Day 1, Monday, February 7

12:30-1:00 PM
Registration

1:00-1:30
Welcome, Announcements and Faculty Introductions

1:30-3:00
Use It or Lose It: The Researcher - Gift Officer Partnership
Creating strategic relationships between research and gift officers is often easier said than done. Understanding and developing these partnerships requires understanding, planning and patience. When achieved they are so powerful that the organization is propelled forth in a way that significant advancement is realized. This session will take the mystery out of how to make this happen at your institution and help you move towards a strategic partnership.

3:15-4:45
Elective Sessions (choose one)

• Challenges and Strategies: Moving Fundraising Forward
  Philanthropy faces a number of challenges during the current period of market instability, recession and corporate closings that have impacted the financial holdings and charitable attitudes of many donors. This session will cover some of the issues that caused such chaos and what new fundamental challenges researchers, analysts and fundraisers will face as the need for contributions by every organization only continues to grow. Learn strategies to adapt during a dramatically changing economic environment that requires fundraisers to continue forward movement for their organization, and leave confident that you have the ability to apply them.
• Campaign Forecasting: Are We Going to Make Our Goal?
  This session examines the basic analytical functions already available to you in Microsoft Excel that drive predictive and forecasting models. Participants will be introduced to the solid foundations of basic forecasting theory and methodology. You will come to understand that forecasting/predictive modeling is not rocket science and will walk away armed with the tools to begin predictive modeling as soon as you return to your office.

5:00-6:00
Networking Reception

6:00
Conference Adjourns for the Day
Dinner on your own

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Day 2, Tuesday, February 8

8:00-8:30 AM
Continental Breakfast

8:30-10:00
Elective Sessions (choose one)

• Using Data to Promote the Research Operation
  Using data effectively is a critical function of the successful research operation. Yet addressing the value of our own work with data that is meaningful to our clients and managers is an area we often overlook. In this session, we will review ways in which data helps present the value of research, tying our results to the bottom line while making and make the case to add-or at least preserve-resources. We will also discuss ways that strategic planning processes can go beyond the "annual review" to create clarity among staff and clients, respond more flexibly to the inevitable unplanned demands, and measure and communicate the effectiveness of our work.
• Philanthropic Perspectives and the Adult Development Cycle
  Learn how specific events, trends and unique developments during an individual's adult development cycle (coming of age) can impact charitable interests and attitudes. Learn how to identify what "drives" the interests and attitudes of an individual, how to coordinate fundraising efforts in the best interests of the donor and how to ethically and successfully plan accordingly towards meeting the fundraising needs and goals of your organization.

10:15-11:45
Elective Sessions (choose one)

• Data Visualization
  As prospect identification expands, so does the need to present the findings in succinct reporting tools. Data visualization helps in prospect trip planning, demographic cluster analysis and regional segmentation. This session will introduce participants to data visualization using Google Earth. We will explore the tools and methods used to cluster map alumni and prospects. This is not a theory seminar; methodology is introduced for immediate implementation at zero cost to the attendee.
• Advanced Relationship Management
  Have you ever wondered how to always be at the table, or even better, how to be a part of the table? Creating a role for research that makes this happen is possible. his session will focus on how to develop, research and manage a prospect pipeline driven by prospect research that places prospect research at the table. Researchers and gift officers work in tandem to create a plan, identify and develop prospects in an effective process and achieve 2:1 ratio of qualified prospects to cultivated prospects using these methods. Learn how you can adopt these for your institution.

11:45 AM-1:15 PM
Lunch on your own

1:15-2:45
Strategic Planning: Big Picture Thinking
In this session, David E. Robertson, Jr. and Deborah Reinhardt Youmans will highlight the integration of mission, strategies, budgets, organization, marketing, development, controls and operations in a well-defined fundraising organization, division or department. These highlights derive from the "Big Picture," as defined by your board or other governing body at the helm of your organization. Learn how the Big Picture drives each element and how to best prepare and coordinate these elements.

3:00-4:30
Elective Sessions (choose one)

• New Mines to Explore: Utilizing Nontraditional Sources of Information
  From social media to private stock markets, there is a wealth of new sources that can provide you with previously unavailable information about your prospects. In this session, presenters will help you understand not only how to extract data, but also how to successfully integrate this information into your daily work. You will also learn about advanced features, including real-time monitoring. International social media sources will be highlighted that can help you find personal and professional data on non-U.S. prospects. If you want to expand your resources, and your ideas about what those resources can be, this session is for you.
• Analyzing Analysis: Critical Thinking Applied to Prospect Research
  Research is not just about finding information. Today it is about interpreting the data and providing analysis of what we find. This requires a set of critical thinking skills that goes far beyond the questions of who, what, how and why. It requires us to think about "If." This session will test the thinking methodologies of those who manage researchers or produce research, and encourage you to bring your game to a higher level. Are you up to the challenge?

4:30
Conference Adjourns for the Day
Dinner on your own

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Day 3, Wednesday, February 9

8:00-8:30 AM
Continental Breakfast

8:30-9:45
Elective Sessions (choose one)

• The Advancement Services Approach
  We all strive to do the best work, but how do we assess whether we're reaching that goal? What constitutes a "best practice" in a profession that continues to evolve, and that is carried out in different ways across the industry? In this session, we'll discuss how focusing on the effective application of information helps direct our work and allows us to establish reasonable metrics that are consistent with our organizational missions and goals. We will examine the role of information across a range of advancement services, with research and relationship management as both central providers and consumers. And we will explore organizational challenges (time and resource limitations, organizational structure, office politics) that impede efforts to make informed and objective decisions, and discuss ways to surmount them.
• Where the Wealth Went (and Why We Can Still Access It)
  The Great Recession has hit high net-worth individuals hard and the long-term implications for fundraisers are still being sorted out as we begin to slowly get our economic engine restarted. The challenge for people researching the wealthy is to figure out who lost, who won and who will benefit from the changes. This session focuses on the people who have money now, either because they navigated the downturn successfully, or are benefiting from it. We will also peer into the future to see who is likely to be part of the next generation of philanthropists.

10:00-11:30
The Next Big Thing: Envisioning Trends Across Philanthropy & Their Implications for Research and Prospect Management
Join a lively discussion in which the conference faculty will do their best to predict the major developments in informational, technical, philanthropic and social trends likely to affect our work in interesting ways in the coming years.

11:30 AM-NOON
Wrap Up and Faculty Q and A

NOON
Conference Adjourns

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