How often do you look at others' success and think ‘well that’s a stroke of luck!'? In this session, we will explore the behaviours that can help you to increase good fortune and ultimately make you luckier in fundraising. We may even include a little bit of science… There is no doubt that blind luck exists, but how you approach your role and your mindset can influence whether you maximise or even spot these opportunities. We will share practical ideas brought to life with real examples of how these behaviours have led to great successes and life-changing discoveries.

'Crisis communications' provokes images of fires, floods, cyber-attacks and other major incidents; but increasingly, university crisis comms are reputational incidents that originate, or largely play out, on social media. Student grievances, stakeholder complaints, pile-ons...we've all been there. In this interactive panel session - under strict Chatham House rules - we'll share case studies of when social media crisis comms management went right, when it went wrong, and the lessons we've learned. We'll also think about how we can support staff on the frontline and how on earth to maintain an authentic voice on social platforms in the face of increasing scrutiny.

Collaboration is at the heart of generating authentic and engaging social content that speaks to your alumni and supporter audiences. Brought to life with case studies from alumni engagement, fundraising and stewardship, in this honest and practical session, we’ll share learnings that enabled our team to create a consistent and robust social media strategy with impactful stories that showcase the University of Glasgow community. We’ll provide techniques to upskill your team and demystify social media, helping you understand your audience and how to reach them. Build the knowledge (and evidence) to stop doing what doesn’t work and focus on creating.

Asia is home to more billionaires than any other continent and will see the fastest growth in ultra-high-net-worth individuals by 2030. For universities, prospect pipelines from Asia will grow, as the largest numbers of international students to the UK continue to be from Asia. However, given the size, diversity and complexity of the region, as well as competition and limited fundraising resources, rigorous prioritisation and strategic focus are required. This session will explore a range of data sets and market intelligence that support an evidence-based approach to strategic engagement. It will also draw from institutions that are experienced in Asian fundraising, and share new approaches in navigating the Tiger Economies.

Alumni from our Institutes (Spring Institute in Educational Fundraising, Alumni Relations Institute and Marketing & Communications Institute) are invited to a networking opportunity hosted by Institute Faculty.

With our alumni communities growing at exceptional rates and resources continually stretched, how do we use evolving technology to scale opportunities for our global communities? The London School of Economics recently launched a new tool, Ask an Alum which connects students and alumni through an AI-led solution, making global matches at scale.

In this session, Ceri Jones, Head of Alumni Engagement at LSE and Wallis Spence, Alumni Engagement Projects Manager at LSE will describe how they’re using this exciting technology to scale engagement and create partnerships across campus and Max Leisten, CEO of Protopia, draws the curtain back on AI to demonstrate how technology can help us work smarter and make more valuable connections globally.

Less is more. A whole lot more. The University of Nottingham launched the world’s first micro-prospectus in Spring 2022. Our micro-prospectus may be tiny, but it made a huge impact at student recruitment events and open days. Moving on from a traditional print prospectus has allowed us to save time, budget, energy, paper, and water. In doing so, we gained positive feedback, high visibility, and enormous staff pride in our prospectus once again. We hope this candid case study will offer you inspiration, confidence, and advice to launch your own daring and disruptive ideas.

Once upon a time, in a land full of magic, there lived the wonderful people of Content Land. They were known for creating inspiring stories everywhere they went. Their gift came from their prized possession: the soul stone. It was given to their ancestors after vowing to keep education evolving. Passed by generation after generation, the stone, and its people, transformed. A normal life, goals, and everyday stress started distorting their gifts. Today they only meet deadlines and follow patterns. Will we be able to shift education and the stories being told to restore the legacy of our people?

Marcomms teams play a pivotal role in representing their institution’s mission and values. Equally, marketing and communications campaigns are most effective when created and delivered by teams that are representative of the audiences they seek to engage. How can Marcomms colleagues support their institutions’ efforts to cater for and attract a growing diverse audience? Are there opportunities in gathering insight from widening participation campaigns/processes? Should we look beyond the HE sectors for inspiration and aspiration? Or do we need to enhance our recruitment processes? This 45-minute dialogue aims at exploring the link between DEI and Marcomms and equipping marketing and communications teams with a range of innovative ideas and opportunities to help drive a sense of belonging within our university communities.

Strasbourg’s (France) museums lost a legacy of 5 million euros when the city decided to close the museums during lunchtime. The Zoo of Cologne (Germany) received a legacy of 26 million USD because of the good memories of the donor’s childhood, a Cologne-born US emigrant. A US-based donor donated a valuable car from the 1920s to a foundation in Switzerland but the costs of entertaining the old-timer were higher than its worth. In this session, we would like to explore what triggers success or disaster in International Fundraising through illustrative real-world examples.