The history of how universities formed is almost certainly shaping your fundraising programme, and maybe not in a good way. Listen to best practices in Strategic Initiative fundraising and prepare your whole institution to give the donors what they want and achieve the impact you’re really capable of.  Challenge yourself to be a leader and do the evolution of fundraising – because if you want to solve 21st century problems, you might need to break out of some 11th century silos first.

Do you tune out when people are talking? Do you listen without judging? Do you create the space for people to feel heard? The reality is we hear less than 50% of what is being said in any conversation. When we listen and truly hear what is being said we build trust and a safe space for conversations to flourish.

Are these skills inherent or are they developed? How can you develop and enhance your listening skills to engage more effectively with your donors and others? Good listening practices can be learned and are the key to developing fresh insights and ideas that have impact and fuel success.

This session will touch on the theory and practice of effective listening, bust some myths and share some realities, warts and all, and will be interactive with stories and audience participation that will demonstrate how we can create a greater awareness of our own listening skills, through tried and tested coaching techniques.

Whereas theories and practices of fundraising have largely emerged in the English-speaking world, there is no doubt that higher education advancement is now a global phenomenon. Adjustments are made to create relevance and impact in different cultures, and solutions are developed on the go – often with small teams and no previous guidelines. With examples ranging from the governmental matching funding campaign dynamics of Finland to grand challenge fundraising in South Africa, we look at how fundraising is shaping into culture-specific forms that may challenge traditional theories and practices. In this interactive session, you will also be provided with sufficient space to reveal your own creative fundraising on the go! We invite you, therefore, to bring your cultural observations and experiences to the discussion, for the continuous advancement of the advancement profession.

Latest statistics show that the UK legacy market in 2030 will be £5.1billion and that higher and private education is in the fastest growing sector in the legacy market today. As we reimagine our philanthropic fundraising programmes and practices, this panel of university legacy fundraisers will answer all questions about fitting out our legacy programmes for the future – where and how much to invest, what to get right in stewardship and acquisition, and how to ensure your institution is top of mind when your alumni make their final will. Come along with your burning questions and hear how to set your institution up for success.

Whilst major donor and regular giving fundraisers are running events or meeting their prospects, trust fundraisers are seen as just working quietly writing applications (and hoping for success). But what can we learn from other fundraising disciplines to enhance our work? With COVID-19 transforming the trust fundraising landscape, building strong and mutually beneficial relationships with your funders is more important than ever.

This session will share advice on how to provide more personal and bespoke cultivation for trusts and foundations, using methods more typically associated with individual major donor fundraising to help break down the barriers of the difficult current landscape. It will also provide an opportunity for you to share your top tips and best practice on how to engage with trusts.

82% of UK universities said their current way of managing awards wasn’t meeting the needs of their organisation when we surveyed them before COVID-19. Siloed data, a lack of ownership internally and issues giving students access to awards are all common challenges.  Join this session as we share best practice advice on expanding student access to awards and removing the internal blockers that make awards difficult to administer

More often than not we push our focus just to our numbers, and we forget that the value of higher education is the power to share inspiring stories. Now what would happen if we balanced our fundraising with some storyraising efforts? Imagine all you can achieve, if your stories would circle back and impact your goals.

Most brands out there are focused on showcasing their values, their communities, and now more than ever we should let our brand's soul to speak for itself. In this session we'll allow your mind to shift; a twist of perspective will be my gift. Go on, take the opportunity to put your community up front and center and see what happens. Will you dare to? That is the question.

In this interactive workshop Rachel and Margaret will take you from blank page to inspiring and impactful case for support.

Your case is the foundation of your fundraising programme but how often do we rehash the same phrases or copy and paste from old funding bids or direct mail.

Well no more!

Come with a project you’re working on, an open mind and a willingness to ask, ‘why would anyone give to us?’

Mass fundraising programmes often steer clear of complex research, equipment or capital asks. But by finding ways to translate these concepts into accessible and compelling calls to action, we can inspire our communities and engage with new audiences. In this session, Heather and Jemma will share their experiences of successfully fundraising for research within their Regular Giving programmes - and give you the tools to do the same yourself.

Blackbaud is undergoing an evolution with how it delivers Customer Success. What we deliver day-to-day is in a constant evolution. Chris delivers the Voice of the Customer as a new Customer Success Manager and will demonstrate the tailored and unique ways Customers can engage and partner with Success. It takes a while for the machine to work optimised for you. Let’s tweak the model together to bring massive value to you. Listen for what to expect from software providers, understand the data you hold, how to become digitally ready to advance and what impact we can make together on reporting, staffing and employee engagement.