Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 1, Monday, May 10

NOON-1:00 PM
Conference Registration

1:00-1:30
Welcome and Introductions

1:30-2:30
A New Era for Annual Giving
Annual giving has evolved significantly in the past decade due to dramatic changes in technology, new media and the economy. This session will provide a macro-level perspective on the key issues facing our industry today. Using data from annual giving programs throughout the country, this session will also look at the opportunities and threats facing annual giving mangers today and will offer a strategic roadmap for success in the future.

2:45-4:00
Elective Sessions (choose one)

• Social Media
  Everyone is talking about Twitter and Facebook. Your trustees are asking you whether you're texting to solicit gifts. You're looking at the click-through rates on your last e-mail appeal and trying to figure out why your old-fashioned mail pulls so much better. How do you reconcile the allure of new communication tools with the effectiveness of the old ones? What's worth trying and what isn't? Ivy Clift and Beth Braxton will present information on what is and isn't working at Stanford, UNC and other schools, and will lead the group in a discussion on what might work for their organizations.
• A Strategic Framework for Change: How You Can Use Business Intelligence to Resposition Your Program for Better Results
  The constant demand for higher levels of performance can, from time to time, compel annual giving directors to rethink their business model and initiate fundamental change. This session will describe how Georgetown University used a strategic framework to reposition its annual giving program to leverage the best of the Georgetown brand, communicate institutional priorities, and generate more dollars and donors for the campaign pipeline. Find out how you can use market research, peer review and knowledge of industry trends to design and reposition your program.

4:15-5:30
Elective Sessions (choose one)

• Recruiting and Retaining Great Staff
  Jack Welch says: "The team with the best players wins, so find and retain the best players." Examine how you can recruit and retain the best annual fund staff possible.
• Making the Case Internally
  While leadership at most institutions understand the basics of what an annual giving program can contribute to overall efforts, the connection between a comprehensive program and overall fundraising success is not complete. This session will focus on the key elements that your decision makers should know about your annual giving program, the information in your database that will influence your leadership and your role as the annual giving expert at your institution.

5:30-6:30
Networking Reception

6:30
Conference Adjourns for the Day
Dinner on your own

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Day 2, Tuesday, May 11

8:00-9:00 AM
Breakfast Roundtables

9:00-10:15
Phonathons
Even in the current cell phone and text messaging climate, your phonathon provides an opportunity to strengthen relationships with alumni, parents and friends. Improving results and increasing dollars within your phonathon requires recurring analysis and research. In this session we will focus on several high-level decisions that will provide a platform for future goals and success.

10:30-11:45
Elective Sessions (choose one)

• Simple, Cheap, and Effective
  No theory here. We will do a quick-fire review of more than a dozen strategies and/or changes that can be made to your program that are both quick and low cost. This session will be sure to provide you with direct examples of effective techniques, initiatives and modification that can be implemented in your program immediately.
• Student and Young Alumni Programs
  The Millenials are the largest cohort of individuals in history (surpassing even the Baby Boomers), and young alumni comprise 25 percent or more of alumni for most universities. This important demographic can make-or break-alumni participation numbers at all institutions. Using real examples from UNC, Penn and other institutions, this session will examine tactics for increasing engagement and giving from young audiences.

11:45 AM-1:15 PM
Lunch
Analytics: Best Practices for Annual Giving

1:15-2:30
Elective Sessions (choose one)

• Annual Reports and Honor Rolls Online
  The cost of printing and mailing has driven many nonprofits to put their publications online. While the savings may be obvious, there are other less obvious benefits to this decision, as well as potential pitfalls. Ivy Clift will discuss lessons learned from Stanford's decision to move their annual report and honor rolls online, and will compare Stanford's results with those of other schools who have gone virtual with their major publications.
• Integrated Direct Marketing
  Everyone's talking about it, but is anyone actually doing it? The answer is yes-and they're seeing results. Look at how an integrated solicitation strategy strengthens response rates across numerous channels and ways to move the "giving process" from transactional to interactive. Explore ways your annual giving program can easily integrate messaging, look and feel across multiple channels on a tight budget. Examine appeals from different institutions and share the lessons learned.

2:45-4:00
Engaging Donors Online
Your constituents are online and they expect greater access, personalization and accountability. Is your institution keeping pace? This session will highlight emerging online best practices in alumni relations, communications and fundraising, suggesting how your school can become more constituent-driven through personalized communications and integration of offline and online appeals. Discover how to use the Internet to connect with your middle and major donors and learn how leading educational institutions are already engaging their constituents using Facebook and other Web 2.0 resources.

4:00-5:00
Faculty Firing Line

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

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Day 3, Wednesday, May 12

8:00-9:00 AM
Breakfast Roundtables

9:00-10:15
Elective Sessions (choose one)

• Personal Solicitation and Leadership Annual Gifts
  Personal visits are essential to developing a leadership annual gift culture. Enhance your systems, strategies, techniques and prospect research efforts for your next day of donor visits and identify methods for connecting a donor's philanthropic priorities with your institution. This session will emphasize creation of a personal visit culture among leadership annual giving donors, systems and process for sustaining the effort and making the ask.
• Online Moves Management Strategies
  Most institutions utilize a moves management system to identify, cultivate, solicit and steward major gifts, but still rely heavily on direct mail and phone-based efforts for annual giving. But today the same techniques used in major gift development can be implemented using online constituent relationship management tools to flatten your donor pyramid and secure more high-end annual gifts. This session will explore emerging trends in online constituent engagement, highlight recent research about the online behavior and preferences of major donors and present strategies for implementing an online moves management strategy into your annual giving program.

10:30-11:30
Direct Mail
Your direct mail program is up and running and your results are good, inconsistent or in need of improvement. Discuss key adjustments that will allow your direct mail program to improve and produce consistent numbers year after year. Topics include data and segmentation, creative, timing, and postal considerations.

11:30 AM- NOON
Conference Wrap-up

Noon
Conference Adjourns

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