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.

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.

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.

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