The higher education sector in the UK and beyond has been grappling with several significant challenges at once—the combination of which is unique to the sector. However, some of these challenges are shared with other sectors like international development, heritage and arts and culture. In spring 2026, More Partnership will be publishing a blog series on fundraising in turbulent times. This series is based on interviews with fundraising leaders across several sectors and countries. This proposed session will feature three of those leaders—all working in Scotland but each in different sectors. Each will reflect on different kinds of turbulence (whether financial, organisational, political or cultural) they have navigated recently and at different points throughout their careers. They will share examples of ways they are adapting their messaging and approaches during these times as well as evidence of why staying the course and continuing to focus on best practice is also crucial. Delegates will reflect together on what practitioners in higher education can learn from these varied contexts and will leave with practical tips on maintaining momentum and resilience through periods of uncertainty.

Join our panel of senior Development professionals to hear about their experiences working in Higher Education, the cultural sector, and beyond, and how those lessons translate into school fundraising. We'll explore what carries seamlessly between sectors, where the culture shocks can be found, and what each environment can learn from the other. This session will resonate with those working in fundraising and alumni relations in both schools and universities. Whether you are seeking a new professional challenge or you simply want an insight into how different sectors work, this discussion will be full of practical insights and real-life stories. Because in fundraising, as in life, every day's a school day.

Does your marketing strategy feel more like a to-do list than a roadmap? In this Clinic, we bridge the gap between ambitious institutional goals and measurable outcomes. We will explore a streamlined framework for building integrated marketing plans that align with priorities, and reporting practices that provide a compelling narrative for leadership. Key Takeaways: Strategic Alignment: How to map departmental tactics to high-level institutional KPIs. The Reporting Toolkit: Identifying the metrics that actually matter and ignoring the noise. Closing the Loop: Using marketing performance to justify budget requests and inform future campaigns.

Many institutions are investing in alumni mentoring and volunteering, but keeping people engaged over time isn’t easy. This roundtable will share early insights from the British Council’s work on a global mentoring offer, alongside learning from Alumni UK Ambassadors and other purpose-driven initiatives. The focus will be on honest discussion. What’s working? What isn’t? What actually motivates alumni to stay involved? Participants will swap experiences, compare approaches and explore practical ways to build mentoring and volunteering offers that people want to stick with. You’ll leave with ideas you can try straight away, whether you’re just starting out or looking to strengthen what you already have.

CRM adoption in UK university advancement teams has the power to transform alumni engagement, operational efficiency, and fundraising performance, but too often, transformation does not go wrong, it starts wrong. This interactive panel workshop will explore the real journeys of UK universities that have implemented new CRM platforms, highlighting not just the technology, but the organisational starting points that determine success or failure. We will share a frank analysis of the early decisions, assumptions, and cultural conditions that shaped each institution’s path. From unclear goals, weak sponsorship, and fragmented ownership to overly technical framing, we will explore how the beginning of a transformation sets the trajectory for everything that follows. Participants will hear how teams moved from initial uncertainty and disjointed processes to renewed clarity, alignment and momentum — demonstrating that the most significant turning points often happen before the system goes live. Our discussion will focus on the change management foundations that matter most: setting a clear vision, managing expectations, aligning leadership, establishing governance, building confidence, and creating the conditions for behaviour change. We will also look at how alumni and fundraising teams, initially hampered by inconsistent data, manual work, and siloed communications, are now using integrated systems to deliver more personalised outreach, stronger philanthropic pipelines, and more strategic global engagement. The session will demonstrate the broader applicability of these lessons, showing how advancement teams of any size can avoid common pitfalls by starting well: defining success early, aligning CRM investment with institutional strategy, and securing the resources needed for long term transformation. We will also examine the emerging role of Artificial Intelligence — not as a shortcut, but as a capability that only pays off when foundations are in place. From predictive analytics to automated processes, AI will amplify impact only when the early stages of transformation are done right. Participants will leave with a practical roadmap for ensuring CRM transformation begins on the right footing, making sustainable adoption and genuine organisational change far more achievable.

This session will draw on the experiences of an early career fundraiser and an established leader in the field, both of whom made the switch to frontline fundraising after successful experiences in alumni relations and development services. The first half of the session will take a practical look at the transferable skills that alumni relations and advancement services bring to fundraising, how to develop them through excellence in your current role, and how to articulate them in job applications when changing career tracks. It will also help hiring panels look for key competences and fill blind spots when looking for talent. The second half will take a strategic overview to explore how strong collaboration leads to better decision-making, how data and insight can open up new and unexpected opportunities, and how relationship-building beyond the ask can strengthen long-term advancement outcomes. It will also consider why successful advancement depends on recognising the distinct strengths of different roles and creating cultures where that expertise is visible and valued.

In an increasingly competitive and scrutinised sector, a university’s reputation hinges on its ability to communicate clearly, truthfully, and consistently. CMA compliance is not just a regulatory requirement - it’s a cornerstone of institutional trust and a critical part of the education value proposition. This practical, hands-on workshop will give delegates tools to embed CMA-aligned practices within marketing, recruitment, and the wider university. The session focuses on how to move from compliance as awareness to compliance as culture. What Attendees Will Be Able to Apply on Monday Morning • A simple framework for identifying CMA risk in course pages, marketing assets, and prospective student communications. • Practical prompts and checklists for teams to use when producing or signing off content. • Approaches for engaging colleagues across faculties and professional services in shared accountability. • Techniques for turning difficult conversations about accuracy, evidencing claims, and removing “grey areas” into productive collaboration. • Ways to embed compliance into workflows without slowing down creativity or delivery.

Learn from two Director-level fundraisers with over £100m raised between them for education, arts and culture, on overcoming a range of challenges that can arise when developing and delivering major campaigns. This workshop will draw on the 40+ years' combined experience of Francesca Hewitt, Senior Campaign Advisor, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London, and Tess McCormick, Director of Development, Mansfield College, University of Oxford, each of whom have led and developed major campaigns including: The Ashmolean Fund £50m endowment Campaign; For Mansfield. Forever - a CASE double-award winning Campaign which encompasses endowment, revenue and capital, and has secured a leadership gift of £25m from a young philanthropists and goes from strength to strength; and Courtauld Connects, a £100m capital campaign to redevelop the Courtauld's campus in central London, including a state of the art Gallery, public spaces, and educational facilities. We will unpack 5 key challenges in campaigns, providing case studies, and practical examples of how these can be overcome, with learnings delegates can immediately apply to their own fundraising programmes.

Jeffersonian Dinners create the conditions for deep connection, shared purpose, and authentic conversation – all of which are essential for community building in schools. This session shows how Zurich International School is using structured, intimate dinners to deepen engagement, surface leadership, and inspire transformational giving. Participants will learn the model, the mechanics, and the practical steps to run their own high‑impact dinner series.

As universities place increasing emphasis on industry engagement, marketing teams are being asked to support industry-facing services and offers. This session explores the journey of building a specialist B2B marketing function within a university, including: • Bringing together previously separate teams (e.g. faculties, innovation hubs) • Balancing embedded support for services with institutional-wide roles • Defining the marketing service (proposition, campaigns, insight) • Prioritising work and managing stakeholders • Working in a matrix environment The session should be of interest to professionals in other institutions who can share their journeys and challenges and can hopefully be the basis for an ongoing network of professionals working within industry engagement roles at the University.

AI can be transformational, but what is the right path for your team? How can you use it to augment expertise, improve processes, and help your advancement team go faster, further, and better in support of your institution? Huron’s approach to AI encourages experimentation with a clear focus on impact, grounded in responsible governance and keeping people at the centre. In this session, we will present alongside our partner King’s College London (KCL), sharing practical experience from different stages of the AI journey. We will explore how to get started, the governance and assessment frameworks that matter, and how to build strong AI use cases. We will also consider how to support early adopters while building confidence among colleagues who are still exploring AI. Rather than focusing on tools or technical jargon, the session centres on process, judgement, and practical application. It will be delivered by ‘non-AI experts’ who will be open and honest about the challenges of starting from scratch! We will highlight case studies from the KCL Advancement team, including examples from prospect research and data insights. Attendees will see how structured prompts and guided workflows can support tasks such as summarising prospect information and identifying portfolio risks. They will leave with practical ideas to try immediately and greater confidence about when AI can add value in fundraising. We will also welcome audience questions and discussion on how to build AI-enabled teams that keep human judgement at the centre while maximising impact. Join us to learn how you can make sure that no rock is left unturned, how you can focus efforts where there's immediate value and how you can build a longer term plan which can evolve in-step with technology. Huron's approach to AI ensures human beings are always at the centre and in this session we'll take you on a journey from ideation to impact. Presenting in tandem with our partner, Kings College London (KCL), our session will start with practical insight on types of AI, what it's good at and not so good at, how to build a good AI use-case, what matrix to use to assess and prioritise and how you can stretch those in your team who are AI first-adopters, whilst building familiarity and ease amongst those with questions. Each element of ‘theory’ will be illustrated with practice as we talk about the way that Huron and KCL have worked together, building familiarity and understanding, developing ideas, building use-cases and putting the best of those into action. We’ll be keen to answer audience questions and hear of new ideas for building AI resilient teams which keep human beings at the centre and optimise our impact.

As philanthropy increases in complexity, so does the decision‑making that surrounds it. For fundraisers seeking major and transformational gifts, understanding how high‑net‑worth individuals (HNWIs) manage their wealth—and the personal, familial, and advisory structures influencing their philanthropy—is essential. This session will lift the curtain on how affluent donors think, plan, and act when it comes to both their long‑term financial strategies and their philanthropic commitments. Drawing on legal, advisory, and philanthropic expertise, our panel will demystify the wealth planning process, offering advancement professionals practical insights that strengthen giving conversations and long‑term donor relationships.

Alumni engagement is widely recognised as important, but many institutions still struggle to articulate and evidence its true impact. Too often, measurement focuses on activity rather than outcomes, limiting how effectively alumni engagement can inform strategy, support fundraising, and demonstrate institutional value. This interactive session will explore how institutions can build on existing data, including the CASE Insights on Alumni Engagement, to move from measuring activity to evidencing strategic engagement and impact over time. Drawing on emerging practice from the University of Oxford, we will share a practical framework for understanding and measuring alumni impact across areas such as student experience, research relevance, global advocacy, access and outreach, leadership, and community building. We will also explore where we can take this in the sector, including early discussions about how to get more from the CASE Insights survey. Participants will explore how to measure engagement as a journey, define meaningful outcomes, and connect alumni activity directly to institutional priorities, demonstrating how alumni make meaningful contributions to our institutions beyond fundraising. Learning outcomes By the end of the session, participants will be able to: • Reframe alumni engagement measurement from activity tracking to outcome and impact • Identify a set of meaningful indicators aligned to institutional priorities • Apply a simple framework to map alumni contributions to strategic goals • Use CASE Insights data more effectively to benchmark and strengthen internal narratives • Build a clearer, evidence-based case for alumni engagement with senior stakeholders

Higher education rankings have become a fixture of the academic calendar. They help sell newspapers, promote consulting services and provide great PR for the institutions that do well in them, but do they add value to your institution or encourage distortions in an attempt to game the system? The session will look at the role rankings play internally and externally in higher education institutions, how they work and how they can be a useful tool in guiding strategy and change.

After nearly a decade of success, Nottingham Trent University’s Alumni and Industry Fellows Programme (AIFP), a thriving community of more than 1,000 alumni volunteers, reached an important moment of reflection. In the years following Covid, the Alumni Relations team noticed new challenges emerging, including shifts in volunteer satisfaction and retention, dwindling levels of student engagement and inconsistencies across the University in how colleagues engaged with and utilised volunteer support. In 2023-24, the team undertook a full review and refresh of the programme. The aim was to ensure the AIFP continued to meet the evolving needs of the higher education sector, respond to the objectives of internal stakeholders, and reflect changing expectations among students in a post-pandemic world, while keeping volunteers at the heart of the programme. This session will share the practical steps taken to reimagine and strengthen such a large and diverse volunteer community while maintaining strong engagement throughout the transition. Relevant for all types and sizes of alumni volunteering programmes, participants will gain insight into the team’s approach to recruiting, retaining, communicating with, and recognising volunteers, as well as how they work collaboratively with colleagues across the University to ensure the programme delivers meaningful strategic impact aligned with institution wide goals.

How do you take alumni engagement to the next level? For King’s Business School, the answer was bold: launch a global alumni club network spanning five major international cities, all within one strategic, community driven initiative. Join us for an inspiring and practical deep dive into how KBS brought this vision to life. Born from rich insights gathered in an alumni survey, this ambitious project set out to strengthen global connectivity, empower alumni to co create local activity, and build a sustainable structure that supports the entire King’s ecosystem. With a strong emphasis on career development for students and recent graduates, the clubs are also positioned to enhance student recruitment and enrich the broader student experience. In this session, you’ll hear candid reflections on what it really takes to launch alumni clubs at scale, including: • Designing and planning a global club model rooted in community needs • Recruiting, training, and governing alumni volunteers across diverse regions • Securing buy-in from senior leadership and navigating organisational alignment • Unlocking funding to support engagement and growth • The wins, the missteps, and the practical lessons we wish we’d known at the start Whether you're considering launching international clubs, strengthening existing ones, or exploring new ways to embed alumni volunteers in your work, this session will offer actionable insights, replicable frameworks, and plenty of real-world learning. Come ready to be inspired and to take home ideas that can transform your global alumni engagement strategy.

Universities now engage alumni who live, work, and retire across every region of the world - yet many legacy programmes remain primarily domestic in focus. As philanthropic behaviours evolve and international alumni deepen their sense of connection to their alma mater, higher education institutions face both a growing opportunity and a complex set of considerations when cultivating legacy gifts across borders. This session explores global legacy giving in higher education: how to identify and inspire global prospects, how to steward legacy donors at a distance, and what universities must navigate when realising an overseas estate gift. All using practical examples from across the sector and encouraging sharing of knowledge in the room. We do not have all the answers but we hope to share some interesting insights and real life examples of the challenges, successes and interesting case studies not just from the US but elsewhere, some markets opening up to the idea of legacy giving. Using some interactive input from delegates and encouraging conversations with attendees and the presenters it would be a sharing of knowledge and an insight to legacy giving globally. Why should institutions consider engaging more across borders and what things to think about when planning this. This session can give insights for those just starting to consider global legacy giving at little or no cost with ideas for a those already engaged in this area but want to hear about some options for engagement and stewardship and may be willing to invest a bit more.

What does it really take to build a fundraising function where none has existed before? Drawing on experience launching philanthropy at the John Innes Centre — a world-leading scientific institute historically funded through government support — this session explores the practical realities of creating a culture of giving from the ground up. Through a candid, case-based workshop, we will explore: - How to make the internal case for philanthropy in a non-fundraising organisation - Where to start when there is no alumni base or donor pipeline - How to identify and prioritise early opportunities for major gifts - What not to do in the first 12–24 months Participants will work through their own institutional contexts, sharing challenges and approaches with peers, and leave with: - A clear “first 100 days” roadmap - A framework for building credibility internally - Practical steps to secure early philanthropic wins This session is designed to be role-agnostic and highly practical, ensuring that whether you are starting out, scaling up, or leading transformation, you will take away ideas you can apply immediately.

Graduation offers a powerful storytelling moment, yet its communications potential is often underused. This workshop explores how the University of Leicester transformed its Graduation content and collateral into strategic assets that build trust, strengthen belonging and deliver year‑round value. We will share the introduction of student speakers and the creation of an emotionally powerful video that combined live filming with reused livestream footage. Produced on a £0 budget using in‑house expertise, the video elevates student voice while balancing formality with authentic emotion, and is now used across recruitment, Welcome communications, alumni engagement and internal presentations. Alongside this, we will present the strategic redesign of the Graduation brochure. Previously functional but unclear, it was reworked into a clear, accessible and student‑centred guide.