Program
Sunday, Feb. 5
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11:00 AM
Marketplace Opens
11:30 AM-12:15 PM
Peer Networking Lunches
Swap stories with colleagues from similar advancement fields during these group discussions, hosted by members of the 2012 planning committee. Box lunches provided.
Indicate your attendance on the registration form.
12:15-1:30
KEYNOTE SESSION
Clear Vision
Speaker: Dewitt Jones, Photographer
Dewitt Jones explores the fundamentals of creativity. He explains just what these fundamental elements are, where they exist in each of us and how to access them. He helps audiences see the world with new eyes and shows them how to tap into and rediscover their own creative gifts.
With his own exquisite photographs, Dewitt takes participants on a journey to rekindle and nurture the passion of their own creative potential. He builds a framework for personal creativity and gives audiences the tools to bring that creativity into every part of life.
1:30-2:00
Refreshment Break in the Marketplace
2:00-3:15
Track Sessions
Alumni Relations
Robust Reunion Giving
Speaker: Diane Heitmiller, Director of Annual Giving, St. Paul's School
Learn how to grow your annual fund with a renewed focus on reunion giving. Discuss proven strategies that work and review a step-by-step process that can be applied to any size program. Examine the benefits and methods of developing a robust reunion giving program and discuss ways to incorporate reunions into your overall annual fund strategy.
Learning objectives:
• Increase your annual fund with reunion dollars.
• Identify applicable reunion fundraising strategies.
Annual Giving
Annual Giving Analytics and Dashboards
Speaker: Steve Baker, Director of Operations, St. Paul's School
Want to more deeply analyze your annual giving program but don't know where to start? Concerned that your current metrics don't tell a compelling story? Feel lost in a sea of numbers? Explore the world of annual giving analytics and dashboards and discover how to use your data to support your annual giving efforts instead of being overwhelmed by the numbers.
Learning objectives:
• Explore the world of annual giving analytics and dashboards.
• Discover how to use your data to support your annual giving efforts instead of being overwhelmed by the numbers.
Communications and Marketing
Your Elevator Speech: Making a Powerful Case for Donor Support
Speaker: Tom Ahern, President, Ahern Communications, Ink.
The idea: you get on an elevator with a donor prospect and in one short ride, move that person from indifference to commitment, thanks to what you say. Except, what DO you say? This quick but comprehensive workshop will show you how to build a persuasive case for support . . .in 100 words or less. Learn how to answer the three big bottom-line questions. Explore why donors respond (or don't.) Discover why a successful elevator speech is more like a conversation than a speech. Learn to reduce complex projets to just a few words. One of North America's busiest case writers shares his secrets for selling your vision and mission effectively-whether you're mailing an annual appeal or chasing millions for a capital campaign.
Learning objectives:
• Learn what donors respond to to move them to a commitment.
• Find out how to sell your vision and mission effectively-in 100 words or less.
Campaigns
New Age Philanthropy: New Paths for Achieving Philanthropic Capacity, In or Out of a Campaign
Speaker: Robert Caldwell, Executive Director of Advancement and External Relations, Holderness School
The advent of technology and abundance of data now allows for better decision making in the way we approach our constituencies and how we best allocate and organize limited resources for greatest return on investment. With 97 percent of million-dollar campaigns coming from only 4 percent of donors, how do we incorporate new tools and fundraising fundamentals into a comprehensive plan that achieves our school's philanthropic capacity? Is the old campaign plan born out of the 1960s still a viable way to achieve strategic priorities? Are feasibility studies a thing of the past? Discuss-and even challenge-techniques for responsible resource allocation that affects the top-end donor pool as well as the broad base constituency...whether you are in campaign or not.
Major and Planned Gifts
Mad Maxxing Gifts: The Road Warriors' Best Tips
Speakers: Gail Reeder, Director of Development, Mercersburg Academy;
Andy Spencer, Chief Advancement Officer, The Lovett School; and
Julie Sperling, Major Gifts Officer, Polytechnic School
Develop strategic moves management plans, but write your call report. Get on the plane to close the gift, but be back to staff reunion weekend. Current and former major gift officers will offer tested and proven tactics for accomplishing major gifts work successfully and efficiently while striking a balance between time spent in the office supporting the development function and time spent out of the office building and stewarding donor relationships. Bring your toughest and most perplexing questions about major gifts work to this session...and get answers!
Learning objectives:
• Determine what work you will do on the road and ensure you have the tools to complete it.
• Learn to stay disciplined about using your travel time for making appointments and completing admin work.
Elementary Schools
Alumni Engagement: Leveraging the Elementary Years
Speakers: Jennie Fuge, Alumni Relations and Giving Officer, Shady Hill School; Jeri Goetz, Director of Development, The Chestnut Hill School; and Veronica Jorge-Curtis, Director of Development, Shady Hill School
Is there an independent school that doesn't struggle to launch, maintain and grow an alumni relations program? For many of our alumni, their elementary school years provided the foundation and building blocks for their educational careers-maybe even the best years of their lives. Learn how two schools reinvented their alumni relations programs by focusing on the importance of early education and capitalizing upon their alumni's memories of time spent at their schools. Find out to successfully engage graduates in the face of stiff competition from their various alma maters.
Learning objectives:
• Design alumni programs that address the interest of specific alumni groups.
• Leverage engagement and cultivation activities into alumni giving and participation.
Heads and Trustees
A Culture of Philanthropy Begins with the Board
Speakers: 
D avid Dini, Assistant Headmaster; Wallace Hall, Trustee; and Arnie Holtberg, Headmaster, St. Mark's School of Texas
A trio from St Mark's School of Texas—who has worked together for nearly two decades—will share their experiences and ideas about stimulating board philanthropy. Join this headmaster, assistant headmaster and trustee as they discuss the importance of building genuine partnerships, mission-focused development work and raising institutional aspirations.
Learning objective:
• Learn how to articulate the board's role in creating an environment that makes advancement an institutional priority.
Stewardship
The Importance of Storytelling in Stewardship
Speaker: Chuck Will, Director of Communication, Proctor Academy
Philanthropy is a response to emotion, and emotion is shaped by stories that demonstrate how to better the world. Stories customized to your donors' passions will set you apart from other deserving causes. This session demonstrates how to exceed all constituents' expectations, and in particular, the expectations of your most generous supporters.
Learning objectives:
• Design and execute a stewardship plan that compels donors to prioritize your school in their philanthropy.
• Customize web communications employing stories that change behavior.
Strategic Thinking
Ethics: More than a Gut Feeling
Speaker: Doug White, Faculty, Columbia University, and Author and Consultant
Ethics is the process that guides good decisions, especially when values are in conflict. Independent schools educate young and formative minds and must take a leading role in putting into practice the important and complex process of ethical decision-making. We are not immune from increasing public scrutiny, and so ethics must permeate our governance, leadership and advancement efforts if we are to deserve and maintain the trust of our constituents.
Learning objectives:
• Understand the codes of ethics and how we integrate them into our governance documents and into our behavior.
• Learn how to make our ethical stance clear to our donors.
3:00
Marketplace Closes
3:30-5:30
Welcome Reception—It's Game Time!
The Welcome Reception is the place to be at kickoff, whether you come for the love of the game or to network with friends. Join your colleagues for some hors d'oeuvres and a few drinks while enjoying the big game on the big screen. Football not your game? Mingle with other conference participants during the big plays and just tune in for the commercials!
Monday, Feb. 6
7:30 AM
Marketplace Opens
7:30-8:30
Continental Breakfast in the Marketplace
7:30-8:30
Breakfast Roundtable Discussions
• Young schools
• Advancement services: Raiser's Edge
• Advancement services: Senior Systems
• Advancement services: Exceed, PCR, other programs
• Major gift officers
• Small shops (1-3 people)
• Communications and marketing
• Annual fund officers
• New to fundraising: Development director or fundraising department heads
• New to fundraising: Advancement services
• New to fundraising: Alumni relations
• Seasoned professionals (15 + years experience)
• Heads and trustees
• Boarding schools with international populations
• International schools
• Elementary schools
• Single sex schools: Female
• Single sex schools: Male
• Alumni associations
• Alumnae associations
• Cool ideas brag table
8:45-10:00
Featured Seminars
Prospect Research and Data Mining
Speaker: Laurent DeJanvry, Director, Annual Fund, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley and Consultant, ASquared Consulting
During these difficult economic times when we are faced with reductions in staff and operational budgets, data mining and modeling can provide you the means to target and prioritize your limited resources to drive greater returns on investments. Learn how to mine your database and develop predictive scoring models to identify the most likely of new prospects to respond to your appeals or frontline fundraising programs.
Learning objective:
• Learn how to mine your database to identify new prospects.
Building Your Career While Building Your Employer's Success
Speakers: Kathy Limmer, Director of Development and External Affairs, The Hockaday School; Carlos Peña, President; and Holly Peña, Principal, Peña Search
It's every new or young fundraising professional's responsibility to build his or her own career while simultaneously supporting the goals of his or her employer. Some development officers take a management development route to the vice president or executive director role, while others may be completely content with excelling year after year in front-line fundraising. No matter what your long-term goals are, keeping them aligned with the goals of your employer will help you build your own success.
Learning objectives:
• Help new or young fundraising professionals effectively identify and pursue long-term career goals, while delivering the results their employers expect from them.
• To provide advice to new or young fundraising professionals on how to build the right skills to make them marketable for future career opportunities, while building success for their employers.
School Heads and Chief Development Officers: Perspectives On the Partnership
Speakers: John Lippincott, President, CASE; and Paul Sheff, President, Catholic Memorial School
Do school heads believe they're getting adequate support from chief fundraisers? Do fundraisers believe that their school heads understand their roles in fundraising success? Paul Sheff and John Lippincott will share the results of a survey on how heads and chief development officers view each other and will offer perspectives on ways these two key leaders can work together effectively to benefit their school. Come and find out what makes the head/fundraiser relationship work—and what doesn't!
Learning objectives:
• Review survey results of how heads and chief development officers view each other.
• Identify elements that make the head/fundraiser relationship work.
10:00-10:30
Refreshment Break in the Marketplace
10:30-11:45
Track Sessions
Alumni Relations
Current students are possibly our best advocates for our schools' visions because they live our missions each day. This session will provide a tool kit for development and alumni professionals to leverage the philanthropic potential of current students. Learn how to implement student programs that foster the spirit of giving among the student community, including phonathons, ambassadors and student-driven events. These alumni-in-training programs will have a lasting and significant impact on your alumni community. Learning objectives: Annual Giving Maybe your annual fund is doing fine. Maybe it has reached a plateau. This session moves past the basics to discuss strategies for taking your annual fund to the next level. Using the three key phases of fundraising as a framework (cultivation, solicitation and stewardship), we'll look at ways to evaluate your messaging, grow leadership giving to the annual fund, design new volunteer structures, update outreach and solicitation methods, and ultimately steward responsive donors into major gift opportunities. Learning objectives: Communications and Marketing Fundraising with social media is rarely a simple matter; however, by sticking to a plan, focusing on friend-raising first, and employing best practices, you can increase donor participation in your campaigns. This session starts with the basics: creating your own social media plan. Examine how schools are focusing on building relationships before the all-important ask and gather tips for maximizing your fundraising success with Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr and more. Learning objectives: Campaigns
Learn how philanthropy can be a salve for the excesses of capitalism. Learn to focus your efforts on those donors who are most capable of having a transformative effect on your school by developing an effective relationship-management program, even with a small staff. Learning objectives: • Better understand income and wealth inequality trends and how those relate to giving.
Inspiring the Next Generation of Philanthropists: The Role of Student-Alumni Programming at Your School
Speakers: Keturi Beatty, Director of Annual Giving; and Amy Spence, Director of Alumnae Relations, The Hockaday School
• Foster a spirit of philanthropy among current students.
• Implement student-driven events and programs.
Escaping Annual Fund Alcatraz: How Advanced Cultivation, Solicitation and Stewardship Can Improve Your Annual Fund
Speakers: Grayson Bryant, Assistant Director for Advancement, Cate School; Amy Elmore, Director of Development, Berkshire Country Day School; and Kirsten Mallik, Associate Director of Development for Annual Giving, The Latin School of Chicago
• Evaluate cultivation, solicitation and stewardship techniques to improve your annual fund's productivity and break through plateaus.
• Create new, more effective strategies that will increase number of donors and grow leadership giving in an otherwise healthy and mature annual fund program.
Social Media in Friendraising and Fundraising
Speaker: Rob DiMartino, Director of Business Development, finalsite
• Discover how to communicate on social media for maximum impact on fundraising.
• Identify fundraising best practices from schools across the world.
Philanthropy and the 1 Percent
Speaker: Tim Dougherty, Vice President for Advancement, United World College-USA
• Understand how to prioritze fundraising activities for maximum effect.
Major and Planned Gifts Your head of school can be the star quarterback of your major gifts team. However, even the best players aren't equally comfortable with every page of the solicitation playbook. As coaches in the moves-management quest for super gift glory, development officers must master using the head effectively and judiciously, while also knowing when to bench him or her. Two seasoned development professionals explore a number of challenging scenarios for involving the head in major gifts cultivation, solicitation and stewardship plans while offering tips on how to avoid turnovers and score touchdowns. When should the head of school be excluded from a solicitation-and how is that plan communicated to him or her? When is the right time to bring him or her on a prospect visit? Knowing how to coach your head is essential to fulfilling your preseason fundraising potential. Learning objectives: Elementary Schools Changing demographics...a volatile economy...newly emerging consumer and donor attitudes...all are conspiring to make this a very challenging time for independent schools. Combined with the challenges are opportunities for schools to grow in ways that will help them become more financially sustainable over the long haul. Explore the most significant trends on the horizon, identify tools that can help schools navigate the changing landscape, and suggest strategies for dealing with change effectively even when you are in a small shop. Learning objectives: Heads and Trustees Learn how to execute a strategic plan that accounts for debt, fundraising, communication, transparency, and ultimate stability in difficult economic times. Many schools are facing, or have faced, a set of circumstances when difficult decisions must be made in terms of future existence or for the sake of the institution's health. This session will outline the significant protocols needed to lead schools to a future of stability and trust. Learning objectives: Stewardship Learn how to build strong relationships and steward day school students and their parents. Good stewardship can lead to strong commitments to your community and school. Overcome the obstacles of "we give by donating our time to our school." Learning objectives: Strategic Thinking For nearly 20 years, provocative management consultants have declared strategic planning an oxymoron-a characterization frequently repeated as a fashionable truism by independent school leaders. This session disputes the assumptions behind this characterization by reviewing the impressive progress made by two very different schools that each engaged in multiple consecutive strategic planning cycles during the past quarter century. As their experience testifies, effective strategic plans can powerfully shape a school's future, unify a campus community, elevate the sights of a board, and serve as a catalyst for tackling highly ambitious fundraising goals with newfound courage. Learning objective:
Huddle Up: Coaching Your Head in the Field of Major Gifts
Speakers: Elizabeth Kolb, Leadership Gifts Officer, The Shipley School; and Tom Moore, Director of Advancement, The Kinkaid School
• Learn how to take advantage of a head of school's strengths and mitigate his or her weaknesses during major gift visits
• Find out how to use a head of school effectively to secure major gifts-even if he or she is not involved directly in a visit or solicitation.
The Road Ahead: A Changing Landscape for Independent Education
Speaker: Donna Orem, Chief Operating Officer, National Association of Independent Schools
• Explore the key external challenges facing independent schools in the years ahead.
• Understand what resources are available to help schools address these challenges.
Debt Relief to a Stable Future
Speakers: Michael Mersky, Head of School; and Anne Storch, Director of Institutional Advancement, Saint Edward's School
• Stabilize or eliminate debt through a clear financial model and fundraising plan.
• Create an efficient and effective structure that speaks to excellence with an approach that is both sustainable and sensible for the school's future.
Stewardship for Day Schools
Speaker: Kelly Mason Verrochi, Thrive
• Learn how to build strong relationships and steward students and their parents.
• Find out how to overcome the "we give by donating time to the school" obstacle.
Strategic Planning: Oxymoron or Catalyst?
Speakers: Paul Chapman, retired Head of School, Head-Royce School; Lori Fogarty, Director, Oakland Museum of California; Damon Kerby, retired Headmaster, Saint Mark's School; Wendy Levine, Director of Development, Saint Mark's School; and Jim McManus, President, California Association of Independent Schools
• Understand how well-conceived strategic plan-especially when generated in consecutive planning cycles-can dramatically shape a school's future and provide needed direction to advancement.
NOON-1:30 PM Enjoy lunch with colleagues while also recognizing this year's Independent Schools Award winners. These awards recognize those schools and individuals who have been a great example of excellence. Hear their inspiring stories. Sponsor: Pursuant Ketchum
Networking Luncheon and Independent Schools Awards
1:45-3:00
Alumni Relations Historically, benchmarking and measuring against the bottom line have been left to the fundraising teams. We in alumni relations have focused on making our constituents feel good. While engaging our constituents remains a vital focus of alumni relations work, it has become equally important that we develop effective ways to measure our success in terms of numbers and not just anecdotal feedback. Learning objectives
Track Sessions
Have You Marked Your Bench Lately?
Speaker: Sara Eddy, Director of Donor Programs, Bates College
• Understand the importance of both quantitative and qualitative measurements in supporting alumni relations programming.
• Discuss of a variety of measurements that can be used in assessing the effectiveness of alumni relations programs.
Annual Giving
The Crafting of the Annual Giving Appeal
Speaker:
Helen Colson, President, Helen Colson Development Associates
It's more than an appeal for financial support. Annual giving is the first way to catch a donor's eye, to educate and cultivate, to find new prospects and new volunteers. It is the foundation upon which capital giving and planned giving are built. It's the first impression of a school's fundraising program. That's why annual giving appeals must be crafted skillfully with a broad range of objectives and with narrowly segmented appeals. It's why annual giving directors must pay attention to the differing interests of today's donors, why they must focus on leadership gifts, and why they must use multiple approaches- in person, by mail, by phone and on the web. Learn how to craft an effective annual giving appeal that speaks to many donors and achieves expansive goals.
Learning objectives:
• Review the multiple goals of an annual giving program.
• Explore the importance of crafting appeals for each constituency.
• Identify the special interests and needs of today's donors.
Communications and Marketing
Effective Alumni Engagement: A Multichannel Approach
Speakers: Michele Levy, Chief Marketing Officer; Bruce Smith, Chief Development Officer; and Antonio Viva, Head of School, Walnut Hill School for the Arts
Alumni are some of our most powerful brand ambassadors, and key to any successful advancement effort. However, they are also notoriously challenging to find and to engage. A head of school, chief development officer and chief marketing officer will discuss a case study in alumni engagement (still in process.) The team will provide an overview of the variety of tools available to development and marketing communications leaders, with a frank assessment of what's working, what's not, and why.
Learning objectives:
• Understand how to leverage the wide set of currently available marketing communications tools and channels to build alumni support and engagement.
• Walk away with practical, cost-effective tools you can implement within your own organization.
Campaigns
Stretching Your Campaign Vision: Using Momentum to Get More Money
Speakers: Bedell James, Director of Development; Jill Johnson, Development Director, Major Gifts; Will Moseley, Head of School; and Tiffany Townsend, Development Director, Annual Fund and Alumni, The Ensworth School
Find out how a small development team in Nashville survived a 10-year capital campaign, raised more than $140 million (previous successful campaign raised just $5 million), and successfully transitioned from the campaign into a major gifts fundraising model, all while strengthening the annual fund in the process.
Topics covered will include:
• Strategies that worked (and some that didn't),
• Stewarding major donors, and
• Strategic planning in the development office.
Learning objectives:
• Review key components of a major gifts fundraising program.
• Learn how to steward major donors (sometimes for a second ask.)
• Find out how to implement a successful development plan.
Major and Planned Gifts
The Major Gifts Program's Secret Weapon: Advancement Services
Speakers: Karen Brown, Advancement Services Manager, The Shipley School; and Chris Farr, Director of Development, The Shipley School
It's simple: If you don't have an advancement services staff, your major gifts program is running on half power at best. If you're not convinced, attend this session. You'll leave certain that you need an advancement services staff, armed with the job description to post and skill set to look for when hiring, and knowing how to use the staff once you have it.
Learning objectives:
• Explore why the advancement services function is crucial to major gifts work.
• Demonstrate what advancement services staff roles and responsibilities look like.
Elementary Schools
Volunteers and the Small Shop
Speakers: Elizabeth Gleadall, Director of Development, Sonoma Country Day School; and Lori Gordillo, Director of Development, Metairie Park Country Day School
Good volunteers (be they parents, trustees, grandparents, faculty, staff, alumni, or just friends of the school) can be like additional staff for the small advancement office. Today's volunteers often have professional backgrounds, which can supplement a school's resources beyond stuffing envelopes. How we identify, enlist and work with volunteers can make or break a mutually-satisfying experience in advancement. Learn what works and what doesn't work when volunteers take a major role in your advancement program.
Learning objectives:
• Assess your current volunteer programs and determine how well they meet your school's expectations.
• Identify the best volunteers for respective roles and determine how to make them successful.
Stewardship
Getting the Board to Focus On the Areas of Greatest Return
Speaker: Jay Goulart, Director of Advancement, Academy At the Lakes Day School
For years the metrics used in boardrooms, in regards to fundraising, have been narrow in focus. This session will walk you through the keys steps needed to reposition the conversation to dramatically increase fundraising performance while introducing a new metrics dashboard. This new dashboard when implemented will create a data visualization that will immediately show the impact of communication strategies, stewardship models and success in both retention and acquisition. It will help the development committee and team analyze the emotional and financial momentum of the people giving 90 percent of all gifts.
Learning objectives:
• Learn key skills to redesign impact conversations.
• Explore a new method for presenting and understanding data.
Joint Heads and Trustees and Strategic Thinking
Top Trends for School Leaders to Ponder
Speaker: Patrick Bassett, President, National Association of Independent Schools
Based on the latest research and upon his observations from the field, NAIS President Patrick Bassett articulates, ruminates and engages in conversation about the critical challenges and opportunities facing American education in general and independent school education in particular. Bassett will address challenges in the arenas of student wellness, hyper-parenting, professionalizing the profession, strategic and generative boards, disruptions in education at the school and college levels, the convergences of the strengths movement, and the new ethic of cosmopolitanism, among other topics.
Learning objectives:
• Identify current challenges in the independent school sector.
• Examine possible action steps and solutions to meet the challenges.
3:00-3:30
Dessert Reception in the Marketplace
3:30-4:45
Track Sessions
Alumni Relations
Social Media Strategies for Alumni Relations
Speakers: Brooke Oberwetter, Greenhill School Alum ('98) and Facebook Manager; and Katie Young, Alumni Relations Coordinator, Greenhill School
You've got Facebook up and running for your alumni. Now it's time to use it! Learn how to use social media to increase participation in events, annual giving and outreach. Find lost alumni and collect new information for your database, and learn how to increase activity on your pages and within your groups.
Learning objectives:
• Learn how to use social media to increase participation in events, annual giving and outreach.
• Discover how to increase activity on your pages and within your groups.
Annual Giving
The Top 10 Things You Should Know to Be a Successful Annual Giving Director
Speaker: Brian Kish, Assistant Vice President of Advancement, Campbell & Company
This job isn't easy. A good annual giving director needs to be 25 percent marketing genius, 25 percent data guru, 25 percent development strategist, 25percent salesperson extraordinaire, and 10 percent inspirational leader-adding up to more than 100 percent. By understanding the key components of the job, an annual giving director can reach high levels of success. Discuss what annual giving directors need to know to excel in their role.
Learning objectives:
• Identify the key metrics, information and data necessary to manage a successful annual giving program.
• Gather recommendations and advice on how to effectively lead a top-notch annual giving program.
Communications and Marketing
Using Technology to Simplify Communications and Build Community
Speaker: Marlene Sloger, Director of Development, San Francisco Friends School
As a newly created school, San Francisco Friends School had two immediate challenges: how to effectively manage communications between the school and parent community, and how to lay the groundwork for an active and robust school community. To help with both, parent volunteers partnered with the school to create a "wiki," an interactive web-based tool which parents, teachers and administrators alike could easily use. Now an established school with 424 students and nearly 300 families, Friends has come to rely on the wiki as a vital component in the life of the school. In this session, administrators and parent volunteers will talk about the evolution of this tool, how it's used by parents, teachers and staff, and the surprises, challenges and incredible benefits of this approach. This session will be useful for those interested in innovative and interactive approaches to communication, as well as for those looking for ways to reduce administrative costs and time spent on communications.
Learning objectives:
• Using San Francisco Friends School's experience as a case study, review the tangible and intangible benefits of using an interactive web-based approach to internal communications.
• Describe the adoption and evolution of this tool at San Francisco Friends School, including the challenges faced and lessons learned.
Campaigns
Understanding Dominant Attitudes of High Net Worth Families
Speaker: Robert Caldwell, Executive Director of Advancement and External Relations, Holderness School
Giving in America totaled $304 billion in 2009. High new worth households gave 70 percent of all individual giving. For all $1 million plus campaigns in education, 97 percent of total dollars was given by only 4 percent of the donors. Who are these people, how do they think and what are some successful strategies for engaging them in major gifts? Explore information that reveals motivations and attitudes of our wealthiest prospects and hear insights from the faculty about strategies and experiences that address and engage our top donors.
Learning objectives:
• Gain a working knowledge of what motivates high net worth donors to make major gifts.
• Understand trends and changes in attitudes of high net worth families.
• Explore what matters most to major donors.
Major and Planned Gifts
"So When You Die...," Mastering the Planned Giving Conversation
Speakers: Stephen Hart, Director of Planned Giving, The Collegiate School; and Bradley Purcell, President, Planned Giving Advantage, Inc.
Broaching the topic of planned gifts is a difficult and often uncomfortable task for even the most seasoned development officer. This session will focus on best practices used in face-to-face meetings with planned giving prospects. Improve your skills in opening a discussion about planned giving, answering questions without pretending to be an expert, handling objections while communicating sensitivity, and crafting direct but thoughtful visit follow-up. Session will include role-playing for those who want to practice.
Learning objectives:
• Learn how to open, lead, navigate and close a face-to-face conversation with a prospect about making a planned gift
• Discover how to get over the fear-both for the major gift officer and the prospect-of talking about death.
Elementary Schools
Using Technology Hype and Focusing on What Works
Speaker: Keith Heller, Principal, Heller Consulting
Changing faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than common sense, able to confuse and overwhelm in a single bound-it's your ever-expanding technology options! Has the FaceTwitGoogleCloud got you feeling behind? Wondering which trends will stick and which are just puffs of smoke? Would you like to know what REALLY works for independent schools? Join nonprofit tech veteran Keith Heller and a panel of your peers as they cut through the hype and help you focus on the technologies that can have a meaningful impact for you and your communities. So what exactly will we cover? Well, you get to decide. In the weeks preceding the session we'll survey conference registrants (using genuinely useful technology) to find out, and then talk about, what's important to you. Don't miss this chance to make it relevant to you. Respond to the survey, then attend and enjoy!
Learning objectives:
• Hear which technologies your peers find useful and which ones they don't. have not found useful
• Develop a list of technologies you'd like to consider.
Stewardship
Listen Up: Donors are in the Room
Speakers: Keith Barrett, Director of Development, Proctor Academy; Chris Furman, Trustee, Ursuline Academy; Monica Furman, Trustee, Ursuline Academy; and Katie Kidder, Trustee, Proctor Academy
Come listen and engage in conversations with donors. Ask questions and be inspired by their passion and thoughts about philanthropy. What these donors choose to do really impacts our worlds and our institutions' future.
Learning objectives:
• Hear from real people about their giving patterns in today's world.
• Learn about stewardship that works.
Joint Heads and Trustees and Strategic Thinking
Private Schools with Public Purpose
Speaker: Jere Wells, Assistant Head, The Westminster Schools
Jere Wells, Assistant Head at The Westminster Schools in Atlanta, has been witness to a dramatic evolution at his alma mater. Long known for its strengths in academics, athletics and arts, Westminster has leveraged its mission as a Christian school into a successful vision of a private school dedicated to serving--and preparing its students to serve--the broader community, from traditional community service to service learning and philanthropic curricula to a broad network of public-private partnerships.
5:00-6:00
Wine and Cheese Reception in the Marketplace
Sponsor: Campbell & Company.gif "Campbell&Company")
6:00
Marketplace Closes
Tuesday, Feb. 7
7:45 AM
Marketplace Opens
7:45-8:45
Breakfast Roundtable Discussions
• Annual fund with a $1,000,000 + goal
• Annual fund less than a $1,000,000 goal
• Head of school transition communications
• Recruiting talent for advancement
• Recruiting advancement professionals of color
• Pre-K thru 8 alumni fundraising: Best practices
• Pre-K thru 8 alumni fundraising: Interim communications
• Advancement services: Best practices in conversions
• Advancement services: Year-end database flip
• Fundraising in schools without affluent parents
• Setting benchmarks for the annual fund
• Setting benchmarks for office staffing
• Setting benchmarks for alumni relations performance
• Sharing benchmarks with colleagues in an uncertain economy
• Endowment fundraising
• Time management in small shops
• Retooling or revitalizing the fundraising pffice
• Heads and trustees: Grappling with risk, rewards and innovation
• Pre-K thru 12: Fundraising challenges across divisions
• Educating parents about the annual fund
• Grandparent programs
• Recurring gifts
• NAIS resources, dashboards and demographics
7:45-9:00
Continental Breakfast
9:00-10:00
KEYNOTE SESSION
Fascinate: The Shortcut to Persuasion
Speaker: Sally Hogshead, Fascinate, Inc.
Fascination is an intense emotional focus. When you fascinate your stakeholders, students and parents, they become completely focused on you, your product, your school and your offerings. Instead of being distracted or bored, they become raving, loyal fans. Yet in today's distracted and competitive environment, most messages are either forgotten or ignored. Educators, schools and alumni must fascinate, or fail.
How can you command this powerful force of attraction? Sally Hogshead reveals the secret. Her proprietary research and internationally acclaimed book, Fascinate, include a groundbreaking national study on the science of fascination. She discovered that the human brain is hardwired to focus on seven specific triggers. With a high-voltage style and vibrant imagery, Hogshead teaches audiences how to harness attention using her Fascinate system. Participants in this session will travel on a high-velocity journey through neurology, advertising and pop culture. Hogshead delivers riveting case studies and research, along with practical ways that individuals and brands can immediately become more persuasive.
10:00-10:30
Refreshment Break in the Marketplace
10:30
Marketplace Closes
10:30-11:45
Track Sessions
Alumni Relations
Elevating Alumni Programs
Speakers: Brian Hargrove, Director of Development; and James Womack, Director of Alumni Relations, St. Mark's School of Texas
Have you found the keys to your alumni program's successful growth? Your reunion volunteers and alumni board members hold them in their back pockets. St. Mark's School of Texas is successfully managing these two critical groups of volunteers toward success each year. Listen in as they share the blueprints they use every year to set records in alumni engagement.
Learning objective:
• Understand how one school is effectively using their reunion program and alumni board to strengthen their alumni association.
Annual Giving
Donor-Centric Approaches for Annual Giving
Facilitator:
Robert Burdenski , Principal, Robert A. Burdenski Annual Givin g
Speakers: Gail Reeder, Director of Development, Mercersburg Academy; Kim Roberts, Director of Advancement, Castilleja School, and Sandra Tuomey, Director of Advancement, Fort Worth Country Day
Annual giving is more than technique and dollars. It's about the way we interact with our donors. We need to acknowledge what our donors need, and puts those needs first-a donor-centric approach for making the right decisions for a healthy annual fund. Today's successful annual funds are a blend of personal contacts, technology for tracking relationships, influential associations and affinities, deliberate targeting, and data analysis, with a sharp eye on donor-centric communications and strategies. Explore a strategic array of techniques for getting our message out and positioning our schools against the competition.
Learning objectives:
• Learn how to use today's technology to communicate to our donors on their preferred platforms.
• Find out how to effectively use available data to personalize message and discuss examples of this type of donor-centered strategy and messaging.
Communications and Marketing
As Others See Us: Schools' Growing Need for Market Intelligence
Speaker: Benjamin Edwards, Principal, Art & Science Group, LLC
A school's relationship to its market of current parents, prospective parents and donors has changed dramatically. The educational demands and expectations of parents, tuition and financial aid pressures, and smarter competitors mean that schools must become far more savvy about the markets in which they compete and the messages and initiatives that will motivate market behavior in their favor. This session will describe how some schools-including some that are struggling and others experiencing a very strong market position- are undertaking sophisticated market research studies and developing creative strategy for market positioning and communications.
Learning objectives:
• Learn how to develop market strategy that drives communications.
• Explore the options for market research, and the benefits.
Campaign
Institutional Readiness: Preparing for a Successful Campaign
Speakers: Simon Jeynes, Consultant, Director of Business Development, Independent School Management; Paula Schwartz, Development Consultant; and Herbert Soles, Assistant Headmaster for Development, Norfolk Academy
Now that the recession seems to be receding, schools around the country are either brushing off campaign plans they have delayed, or beginning to create new plans for a campaign. How do you prepare for one in the 21st century? How do you save money on consultants in that preparation? What can a school's leaders do to maximize effectiveness, while limiting cost?
Learning objectives:
• Learn what we should, and should not, be raising money for in a 21st century fundraising environment.
• Find out how to keep your annual fund strong during a campaign.
Major and Planned Gifts
Donor-Centered Engagement Through the Lens of Mission-Centered Urgency
Speakers: Jonathan Bridge, Assistant Headmaster for Advancement, University School; and Bill Kissick, Director of Alumni & Development, St. Paul's School
Recently, there has been a shift away from school-centered rules of philanthropy toward a more donor-centered approach. What does this mean for our institutions and our relationships with donors? It turns out that maximizing donor potential and fulfilling the school's strategic priorities are not mutually exclusive endeavors. Explore the importance of a clear mission, along with a customized engagement plan, for each donor. Learn how to design a major gifts program that brings urgency to your cause. Presenters will share real case examples from a day and boarding school perspective of how to blend institution and donor priorities to maximize your school's philanthropic potential.
Learning objective:
• Review the critical ingredients for launching a successful major gifts effort.
Elementary Schools
Managing Expectations: Doing What You Do Well
Speakers: Dana Marcus, Director of Institutional Advancement; and Catherine Mulgrew, Director of Development, The Philadelphia School
Most small shops must manage very big expectations. From the head, the board, volunteers and donors. Yet not all responsibilities are created equal. And not every task adds to a healthy bottom line. Take time in this workshop to look at all the moving parts of your program and determine what you really do well. Take away a case for playing to your strengths as well as to your school's expectations.
Learning objectives:
• Learn to match school expectations (including financial) with your office's capabilities and strengths.
• Learn how to make the case for keeping or discarding responsibilities in your office.
Heads and Trustees
The Art of the Ask: Are You Practiced and Ready When the Opportunity Arrives?
Speaker: Barbara Barron, Advancement Consultant, Drew School
Our trustees tell us they want to serve our schools in every way-except when it comes to asking for money. Could it be that we are putting our dedicated and passionate volunteers in the position of soliciting support for our schools without first providing them with sufficient guidance and training? Gaining the skills and comfort to do this important work takes practice. It's important that heads, trustees and development officers hone those skills to be better prepared for the next opportunity to secure vital support for their schools.
Learning objectives:
• Offer trustees, heads of school and development officers a better understanding of the art of asking for support.
• Use role play to gain skill and ease when asking for gifts.
Stewardship
Stewarding Young Alumni/ae: Social Media Makes It Easier
Speakers: Jeremiah Stevens, Director of Alumni Relations, Lake Forest Academy; and Travis Warren, President, WhippleHill Communications Inc
Don't wait for them to find you. Successful stewardship of young alumni/ae is about meeting them where they already are-LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and mobile. Learn how to identify the social media outlets your alumni/ae are using, review techniques for joining in their conversations and explore what it means to successfully engage your young alumni/ae.
Learning objectives:
• Identify the social media outlets your young alumni/ae are using.
• Learn techniques for joining in their conversations and discover what it means to successfully engage them.
Strategic Thinking
Understanding Your Tuition Elasticity: Results of an NAIS Pilot Study
Speaker: Amada Torres, Director of Academic Research, National Association of Independent Schools
A tuition elasticity study allows you to determine the maximum amount parents will pay for the tuition at your school and to assess the impact that tuition changes have on your school's market position.It also helps you to identify the key characteristics associated with your school by current and prospective families, and in particular, to identify those traits that are decision influencers when selecting a school. In this session, we'll look at the results of a pilot study conducted by NAIS on tuition elasticity to help you identify what characteristics will attract new students, increase you school's market share, and reinforce its reputation.
Learning objectives:
• Understand how tuition changes affect the school's market position.
• Identify key characteristics associated with the school and its brand.
NOON
Conference Adjourns
