Day 1, Sunday, July 21

NOON-3:00 PM
Registration

3:30-3:45
Welcome and Introductions
Learn what the week will entail and meet the faculty.

3:45-4:30
The Art and Science of Advancement Services
Find out why—and how— the art and science of our profession keeps advancement services challenging, exciting and always evolving.

4:30-5:00
Group Assignment 1 

5:30-7:30
Networking Reception

7:30
Institute Adjourns for the Day

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Day 2, Monday, July 22

7:30-8:15 AM
Breakfast

8:15-8:30
Announcements and Session Notes

8:30-9:15
Alumni Affairs and Advancement Services: How Can They Work Together?
Can the work of alumni affairs be measured to see if it's doing its job? The simple answer is yes. Learn how advancement services can partner with alumni affairs to determine the specifics of how to measure effectiveness, with each area learning and benefitting from each other.

9:20-10:20
Elective Sessions (choose one)

• Advancement Services Management: Policies and Procedures: The Road Map for Consistency, Competance and Compliance
  A clearly articulated (and easily implemented) set of policies and procedures supports every advancement operation's long-term ability to maintain data accurately and comply with government requirements. Discuss the difference between policy and procedures and learn why you should have a good set of both. identify the most important policies and procedures to have on the books and gain ideas for writing, format and distribution.
  

• Prospect Research and Management: Wealth Rating and Screening

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

• Bio-Demographic Entry: Alumni Directories and Online Communities
  For many institutions, the production of an alumni directory is a dreaded chore, when in fact it can be one of the most important investments that we can make. Explore the reasons for producing the directory, available options and the best practices in producing the directory. Learn how to maximize the return on investment that you can achieve from the time and effort you put into your alumni directory, as well as the many opportunities for constituent engagement through online communities.

• Gift Processing: Fundamentals

11:30 AM-1:00 PM
Lunch and Faculty Office Hours

1:15-2:15
Ethics and Accountability in Advancement Services

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

• Prospect Identification and Rating
  The advancement mission, in most, if not all cases, is to build lasting philanthropic relationships with the organization's constituents. The underlying objective is to identify the best, most likely prospective donors in terms of wealth (read: gift capacity), philanthropic inclination, and interests, and then prioritize them in a way that your fundraisers are connecting with the right folks, at the right time, for the right amount, and for the right thing. Learn how to figure out how many prospects you need, and how to assess the overall gift potential of your constituent base. Learn how to sift through the data in order to come up with a group of potential prospects to investigate further and review prospecting/research techniques to apply in identifying the keepers—linkage, ability/capacity and interest.
  

• Stewardship: Gift Agreements
  Does your institution have standard gift agreements? Are they always used, or do you have creative fundraisers who write their own? What's the impact on stewardship when an agreement goes off the rails? Bring your questions, your gift agreements and let's review them! We'll discuss potential workflows that would ensure both the donor's and the institution's interests are well served.
  

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

• Advancement Services Management: Budgeting
  At many institutions, budgets become turf wars with all parties struggling for their share of the pie. Explore the basic steps in the budgeting process, identify who is responsible for what, and learn how to change what is often a time of conflict into a positive strategic planning process to benefit our departments and institutions.

• Stewardship: Pledge Reminders
  Pledge reminders are not just an administrative mechanism to "bill" donors for a payment they've promised. Explore how to approach this regular task as an opportunity to effectively steward your supporters as a prelude to future giving.

4:45-5:30
Group Assignment 2

 5:30
Institute Adjourns for the Day 

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Day 3, Tuesday, July 23

7:30-8:15 AM
Breakfast

8:30-8:45
Announcements and Session Notes

8:30-9:15
Advancement Services Best Practices: Practical Experience
Best practice is a familiar concept, but is it always achievable? AASP has best practice standards to aspire to, but how do you get there? What makes best practice achievable and what stands in the way? Faculty members discuss their experience with best practice solutions and share examples of what has worked for them.

9:20-10:20
Elective Sessions (choose one)

• Advancement Services Management: Project Management
  Good project management, simply put, aims to ensure that the right people are working on the right tasks at the right time to ensure successful outcomes. Many advancement services staff members have the ideal mix of attention to detail and interest in process and outcomes that make them good project managers. In this session you'll gain an understanding of how to deploy those skills to best benefit your department and your organization.

• Fundraising Database Systems and Reporting: Moving to a Self-Service Reporting Enviornment
  Too many people need information too quickly to live in a centralized/IT delivered reporting model. Learn how to give your users the information they need, when they need it, and in the format they need it.

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

• Fundraising Database Systems and Reporting: Introduction to Analytics
  Collecting and storing information is a key function of advancement services. How can we make sense of all the information and use it to benefit the organization we are supporting? Review the fundamentals for putting in place analytics to drive your organization forward.
• Gift Acknowledgements: The Art and Science of Saying Thank You!
  Saying thank you is a critical part of the relationship management cycle. A donor's experience with being thanked will set the tone for his or her relationship with your institution/organization. Explore how advancement services can facilitate the accuracy and timeliness of acknowledgements and work closely with donor relations/stewardship to have donors feel appreciated.

11:30 AM-1:00 PM
Lunch and Faculty Office Hours

1:15-2:15
Advancement Services at the Senior Table: Key Trends and What the Future Holds
There's no question that advancement services professionals are essential members of the senior leadership team in our advancement programs today. Now that you're at the senior table, how do you use this position to predict, understand and manage key trends? If you are not yet at the senior table, how do you leverage opportunities to get that invitation and then use it well? Discuss the advantages and challenges of the position. Colleagues who have been at the senior table will share advice.

2:20-3:20
Elective Sessions (choose one)

• Data Integrity Approaches: Keeping Your Data Accurate and Complete
  The central store of information is the most important resource to the advancement mission of engaging and cultivating our constituents for all time. The responsibility for maintaining accurate and complete data is both critical and thankless, requiring tedious and technical work. In this session, we will talk about assessing the current state of your data, what you can expect to find and what you should aspire to in order to use it with confidence. We will demonstrate that data maintenance measures you take should be in alignment with the realities of your organization's environment, constituent base and resources.
  

• Gift Processing: Advanced Gift Processing
  A follow-up session to Gift Processing Fundamentals, discuss the more complicated topics related to gift processing. Bring your sticky situations and questions and we'll work through all the angles to help you become better equipped for whatever comes your way.

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

• Advancement Services Management: Building an Advancement Services Staff
• Fundraising Database Systems and Reporting: System Selection and Implementation
  Few words can strike as much terror into the heart of an advancement services professional as conversion. Yet, the selection and implementation of a new information system, while requiring a considerable financial and human commitment, can change the way your institution does business. Whether this change is for better or worse is something that you, as a key member of the conversion team, can help to determine. You will come away from this session with knowledge of the essential steps for a successful implementation, as well as ideas on how to be a catalyst in building an effective implementation team.

4:30-5:30
Group Assignment 3

5:30
Institute Adjourns for the Day

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Day 4, Wednesday, July 24

7:30-8:30 AM
Breakfast, Group Presentations, Announcements and Session Notes

8:30-9:15
Campaign Planning  
Your institution wants to conduct a campaign. How does advancement services get involved? How can you help with the planning? Is your advancement services organization ready? Take a peek into what campaign planning means for your advancement services organization.

9:20-10:20
Elective Sessions (choose one)

• Taking All Comers: Integration of Data from External Systems
  Getting important constituent information (demographic and transactional information for students, alumni, faculty/staff, event attendees, athletics ticket buyers, grateful patients, parents, you-name-it) into the central legacy system is a crucial yet onerous effort. The problem is that everyone has a system (where they keep the info we want/need), and our systems don't talk to each other. Discuss the strategic considerations to be made in identifying who has what, negotiating to get it, and getting it into your system.

• Gift Processing: The Interaction Between Planned Giving and Advancement Services
  This session provides an introduction to the types of planned gifts available to donors and offers tips for how to credit these gifts. Discuss documentation requirements for accurate recording and options for tracking information related to these gifts. Communication between advancement services and planned giving is critical to the success of this process.
  

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

• Gift Processing: Working With Other Areas of the Organization (e.g. Finance, Payroll)
  Getting a gift recorded correctly means marshaling details from different areas of your organization. How do you maintain key relationships and negotiate differences in opinion about designation, allocation, restrictions or even who the donor is? Learn helpful approaches and practices that will serve you and your team well.

• Prospect Research and Management: Portfolio and Moves Management

11:30 AM-1:00 PM
Lunch and Faculty Office Hours

1:15-2:15
Career Paths in Advancement Services
When you were growing up, you told your teacher you wanted to be an advancement services professional and come to the CASE Summer Institute for Advancement Services. WRONG. This session explores how our profession has developed, how far it has come, and how you as a practitioner can come to have a meaningful and rewarding career through our work in it.

2:20-3:20
Elective Sessions (choose one)

• Documentation and Enforcement of Data Standards: May I See Your Manual, Please?
  Finding time to establish proper data entry standards and produce accurate documentation is not always a high priority, but it should be. Discuss the thought process behind defining standards, learn who to involve in this process and how to communicate these decisions to your colleagues. The data and documentation police will examine the reasons for data standardization and documentation and discuss mechanisms to enforce compliance.

• Gift Processing: Fundraising Reporting Standards
  Review the CASE Management and Reporting Standards. Does your institution follow the standards? Why or why not? What are the dangers and pitfalls of not following them? Are there pitfalls? Does your institution report creatively? Does your institution's reporting make you nervous? If you had all the control, what standards would you follow? Come hear about the standards and learn how they might be implemented.

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

• Bio-Demographic Entry: Acquisition and Management of Biographic Information
  As the constituent population grows with each passing graduation, so does the enormity of the data we must keep current, if we're going to fulfill our mission of lifelong meaningful engagement. Our predecessors most likely gave us a head start—collecting biographical information from official sources Admissions and the Registrar at different points of entry (admission and graduation)—and we can easily find ourselves with large databases with records numbering in the hundreds of thousands. Our mission is to have good contact information (and other important demographic information) on all (or almost all) of them. In this session, we'll talk about strategies for getting and keeping current information and knowing when to apply a broad brush or fine-tuned approach—WITHOUT going insane.
   
• Gift Societies and Recognition: The Role of Advancement Services
  Gift societies are a mechanism available for stewarding and recognizing donors. Learn the components, the approaches and the considerations available to advancement services that can guide an organization's strategy for implementation and success.
  

5:45
Buses leave from residence halls for Spirit of Ethan Allen

6:30-9:00
Lake Champlain Dinner Cruise
Spirit of Ethan Allen
Spend your last evening in Burlington on the famous Spirit of Ethan Allen. Enjoy dinner and dancing during this cruise on Lake Champlain.

9:00-9:30
Shuttles return to residence halls

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Day 5, Thursday, July 25

7:30-9:15 AM
Breakfast, Group Presentations, Announcements and Session Notes

9:30-10:45
It's All Politics: What's Next When Good Work Isn't Enough?

11:00 AM-NOON
Advice from the Panel/Closing Remarks
The institute is coming to a close. This is your chance to ask any final questions. The faculty will share their words of wisdom culled from the week and their many years in the industry.  

NOON
Institute Adjourns

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