Undoubtedly, advancement professionals understand implicitly the importance of their partnership with the Head of School/President and the partnership between the Head of School/President and the Board of Trustees as they relate to the philanthropic success of the School. In this session, I will share findings from my recent NAIS study of over 300 Heads that researched motivating factors – including, and most especially, aspects of the Head and Board Chair partnership – that appropriately support, professionally satisfy, and successfully retain Heads, and investigated to what extent, if any, these factors influenced the behaviors and attitudes of heads as they relate to their job satisfaction and, ostensibly, their decision to remain at their school. From the perspective of the Advancement Office, the understanding of and ability to nurture and support those aspects of a healthy partnership between the Head of School/President and the Board will only strengthen the overall fundraising efforts of the School.

Board Development Committees can pave the way for new initiatives, advocate for critical change, and generate well-versed volunteers to help you advance development endeavors. Explore the proactive measures you can take to get the most from the Committee and to forge the strongest partnerships with its members. Please come prepared and willing to share your own experiences.

This highly interactive session will empower participants to share what they have recently learned about leading advancement efforts in our schools and communities. Throughout the past two years, we might have struggled a bit in our advancement work as a result of the global pandemic, political antagonism, and social upheaval. However, as learners ourselves, we have inevitably gained insight into how our processes surrounding admissions. communications, marketing, fundraising, alumni outreach, and strategic engagement of different stakeholder groups can be improved in the years to come, now that we’ve directly experienced what works and what doesn’t during times of crisis and uncertainty. Participants in this session will be guided through a learning protocol aimed at surfacing these new learnings, sharing them with others, and advancing our professional practice in general.

First time to a CASE-NAIS conference? First time in independent school advancement? Great, we've got you covered! We'll share the ins and outs of how to navigate and network at the conference and while we are at it, we'll share the top 10 ways to be awesome in advancement. Through stories, media, small group discussions, and digestible lessons, you'll walk away with action steps and information that you'll be able to use the minute you get back to your desk!

Engage in small groups with fellow alumni relations professionals to discover fresh ideas and new ways to efficiently and effectively reach your objectives. Topics will be determined based on current trends in alumni relations but could include: event follow up, affinity programming, communications, volunteer management, and more. This is an audience-participation session so prepare to share!