Are you ready to transform leadership engagement in your grant portfolio? This dynamic and interactive session, led by three seasoned professionals from collaborative institutional workgroups, tackles the persistent challenges of keeping leadership and key stakeholders actively involved in grant performance and success. We'll delve into the real-world roadblocks that often hinder effective engagement, from competing priorities to information silos.

• Uncover Hidden Hurdles & Breakthrough Solutions: Through insightful discussion, participants will pinpoint common pitfalls in leadership engagement and discover proven strategies to overcome them.

• Forge Powerful Partnerships: Learn how to cultivate robust cross-functional collaboration that naturally fosters greater leadership buy-in and active participation in project success.

• Tech Tools for Transformation: Explore and experience practical software tools and innovative strategies designed to streamline communication, enhance transparency, and ensure consistent leadership engagement in grant performance, ultimately mitigating audit risk and maximizing revenue.

Discover how strategic collaboration between College Advancement, Enrollment Services, Student Support Services, and College Advancement and Alumni Relations is transforming student, veteran, and alumni engagement. This dynamic session introduces the “front porch” concept—a welcoming, cross-functional gateway that connects campus and community, current students, college affiliated veterans, alumni and non-degreed alumni. Learn how alumni and affinity groups are being activated to support recruitment, re-enrollment of non-degreed alumni, and student success initiatives like emergency aid and basic needs support. Through real examples and early wins, we’ll show how integrated outreach, shared storytelling, and co-led campaigns are creating meaningful volunteer opportunities and lasting connections. Perfect for alumni and volunteer relations professionals looking to deepen impact, drive engagement, and build partnerships that span the student-to-alumni journey. Leave with practical strategies to elevate collaboration across divisions and bring new energy to your alumni programming.

Put your crisis communication skills to the test in this interactive simulation. This session will challenge your team to respond to a rapidly unfolding crisis, assessing preparedness, decision-making, and communication strategies in real time. Gain valuable insights into your team’s strengths and areas for improvement, and leave with actionable steps to enhance your organization’s crisis readiness

Is your annual giving program in need of a jumpstart? Learn how the Oakton College Educational Foundation successfully rebooted its lulling program by returning to fundamentals—and doing them well. This session will explore how board engagement, consistent messaging, strategic storytelling, and intentional stewardship transformed our approach and energized donor response. You'll hear how we empowered our board to take ownership, implemented best practices with discipline, and partnered with the right vendor to bring it all together.

Discover the critical skills to navigate and manage challenging sub-grantee relationships in this interactive workshop. Learn to identify performance risks, develop strategic intervention techniques, and protect your institution's grant objectives. Through real-world case studies, dynamic polling, and hands-on risk assessment tools, you will gain practical strategies for transforming potential sub-grantee challenges into collaborative opportunities. This session will equip you with the insights and tools to proactively address sub-grantee performance issues, ensuring grant success and organizational resilience. Walk away with actionable frameworks, communication strategies, and a comprehensive approach to sub-grantee management that can immediately enhance your professional toolkit.

Common sense tells us, and experience shows that community colleges can, and are, successful when they purposefully cultivate major gifts. So, what stops us from doing so?

Join three executive advancement officers as they share how they moved their organizations into successful major giving. They will share their step-by-step approaches in developing strategies, creating messaging, preparing leadership and securing gifts from alumni, business and foundations.

Learn how to overcome concerns about time management, stabilizing current giving while developing new approaches to giving, balancing current activity (gala, golf, scholarship lunches, board and committee meetings, etc.) and organizing staff to support major giving. Discuss what resources are available (some for free) for prospecting.

Take away two or three practical ways you can enhance, or start, major giving today.

Discover how a grassroots initiative among advancement professionals at community and technical colleges in Kansas blossomed into a powerful statewide support network called Kansas Advancement Professionals (KAP). This session explores the creation of a collaborative group focused on sharing ideas and best practices and created shared professional development opportunities tailored to the unique challenges of two-year institutions. Learn how this home-grown effort fosters innovation, strengthens peer connections, and elevates the collective impact of advancement teams. Whether you’re looking to start a similar group or enhance existing networks, you’ll leave inspired by the practical strategies and real-world success stories that can be replicated in your own state or region.

Do you feel uncertain about your fundraising abilities? Are you looking for ways to boost your confidence, refine your habits, and find daily inspiration in your work? Join Amy Eisenstein, ACFRE, for an uplifting and practical session where she shares powerful stories, proven strategies, and insights into building meaningful donor relationships with your community college alumni and donors. Discover how to stay motivated, develop effective work habits, and thrive. This session is your opportunity to gain fresh perspectives and actionable tools to create a bigger impact in the world of community college fundraising.

Tired of grant management anxiety? This dynamic session equips you with the essential blueprint to build a powerful grant monitoring and oversight framework. Learn practical strategies, key performance indicators, and risk mitigation techniques to ensure compliance, maximize impact, and safeguard your resources. Don't miss this opportunity to gain control and elevate your grant management game!

In October 2023, the Community College of Allegheny County completed a $90 million fundraising campaign with almost 20% of contributions coming from corporate partners, including numerous 6- and 7-figure gifts. Working together, the college leadership and foundation CEO developed a plan to leverage past corporate relationships across the institution (in both credit and non-credit programs), and the community, to increase giving and overall engagement with a much broader cross-section of Pittsburgh’s industry leaders. This focus continues to grow and develop, with two additional $1 million corporate partnerships launching since the campaign ended. This session will offer strategic guidance on what corporate partners are seeking in terms of return on their philanthropic investments, ways to get in the door and build meaningful relationships, and how to ensure that programs are managed effectively across the institution.