Many major gift fundraisers are looking forward to returning to elements of pre-pandemic fundraising. However, there is a new generation whose primary experience is working in the new ‘hybrid era’, who have been successful in building and cultivating relationships to gift outcomes purely in this environment.

What can we learn from these class of 20/21 fundraisers? Which aspects of their approaches can be utilised by experienced fundraisers, and how can we incorporate individuals into the area, and work in teams with a blend of experience?

This session will provide personal insight into starting in this new environment, share key takeaways for individual practitioners, managers, and teams, and provide an opportunity to share experiences of joining the profession at this time or working with new fundraisers.

Delivering excellent customer experience is important in building brand differentiation, appeal and connection - all of which contribute to recruitment performance. But it’s also critical in ensuring student retention, success and advocacy. This session will explore the core components of developing and implementing an effective customer experience strategy, focused on meeting audiences’ needs to improve institutional performance. We’ll share examples from the University of Wolverhampton’s recent work on improving the customer experience that they deliver. We will also draw on recent syndicated research conducted by SMRS, working with 47 universities who are part of the CASE Universities’ Marketing Forum, to understand the behaviours of over 34,000 future undergraduate students.