Unlock the power of AI in your daily advancement tasks with this hands-on session! Discover free or low-cost tools like ChatGPT that can streamline donor communications, enhance alumni engagement, and simplify data management. Through real-world examples and an interactive activity, you'll learn how to implement AI solutions today, without waiting for large-scale institutional changes. Walk away with practical strategies to make your work more efficient and impactful, all while staying ahead in the evolving world of higher education advancement.

Join Illinois State University for an engaging session on how personalized video appeals have revolutionized their post-2020 fundraising campaigns. From the clever Holiday Gift Appeal, designed to feel like a fun gift-purchasing experience, to the highly engaging Birds Give Back video, Illinois State has successfully used video to re-engage LYBUNT donors and drive retention rates. These creative campaigns have led to increased CTA clicks and deeper donor connections. Explore how these examples can offer fresh approaches to drive results in your own fundraising efforts.

The “great wealth transfer” is a monumental phenomenon that is already underway and will continue to impact our work. Over the next two decades, Boomers are expected to transfer approximately $68 trillion in assets to younger generations. This transfer presents a unique opportunity for transformative philanthropy and strategic adaptation within alumni associations. This session will share actionable insights on how alumni associations can leverage this as an opportunity to forge stronger connections with aging constituents while maximizing philanthropic impact.

In this session you'll hear from Kristine Lo, Director of Fundraising Performance Analytics at the University of Chicago, how her team revolutionized fundraising management reporting to ensure managers and staff at all levels had the insights they needed to effectively manage up, down and across. The session will include best practices of effective management reporting, how consistency in management reporting can improve results, and suggestions for how you can audit (or start) your own data-delivery program.

Prospecting often marks the beginning of each relationship we hope to form with a donor. Despite this, fundraisers tend to focus their energy learning more about gift closure conversations than how to reach their donors in the first place. Through the lessons learned during an experiment in prospecting you will learn how you can connect to your intended donor base with ease!

In this session you will gain insights from a study conducted using real prospects. We will talk about how to approach prospecting, what you might expect your results to be and what actually happened in the study. As well as how all of this can inform your work in the future. Additionally, the session will be full of opportunities for you to ask questions and share your experiences in prospecting.

At the end of this session you will be able to identify your target audience, create an outreach plan to increase the responses you receive from your audience and utilize these prospecting tools as an asset that aids the work you do with donors throughout the rest of the gift cycle. Let us help you make the most of the time you spend prospecting so that you can get back to closing more gifts!

It’s been almost nine months since the world’s first fully autonomous fundraiser interacted with its first assigned donor. During that time, 11 higher educational institutions joined together as a cohort to engage donors with an AI-powerered Virtual Engagement Officer (and a second cohort is now live), but more importantly research, develop, and accelerate the deployment of autonomous fundraising for our entire industry.

All higher education institutions can relate to the fact that they have more donors and alumni than they have fundraisers with capacity to build relationships. This is precisely where autonomous fundraising changes what’s possible.

In this session, Susan Lewers, Associate Vice President, Major and Planned Gifts, of Illinois Institute of Technology will present the results her and her team have seen from autonomous fundraising – donors engaged, dollars raised, and pipeline built, in addition to their experience being the first organizations in the world to deploy a Virtual Engagement Officer to a portfolio of their donors.

We’ll present what we learned, what we got right, where course corrections were needed, and how we navigated AI in a field defined by relationships. We’ll share all of our findings including portfolios for autonomous fundraisers, sourcing engagement content independently, accuracy, transparency, ethics, and more.

Finally, we’ll conclude by looking at where we are going, how we can continue to further personalize donor journeys, push the outer limits of technology, and more.

In today’s philanthropic landscape, donor expectations are evolving. Traditional institutional giving models—such as scholarships, endowments, and unrestricted contributions—are becoming less effective as donors seek more direct impact and alignment with their personal values. This session will explore the shift from giving to a university to giving through a university, focusing on cause-based fundraising strategies that engage donors in meaningful, mission-driven ways. Attendees will learn how to reframe fundraising appeals to emphasize tangible outcomes, leverage storytelling to build trust, and implement digital engagement strategies tailored to next-generation donors. The session will also provide practical insights on navigating institutional challenges, gaining leadership buy-in, and utilizing technology to enhance donor connections.

Get ready to learn from giving day experts! Join Emily Berry and Lola Mauer, the masterminds behind Miami University’s #MoveInMiami and Ball State University’s One Ball State Day, whose campaigns have collectively earned nearly 100 CASE awards. Discover the tips, tricks, and strategies that have made these institutions leaders in the giving day space. You’ll learn how to rally your campus community, maximize donations, and gain inspiration to elevate or launch your own giving day. Whether you're looking to boost your current campaign or exploring why a giving day is a smart investment, this session will provide you with actionable insights and proven strategies for success. Come prepared for a fun, informative, and motivating session that will empower you to make a real impact on your next giving day!