There is a rise in female philanthropists and women’s wealth, indicating that changes to the gender balance of the major gift prospect pool are on the horizon. To maximise the opportunities this change presents, event managers should consider taking a fresh, proactive approach; evolving their event design to better cater to the distinct requirements of female philanthropists. Join this fireside chat to explore how with the right event experience design, events could play a vital part in discovering and developing the female major gift prospect pool.

Can philanthropy and alumni engagement transform entrepreneurship in higher education? What role does philanthropy play in start-ups and social venture philanthropy?

Over the past few years, advancement has fuelled a huge transformation in Durham University’s work in entrepreneurship. The impact of this work has been significant; twice as many students engaging with innovation and entrepreneurship activity, the number of startups emerging from programmes has almost trebled and four ventures have now raised over £1 million in external funding.

This session will showcase how the Durham Inspired Campaign has and continues to raise ambitions for entrepreneurship at Durham University and will help you consider how you might engage with entrepreneurship at your institution.

Western, Eastern, Southern and Central Europe District Cabinet members want to bust a few myths on the advancement profession in continental Europe. Join this expert panel for an enlightening and hopefully amusing session discussing and busting a few myths on what works and doesn’t in fundraising, alumni engagement, and advancement leadership. The session will be open to audience interaction in order to gather as many examples as possible of how Continental Europe gets things done, similarly or differently to our neighbors in the north or across the sea. Our team of busters will take on a few myths such as:

• FUNDRAISING MYTH: This may all work for the Anglo-Saxons, but rich people don’t make large gifts in continental Europe.
• LEADERSHIP MYTH: Our rectors and presidents don’t believe fundraising and alumni relations will make a difference
• ADVANCEMENT PROFESSION MYTH: It’s not in our culture to ask / give back
• ALUMNI MYTH: We’ve built strong relations with our alumni, asking them for money will spoil the relationships

Panelists will share their case and explain how their example busts the myth and invite the audience to share theirs. We are sure this lighthearted myth busting process will bring you energy, ideas and some great stuff to copy and share.

We all have ‘connectors’ in our portfolios – people who aren’t going to support our institution philanthropically for now, but who are willing to help our institutions in other ways. Sometimes, we can be guilty of giving these valuable relationships lower billing as we work on our prospects who are likely to make a gift in the short term. This session will look at how we can make the most of our connectors, taking a deep dive into the science of network mapping as our speakers share success stories and tips on maximising these important relationships.