The "Fun in the Fundamentals of Annual Giving" revaluates traditional annual giving through the lens of ‘Design Thinking’ and focuses on how you can improve the three fundamental goals of annual giving: Donor Acquisition, Donor Retention, and Donor Upgrades. The presentation explores fun and innovative ideas from various institutions, highlights how new tools like Artificial Intelligence and ChatGPT can be used to enhance your work, and discusses evolving annual giving strategies from digital marketing to special events, and everything in between.

In today's competitive landscape, engaging donors and alumni effectively is crucial, even when resources are limited. Big budgets do not always equal big impact! In this session, seasoned engagement professionals from Washington and Lee University and UVA's Darden School of Business will unveil their most impactful donor touches and event enhancements that cost nothing and will share lessons learned. This session will highlight ways to leverage existing resources and partnerships and will showcase practical, cost-effective ideas that add value and authenticity to your events. Attendees will gain actionable strategies to elevate their engagement and stewardship programs. The session will be interactive, featuring case studies, practical examples, and opportunities for peer-to-peer learning and discussion. Come prepared with your best event extras to share with the group!

W&L's first year of utilizing a named Annual Fund scholarship for the 5th and 10th reunion gifts broke dollar goals early, inspired collective philanthropy, created authentic connections to incoming students, led with impact and invested in ongoing stewardship. Learn how your school can create similar programs that align institutional priorities with young alumni philanthropic interests, generating authentic, long-term relationships with your next generation of donors.

Higher Education's challenges are numerous and complex. Are you ready to lead? This panel of current and former college and university vice presidents, will stimulate your thinking about how to turn challenges into successes. How will we approach challenges such as declining trust in higher education, continued declines in donor participation and event attendance, national cultural/political divisions, board and legislative intrusion, uses of A.I., recruiting and retaining talent, staff work expectations, and managing multiple constituencies. Bring your questions to ask your C-Suite colleagues who serve on their respective presidents' cabinets.

Will we achieve our fundraising goal this year? Do we have enough asks planned in our pipeline to achieve our goal? Questions like these arise throughout the year in advancement organizations of all shapes and sizes. When they arise in your institution, do you have a reliable method to forecast fundraising results with confidence?

In this session the University of Central Florida Advancement and Partnerships team will share a roadmap for forecasting fundraising totals that has been successfully used to project fundraising attainment within a reliable margin to actual dollars raised. From the analysis methods used to determine discount rates for solicitations to sample reports shared with leadership, this session will provide insights into goal setting techniques, managing fundraiser performance, and monitoring pipeline movement through this method of forecasting fundraising.

This presentation delves into the motivational psyche of millennial alumni donors at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), particularly exploring Florida A&M University (FAMU) graduates' giving behaviors. It unpacks the critical factors that drive this demographic to engage in philanthropy, presenting a multifaceted view of alumni giving that interweaves personal belief systems, institutional connections, transparency in fund utilization, and the financial capability of individuals as they progress in their careers.

Through an exploratory qualitative analysis, the study bridges the gap between traditional alumni giving strategies and the evolving philanthropic landscape shaped by millennials. It underscores the significance of tailored communication, acknowledging the generational demand for transparency and the impact of personal growth experienced during the formative college years on later financial giving.

Everyone wishes to better engage with their alumni and donors, but how do you leverage digital technology to so? The Marketing & Digital Strategy team at Emory Advancement & Alumni Engagement will showcase our approach to marketing and digital engagement and how we've strategically utilized digital technology to create a cohesive and tailored approach to build trusting and lifelong relationships with alumni and donors.

Have you ever wanted to better understand reels?
What makes a compelling video? How do other higher-ed social media staff think about content creation as it relates to higher-ed?
What tools do I need?
In this session, I hope to equip you with some fundamentals on easy tools and creative content for producing engaging reels.

What does the modern marketing and communications workload look like in a small shop? Is it possible to work beyond the limits of small shop staff? Having a local partner to help engage with the local community is vital to the process. Two years ago, Northwest Mississippi Community College changed its marketing tactics and gained a great partnership within its own community, a local television studio that became a true partner in the college's marketing plan. That plan spans generic enrollment ads, athletic events, weather updates and weekly custom created segments for broadcast and socials.

Catawba College located in Salisbury, NC was the 13th college in the country to reach Carbon Neutrality. This was achieved 7 years ahead of schedule and was done very intentionally. Catawba's development staff, working with the Center for the Environment's staff has raised over $160M in endowed and non-endowed gifts in recent years for geo-thermal systems, solar systems, sustainable building renovations and many other initiatives. We are creating a living laboratory on our campus to teach our students, faculty, staff and our community how we can change our world using our built environment and campus grounds.

Learn from two leaders who have successfully raised funds for sustainability projects. Learn more about the potential impacts for campus and donors and why this is a critical path forward for colleges and universities ongoing sustainability and climate action efforts for both operations and academics.