In an era of increasing demands and limited time, donor relations teams often struggle to balance personalized engagement for top donors with the need for scalable practices that also support donor prospects. Yet meaningful donor experiences—and the cultivation of future major and principal gift donors—require intentional space for creativity, personalization, and innovation.
In this session, you’ll explore how The Ohio State University Principal Gifts team developed a new donor-centered stewardship framework that blends systematic, repeatable best practices with imaginative approaches that spark connection and create meaningful engagement opportunities for both top donors and high-potential prospects. We’ll share practices for making creativity a sustainable part of your process, examples of high-impact creative initiatives, and strategies to align innovation with institutional priorities.
Participants will walk away with practical ways to carve out creative space in their stewardship work, elevate engagement across the donor pipeline, and build processes that honor both the art and science of donor relations.