Growing a culture of philanthropy within your school community takes time and effort. In this discussion, the International School of Boston will discuss the steps it took during a 15-month period to jumpstart its culture of philanthropy using wealth screening. Attendees will leave with a better understanding of how wealth screening data returns can be used to create audience segmentation, prioritize research, increase leadership donors, support stewardship initiatives, and lead to overall Annual Fund growth. This session is targeted at small schools or schools with small teams.

Looking to amplify your school’s mission while engaging your entire community? Give us an hour, and we’ll give you 30 fresh, actionable ideas to transform your school’s social media, web, and print communications. From magnifying alumni achievements in creative ways to running crowd-sourced campaigns that cost nothing and deliver big results, this session is packed with inspiration and practical tools. Learn how to highlight teachers without falling into clichés, celebrate milestones with style, and steward donors with smart, streamlined strategies. Walk away with 30 turnkey tips you can implement immediately, designed to energize your team and elevate your storytelling.

Now, more than ever, advancement leaders are asked to take risks and cultivate cultures of innovation to grow their institutions. While it’s been said that “if you’re not growing, you’re dying,” it’s still not easy to understand where to place bets – where to take calculated risks – in order to achieve the goal of growth.

As independent school leaders we all face big challenges like declining participation. Or, are recent trends actually just uncovering a different cadence of giving from our donors? The technology available to solve the root of these challenges and accelerate our work is growing faster than ever and our industry is reaping the benefits of a burst of innovation in AI, even pioneering the first autonomous fundraiser. As leaders, this vast array of solutions presents a new hurdle - how to know where to place our bets.

In this session, Christine Pina, CAO of Miss Porter’s School and Adam Martel, CEO of Givzey and Version2.ai, will discuss how to build partnerships that help institutions make the right bets. We’ll cover what good partnerships look like, how to know if you have a vendor or a partner and how to be a leader in innovation. We’ll also cover what a healthy culture of risk taking and innovation can produce, and (most importantly) what it takes to trust one another.

When creating a successful Annual Giving program, there are key things to consider- clear statement of your mission, impactful solicitations that show donors how they make a difference, and giving your constituents the opportunity to support your organization with a Leadership Annual Gift. Statistics show that 75% of your Annual Fund comes from 15% of your donors. A Leadership Annual Giving Program can play a powerful role in an organization's overall Annual Fund strategy. Learn about how to set up a Leadership Giving Program, launch the appeal, effectively communicate and market the program to constituents and how to steward those donors into becoming possible major gift prospects. You will also learn strategies on how to increase your Board of Trustees giving through utilizing a Leadership Giving Program. If your organization already has an Annual Leadership Giving program in place, the presentation will help identify ways you can elevate your current strategies to increase dollars raised and identify future major donors.

Newark Academy has generated excitement and engagement around its Day of Giving for the past seven years through innovative musical videos, earning numerous Circle of Excellence Awards. This session will explore the strategic thinking behind these successful videos and how they’ve reshaped our approach to community involvement and philanthropy. You’ll learn how to create buzz and inspire participation using video, with practical insights into planning, production, and storytelling. Walk away with fresh ideas on how to incorporate more videos into your own work, transforming how you engage your community and amplify your events.

What's the difference between a school that fundraises, and a Fundraising School? Between a school whose fundraising program is always questioned, and one whose program grows stronger during difficult times? This session will give ideas on how to finally push Sisyphus' stone over the top of the hill and create a lasting fundraising program that will allow your school to achieve its aspirations in perpetuity.

Whether starting an alumni program from scratch or revamping an existing one, join us to discover how Saint Mary's Hall built an alumni program from the ground up in three years using industry best practices. We'll discuss low-hanging fruit, strategic planning, evaluating your own program, and the key to it all--relationship building. Learn how to advocate for your role and program, build momentum within your alumni community, and create something that will be written about in your school's history book.

Building community through fundraising and special events is a fundamental practice for many independent schools. But how often do we take a step back to analyze these events, how they build community, how they raise funds, and ultimately, why we host them? In order to best serve and engage our constituents, we must examine both the how and the why we gather, and ultimately, find the place where our fundraising efforts are maximized, and our constituents are the most engaged. This session will take participants through a series of questions and topics to analyze and workshop their own school’s events while using the case study of The Fay School, a Primary – 5th Grade school, and their innovative approach to reinvent their annual fundraising gala into an event that utilizes campus resources, incorporates parent and community businesses and relationships, and further reinforces a sense of belonging within their school culture. While The Fay School’s story will be shared as an example, the emphasis of the session will engage participants in examining their own institutions and will give them the tools to completing an event audit for their school.

Does the song 'All by Myself' play in your head each day as you longingly stare at other departments with more than one staff member? Then this is the session for you! And even if you're an office of two in a larger school, it can still be for you! Come hear from a MarComm office of one in a PK-8 school of 600 students about practical strategies for maximizing limited resources and leveraging personal skills to achieve success. And yes, it includes using our newest friend, AI, as a part-time member of your office.

In this session, we will lead a discussion about how the Advancement Office and Academic Leaders can work together to ensure that school programs influence philanthropic giving and how philanthropic giving can expand existing and advance new academic programs. We’ll provide a case study—Francis W. Parker’s Stenn Family Civics Fund—to discuss how our school has stewarded a donor to help us deepen our commitment to our mission of civics and citizenship in our educational programming.