Target Audience: New Professionals, career transitions

Are you new to the world of Advancement? Whether you are a young professional just starting out or have lots of career experience but recently moved to the advancement profession, we can’t wait to have you join us for this pre-conference. Join your peers as we dive into the importance of alumni engagement and how you play a vital role in the success of your institution.

Attendees will benefit from interacting with seasoned professionals who will share their wisdom as it relates to navigating the world of Advancement and the opportunities for growth in the career. Discussions around goal setting, supervising and/or being part of a team, and getting the most out of the conference will have you walking away with fresh ideas and an expanded network of others in the field. 

Target Audience: Mid-level management, those interested in stepping into top leadership roles

Are you looking to grow your career? Have your eyes set on a corner office and doing big things in support of education? Then this pre-conference is for you! Join other emerging leaders as we learn more about how to move beyond mid-level management.

This track emphasizes the importance of being able to move up in your career and acquiring the necessary tools to do so. Engage with industry leaders and partners on ways to maximize talent to reach your goals, priorities, and career aspirations.

First Session:

Thriving and Succeeding in Leadership: Are You (Really) Ready for the Next Level?
Develop your pathway to a senior management role. This VP-led session guides you in successfully navigating the next strategic steps in your career progression.

Brigette A. Bryant, Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations, Arcadia University; Rob Henry, Vice President, Education, CASE (formerly Director of Individual Giving at Yale University); and Darrell Bell, Vice President, Institutional Advancement, Roberts Wesleyan University
Moderator: Shawna Rodgers, Director of Development for Rutgers University

Second Session:

Winning the War for Talent with a Fundraising-Positive Mindset
Many of today’s new fundraisers are questioning whether what they’re inheriting is best practice or simply what made the most sense at the time. Combine their skepticism of the boss’ approach to fundraising with the advantages of timing and perception and you have a new generation of fundraising professionals who will have distinctly different careers than those who preceded them. Today’s young professionals are looking for places where they can think more critically about what it is they are doing; pursue mastery rather performance-based goals; and, most importantly, be recognized and admired for meaningful work.

Are you worried that your #GivingTuesday campaign gets lost? Is your fall already packed with asks and events? If you feel that riding that wave isn’t the path for you, don’t give up on giving days. Donors are now embracing the concept of an online giving event, but with 364 other days available, maybe it’s time to find one that’s just for you. Hear the back story of collaboration, strategy, tough choices, and effort behind launching a first giving day.

Learn how to develop successful strategies for opening doors for increased engagement within organizations that employ large numbers of alumni. Discuss best practices that can identify new alumni leaders for increased involvement with your institution. Explore an array of partnership opportunities between your institution and these organizations. By using a consultative best-practice approach, you'll be able to build that bridge between companies and your institution for increased individual and corporate engagement/philanthropy, while driving home the importance of true collaboration.

Two years ago, Syracuse University launched its Development Associate program — a team of frontline fundraisers focused on securing leadership gifts and delivering a customized, one-on-one experience to hundreds of prospects with potential. Find out how this team taps into social insights and donors’ digital footprint to personalize outreach, connect with people to renew or increase gifts, and then refer qualified prospects to major gift officers. After connecting with hundreds of Orange alumni and parents, these DOs doubled giving from their prospect pool and made dozens of major gift referrals.

How did a small comprehensive college increase their social media profile visits by 130% and their engagement rates by 45% in one semester? State University of New York at Old Westbury gave its students--past, present, and future -the chance to hear the authentic voices of their peers through a student takeover program on social media. We've all heard the nightmares of how this can go. Learn the steps, missteps, and lessons learned from a school that successfully ran this type of hands off social media campaign.

Learn how to grow your faculty and staff giving campaigns by simply using some tried and true techniques. Towson University had an historic FY19 with more than 1,000 faculty and staff donors, and all it took was some fine tuning and strategic implementation of various techniques. Find out how they did it.

Launching a brand is not a departmental function. It is an institutional movement. How do communications professionals gain support and ownership for brand management from all university stakeholders, internally and externally? Consider new and different strategies designed to develop a strong brand that not only withstands institutional challenges, but also becomes stronger as the organization changes and grows. Through a combination of theory and practice, lessons learned from failed launches become the foundation for successful brands owned by the university, not just the marketing department.

This program is designed to address the realities of living and working in an increasingly global society where understanding other cultures is often an essential component of organizational success. Participants are encouraged to explore their feelings and perceptions about non-U.S. cultures in an effort to develop effective strategies to promote intercultural awareness and acceptance. This session is the first in a series on developing intercultural competence and focuses on awareness of personal cultural lenses.

Less than a year after the public launch of the first comprehensive fundraising campaign at the Community College of Beaver County (CCBC), the advancement and marketing leadership were faced with the departure of a highly-visible president who was being recruited for a different leadership position. Through an integrated and collaborative approach between marketing and public relations and advancement, CCBC was able to mitigate the loss of the public face of the institution, maintain relationships, successfully launch a new president and accelerate momentum in the campaign with seven-figure investments.