Learn how to implement best practices in front loading your annual fund to exceed revenue goals at the end of the fiscal year by using a multi-prong marketing campaign that integrates direct mail, printed materials and #GivingTuesday email communications. Learn how to select a committee of volunteers with a deep affinity toward your school who will be the leaders and stewards of the annual fund campaign by pooling their contributions together to create a matching gift challenge to increase your average annual fund gift amount and overall campaign goals. Marketing tools such a recruitment, branding, digital assets, communications platforms, solicitation and stewardship will all be covered.

Now, more than ever, advancement leaders are asked to take risks and cultivate cultures of innovation to grow their institutions. While it’s been said that “if you’re not growing, you’re dying,” it’s still not easy to understand where to place bets – where to take calculated risks – in order to achieve the goal of growth.

As independent school leaders we all face big challenges like declining participation. Or, are recent trends actually just uncovering a different cadence of giving from our donors? The technology available to solve the root of these challenges and accelerate our work is growing faster than ever and our industry is reaping the benefits of a burst of innovation in AI, even pioneering the first autonomous fundraiser. As leaders, this vast array of solutions presents a new hurdle - how to know where to place our bets.

In this session, Christine Pina, CAO of Miss Porter’s School and Adam Martel, CEO of Givzey and Version2.ai, will discuss how to build partnerships that help institutions make the right bets. We’ll cover what good partnerships look like, how to know if you have a vendor or a partner and how to be a leader in innovation. We’ll also cover what a healthy culture of risk taking and innovation can produce, and (most importantly) what it takes to trust one another.

Through embracing a culture of stewardship, Harvard-Westlake School (Los Angeles, CA) has raised some of the largest dollar totals among American day schools, including over $10M in Annual Giving and approaching completion of a nearly $300M capital project. But despite its unwavering commitment to expressing gratitude, the HW Advancement team has only recently developed more creative ways to convey donor impact. Head of Advancement Eli Goldsmith and Assistant Director of Stewardship Haley Hicks will discuss how Harvard-Westlake expresses it many forms stewardship--including innovative new donor impact communications and special projects--with the purpose of making sure supporters feel thanked, valued, and informed.

Now more than ever, offering experiences that are mutually rewarding and fulfilling is critical to building the solid and meaningful relationships that keep our alumni engaged with our schools. Research tells us that young alumni are especially interested in networking opportunities, mentoring current students, and volunteering for their alma mater as ways to stay connected. But how do you offer these programs sustainably and meaningfully, especially if you have limited alumni office resources?

Head-Royce School in Oakland, CA, will share how their one-person alumni office built a comprehensive alumni-student engagement program - Adulting 101 - which provides alumni with the opportunity to engage with the school in a way where they feel truly valued and that also provides a unique-to-market value proposition for the school. They will share how Adulting 101 began almost a decade ago, leveraging existing resources and partnerships to create a program that benefits alumni, students, and faculty and provides a key differentiator for their school.

Doable and scalable for independent schools of any size, tap into and showcase the full potential of your alumni community and the power it has to enhance the educational experience for students while strengthening their connection to your school.

Description for session in program books: Discover how Episcopal cultivated a powerful alliance between our institution's advancement office and the Black Alumni Network. This session will explore strategic approaches to foster meaningful connections, enhance alumni engagement, and leverage the unique strengths of Black alumni for mutual growth and success. Attendees will gain insights into collaborative initiatives, effective communication strategies, and innovative programs that drive alumni satisfaction and institutional advancement. Join us to learn how to create a synergistic partnership that empowers Black alumni and propels your institution forward.

Effective strategic communications is a key to a Head of School's success in leadership, and a vital tool for advancing the vision and mission of any independent school. Yet many school professionals do not understand and value the role, and why the Head of School/communications leader's relationship is one of the most important in an administrative team. In this session you'll learn the building blocks of this partnership, the skills communications professionals need to bring to the role, and what to do when, inevitably, challenges arise.

Imagine if your school not only didn't have a fundraising program, but had promised the community that it wouldn't. And now imagine that after a long history of operating without a fundraising program, the current board and new head of school realize the importance of bringing philanthropy to your school community. This is what head of school Cecee Penney faced as the new head of The Academy School. She reached out to Tesha at Joy-Raising and together along with their board and a few key community members, they got to work to create a philanthropy program that is true to the school's mission and character. Come here what they did and how their experience can be useful to you even if you have an established program. The opportunity of a clean slate perspective is powerful for our schools as we reflect on our consideration of why we raise money and deepen our engagement with our constituents.

During this session partipants will learn what prompted the shift, where they started and what they know now that they wish they knew before. Participants should come ready to learn, generate next steps for their program and connect with colleagues with similar aspirations.

Fostering meaningful engagement of our major donors to help catalyze their support should be a central priority at all of our schools. At Lakefield College School, we have sought to invest in the engagement mechanisms that we believe are most attractive and meaningful for our major donors, and that most effectively help “shape the path” for their philanthropic support. Towards that end, we have embraced the following structures for successful major donor engagement, with each applicable in different situations and at different stages of the donor development cycle:

● A unique foundation trusteeship governance role emphasizing major donor engagement and relationship-building
● Issue-specific, time-limited task forces with a focused mandate
● Head’s advisory roundtables seeking small group input on strategic topics
● A strategic planning process that engages a breadth of input and involvement across our community, and
● A Campaign Cabinet structure that catalyzes effective peer-to-peer engagement

Deploying such a variety of engagement structures helps us find the right role for our existing and prospective major donors. Indeed, these structures, coupled with the sort of one-on-one donor engagement for which there can be no substitute, have helped drive substantial fundraising momentum at our school, as we have raised in excess of $50M over the past six years as a relatively small boarding and day school of 439 students. In particular, our small group of foundation trustees will often contribute upwards of two thirds of our total funds raised in a given year.

This session will explore the key characteristics and underpinning rationale for each of the engagement structures we have deployed. While we believe our experience will be informative, it is vitally important to recognize that there is no “one size fits all” strategy for effective major donor engagement. Rather, each school will want to develop its own tailored engagement structures that mesh with the particular facts and circumstances applicable to their respective school communities. This session will help equip you to determine what engagement structures will most effectively succeed in further deepening the commitment of your major donors and prospective major donors.

Small but mighty. The Harbor Day team took a highly personalized approach to the focused campaign that ultimately landed with a cost of $0.03/dollar to raise just shy of $52 million, completely transforming its 50 year old campus from 2018-2023. Regardless of the numbers your organization may be considering, we'll key in on the transferrable defining elements that led to success for our school.

In this dynamic session, we will explore the transformative potential of artificial intelligence in school fundraising. Attendees will discover innovative ways AI can enhance donor engagement, streamline operations, and optimize fundraising strategies. We will dive into practical applications, from predictive analytics to personalized communication, showcasing real-world examples and success stories.

Following the presentation, a facilitated discussion will provide an opportunity for participants to share experiences, ask questions, and brainstorm AI-driven solutions tailored to their unique challenges. Join us to uncover how AI can elevate your fundraising efforts, drive donor satisfaction, and ultimately, improve your results.