Day 1, Wednesday, April 27

NOON-1:00 PM
Registration

1:00-1:15
Welcome and Introductions

1:15-2:15
Is NOW Good For You? Transforming Advancement Operations to Meet Current Demand
Advancement operations can no longer function as the back end, churning out gift receipts, lists and reports, and entering address changes. We now live in a world of shrinking resources, sophisticated constituencies and seemingly unattainable business objectives. It's time to step up our game. Does that mean we need to work even harder? No, just smarter, and with creative vigor! Discuss and examine some real-life examples of success, including:

• The importance of collaboration, commitment and communication,
• How delivering excellent customer service is the lynch-pin of success in advancement operations, and
• Why you should NEVER let perfect get in the way of good.

2:30-3:45
Elective Sessions (choose one)

• Social Manipulation
  How do we avoid being the pawn or by-product of someone's mission? What is the collateral damage from Wikileaks for sharing information online? To engage in social media, an institution must first develop a strategic plan for managing online communication and messaging. It takes an entire village of stakeholders to maintain channels often outside of an institution's control. Collecting data represents a boon for segmentation and cultivation strategies but a burden for information management. Learn how to interpret our ethical responsibility for culling information through social media sites as opposed to standard online prospect research practices.
• Strategic Planning for the High-Performance Team
  Developing a successful five-year business plan requires intimate participation by advancement services, if not full project leadership. The life-cycle of a plan, adjusting to change and executive and/or volunteer buy-in are just a few components of consideration. This session addresses some of the greatest challenges-and opportunities-of developing a comprehensive plan that requires strong collaboration across departments.

3:45-5:00
Influencing Prospect Relationships: When Capacity Ratings Are Not Enough
When a prospect doesn't have a natural affinity to an institution, a development officer needs the best tools in his or her toolbox to help engage and develop a relationship. Advancement services can lead the way to map this course! Utilizing the science and art of fundraising, explore how one school introduced an exciting new initiative that supplements capacity with lifestage and lifestyle modeling to help a development officer start the conversation and move the relationship forward.

5:00-6:00
Networking Reception

Sponsor:

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

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Day 2, Thursday, April 28

8:00-9:00 AM
Breakfast Roundtables

Sponsor of the Breakfast Roundtables

9:00-10:00
Why Not the Best? The Case for Doing It Right
We are all besieged by the urgent aspects of our jobs that often keep us from getting to the truly important. While at this conference, we have a unique opportunity to restore perspective to our everyday jobs, focusing on changes we can make that will really impact our operations. During this session we'll consider a few examples of how pursuing best practices can help us achieve excellence and discuss how to make this pursuit a part of our organizational culture.

10:15-11:30
Elective Sessions (choose one)

• Reporting Dashboards that Serve Your Advancement Customer
  Providing a fluid reporting solution that meets the needs of senior management, the development staff and others-with 24/7 access to mission-aligned data available via the Internet-is a great customer service deliverable. Make it available on the smart phone and you are really adding benefit! Reporting that is relevant, specific to the constituency and timely saves programming and prospect research resources. Review two examples that will demonstrate how you can send your development officers out into the field and keep them easily connected and informed.
• The Campaign Paradigm Intimate Touch
  Sophisticated donors and a web savvy world have created a philanthropic beast that many are ill prepared to tame. To even consider a campaign in a recovering economy, institutions must reassess their efforts for developing a profitable engagement strategy. Building a cohesive cultivation and stewardship model requires us to consider a whole new set of constituent expectations. What is the optimal configuration for advancement and what are the required resources, skilled professionals, and technology needed to succeed in this new era of campaigns? Ultimately, a strategic planning process must involve every institutional stakeholder to represent the campaign mission.

11:30 AM-NOON

Pre-luncheon Reception

NOON-1:30 PM
Lunch and Keynote Presentation
This Data is Different
Interest in data mining for nonprofit fundraising is at an all-time high, but interest has not necessarily been converted into action. Advancement services personnel are uniquely qualified to either lead the charge for analytics, or be a catalyst for its development. Taking the next step requires some changes in how we think about data. Review concrete examples of how predictive modeling has been put to work at one university, and hear some thoughts on fostering an analytics-focused culture.
Speaker: Kevin MacDonell, Annual Giving Officer, External Relations, Dalhousie University and Creater, CoolData Blog

1:45-3:00
Elective Sessions (choose one)

• Stormy Weather
  Cloud computing has become the watershed for a whole new paradigm of information technology. How do we integrate this technology in a digital era where online resources are a necessity for sharing and exchanging academic ideas? Resource optimization plans focus on the great benefits of not having to host services and maintain data. However, the ongoing efforts to exchange information through database and reporting systems can represent a considerable burden. Institutions cringe at the potential for security breaches and identity theft. By positioning our technology acquisitions, we can help to ensure a silver lining on the future in this new information architecture.
• Training Investments Promoting the Self-Managing Professional
  Training staff to new approaches is time consuming but critically necessary to avoid becoming the recipient of multiple repeat calls, missed opportunities and work gone wrong. With time invested in mentoring and sharpening the skills of our team, we build a talented and empowered resource for the day-to-day and enthusiasm for the unknown. Explore proven training techniques with a twist to promote sharp self-managing professionals across the division.

3:15-4:30
Elective Sessions (choose one)

• Donor Portals: Providing a Service of Self-Service
  With dwindling budgets and increasing pressure to stay in touch with your constituency (or risk losing them to another cause), it's wise to consider how technology can fill the gap and supplement personnel resources. Automating services in such a way that donors feel special provides a popular benefit to your donors-and to your staffing.
• Gauging Success in Advancement
  The bar for the advancement organization continues to be set high even in the midst of the current economic environment. Accurate and relevant performance reporting is more critical today than ever. Our goal is to provide exemplary data tools that help management reward strong performance and coach for improvement. This session addresses performance metrics and how to best utilize the information in gauging success in advancement.

4:30-5:30
Panel and Audience Discussion
The Advancement Services Chicken Soup for the Soul
Throughout this conference, topics of interest, questions and immediate solution needs have been tracked. This session will address the top-rated topics using the combined intellect of the panel and the audience.

5:30
Conference Adjourns for the Day
Dinner on your own

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Day 3, Friday, April 29

8:00-9:00 AM
Breakfast Roundtables

9:00-10:00
The Crystal Ball: Leadership of Vendor Partners
What is the top trend or most frequently asked question or opportunity today? What might the crystal ball forecast as a great lesson to learn sooner than later? Our vendor partners-those who invest 100 percent of their time on solutions to make our work smarter, not harder-will share their recommendations of leadership trends and opportunities in advancement services.

10:15-11:15
Exploring the CEO/COO Relationship from Advancement Services
For years, the advancement services leader has provided great momentum and valuable support to help steer the organizational ship. The opportunity to lead the strategic course is a role the attentive to detail and big-picture leader in you can succeed as the chief operations officer. Demystifying the role of the advancement services senior professional as the COO and how we position our knowledge and showcase our talents to our organization's benefit is the catalyst of this session.

11:15-11:45
Faculty Firing Line

11:45 AM-NOON
Conference Wrap-up

NOON
Conference Adjourns

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