Newcomers Workshop begins at 8:00 AM and ends at NOON on Monday.

Conference program begins at NOON on Monday and ends at NOON on Wednesday.

Newcomers Workshop

Monday, June 7

7:30-8:00 AM
Registration/Continental Breakfast

8:00-8:30
Welcome and Overview of Donor Relations

8:30-9:15
Acknowledgement Assistance for All
Acknowledgments are at the core of what we do as donor relations professionals. We thank at many levels, however this session focuses on leadership acknowledgments. This process can be cumbersome, tiring and tedious, but it is something we all share. Find out how to make the process meaningful, appropriate and painless. Examine best practices in acknowledgment and review simple and practical solutions to solve the challenges that come with thanking donors within an administrative structure.

9:15-10:00
Gift Agreements: Don't Let Good Gifts Go Bad
A well-written gift agreement is essential to great stewardship and donor relations. We have all read stories about donors demanding the return of their charitable gifts because the recipient institutions did not use the funds the way the donors intended. Or about the endowed fund that comes with so many limitations that it is almost impossible to disburse. This session covers the "must-have" components of a gift agreement. Review best practices in the industry, including samples and recommended inclusions such as a morality clause.

10:15-11:00
Endowment Reporting: The Basics
A key component of any philanthropic organization is providing accountability to our most precious resource...our donors. Endowment reporting is one important way to ensure accountability and transparency to our donors. Review the basic elements of what to include on an endowment report and what you need to get started.

11:00-11:45
Meaningful, Memorable and Measurable! Events for All Purposes
Whether you are a passionate event planner or avoid event planning like the plague, events are a reality of our industry. Though we are frequently tasked with planning events, rarely do we know what the intended outcomes are and therefore aren't able to measure an event's success. This session illustrates best practices for successful event planning as well as offers you the tools to plan purpose-driven events that are memorable and measurable.

11:45 AM-NOON
Wrap-Up & Remaining Questions

NOON
Workshop Adjourns

Conference Program

Day 1, Monday, June 7

NOON-1:00 PM
Registration

1:00-2:00
Welcome and Opening Remarks

2:30-3:45
Opening Session
We will start the conference off with a high-energy session on finding success and using creativity in your role as donor relations professionals, leaving you inspired and excited about the next few days and the job that lies ahead.

4:00-5:00
Elective Sessions (choose one)

• Making It Creative-Beyond the Written Report and Thank You
  Do you sometimes yearn to introduce a little creativity, innovation and fun into your work? Donors are likely to appreciate some creative stewardship too. Learn how to tap into what you enjoy doing while bringing added benefit to your professional work. The focus of this session will be on using digital tools such as slide shows, videos and photo books for stewardship purposes; encouraging you to find your own creative outlets while doing your job.
• Donor Retention
  Every year colleges and universities spend untold amounts of money attracting and securing donations from our most dedicated and generous populations. Why, then, do we ultimately lose so many of them in the years that follow? Discuss different audiences-from annual giving donors to leadership giving donors-and ways that donor relations and stewardship programs can help colleges and universities retain those that gift officers bring in the door.
• Developing Individualized Stewardship Plans
  Whether you're in a campaign or trying to cultivate major gift prospects, developing and implementing individualized stewardship plans can be crucial to a successful cultivation strategy. Learn how to ask the right questions to develop a plan and the research required to ensure success. Review several case studies of individualized stewardship plans illustrating the success of these plans.

5:00-6:00
Networking Reception
Join colleagues for complimentary hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar.

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

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Day 2, Tuesday, June 8

8:00-9:00 AM
Continental Breakfast/Roundtables

9:00-10:30
Keynote

The Role of Donor Relations in Engaging Women Constituents
Strategic engagement of women is the key to successful fundraising in the 21st century. According to Forbes magazine's columnist Betsy Brill, women now control more than half of the private wealth in the United States and are the major influencers in charitable giving according to the Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund's Gender Differences in Charitable Giving 2009 study. These statistics, coupled with the fact that women make up nearly 60 percent of all college students, provide strong incentives for higher education institutions to engage their women constituents.

In her keynote address, Cynthia Wood will explore the most current research on the unique characteristics and dynamics of women's philanthropy. She will discuss the key role donor relations play in the development process and will focus on best practices that DR professionals can adapt to effectively engage female constituents as donors.

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

• Generational Stewardship (repeated at 4:00 PM)
  Do you know the difference between the Millennial, Generation X, Generation Y or Baby Boomer generations? How can those differences determine the methods you use for stewardship? We hear all the time the importance of "knowing our donors" and "knowing our audience" as it relates to fundraising success. This session will illustrate the key difference between the many generations alive today and will offer greater insight into how you can successfully use the proper stewardship best practice to achieve success.
• Targeted Stewardship: Getting Personalized Messages to the Masses
  Learn how to strategically engage, recognize and thank donors and prospects through targeted donor stewardship. Learn how to identify donor groups based on like areas of interest and create personalized programs to keep them informed and involved. Incorporating targeted stewardship in your business plan will help to build and promote a solid relationship with your donors that will allow for faster pipeline movement and increased gifts.
• Acknowledging the Person Behind the Gift
  Gift receipts/acknowledgements and special high-level acknowledgements (including presidential thank yous) are a fundamental element of donor relations work. Learn specific reasons for acknowledging every gift, tips to decide who should acknowledge which gifts, ideas for soliciting input from staff on specific gifts, and how to make a large volume of high-level acknowledgements seem highly personalized. This session is targeted to newcomers, as well as those who may have recently taken on the responsibilities of managing an acknowledgement system.

11:45 AM-1:15 PM
Networking Buffet Luncheon: Sharing Best Practices
We'd like to hear from you about your best practices-a new or innovative activity, process or method you consider to be effective or crucial to the process of stewarding your donors. Share your best practices by submitting a brief explanation of the practice and why it is unique and effective to schafer@case.org. Selected participants will be asked to share their successful practices, so don't be shy about sharing what has worked for you.

1:30-2:30
Strategic Stewardship and Cultivation: Finding Your Chair at the Fundraising Table
In a highly competitive field, strategic stewardship planning can make your organization stand out above the rest. Strategic stewardship planning brings donor relations to the fundraising table and identifies opportunities to cultivate, engage and demonstrate impact and accountability to donors at a highly personalized level. Implementing strategic stewardship planning into your institution's business plans helps build and promote a solid relationship between donors and your organization that ultimately leads to increased gifting and lasting affinity. Explore the basic concepts of strategic stewardship planning; learn how to demonstrate how to incorporate fundraising strategies into your stewardship; and identify opportunities to implement these plans to help achieve your organization's fundraising goals. Learn how to work collaboratively with units throughout your organization to encourage increased gifting from leadership donors and turn major donors into leadership donors.

2:45-3:45
Elective Sessions (choose one)

• Triple Impact: Teach Philanthropy to Students, Steward Donors, Achieve Cultural Change
  Each year we graduate thousands of future donors to our cause who have no understanding of the concept of tuition-relief and discount. They graduate believing that what they paid in tuition covered the cost of their education. They come to us-many of them believing that they are entitled to scholarships and financial aid and leave never knowing that their future success was built on the backs of people just like them-who chose to invest in their futures by making gifts to our educational institutions. Why are we waiting until they are out of reach before we tell them? Why are we so afraid to change their minds? What do we have to lose? Find creative opportunities to engage students in stewardship activities in ways that are educational and life-changing and impact how they view the institution and giving before they are gone.
• Fund and Gift Agreements: Balancing Donor Expectations and Institutional Needs
  Understanding the fund and gift agreement process is a crucial part of donor relations work, whether or not you are responsible for writing the agreements. Learn how to determine the difference between the "handshake" and the gift details, how to determine who the stakeholders are in the agreement process, when to educate fundraisers on the process and how to build positive donor relations into the process. Discuss the vital components in a fund or gift agreement. This session is appropriate for professionals at all experience levels.
• Who's Afraid of Social Media?
  Are you afraid of, or perhaps even a little disdainful of, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Youtube, Flickr and some of those other 21st century ways to connect in cyberspace? If you haven't already done so, do you need to take the leap and sign on? Take a look at some ways that social media is now being used in the fundraising field and whether it might benefit you and your organization to be part of this unstoppable social movement.

4:00-5:00
Elective Sessions (choose one)

• Recognition Programs as Fundraising Tools
  Donor recognition programs, whether for leadership or annual giving, are a very important part of the process for connecting with donors on a personal level and recognizing them in a meaningful way. In a time when we are required to make the case for return on investment for these programs, it is necessary (where possible) to move beyond one-dimensional recognition programs. With strategic partnerships you can create tools to assist in the retention of donors where participation is key-and increasing commitments where greater giving is the goal. If you are ready to give your donor recognition society/circle/program more than just a pretty face, this session is for you!
• Fundamentals of Fund Reporting
  The fund reporting process has common elements regardless of whether you are reporting on endowed or current use funds, scholarships, professorships or departmental/program funds. The session will provide a discussion of the basic data to include in a report, determining the frequency of providing formal reports, tips for getting information from faculty and staff, and a brief discussion of underwater funds. The session's focus will be on fund reporting in a college or university setting, though much of the discussion will be applicable to a more general nonprofit audience. This session is appropriate for professionals at all experience levels.
• Generational Stewardship
  Do you know the difference between the Millennial, Generation X, Generation Y or Baby Boomer generations? How can those differences determine the methods you use for stewardship? We hear all the time the importance of "knowing our donors" and "knowing our audience" as it relates to fundraising success. This session will illustrate the key difference between the many generations alive today and will offer greater insight into how you can successfully use the proper stewardship best practice to achieve success.

5:00
Conference Adjourns for the Day
Dinner on your own

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Day 3, Wednesday, June 9

8:00-9:00 AM
Continental Breakfast/Roundtables

9:00-10:15
Donor Relations in Campaign Planning
Learn everything you will need to address a campaign with confidence. We will cover how the rules of donor stewardship change in different phases of the campaign, effective tools and practices from various success stories and more.

10:30-11:30
Elective Sessions (choose one)

• Stewarding Non-Endowed Funds
  Gift reporting is an important piece of the stewardship puzzle. While endowed fund reporting is a practice our donors expect, donors to non-endowed funds are often overlooked. Explore best practices for these reports and learn how you can easily integrate this kind of reporting into your overall reporting process.
• Targeted Stewardship: Getting Personalized Messages to the Masses
  Learn how to strategically engage, recognize and thank donors and prospects through targeted donor stewardship. Find out how to identify donor groups based on similar areas of interest and create personalized programs to keep them informed and involved. Incorporating targeted stewardship in your business plan will help to build and promote a solid relationship with your donors allowing for faster pipeline movement and increased gifts.
• Metrics and Measuring Success
  How do you decide what data you should pay attention to? What data will attract the kind of attention you deserve and ensure your staff gets adequate credit for their hard work? How can you make the argument that your work is revenue-generating, NOT just a cost center? This session will focus on strategies to help you determine what your valuable data really is-and what might be wasting your time to track. This session is designed for the more seasoned donor relations professional.

11:30 AM-NOON
Faculty Firing Line

NOON
Conference Adjourns

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