Did you know that poor data quality costs organisations an average of $12.9 million annually? (Gartner, 2018) Despite this staggering figure, many advancement offices struggle to prioritise data integrity due to a lack of senior-level buy-in or dedicated resources. This session offers a groundbreaking solution: a grassroots approach to cultivating a data-driven culture that prioritises data integrity from the bottom up. We'll share our journey of transforming our organisation's approach to data integrity, starting with a single dedicated role and expanding to organisation-wide engagement. • Attendees will learn how to build a data integrity culture without relying solely on senior leadership mandates. • Strategies for engaging diverse stakeholders, building trust, and empowering teams to take ownership of data integrity will be shared. • The session will offer practical steps for transitioning data integrity responsibility to relevant teams, freeing up resources for further data-driven initiatives. • Participants will gain insight into the importance of prioritising data integrity before focusing on advanced data quality initiatives. Through this approach, we achieved a 48% reduction in data errors over 4 years and fostered a culture where high-issue areas now proactively manage their data integrity.

This session explores the journey from static Crystal Reports PDFs to a dynamic Advancement reporting app built in PowerBI. Developed without coding experience or APIs, and enabled by AI-assisted “vibe-coding,” the result is a scalable, single source of truth delivering campaign, performance, and benchmarking insights to stakeholders across the institution through iterative, user-focused development.

The Fundraising Regulator is in its tenth year. This session will explore the new edition of the Code of Fundraising Practice as well as some emerging trends, opportunities, and challenges for universities and charities, with reflections on how the Code underpins trustworthy and supporter-focused fundraising.

Geared particularly towards mid-senior level colleagues, with team or department management responsibilities, this session will look at people planning in a small shop vs a big shop. We will be sharing lived examples of how strategic people planning can serve both Advancement Operations and institutional strategy and objectives, particularly in times of changes and evolution

Using preparation for the University of Warwick’s latest and largest fundraising campaign as a case study, this session explores the process of developing projects from concept to campaign-readiness. Selecting projects to sit front and centre of a campaign takes place over multiple phases. At each stage, we examine who needs to be involved, and which expectations need to be managed. Is it possible to futureproof by embedding practices that support the entire gift lifecycle from the outset? How granular should our considerations be, when we’re thinking about gift reporting, considering costing overheads or planning for pipeline development? Attendees will learn: - How we identified and prioritised campaign projects - How we managed multiple channels of communication across such a vast project - How we engaged academics and involved development colleagues across the team, managed expectations and maximised touchpoints across multiple agendas - What we hit, what we missed, and what we would do differently? - What we’re doing moving forward.