Artificial intelligence is already shaping the way we work, but many professionals still use it narrowly for drafting or rewriting content. This interactive virtual pre-conference is designed to help participants build a strong, responsible foundation. We’ll level-set on how AI works and then apply it meaningfully to real advancement workflows.
Adam Compton and Ashley Budd will demystify key concepts. You’ll leave feeling confident about use cases for generative and agentic AI, and what “good” AI use actually looks like in practice.
Part one of the workshop emphasizes human accountability, donor trust, and intentional use. The second half focuses on hands-on application. Participants will use AI to improve idea generation, workflows, and processes they encounter in their daily roles—such as preparing for difficult conversations, designing repeatable processes, and building a prompt library.
The session will include simple custom GPT training, helping participants move beyond one-off prompts to build their own reusable tools. Attendees will leave with practical frameworks, templates, and increased confidence to apply AI thoughtfully and effectively in their work.
We all know stewardship is critical, but how do you actually do it consistently and creatively? From the major donor who expects a high-touch experience to the young alum who hasn’t engaged since graduation to the parent who is writing checks for tuition and the annual fund, your community has diverse expectations.
Join us for a session packed with actionable ideas to elevate your stewardship game, even with a limited budget and time.
The Stewardship of Us: Creating a Sustainable Future for Advancement
We work in Advancement because we believe in the mission: creating student access, fueling critical research, and changing the world. But we’ve been taught that the way to achieve those goals is through "more"—more hours, more projects, more hustle.
The truth is, this "always on" culture is a strategic liability. Overworking ourselves and our teams is like borrowing institutional capacity at a high interest rate; eventually, that debt comes due in the form of high turnover, plummeting employee engagement, and fractured donor and alumni relationships.
To create a culture where burnout isn’t a requirement for excellence, we have to address the elephant in the room: our boundaries often fail because we are afraid of what happens when the grinding stops. We stay exhausted because, on some level, we’re rewarded for it.
Enter The Honest Capacity Audit—a practical framework developed by Ellen to help heart-centered professionals make lasting changes that actually stick. This science-backed method will help you identify the specific fears keeping you stuck and run "micro-tests" to prove you can achieve high-level results without burning out.
You’ll walk away with a clear roadmap to protect your most finite resource—your own capacity—so you can sustain the mission without sacrificing yourself.
Speaker(s):Ellen Whitlock Baker, Founder and Principal, EWB Coaching
12:00 – 12:45 PM ET
Elective Sessions
Smart Lists, Strong Yields: How BC Drives Campaign Engagement with Data
To ensure the right people are in the room and to maximize the return on every interaction, Boston College has adopted a collaborative, data-informed approach to campaign event planning. Central to this approach is a simple yet scalable scoring model that leverages both engagement metrics and research data—such as giving history, volunteerism, event attendance, and wealth indicators—to identify high-potential prospects in each market. This model has proven especially effective for building invitation lists for mid-sized events in secondary markets, where deeper prospecting is necessary beyond known donors and managed portfolios.
Beyond improved attendance and giving outcomes, this model has strengthened cross-team collaboration, increased operational efficiency, and informed strategic decision-making well beyond campaign programming.
Speaker(s):Elizabeth Webster, Executive Director, Campaign Strategy, Boston College, Liam Healy, Assistant Director, Campaign Strategy, Boston College
Discipline: Advancement Operations
Emerging Adulthood Unpacked: Supporting Gen Z's Journey from Student to Young Alumni
Join us as we explore the world of Gen Z college students and young alumni, digital natives born between 1995 and 2012. These tech-savvy individuals are navigating "emerging adulthood," a phase where they are no longer adolescents but not quite adults. We'll delve into Arnett's concept of identity exploration, instability, self-sufficiency, and endless possibilities. Additionally, we'll examine Schlossberg’s Transition Theory to understand how Gen Z seniors prepare to graduate and enter the "real world." By understanding the 4 S’s of Transition—Situation, Self, Support, and Strategies—we can create innovative support for seniors and young alumni. This session will highlight how thoughtful support during this transition impacts their perception of the value of their college education. Let's learn, appreciate, and support our Gen Zers on their exciting journey!
Speaker(s):Kelly Holdcraft, Executive Director, Alumni Success, William & Mary
Discipline: Alumni Relations
Starting from Scratch: A Strategic Framework for Building a Winning Campaign
Whether you're launching your institution's first comprehensive campaign or developing a strategic approach to a specific fundraising initiative, the challenge of building a campaign strategy from the ground up can feel overwhelming. This comprehensive session provides higher education advancement professionals with a systematic, literature-based framework for developing robust campaign strategies that drive sustainable fundraising success.
Drawing on established strategic planning theory and contemporary campaign research, participants will learn to apply proven planning methodologies to fundraising contexts. The session introduces the adapted S.C.R.A.T.C.H. Framework, providing a step-by-step roadmap for campaign development from initial conception through successful execution.
This session moves beyond anecdotal advice to provide evidence-based tools that advancement professionals can immediately apply to their campaign planning process, regardless of institutional size or campaign scope.
Speaker(s):Jill Anderson, Vice President, Development & Alumni Engagement, Moravian University, Lisa Brand, Assistant Vice President of Development Operations, Moravian University, Jessica Weaver, Principal Gift Officer Director of Family Philanthropy, Moravian University
Discipline: Advancement Operations, Communications and Marketing, Fundraising
Right People, Right Time: Email Personalization Strategies
Good digital communications aren’t about doing more or being cleverer—they’re about making thoughtful choices that help donors understand why a message is meant for them.
This session explores how segmentation, timing, and storytelling work together to strengthen email communications in advancement. Drawing on real examples from Choate Rosemary Hall’s Annual Fund, you’ll see how small, intentional shifts in tone, acknowledgment, and framing can make outreach feel more personal and more effective. Participants will leave with a practical framework they can apply immediately—and greater confidence in the work they’re already doing.
Speaker(s):Jenny Dupre, Associate Director, Development Communications, Choate Rosemary Hall
Discipline: Marketing and Communications
Leading Before the Title: Cultivating Management Readiness
What happens when a team full of ambitious early-career professionals starts asking, “What’s next?” At The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Advancement, that question sparked the creation of a bold, discussion-driven learning series designed to lift the curtain on management.
This session shares the story of a grassroots professional development program built for a large operations team—where truth-telling, candid conversations, and peer reflection supplemented traditional training. Participants explored the messy, rewarding, and often misunderstood realities of management, from navigating feedback and motivation to defining leadership without a title. Whether you're a leader looking to build something similar or simply curious about how to support emerging talent, this session offers a replicable framework and the inspiration to “try something” when you see a vacuum on your team.
Speaker(s):Kimberly Gray, Assistant Vice President, The Ohio State University
Discipline: Talent Management
1:00 – 1:45 PM ET
Elective Sessions
The Invisible Tsunami: Why Fund Management Is Reshaping Advancement
Advancement leaders often focus on raising more dollars, but the real disruption is building quietly beneath the surface: fund management. Misaligned spending, underutilized funds, manual processes, and donor trust risks are converging into an invisible tsunami that will reshape advancement operations whether institutions are ready or not.
This session introduces the Fund Management Maturity Model, a framework built from national benchmarking and 100+ sector conversations. Participants will quickly assess their organization’s current stage, benchmark against peers, and identify where cracks are forming.
Through interactive polling and self-assessment, attendees will leave with a clear view of the risks ahead and a practical roadmap to strengthen stewardship and resilience, before the wave hits.
Speaker(s):Chelsea Lamego, CEO & Co-Founder, FundMiner, Mathew Busby, Vice President of Development & Donor Advising, Del Mar College Foundation
Discipline: Advancement Operations
One for All, All for One: How Email Centralization Improved the Alumni Experience
Many of us in higher ed have an email marketing problem. We rely too heavily on emails to communicate with our alumni, contributing to growing fatigue, disengagement, and worst of all, unsubscribes. This impact can be felt across alumni engagement and development efforts, and it gets in the way of the mission-critical work we do.
At Dartmouth, we were no different. With 17.5% of our alumni population unsubscribed and another 17.5% unengaged, we knew we needed to take action to engage our alumni and better their email experience before we lost them for good.
In this deep dive, we’ll show you how centralizing our email efforts—from 10 marketing communities to 1, and dozens of contributors to a small core team—revolutionized our email marketing and our alumni engagement.
Speaker(s):Celeste Gigliotti, Digital Content Manager, Dartmouth College, Sumit Sharma, Senior Associate Director of Digital Marketing for Advancement, Dartmouth College
Discipline: Alumni Relations, Communications and Marketing
Stewardship is the new Cultivation: Turning Thank-Yous into Major Gifts
The fundraising cycle has shifted: stewardship—not cultivation—is now the most reliable gateway to transformational gifts. Donors increasingly make “test gifts” to gauge your responsiveness, values, and impact before committing at higher levels. In this session, you’ll learn how to recognize these early signals and respond with intentional stewardship that moves relationships forward. We’ll break down a practical framework for spotting test gifts, mapping next steps, and designing stewardship touchpoints that build trust. We’ll also cover how to rethink stewardship events for greater impact—what to stop, start, and scale—and how to use ceremony thoughtfully to honor donors, reinforce meaning, and create momentum. You’ll leave with concrete tactics, sample language, and real-world examples from multiple institutions. Presented by a husband-and-wife team—a major gifts fundraiser and a donor relations leader—who have partnered to implement these strategies across diverse shops and consistently close larger gifts, faster.
Speaker(s): Philip Thornton, Vice President of Advancement, University of Indianapolis, Emily Thornton, Assistant Athletics Director, Donor Relations, Stanford University
Discipline: Fundraising, Advancement Operations
Yes Chef! Running Social Media Like a Commercial Kitchen
What can social media managers learn from chefs? A lot. Both disciplines rely on prep work, clear menus, balancing flavors, and fast-paced service. In this session, Stanford’s Senior Social Media Manager shares a fresh framework for running high-performing social campaigns through the lens of a professional kitchen. From “signature dishes” (signature content) to “service rush” (real-time engagement), participants will leave with practical strategies to sharpen creativity, manage resources, and scale big results — even as a team of one.
Speaker(s):John Herschell Taghap, Assistant Director of Social Media, Stanford University
Discipline: Alumni Relations, Communications and Marketing
#SmallButMighty: Small Shop. Maximum Impact
"Here I come to save the day!” – Mighty Mouse
Just because you work in a small but mighty talent shop doesn’t mean you can’t save the day on occasion!
Discover how Seton Hall University and The University of Oklahoma Foundation maximize their small shop impact through a combination of internal collaborations and outside resources.
Be ready to share your best ideas as we explore practical strategies for leveraging internal networks - formal or informal-, peer expertise, and strategic partnerships to create scalable, sustainable learning ecosystems. From peer-led cohorts to cross-campus collaborations, this session offers actionable tools to create an employee experience that drives retention through learning and job satisfaction.
Speaker(s):Tara Hart, Assistant Vice President, Strategy & Administration, Seton Hall University, Lee Ann DeArman, Assistant Director of Talent and Employee Engagement, The University of Oklahoma Foundation
Discipline: Talent Management
2:00 – 2:45 PM ET
Elective Sessions
Hidden in Plain Sight: Turning Data Cracks into Growth
Advancement teams often focus on familiar categories such as LYBUNTs, new donors, and loyalty groups. Yet between these broad buckets sit overlooked audiences with untapped potential. Think of event-only givers, tribute donors, giving-day participants, alumni who are also parents or employees, or donors whose patterns are shaped by generation, gender, or geographic region. Their giving journeys rarely follow a straight line, which is precisely why traditional models miss them.
This session challenges you to rethink how you identify, engage, and retain these hidden segments. By shifting focus from the usual categories to the nuanced intersections in your data, those small cracks become pathways for deeper connection and lasting growth.
Speaker(s):Nhung Tran, Director of Stewardship and Donor Experience, Rice University
Discipline: Advancement Operations, Fundraising, Marketing and Communications
Branded to Belong: Creating a Statewide Series Alumni Showed Up For
With a high concentration of alumni living in our home state, we set out to meet them where they are—literally. Through a branded series of events hosted in communities across the state, our alumni engagement and marketing teams collaborated to turn a regional outreach idea into a sellout success.
In this session, you’ll hear from the alumni engagement leads, the marketing lead, and the project manager who helped bring the vision to life. Together, they’ll share how strong internal collaboration, data-driven planning, adaptive marketing, and community-specific messaging resulted in amazing attendance and meaningful alumni connections.
Attendees will walk away with a clear blueprint for how to scale a local engagement strategy, implement agile marketing tactics, and build a cohesive brand that resonates deeply with alumni in your home state.
Speaker(s):Karen Kaminski, Senior Director of Marketing Strategy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Jessica Vincello, Assistant Director of Special Projects, Rutgers University, Ashley Kodopidis, Director of Alumni Experience, Rutgers University, Diane Nagy, Assistant Director, Alumni Engagement, Rutgers University
Discipline: Alumni Relations, Marketing and Communications
Rediscover Discovery
The #1 way to ensure your university’s success & your future success as a fundraiser is ambitious, consistent discovery now. But discovery is one of the hardest parts of fundraising! When you’re getting in the door with amazing new potential donors, discovery can feel like an adventure. When you’re slogging through endless names in your database and getting zero responses, it can feel overwhelming and oppressive. Join this session for a discovery refresher & tactical, simple steps to get in the door with more potential donors.
Speaker(s):Jenna Goodman, Founding Partner, Generous Change, Jenny Minniti- Shippey, Senior Associate Director, Leadership Annual Giving Programs, University of Oregon
Drip Campaigns That Deliver: Strategic Communication For A Major Gift Pipeline
With more than 50,000 living alumni and just four frontline fundraisers, the Fowler College of Business at San Diego State University faced a clear challenge: how do you meaningfully connect with thousands of potential prospects when time and resources are limited? Our answer was a strategic, data-informed drip marketing campaign designed to re-engage top-rated, unmanaged alumni—especially those who had drifted away from the university. The result: renewed relationships, warmer qualification calls, and a stronger major gift pipeline.
In this session, you’ll: • Learn what drip marketing is and how to adapt it for higher education advancement. • Explore our criteria and methodology for selecting alumni to target. • See how we developed a timeline and message sequence to steadily build engagement. • Discover ways to partner across campus and leverage existing resources to amplify results.
Join us for a practical, interactive session and leave with a clear blueprint for using drip campaigns to deliver key messaging at scale, re-engage disconnected constituents, and surface new major gift prospects at your institution.
Speaker(s):Kaleena Bergfors, Gift Officer, Fowler College of Business, San Diego State University, Sheona Som, Executive Director of Development, Fowler College of Business and University Initiatives, San Diego State University
Discipline: Communications and Marketing, Fundraising
Successfully Onboarding Your Staff So They Stay—and Thrive!
Successfully onboarding employees is about more than just a first-day orientation—it’s about creating a structured pathway that sets staff up to stay, grow, and thrive. In this session, Lana M. Fontenot of South Louisiana Community College will share practical strategies for designing intentional onboarding processes within advancement teams. From the very first week through long-term professional development, participants will explore proven methods to build engagement, clarify roles, and foster employee retention.
Speaker(s):Lana Fontenot, Vice Chancellor, Advancement, Exec. Director, Foundation, South Louisiana Community College
Discipline: Talent Management
3:00 – 3:45 PM ET
Plenary
From Washington to Ottawa: Federal Policy Outlook for Advancement
Federal policy decisions in both the United States and Canada are reshaping the landscape for educational advancement, with implications for fundraising, alumni engagement, and communications across schools, colleges, and universities. From tax law changes in Washington to evolving regulations in Ottawa, advancement leaders must anticipate how shifting agendas in both countries will influence alumni and donor behavior and strategic priorities.
This session will provide an interactive briefing on the current federal policy environment in Canada and the US, highlighting the legislative and regulatory developments most relevant to advancement offices. Participants will gain insights into how U.S. and Canadian priorities may affect giving, advocacy, and communications.
Speaker(s): Brian Flahaven, Vice President, Strategic Partnerships, Council for Advancement and Support of Education
11:00 AM – 11:45 AM ET
Opening Plenary
Broken Ladders, Burnout, and Belonging: Insider Advice for Every Stage of Your Advancement Career
Traditional career ladders in education are facing many challenges, from early hires stuck in entry-level roles to mid-career professionals hitting glass ceilings to leaders struggling to replace departing experts. This panel will take an honest look at the state of talent management in education. Whether you are trying to navigate opaque promotion systems, working to build influence, struggling with managing up and down, feeling burned out, or seeking to reduce turnover and improve morale, join this session to hear from seasoned talent professionals about navigating the increasingly complicated world of advancement talent management.
Speaker(s):Nicole Dumas, Director of Advancement Talent, Boston College; Leah Flynn Gallant, Talent Development and Community Belonging Consultant, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Jorge Villafana, Assistant Director of Human Resources with LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin
Moderator: Rob Henry, Vice President, People, Culture, and Talent, Council for Advancement and Support of Education
12:00 – 12:45 PM ET
Elective Sessions
Partners in Pipeline: A Strategic Collaboration with Annual Giving
In today’s evolving philanthropic landscape, annual giving isn’t just a source of lower tier, entry level gifts—it’s a dynamic engine that fuels long term fundraising success. By partnering with your annual giving team, departments gain deep insights into donor behavior, engagement patterns and segmentation that reveal the most promising major gift prospects.
Whether you work in major gifts, donor relations, alumni engagement, gift planning, or advancement leadership, in this session, you’ll learn about ways to collaborate with Annual Giving and across departments, break down silos, and align early with institutional priorities to help feed your portfolio and fundraising pipeline. You’ll leave with actionable, donor centric strategies that turn annual giving data into a robust pipeline of high impact opportunities and a sustained culture of long-term giving.
Speaker(s):Yoon Van Hout, Executive Director of Annual Giving & Donor Experience, University of Florida
Discipline: Advancement Operations, Fundraising
Nostalgia to Next-Gen: Digital-First Strategies for Alumni Engagement
Alumni engagement has always been rooted in nostalgia, but advancement’s future depends on scale. Meeting today’s donor pipeline needs requires digital-first strategies that scale what tradition started. This session will explore how advancement teams can reimagine alumni engagement by grounding strategy in CASE Insights on Alumni Engagement metrics and leveraging technology to expand reach. We’ll share how a lean alumni relations team has partnered with communications to layer digital tools onto traditional programs to create scalable, measurable engagement. Examples will include virtual engagement campaigns, new volunteer programs, and digital storytelling strategies that extend the impact of in-person events. Participants will see how blending tradition with next-generation tools opens new pathways for alumni engagement, creates data-informed decision points, and builds momentum for donor pipeline growth. Attendees will leave with practical frameworks and case studies that they can adapt to their own institutions—no matter their size or resources.
Speaker(s):Kristi Troxel, Assistant Vice President, Alumni Engagement, Texas State University, Valerie Wood, Director of Advancement and Alumni Communications, Texas State University
Discipline: Alumni Relations, Communications and Marketing
What You Water Grows: The Art of Legacy-Minded Fundraising
What if every development professional saw themselves as a gardener of legacy?
Too often, planned giving feels like a separate garden—quiet, mysterious, and reserved for specialists. But in reality, legacy gifts grow from years of nurturing by every team across advancement. This session explores how small, intentional “seeds” planted in everyday donor conversations can blossom into meaningful, lasting gifts.
Using the metaphor of a garden, participants will learn how to spot cues that signal legacy readiness, use natural “seed phrases,” and confidently reference gift options without sounding too technical. Discover the art of legacy-minded fundraising and leave ready to nurture growth that lasts long after the campaign ends.
Speaker(s):Melanie Souto, Sr. Associate Director of Development, Gift Planning, University of Rhode Island Foundation
Discipline: Fundraising
Rise of the Six-Fingered Machines: A Skeptic’s Guide to Engaging With AI
No matter whether you love it, hate it, fear it, or embrace it, the AI genie is out of the bottle—and it’s never going back inside. Somewhere between the breathless praise of the AI enthusiast and the crossed-arms reluctance of the AI refusenik lies the truth of the current higher ed landscape: people are using AI all over campus for all kinds of purposes, if not always wisely. How can you use AI to benefit your institution without letting it delete an entire database or populate your institution’s social media channels with six-fingered, face-melted people? In this session, an admitted AI skeptic will use real-world examples to present and discuss proven strategies and tested principles for getting the best out of AI so it doesn’t get the best of you.
Speaker(s):Brent Winter, Director of Editorial Services, NC State University
Discipline: Advancement Operations, Alumni Relations, Communications and Marketing, Fundraising
Getting to Know Your People and Performance Management
Successful performance management starts with understanding your team. In this interactive session, learn practical strategies to build trust, assess team dynamics, and set clear expectations. We’ll also discuss different approaches to align individual goals with organizational outcomes.
Speaker(s):Shomari White, Chief Operating Officer, Development and Alumni Relations, George Washington University
Discipline: Talent Management
1:00 – 1:45 PM ET
Elective Sessions
From Insight to Action: Using Donor Experience to Drive Engagement and Retention
Donor experience plays a critical role in retention and long-term donor value, yet many advancement teams rely on reactive communications and one-size-fits-all programs. With limited resources and changing donor expectations, intentional, data-informed engagement is more important than ever.
This session introduces a practical approach to evaluating and strengthening donor experience through a structured Dx audit and a donor experience matrix. Participants will learn how to assess engagement across the donor lifecycle and use a matrix to identify gaps, set priorities, and guide scalable strategy—from annual giving to leadership-level engagement.
Through real-world examples, we’ll explore how behavior-based segmentation and targeted engagement can improve retention among key donor populations, including first-time, loyal, lapsed, and recurring donors. Attendees will leave with adaptable tools to diagnose their current donor experience and use a matrix-driven approach to plan engagement that is personal, sustainable, and retention-focused.
Speaker(s):Sarah Sims, Associate Vice President of Donor Engagement, Texas State University, Adrian Matthys, Assistant Vice President, Annual Giving, Foundation, Oklahoma State University
Discipline: Advancement Operations, Fundraising
(Re)Building Alumni Engagement: Small Team, Big Dreams
Launching or revitalizing an alumni engagement program with limited staff and budget demands creativity, strategic focus, and efficient use of resources. This session provides a practical, tactical approach to building meaningful alumni connections even with a lean team. Participants will learn how to leverage existing institutional assets such as faculty, staff, volunteers, social media, and easy-to-use AI tech to amplify their efforts and impact. We will explore effective strategies for prioritizing initiatives, activating alumni volunteers, tapping into your institution's influencers (everyone has them!), and streamlining operations through technology. Whether you are rebuilding after a period of transition or scaling up a scaled-back program, this session offers actionable insights and tools to implement immediately for success.
Speaker(s):Heather Alpaugh, Assistant Vice President for Alumni Engagement, Quinnipiac University
Discipline: Alumni Relations
Quality Over Quantity: Transforming Fundraising Through Focus
In an era of increasing expectations and limited bandwidth, what if the key to fundraising success isn't doing more - but doing it better? At the University of South Florida, Development leaders have reimagined their approach by prioritizing focus: aligning team goals with institutional priorities, and fostering deep collaboration between frontline fundraisers, prospect management, and leadership.
In this session, the Vice President of Development and the Senior Director of Prospect Management will share how they partnered to streamline portfolios, clarify priorities, and foster collaboration across teams and leadership.
Attendees will gain practical insights into portfolio optimization, cross functional collaboration, and leadership engagement - offering a replicable framework for transforming development operations through focus.
Speaker(s):Holly Weimer, Sr. Director, Prospect Management, University of South Florida, Jennifer McAfee, Vice President for Development, Colleges and Units, University of South Florida
Discipline: Fundraising
Rebranding on a Shoestring: How to Brand and Reinvent Your University's Identity in the Face of Reduced Budgets and Limited Resources
In today’s fast-paced digital environment, brand perception can make or break an institution’s ability to recruit students, engage alumni, and garner public support. But what happens when your institution needs a brand refresh — and your budget barely covers the basics?
This session shares the bold and strategic journey of Virginia State University (VSU) — a historically Black university — as it successfully rebranded itself with limited staff and financial resources. Led by Gwen Williams Dandridge, VSU’s Assistant Vice President for Communications, the rebrand was not just about a new logo or tagline. It was a comprehensive and intentional effort to shift perceptions, engage internal and external stakeholders, and amplify VSU’s unique story in a competitive higher education landscape.
Speaker(s):Gwen Williams Dandridge, Assistant Vice President of Communications and University Relations, Virginia State University, Parris Bowles, Multimedia Content Creator, Virginia State University
Discipline: Communications and Marketing
Rethinking Retention: Sustaining Talent in Advancement During Times of Change
In today’s higher education climate, advancement professionals face increasing pressures, including ambitious fundraising goals, shifting alumni expectations, and the evolving realities of remote and hybrid work. At the same time, institutions are grappling with the challenge of retaining top talent in an environment marked by competition for skilled staff and changing career priorities.
This session will explore practical strategies for strengthening retention in advancement, with a focus on cultivating workplace culture, investing in professional growth, and aligning staff roles with institutional mission. Panelists will share data-driven insights and on-the-ground examples of what’s working from flexible career pathways to recognition practices that foster belonging.
Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of the factors influencing retention today, as well as actionable approaches they can bring back to their teams to sustain engagement, performance, and long-term commitment.
Speaker(s):Holly Wolk, Senior Associate, Boyden, George Cangiano, Principal, Boyden, Nicole Dumas, Director, Advancement Talent, Boston College, Vanessa Ferguson, Executive Director of Advancement Administration for University Advancement, Washington University in St. Louis
Discipline: Talent Management
2:00 – 2:45 PM ET
Electives
Expanding Our Reach of Untapped Prospects
Pipeline development is a major challenge facing our profession. Donor bases are declining, retention rates are sliding, younger alumni are less inclined to engage with their alma maters, and the principal gifts concentration is only increasing. The University of Nebraska Foundation has developed multiple data-driven, innovative strategies to "double down" on its pipeline development work. Combined, these programs have already resulted in 20,000 prospects contacted, 3,500 personal meetings, 400 qualified major gift prospects, $17 million in new gifts, and 82% retention of leadership annual donors. Explore the strategic intent, data, and processes leveraged to build a new, innovative approach to comprehensive pipeline development.
Speaker(s):Lane White, Executive Director, Prospect Development and Strategic Initiatives, University of Nebraska Foundation, Leah Sveen, Director II of Development and Donor Engagement, University of Nebraska Foundation, Kevin Woolworth, Donor Experience Officer, University of Nebraska Foundation
Discipline: Advancement Operations, Fundraising
Welcome to The Family: Accelerating Parent/Alumni Giving With Authenticity
Arriving at college or dropping off your child to one begins a journey. Join us as two fundraisers, focused daily on personal relationships and one with his head down in the data, approach that journey to guide it toward giving. Recent research tells us that one thing is key for generosity, and it’s not money. It is engagement. Join us to hear about key donor journey engagement tactics, and how they’re shifting for today’s donors. Learn how that engagement can be uncovered with AI and predictive analytics. In this interactive session, we’ll share emerging best practices and real world examples of how to take both parent and alumni donors on the cause adoption journey. We’ll talk about how this journey can begin even before a student arrives on campus. We’ll also share recent research on how that journey is changing, and how you can adapt as a fundraiser to the shifting needs of donors. Be ready to share your ideas, and leave with some new ones that will help you amplify the joy of giving, and your results.
Speaker(s):Brian Gawor, VP, Fundraising, 3E, Susan Budreau, Sr. Director of Development Parent and Families, Purdue University, Lee Ernst, CEO and Senior Consultant, Johnson, Grossnickle and Associates
Discipline: Alumni Relations, Fundraising
It's Not Pestering: Practicing Meaningful Multi-Touch Outreach
As a Leadership Annual Giving Officer, I contacted over 1,000 donors a year through multi-touch cadences. These cadences included emails, phone calls, text messages and handwritten cards. I’ve heard remarks at times like “So you’re pestering donors?” But the reality is this consistent, intentional outreach has sparked over 100 genuine donor relationships in just the past year with remarkably few negative responses.
In this session, I’ll share real examples and data that demonstrate how persistence, when rooted in clarity and authenticity, can scale your efforts and deepen donor engagement. You’ll walk away with practical strategies to build more connections, and—just as importantly—ways to avoid burnout.
One phrase I hear often from donors? “Thank you for your professional persistence.”
Speaker(s):Duncan Schultz, Director of Development, Office of Gift Planning, Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association
Discipline: Fundraising
Dilemma to Deliverability: Lessons from WMU's Email Comeback
It was Giving Day in 2024 when disaster struck: none of our emails were delivered. What should have been a moment of celebration became a wake-up call about email deliverability, sender reputation, and the invisible rules that govern inbox placement.
Instead of giving up, the team at Western Michigan University rebuilt the email program—warming IPs, re-establishing trust with inbox providers, and implementing practices that now power a healthy, thriving digital program.
This session will unpack the fundamentals of email deliverability. We'll cover what it is, why it matters, and how to protect your program from common mistakes. Attendees will leave with practical strategies to ensure their messages reach the inbox, not the spam folder, and avoid the pitfalls that can derail even the best-planned campaigns.
Speaker(s):Ashley Budd, Senior Director of Advancement Marketing, Cornell University, Melissa Beck, Director of Advancement Communications, Western Michigan University, Rosie Geib, Marketing Specialist, Western Michigan University
Discipline: Communications and Marketing, Fundraising
Leading with Intention: Cultivating Self-Awareness for Stronger Teams
Leadership effectiveness is either constrained or amplified by one factor: self-awareness. Research shows that self-aware leaders are more empathetic, better at conflict resolution, and more successful at inspiring results. Yet, in the high-stress world of fundraising, we often default to a culture of "niceness" that avoids tough truths and undermines our mission.
Join us for a session that moves past basic management theory into the heart of authentic leadership. We will explore the two dimensions of self-awareness—internal clarity and external perspective—and provide a roadmap for moving from "ineffectively nice" to "courageously kind." You will leave with a practical toolkit for building a high-trust, psychologically safe team culture.
Speaker(s):Wendy Chang, Senior Director of Development, Punahou School
Discipline: Talent Management
3:00 – 3:45 PM ET
Plenary
Designing for the Donor Majority: What Advancement Leaders Can Learn from Dartmouth's Women's Philanthropy Movement
For decades, women were among the most overlooked donors in higher education, cultivated only as a path to their husbands or left out of major gift conversations entirely. At Dartmouth, a small group of alumnae decided that had to change. What began as a single giving circle focused on financial aid grew, initiative by initiative, into one of the most consequential women's philanthropy movements in American higher education — most recently culminating in an alumnae-led campaign to fund and name a new residential hall, a landmark investment that will greet every visitor arriving on campus and stand as a permanent, visible statement of what women's philanthropy can accomplish.
The economic case for prioritizing women donors has never been stronger. McKinsey & Company projects that women in the U.S. will control $34 trillion in investable assets by 2030, nearly double the total of just a few years ago. A Bank of America Institute study estimates that close to $100 trillion of the $124 trillion great wealth transfer will flow to women — yet most advancement offices have barely begun to adapt their strategies to this reality.
This panel of Dartmouth trustees who led the initiative explores the full arc of that journey: how a peer-to-peer model gets designed and gains momentum, how early wins build the trust and ambition needed to take on bigger challenges, and how an institution learns to see its women donors not as a niche constituency but as a transformative force. Panelists will walk through the residential hall campaign as a detailed case study, illustrating how women's philanthropy can move from giving circles to transformational gifts that achieve lasting visibility on campus and inspire the next generation of donors.
Senior advancement leaders and alumnae trustees will share what it takes to move women from donors to architects of institutional change, how cross-generational community becomes the engine of bold giving, and what happens to an institution when it finally gets this right.
The lessons from Dartmouth are not just about one campaign. They are about what becomes possible when women are asked in ways that resonate, given the space to lead, and trusted to define what their philanthropy can mean.
Speaker(s):Susie Huang, Executive Chairman of Global Investment Banking, Morgan Stanley, Jane Pfaff Novak, Board of Trustees, Chair of Advancement Committee, Dartmouth College, Ellie Loughlin, Dartmouth Trustee Emerita, Dartmouth College
Moderator: Bob Lasher, Senior Vice President of University Advancement, Dartmouth College
3:00 - 3:45 pm
Post-Conference Session
CASE in Point: Leadership Conversations
Lessons from Conflict Zones for a Polarized World
In this time of increasing polarization, how do we change perspectives, manage conflict, and lead through the difficult times? Join CASE President and CEO Sue Cunningham for a conversation with Daniel Wehrenfennig, Executive Director & Founder of the Center for International Experiential Learning on what we can learn from decades of bringing students to conflict zones.
This post-conference session will be the first in an upcoming bimonthly series, drawing upon the rich leadership experiences of the greater CASE Community to address the issues of the day.
Speaker(s): Daniel Wehrenfennig, Executive Director & Founder of the Center for International Experiential Learning, Sue Cunningham, President and CEO, CASE
View Sessions by Discipline
Partners in Pipeline: A Strategic Collaboration with Annual Giving
Smart Lists, Strong Yields: How BC Drives Campaign Engagement with Data
From Insight to Action: Using Donor Experience to Drive Engagement and Retention
Hidden in Plain Sight: Turning Data Cracks into Growth
The Invisible Tsunami: Why Fund Management Is Reshaping Advancement
Expanding Our Reach of Untapped Prospects
Welcome to The Family: Accelerating Parent/Alumni Giving With Authenticity
Rediscover Discovery
Stewardship Is the New Cultivation: Turning Thank‑Yous into Major Gifts
Emerging Adulthood Unpacked: Supporting Gen Z's Journey from Student to Young Alumni
One for All, All for One: How Email Centralization Improved the Alumni Experience
(Re)Building Alumni Engagement: Small Team, Big Dreams
Nostalgia to Next‑Gen: Digital‑First Strategies for Alumni Engagement
Welcome to The Family: Accelerating Parent/Alumni Giving With Authenticity
Branded to Belong: Creating a Statewide Series Alumni Showed Up For
Yes Chef! Running Social Media Like a Commercial Kitchen
Quality Over Quantity: Transforming Fundraising Through Focus
Starting from Scratch: A Strategic Framework for Building a Winning Campaign
Rediscover Discovery
What You Water Grows: The Art of Legacy-Minded Fundraising
It’s Not Pestering: Practicing Meaningful Multi‑Touch Outreach
Stewardship Is the New Cultivation: Turning Thank‑Yous into Major Gifts
Partners in Pipeline: A Strategic Collaboration with Annual Giving
From Insight to Action: Using Donor Experience to Drive Engagement and Retention
Hidden in Plain Sight: Turning Data Cracks into Growth
Expanding Our Reach of Untapped Prospects
Welcome to The Family: Accelerating Parent/Alumni Giving With Authenticity
Drip Campaigns That Deliver: Strategic Communication For A Major Gift Pipeline
Dilemma to Deliverability: Lessons from WMU’s Email Comeback
Rebranding on a Shoestring: How to Brand and Reinvent Your University's Identity in the Face of Reduced Budgets and Limited Resources
Rise of the Six-Fingered Machines: A Skeptic’s Guide to Engaging With AI
Drip Campaigns That Deliver: Strategic Communication For A Major Gift Pipeline
Right People, Right Time: Email Personalization Strategies
Yes Chef! Running Social Media Like a Commercial Kitchen
Dilemma to Deliverability: Lessons from WMU’s Email Comeback
One for All, All for One: How Email Centralization Improved the Alumni Experience
Nostalgia to Next‑Gen: Digital‑First Strategies for Alumni Engagement
Branded to Belong: Creating a Statewide Series Alumni Showed Up For
Starting from Scratch: A Strategic Framework for Building a Winning Campaign
Leading with Intention: Cultivating Self‑Awareness for Stronger Teams
Getting to Know Your People and Performance Management
#SmallButMighty: Small Shop. Maximum Impact
Leading Before the Title: Cultivating Management Readiness
Successfully Onboarding Your Staff So They Stay—and Thrive!
Rethinking Retention: Sustaining Talent in Advancement During Times of Change
