year; it's quite unique and we'll tell you how to do it, too!
3. Leverage relationships with third-party vendors to help supplement the skills on your own team
4. Use Give Day to build your talent pool in Advancement, especially among young professionals
5. Use Give Day to build relationships with external stakeholders
6. Elevate your campaign with hero student stories told throughout your print, digital and social channels to reflect your university's values and culture.

We welcome discussion, so bring all your questions!

Inspiring donors and raising philanthropic support for society’s most complex issues — those where tangible outcomes and positive impact may not be realized for years — is a challenge facing nonprofits, including educational institutions, worldwide. From climate change to homelessness to racial inequity to social justice, philanthropy is critical to tackling society’s most complex issues, and institutions that innovate and inspire philanthropic investment are best prepared to achieve substantive, positive change. In this session, we will address real-life challenges encountered when complex social issues are involved and provide creative solutions for addressing them.

At CSUSB, we take great pride in our approach to social media, ensuring authenticity and fidelity to our institution's identity through the display of "Coyote Pride." Our commitment to authenticity is a defining factor that distinguishes us from other universities. Our social media voice is thoughtfully crafted to resonate not only with our esteemed faculty but also with our valued students and alumni, fostering a strong sense of connection and identification within our university community. This commitment to authenticity is more than a branding strategy, it is a promise to our audience….A promise built on trust among our followers. Our goal is to have prospective students and all stakeholder groups be drawn to CSUSB, not be slick marketing tactics seen elsewhere, but by genuine interactions through each and every post. In this digital age, CSUSB is setting out to prove that ‘authenticity’ is not a liability but in fact, a powerful magnet for attracting CSUSB stakeholders who seek real connections and meaningful experiences. By accomplishing this, the social media team hopes to paint a vibrant picture of the CSUSB spirit for all to see.

Ethics in philanthropy is of vital interest to all who work with donors, financial advisors, academic colleagues, and volunteers. Gift acceptance policies, state ethics requirements, the IRS, and others help guide our decision-making and help us make decisions. But, there are many, "What if's?" in philanthropy and this session will aid decision-makers in their pursuit to maintain high ethical standards.

Following on their well-received session from the 2023 CASE VIII conference (Old Skool vs. New and Cool: The Changing Look of Campaigns), Tamara and Lisa will lead a countdown of 10 tactics to set up for campaign success. They will highlight important areas of focus in campaign planning, sharing creative examples of successful work, lessons learned, and what to avoid. Set your institution up for campaign success by planning ahead, learning from peers, and making connections, and gathering creative ideas.