Creating more inclusive and equitable environments for staff and constituents in our field gained focus after the George Floyd murder. In light of efforts to deprioritize DEIB work around the country, it is necessary to ask how these efforts can be focused on in our work and institutions today. During this interactive and moderated panel discussion, hear from colleagues leading these efforts in their respective institutions as they reflect on what they have accomplished thus far, what barriers exist, and how to keep the momentum alive. Attendees will gain insights on how they can impact this work as individuals, as a team, and as an organization.

In this session attendees will learn about RIT’s “TIGER Video Email Series” and how they: engage their young alumni as video stars, educate their recent graduates on their benefits and more, and used videos in emails to increase Open Rates. In addition, we will discuss what steps are taken to make sure all pieces come together to engage your recent graduates/young alumni.

In this interactive event, two teams of experienced fundraisers will tackle a surprise fundraising challenge, live, in a cooking-show inspired competition! They'll accept your feedback as they "cook," and you'll determine their fate over three rounds of surprises. See it unfold live as the teams respond and share their perspectives on today's biggest advancement challenges. You’ll decide what happens each round and who will be crowned the Throwdown! champions. Be ready to offer your take on key topics, including organizing campaigns, balancing revenue and participation, and engaging an inclusive donor base. It's a CASE session like nothing you've seen before!

More than 95% of US assets are held outside of cash. In order to strengthen our fundraising success, institutions and individual fundraisers must understand cryptocurrency and be comfortable soliciting and closing gifts of crypto. This presentation seeks to demystify crypto and the blockchain, so that institutions understand why they should entertain these kinds of gifts and individual fundraisers can close gifts of crypto that benefit their institution EVEN if their institution doesn't currently accept gifts of crypto.

Independent schools have developed a strong culture of parent engagement and giving, leading to transformational results for institutions. What is the secret sauce? It begins with engagement and transparent discussions about the power of philanthropy. Join us for an interactive session discussing parent fundraising tactics and strategies that can be applied to any educational institution, no matter how big or small.

Have you been tasked with starting a new giving society? Have you inherited a giving society whose energy has fallen flat? Are you looking for ways to re-energize certain constituents within your donor base? This session will share tips and tricks for creating new giving societies whose mission it is to engage often overlooked groups, like women and parents. It will also include strategies to infuse new energy into an existing planned giving society, to successfully increase the giving threshold of your leadership donor society, and to establish a lifetime giving society.

Work smart, not hard. This session will show you how your team can use simple tools to find prospects who have demonstrated a meaningful affinity. We will go step-by-step through a traditional Recency, Frequency, Monetary (RFM) Score to generate the strongest prospects. We will apply additional data to extend RFM and create an RFM+ Score. The RFM+ Score goes beyond the standard philanthropic indicators to measure additional types of engagement and affinity, such as event attendance and membership data. Lastly, we will use wealth screening results to identify prospects with a strong capacity and are giving to like organizations.

Join Drexel University leadership as they share the process for creating a book as a reference tool for education, history, and culture written by women and men from Philadelphia public, private and parochial schools and those who relocated here. All share our support for young Black leaders by helping to create a vision of their potential and a pathway to their success. It provides a navigational system for both high school and college students, parents and advocates of young adults, and professionals seeking proven advancement strategies.

Question: What to do with a presidential transition at the same time a campaign is concluding (the most difficult stretch!)? Answer: Go on tour! Learn how UMBC's Alumni Engagement, Annual Giving, Major Gifts, and Communications & Marketing team collaborated on the RetriEVER Grateful Tour, a national tour with campus leaders engaged in discussions with the outgoing president. Discover how fresh marketing strategies boosted attendance (even during a pandemic) including robo-calls and paid social media. Hear how the tour engaged alumni and identified new volunteers. See the giving impact for annual and major gifts.

Communication expectations continue to shift among our graduates – meeting those expectations can lead to higher engagement. In this session, we'll share results of our national survey of over 2,000 alumni on areas of interest, expectations, and opportunities to build engagement and support. We'll then share examples of how Fordham University and the United States Coast Guard Academy Alumni Association connect with alumni through segmented, targeted communications to further deepen their relationship with the institutions. Participants will leave this session with concrete ideas to inform communication strategies and next steps to broaden and deepen overall alumni engagement.