How do our schools center other voices when the focus of our work is on the top of the pyramid, and that skews white? Devon Wilson-Hill (Shady Hill) and Zachary Sheets (Community Music Center of Boston) have held significant tenures at their organizations through a time where the public at large is recommitted to a modern civil rights movement. Progressively White spaces often get in trouble for getting in their own way of progress yet these two century old institutions have been eager and actively working at shifting the conversation. CMCB with a Black director has shifted Board Governance and Composition of leadership while continuing to raise money and increase their individual donor portfolio. Shady Hill School values racially and socially economically diverse presence on the board and has rewritten the Board bylaws to be explicit while launching major gift initiatives. When the question is: how does organization framing center people of color when the majority of your audience skews white? What explanatory commas do you have to make, versus (rightly or wrongly) choose to make." Come learn what these two institutions are choosing to make to be bold, leaders and changemakers.

Making sure you are truly ready for a Comprehensive Campaign is vital to the ultimate success of the endeavor. As a development professional what do I need to know before embarking on a 5-7 year campaign? Hear from three seasoned professionals who combined have more than 90 years of fundraising experience both as in house development heads and as consultants. This session will cover, Campaign Success Factors, Assessing the Right Time for a Campaign, Identifying Campaign priorities, Defining the prospect pool, Bridging the Strategic Plan to Campaign implementation, Identifying Campaign Leadership, Role of the Board of Trustees and Governance Committee, Goal Setting, Pros and Cons of Conducting a Feasibility Study, Selecting a consulting partner and RFP process.

COVID forced many schools to put their traditional campaigns on hold, shifting their focus and resources to emergency funds and operating costs to make it through the school year. In 2021, we slowly saw school’s confidence in major capital and comprehensive campaigns increase, and now many schools find themselves in some phase of a campaign. While the long-term effect of the pandemic on philanthropy is still developing, the crisis to date has illustrated the generosity of Americans in trying times and the adaptability of education and donors alike. As we look ahead, the reality is there has never been a better time than now to secure the funding your school needs to ensure institutional sustainability.

Whether you are about to embark on a $10,000,000 or $100,000,000 campaign, is your school ready? Launching a campaign can be daunting, but with careful planning, clear communication, execution, and the right donor engagement strategy, it is possible! Join Advancement leaders, Tara Arras, Sidwell Friends School Assistant Head of School for Advancement, and Jennifer Devon, CCS Fundraising Vice President, in a discussion about campaign fundamentals and strategies for success today, even amid the challenges of a global pandemic.

Reconciliation in Australia is a process which officially began in 1991 and focussed on the improvement of race relations between the Aboriginal and Torres Strat Islander peoples of Australia and the rest of the population. Reconciliation requires the Australian community to recognise and respect the First Peoples of its land, to acknowledge past injustices and the ongoing inequalities experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples since colonisation, and to commit to working towards a more equal and respectful future. For the past 20 years the Scotch College, Melbourne (an Independent Boys School) Indigenous Scholarship program has offered all Scotch boys the opportunity to experience and understand Australia's Indigenous culture, as part of a contemporary Australian education. The program has three components: 1. Our commitment to offer Indigenous boys full academic and boarding scholarships; 2. the Indigenous Partnership program, which teaches Scotch boys about Indigenous culture through projects with local communities; and 3. Our longstanding partnership with Tiwi College, a school built on friendship and respect. This session will provide an overview of these unique programs. It will also provide an overview of the capital campaign to raise the $8m required to endow the Scotch College Indigenous Scholarship program in perpetuity.

When you walk your campus, do you know the stories of those whose names appear? If no naming exists, have you proactively prepared for discussions as you plan your next campaign? Stepping back for a moment, should there be naming altogether? Together, leaders from Harbor Day School, Episcopal Academy, and Carney, Sandoe & Associates will dive into both the philosophical considerations and practical applications for naming recognition - past, present and future.

Making it easier for donors to give may just be the most effective strategy in the savvy fundraiser’s toolkit—and we’ve got the conversion metrics (and science!) to prove it. In this session, we’ll show you how applying classic principles of persuasion science to your everyday fundraising challenges can dramatically improve donor engagement and move the needle on dollars raised. Using the Fogg Behavior Model as a framework for understanding donor motivation and ability, Ransom Everglades will share the simple strategies their team has implemented to achieve impressive real-world results.