It will happen if it hasn’t already. You and/or members of your team must face a difficult decision. Not a black or white issue, but one of those grey areas with multiple points of view, involving board members, top donors, staff leaders, colleagues, faculty members, or someone you supervise or report to. What to do? In this case-study-based discussion, we give you a researched approach to working through real situations advancement professionals just like you have faced. You will walk away with new insights, tools, and strategies that will help you and your team, operate at the highest ethical standards.

Our alumni aren’t just names on a list, they’re constituents, stakeholders, potential life partners … a most valuable resource for our institutions. They want and deserve access (to a degree), a voice (always), and to be advocated for (who doesn’t!), so how we communicate with them—to open a relationship or to deepen one—is crucial. Let’s review strategies and deliverables for interacting with these important and often far-flung community members.

Most external facing advancement officers have experienced an uncomfortable, offensive, tricky, or harmful donor interaction. Perhaps you have. If not, chances are you will. Power dynamics is real, and it is easy to feel as if the donor, volunteer, or potential donor has ALL the power. In this hands-on workshop, we’ll equip you with tools and tactics to help you navigate difficult donor situations in the moment, follow-up actions, and ways to create strategies that will minimize troubling donor interactions in the future.

Leadership has many dimensions and can be defined in a range of ways, but what does it mean to be a leader? Many books have been written about how to turn yourself into a leader: stand taller, be more confident, be decisive, be collaborative, talk more, talk less. But at some point, can’t you just be yourself and also be an effective leader? This session will be a dynamic conversation about how you develop your own personal brand of leadership, adapt it to your team and environment, and remain authentic to who you are and your life experiences.

Known for creative and innovative marketing campaigns, Ashley Budd is one of the most influential voices in education marketing and fundraising. In her popular creative brainstorming class, Ashley shares how she crafts timely and relevant messages, visuals, stories, and digital content through division-wide brainstorming sessions. Learn her brainstorming framework for bringing teams together and solidifying buy-in for creative projects. Ashley will share how to leverage online tools, create an audience mindset, lean on team member strengths, and make it fun!

Over the past decade, higher education has shifted from having our faculty experts comment during election years to candidates using our work and missions as polarizing talking points. Regardless of your role in marketing or communications, grasping the interconnected nature of higher education and politics will empower you to be more effective in your role. Teresa will provide vital tools for proactive, strategic, and thoughtful action. In addition, this session will provide data and national trends from the current election year to frame how we can help our leaders look around corners and return to strategically communicating with our internal and external stakeholders to remain true to our strategic foci and key messages. Teresa will share what works in a polarizing environment, what we need to plan for in the coming months, and how we should position our expertise for different stakeholders so we can have a leadership role in shaping our own narratives and our institutions’ reputations.

What's a Gift Agreement? Why are they necessary? We'll cover the critical importance of a properly written Gift Agreement, what it should and should not include and how it benefits both your institution and the donor. The session will include stories 'from the road' about how fundraisers navigate conversations with prospects, ensuring that we facilitate the philanthropic impact they want to make while staying compliant as an organization.

As your opportunities and career advance, you will face ups, downs and everything in between. Ideally, you will learn how to choreograph your energy through conscious and effective management techniques. This interactive session will focus on managing up, down, diagonally and sideways using skills of collaboration, compromise, influence and change management.

Elevate your institution's alumni engagement and achieve meaningful returns by joining our session on "Maximizing Alumni Event ROI Through Effective Operational Support." Discover the critical role of operational excellence in driving successful alumni events and learn how advancement services can provide the streamlined support necessary to exceed expectations. We will explore best practices in planning, execution, and post-event analysis, offering practical strategies to maximize event ROI and enhance future success. Gain valuable insights and actionable tools to transform your alumni events into impactful, ROI-driven successes. Don't miss this opportunity to refine your approach to alumni engagement and operational excellence!

“Without data, you're just another person with an opinion." Explore the essentials of using data for effective measurement and reporting in fundraising. Understand the different types of reports your prospect development shop may need and how each type drives your strategy. Learn what to measure, why it matters, and identify key performance indicators (KPIs) for benchmarking.