Time is precious! School needs are at all-time high. Join us for an interactive and engaging session to confirm how our institutions should be thinking about bringing out the best in every board member. This is a time to not only be reminded of best practices, but to also share stories of what works to ignite the energy and sustain the motivation of our board members.

The world has changed. Independent schools are facing an uncertain future. The political, social media, environmental, and macroeconomic environments are increasingly turbulent. What we’re encountering is best described as a Polycrisis: Multiple crises happening simultaneously in which “the whole is even more dangerous than the sum of the parts” (Professor Adam Tooze, Ipsos Global Trends 2023). This evolving landscape creates new and increasingly problematic risks that schools must address. Through this session, we will inspire and empower educational leaders to convert the challenges of a Polycrisis into a strategic advantage for their institutions.

We will discuss three critical challenges currently creating a Polycrisis at independent schools: The workforce, constituent engagement, and how best to implement diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging initiatives. You will gain tools to build your leadership capacity and insights to better navigate this Polycrisis. You will learn about creative fundraising and communications strategies to tackle these challenges. You will also walk away with a plan to turn this Polycrisis into a strategic advantage by drawing on the full range of advancement expertise at your institutions, including communications, marketing, alumni relations, fundraising, and data services.

By addressing a Polycrisis head-on, school leaders and advancement teams can create a new strategic advantage for their schools that allows them to drive institutional goals, manage change, and be successful in an uncertain future.

Registration for Senior Leadership Forum attendees is from 7:30 AM - 8:30 AM in the Lone Star Ballroom Foyer (3rd Floor). Breakfast will be provided for pre-conference workshop attendees.

After 14 years as Head of School, one truth remains: the only thing increasing more rapidly than the demands of fundraising on me as Head of School is the reliance I have on my Advancement leader (CAO) and their team. And while the CAO’s gift of strategic and tactical planning on behalf of the Head is key to their Head's success as a fundraiser, the demands on the CAO to understand, filter, interpret, and translate on behalf of and along side of the Head of School are equally, if not more, critical to the success of the School.

Join presidents Sue Cunningham (CASE), Debra Wilson (NAIS), and key voices in independent school advancement for a discussion of the future of advancement in schools. This opening panel will challenge our assumptions about our industry, look broadly at trends our leadership believe will affect schools globally, how the advancement office can respond to those, and how our profession will continue to evolve in the coming decades.

As it turns out, relationship building is strategic! Ted Lasso is the ultimate relationship builder. He genuinely cares about the people around him and puts in the effort to understand and connect with them and doesn't just use people to get what he wants. Through valuing the person in front of him and their unique background and perspectives, he looks for the best in people, even when they make mistakes or disagree with him. He approaches every relationship with empathy and an open mind. In our teams and schools, when we focus on building strong relationships, support systems, and structures that enable clear, honest and kind communication- we will surpass our engagement and fundraising goals EVERY TIME. Join us to learn how two neighboring schools in Hawai’i are collaborating on strategic team-building to ensure broad community engagement and significantly increased philanthropic capacity.

It has been said that the strategic planning and implementation of enrolling and retaining a student and family must never intersect or overlap with the strategic goals, objectives, and implementation of a school's philanthropic endeavors. Perhaps this is, in fact, a missed moment for more tremendous success. Join AISAP Executive Director Janice Crampton, Scott Bohan, Chief Advancement Officer - St. Paul's School, NH, and Matt Proto, Vice President and Chief Institutional Advancement Officer at Colby College Waterville, Maine, for a facilitated discussion with ideas, notions, and takeaways that will demonstrate best practice and next practice strategies that will assist you, your offices and in the end your school to be intentional in achieving your overall institutional goals and all the while seek greater alignment and messaging not only in process but in understanding the larger goals that need to be achieved by your school.

Strategic design applies some traditional design principles to "big picture" systemic challenges; it redefines how problems are approached, identifies opportunities for action, and helps deliver more complete and resilient solutions. With a transdisciplinary cross-departmental approach, Marin Academy deconstructed and redesigned the onboarding experience to create highly engaged brand evangelists who are eager to give back to the school.

In this interactive session, we will cover strategic design principles and share exercises designed to inspire and gather buy-in from other school administrators. This session will also cover ways to gather data and feedback to inform strategy and assess results. Join us as we explore how strategic onboarding infused with value-proposition can transform parent-school relationships.

This session is designed for new and aspiring Heads of School and veteran Heads planning their first campaign. You’re faced with seemingly impossible tasks: balancing the pressures and demands of running a school, creating and communicating a long-term vision, and responding to the board’s request for a campaign. How to do it all? Topics to be covered include: • The day-to-day pressures/time demands of leading a school while framing the school’s longer-term vision and tying it to major funding opportunities • Building and preparing a campaign-ready board • How to strengthen philanthropy and mount a campaign to fulfill the school’s future aspirations • How much time to spend on fundraising, and what to do during that time • Building the advancement team and culture of philanthropy • Communicating the “why” of the school • Knowing when you are ready for a campaign, and defining your role in it

The Head of School and Director of Advancement's relationship requires a unified front that addresses areas far beyond fundraising alone. Join The Altamont School's Head of School Cecil Stodghill and Director of Advancement Stephanie Brooks, CFRE, as they share key data, hints, anecdotes, and strategic steps to enhance your school's advancement efforts. From board relations to capital campaign strategizing, these presenters will offer tried and true practices that have created success for both of them over the years.

Many schools believe that consultants are just for big capital campaigns. While they can be important contributors in those high-stakes moments, a small shop can get big value by properly engaging with a consultant. Having a trusted thought partner is especially helpful to the one-person shops. Consider the variety of projects a consultant might help you with – from coordinating messaging and outreach efforts for new parents to an annual giving and major gifts refresh to board education. Hear how one school’s Director of Development and Director of Enrollment and Communication made the best use of that relationship, creating a better and more rewarding experience for everyone.

Creating and sustaining a culture of philanthropy within independent schools is essential for financial stability and fostering a strong sense of community and shared purpose. This session aims to explore strategies, best practices, and real-world examples of how independent schools can use AI to cultivate a culture of philanthropy that engages all stakeholders and contributes to the school's long-term success.

Launching a successful campaign demands precise strategic reporting and an evolving prospect pipeline. This session will focus on crafting actionable reporting frameworks and continuously refining and developing the prospect pipeline. Co-presented by the Director of Advancement Services and Operations and the Director of Prospect Research and Management at The Lawrenceville School—a school that recently celebrated a remarkably successful $475MM campaign—attendees will receive a firsthand account of how to optimize the synergy between reporting and pipeline development. Dive in to gain actionable strategies for impactful campaign management.

Women make up 80% of the teacher workforce, but are not represented proportionally at the highest levels of school leadership. Why the discrepancy? As school leaders retire or leave their positions at record rates, having an equitable leadership pipeline is more important than ever. In this session, learn research-based supports that benefit emerging female leaders, and connect with female leaders at all stages in their careers. If you're a leader, mentor, or recruiter, learn how to maximize your effectiveness. If you're an emerging female leader, learn about the supports that will help your career trajectory.

Leadership giving to the Annual Fund constitutes the majority of unrestricted philanthropic dollars raised at most independent schools. The trend across charitable giving generally is that more dollars are coming from fewer and fewer donors. This makes the role of leadership donors more important than ever. So how best to develop relationships that will yield leadership level gifts in the 10-month school year? We will talk about both high-level strategy and the small step breakdown of how to grow relationships, secure gifts, and make your donors feel valued and engaged in the life of your school.

This workshop will delve into the dynamic landscape of independent school governance, revealing key preliminary findings from the recent Governance Study conducted by NAIS. This session will provide a thorough analysis of the current state of governance structures and practices in independent schools, offering valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities encountered by school boards, along with approaches to fostering effective governance

Philanthropy can play a crucial role in advancing a school’s ambition. However, in a small shop, we face challenges of limited bandwidth in both human and financial resources. In this session, we will examine tactics to convince your faculty to become advancement advocates and lead to a cultural change to become a truly philanthropic institution. We will discuss key issues we all face and hear examples of leadership and faculty that have played a key role in securing major gifts, including our CFO who has become integral to the major gift fundraising programme.
In this session, we will examine strategies and tactics to clarify a compelling narrative, develop the audience, empower leadership, and establish the internal infrastructure necessary for success.

Engaged Board members is not enough. Creating engagement that is meaningful to Board members is key for every school. Seeing what this means through the lens of Board members will be at the heart of this session. What is meaningful engagement, how to create it, and how it can lead to increase giving are all part of the session.

How a board member's idea turned into a hallmark (and manageable!) summer internship program run by alumni for our students. This will be a discussion on the opportunities and challenges of starting an internship program and what the path looked like for The Kinkaid School.

The relationships between your school and your alumni are lifelong. Alumni are greatly influenced by schoolwide communications and there are opportunities to engage them across every facet of your operations. Whether your school is a boarding school with a large and active alumni body or a small K–6 school, a robust alumni relations program can engage your school’s graduates in every phase of their lives.
Your program should be respectful, transparent, and grounded in supporting and fulfilling your school's mission. This session will provide you with tools you can use to evaluate your program and strengthen lasting relationships with your alumni. We will share how the newly developed CASE Alumni Metrics can be used to create a robust alumni strategic plan and to evaluate your program.

Educating new families about the importance of philanthropy at independent schools is more important than ever. At Seven Hills, we introduced New Family Philanthropy Meetings to share information about how philanthropy benefits every student, introduce our top giving priorities, invite families to participate in giving and volunteering, and identify possible parent leaders. A partnership with the Board of Trustees Development Committee and the Development Team, these meetings have become an important part of the school’s giving strategy, helping build personal connections, promote a culture of philanthropy, and have resulted in a significant increase in new family giving to the school each year.

Recognizing the pivotal role relationships play in fundraising, especially within the context of smaller schools and organizations, this workshop offers a comprehensive exploration of the intricate interplay between marketing, fundraising, and school communication. It provides a holistic framework designed to benefit all administrators and (school personnel) . Through a captivating blend of interactive activities, facilitated group discussions, and strategic games, participants will depart with a toolkit to supercharge their school's Advancement offices. This enhanced partnership will drive stronger relationships, foster fundraising growth, and yield exceptional marketing outcomes. Get ready to ignite the magic!

Welcoming a new Head of School can be an exciting opportunity for any community! Nicole Girvan and Heather Pool will give you behind-the-scenes tips and share their map to help you leverage the leadership change to re-engage with donors. The search process and onboarding season felt treacherous and scary, especially for a “small shop” like The Logan School for Creative Learning, but once they knew where they were heading, the journey was positive and productive. As they built trust, there was room to create places for belonging for those who hadn’t been engaged or seen.
Nicole Girvan will share her experience building trust, leading with vulnerability, and setting the stage for success. As a transracially adopted woman of color in a predominantly white community---Nicole found ways to initiate spaces for others to feel a sense of belonging instead of waiting for the "welcome wagon.” Nicole and Heather opened the doors for others to share vulnerability and cultivate relationships. Heather Pool will share a scaffold and ideal timeline for connecting and reconnecting with your school’s donors. They found ways, with limited resources, to provide opportunities for authentic connection and help the community grow through transition.

Questions of gender are front and center in the evolving culture wars affecting society today, and single-sex independent schools are at the epicenter as they are being asked their position on admitting and retaining students who do not fit the gender binary. When the Browning School introduced its gender policy in June 2023, it received negative national media attention as well as much heartwarming support from the school community. Come hear about how the policy was communicated, lessons learned, and how to approach this issue from an advancement perspective whether you are in a single or all gender school.

Join Ann Snyder to take a fresh look at participation rates, their impact on predictive goal setting, and whether they truly tell us anything about our fundraising or engagement programs. Think critically about what other measures might be useful indicators of strong fundraising potential and retrain your board and stakeholders to ask different questions about the philanthropic culture at your school.

Get an in-depth view into how the French American International School and International High School of San Francisco transformed their culture of giving. You will learn how the Head of School, Leadership Team and Board of Trustees sequenced this transformation into the Strategic Plan and put the plan into actionable steps. This change in culture led to innovative everyday actions of the advancement team and their work, resulting in record-breaking fundraising and double annual giving in less than 5 years.

Delve into the vital role of immersive storytelling, long-term vision, emotional buy-in, and innovative marketing driven by vision-based strategies. Discover the captivating magic that arises when these elements converge, creating powerful brand experiences that leave an indelible mark on how people view your school. Understand the significance of defining your school's brand in the Independent Schools Market, recognizing its role in driving success, differentiation, and long-term sustainability.

To fully flex your fundraising muscle, you need buy-in from both the annual giving and advancement services sides of the house. How do you achieve the alignment necessary to drive meaningful results? The devil is in the data.
GiveCampus analyzed aggregate data from 4,532 campaigns and 4,973 giving forms to identify what’s moving the proverbial needle in fundraising and what’s not. Find out from fellow K-12 fundraisers how they’re leveraging that data to drive decisions at key stages of the philanthropic lifecycle, and how they got everybody—including advancement services—to back their biggest bets.

There is no one script for asking for a gift of significance. Each circumstance requires its own nuanced approach. In this session we will explore the factors that have led to successful outcomes, learn about the art of listening for important ques, and better understand the process that leads up to and is part of a major gifts conversation. We will conclude with 10 takeaways to think about as you plan and execute a comprehensive major and principal gifts program. While the presentation is designed for those with the experience to manage six, seven, and eight-figure conversations, this session will be valuable to those at all levels of the advancement operation.