11:40 – 12:20 (GMT) 20 Off-site Telethons in 2020 – What have we Learnt so Far?
Until COVID-19, no-one had ever thought about running a telethon without the use of a central callroom. Fast forward to today and who would have thought off-site telethons would have become the norm. Since May, Buffalo has supported 20 clients with the management of their first off-site telethon. Our solution has continued to evolve throughout the year, and we have learnt a huge amount along the way. This presentation will share caller feedback and client insight before concluding with our thoughts on what the future for telethons looks like.
Rosslyn Owen, Regular Giving Manager, Buffalo Fundraising Consultants, UK
12:20 – 13:15 (GMT) Lunch Break and Exhibition Hall
13:15 – 14:00 (GMT)Transitioning to an In-House Telephone Campaign: How do I get my House in Order?
Ollie Bennett brought Imperial College London’s campaign in-house in 2018, and in this session he share his experience and learnings from two years of in-house calling. Ollie will discuss key considerations to make before starting the transition and tips for getting your in-house campaign off the ground and turning it into a success. Whether you are considering bringing your campaign in house, or you have already done so, this session will provide useful insights for improving your campaigns.
Ollie Bennett, Regular Giving Officer (Leadership Giving & Telephone Campaigns), Imperial College London, UK
OR
13:15 – 14:00 (GMT) Fame, Fundraising and Fabulous Metrics - What they Mean to us & What they tell us about Donor Interests
We collaborated with our celebrity alumni and our energetic social media colleagues to promote our Big Give Christmas Challenge 2019. We exceeded our fundraising goal and we extended our alumni reach. We also collected statistics about engagements levels with each customer segment and marketing tactic to guide our future appeal planning. Meg Ryan and Shaun Northover will share their metric-driven knowledge of what worked as well as what did not, and what it all meant to their appeal planning and our alumni engagement activities.
Meg Ryan, Head of Individual Giving & Alumni Relations, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, UK
Shaun Northover, Alumni & Events Manager at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, UK
14:10 - 14:50 (GMT)Setting Student Fundraisers up for Fundraising Success
Your student fundraisers carry the lion’s share of the responsibility when it comes to converting and engaging alumni and donors. It is up to them to deliver a positive experience for potential donors and, ultimately, inspire them to make a financial contribution. Despite this, often times insufficient investment is made in recruiting and developing the best team for the task. This session will examine topics such as student recruitment, training, development, motivation, incentives, retention and team-building. Your students are taking on the toughest job in the development team, placing themselves on the very front line of your institution’s fundraising efforts. With this in mind, this student-focused session will ensure that you and your team are set up for maximum success.
Rachel Spencer, EMEA Sales Manager & Telefundraising SME, VanillaSoft, UK
OR
14:10 - 14:50 (GMT)Little and Often - Flexible Calling for a Post Pandemic Connected World
In ordinary times, when there isn’t a pandemic on, how many of your close friends do you only talk to once a year? And have you spoken to them more than normal in the last nine months? The way we communicate has changed, and will never go back to the way it was before. As we look ahead to the post-Covid world, and as we emerge from the difficulties of 2020 we all have an opportunity to decide how to do things differently in 2021 and beyond. With insights from the experiences of Smarteezie customers both before and during the pandemic, and evidence for how these alternative calling models can impact upon your fundraising success story, this session aims to inspire you to plan to do something new when you are ready to start calling again.
Beatrice Purser-Hallard, Customer Support Manager, Smarteezie, UK
14:50 – 15:15 (GMT) Break and Exhibition Hall
15:15 - 16:00 (GMT)Big and Small Shops: Moving on from an Emergency Appeal
The Universities of Manchester and Brighton have very different Development teams. But both universities responded to COVID-19 by launching successful emergency fundraising appeals to support their students. In this session, Jemma and Marnie will discuss what they did, what they learned - and what's next.
Jemma Gurr, Head of Regular Giving, The University of Manchester, UK
Marnie Middlemiss, Director of Philanthropy & Alumni Engagement, University of Brighton, UK
16:10 - 16:55 (GMT) From Chaos, Opportunity: Using Virtual Events to Transform your RG Programme
From student Q&As to conversations with the Principal to discussions of music theory with visiting professors - we’ve tried so many different kinds of stewardship virtual events. I’ll share what’s worked for us, our tried-and-tested RG virtual event toolkit and what we’ll keep doing in a post-COVID world. This will be an interactive session, so bring your suggestions and experiences!
Kurstin Finch Gnehm, Deputy Director of Philanthropy, Royal Academy of Music
9:00 – 10:00 (GMT) Evidence-based Direct Marketing Hints and Tips
Adrian Salmon, Vice President, GG+A, UK
10:10 - 10:55 (GMT) Working Remotely as a Team (Panel Discussion)
Geoff Savage, Head of Individual Giving, Aston University, UK
Kat Carter, Digital Fundraising Specialist & Head of Marketing, Hubbub, UK
Chair:Jemma Gurr, Head of Regular Giving, The University of Manchester, UK
10:55 – 11:15 (GMT) Break and Exhibition Hall
11:15 - 12:00 (GMT) International Fundraising
Emily Robin,Senior Director of Development, INSEAD, France
12:00 - 13:00 (GMT) Lunch Break and Exhibition Hall
13:00 - 13:45 (GMT) Stop Guessing, Start Knowing! Surveying Non-Donors to Build a Sustainable Regular Giving Programme
Believe it or not, non-donors are extremely valuable to your giving program. They can provide great information on what is important to alumni along with areas they would potentially support. In this session, participants will learn surveying techniques, strategic sampling, and what questions to use and which ones to avoid.
Travis McDearmon,Development Officer, University Advancement, Butler University, USA
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13:00 - 13:45 (GMT)Lessons Learnt: Direct Mailings
What works (and what doesn’t); How third sector fundraising ideas transfer to HE; What do donors want us to do differently in light of a pandemic? Kirstie Arnould is a fundraiser, consultant, trainer and oral historian. A consultancy manager at the National Trust, she has been a professional fundraiser for over 20 years. In this session Kirstie will give her top practical and actionable lessons for writing compelling and successful DM appeals.
Kirstie Arnould, Consultancy Manager, National Trust, UK
13:55 - 14:35 (GMT) Giving Days - Where are We Now?
Can the engagement and participation from giving days run pre-covid still exist in a post-covid world? In this session, presented by Kat Carter and Jenna Rafferty you'll learn about what we now know to be true about running an effective and successful giving day programme. We'll cover insights gained from giving days that took place before and during covid, as well as our predictions for what the sector could expect from running a giving day in the months (and years) to come.
Kat Carter, Digital Fundraising Specialist & Head of Marketing, Hubbub, UK
Jenna Rafferty, Development Manager, London Business School, UK
14:35 - 14:45 (GMT) Break
14:45 - 15:30 (GMT) Remote Calling - An In House Solution
In May 2020 Warwick launched our Covid-19 campaign to raise funds for students affected by the crisis. We knew we wanted to reach our constituents by phone, but with campus shut down and students at home, we needed to get creative. We will take you through our journey, including the struggles, the successes and the surprises. After this session, you will be asking the same question that we started with: why not call remotely?
Sam Burdock,Leadership and Regular Giving Manager, University of Warwick, UK
Lauren Holgate, Regular Giving Officer, University of Warwick, UK
OR
14:45 - 15:30 (GMT) Coronavirus Scenario Planning for 2021 – The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
2020 has taken the meaning of “planning for the unexpected” to unimaginable new levels, but this session will help you get ahead of the curve in 2021 and feel prepared for whatever Coronavirus may throw at us. DMS will outline the Good, Bad and Ugly scenarios that we might expect to see in the fight against Covid throughout 2021, and will explore how this might influence your fundraising plans. What channels will you have at your disposal? How will your alumni be feeling? Will they give in their normal ways? What content might they be most interested in? After this highly practical thought experiment, you’ll feel confident making multi-scenario plans for the year ahead.
Laura Chapman, Senior Strategist, DMS Agency, UK
Kate James, Head of Agency, DMS, UK
15:40 - 16:15 (GMT) Thinking Towards the Future
Geoff Savage, Head of Individual Giving, Aston University, UK
Jemma Gurr, Head of Regular Giving, The University of Manchester, UK
