Go behind the scenes with the Johns Hopkins Alumni Relations lifelong learning team as we share the successes, surprises, and lessons learned from building alumni connections through in-person, virtual and hybrid initiatives. This session features case studies from Hopkins Journeys immersive travel programs, Hopkins at Home virtual events, and the Odyssey non-credit course catalog. Hear what we set out to do, what actually happened, and the key insights we gained plus practical takeaways you can use to design or enhance your own lifelong learning programs.

Giving days have become a key part of any annual fund’s strategy, and many institutions have been running at least one giving day per year for several years now. The advantage of this depth of experience is that we are now able to make data-driven decisions as to the timing and frequency of giving days, as well as the structure of giving challenges, that work best for our particular institution. However, it can also be challenging to make sure that our giving days capture our audience’s attention when we are running these types of events at least once every year. Kent School and Westminster School have both tried different approaches to giving days (to varying degrees of success!), and we look forward to sharing these in depth, as well as soliciting input from the audience in this interactive presentation.

In times of crisis, clear and strategic communication is essential across every facet of advancement services—regardless of position. This engaging panel features representatives from communications, public affairs, volunteer management, and donor relations, each offering unique perspectives on how crisis communication shapes their responsibilities and interactions. We'll hear from communications and public affairs professionals about crafting talking points, collaborating across departments, and ensuring everyone is equipped to address sensitive issues. Team members who regularly interact with donors and volunteers will share firsthand what information and support best empower them to handle challenging conversations with confidence.

Across higher education, more than 95% of donors sit outside of managed portfolios, receiving only direct mail and mass marketing. The result: rising donor lapses, weaker major gift pipelines, and growing pressure to earn attention year after year. In this session, three institutions will share how they're using Virtual Engagement Officers (VEOs) to scale personalized outreach and strengthen donor relationships that traditionally go under-engaged. La Salle University is using a VEO to strengthen donor retention and build a more strategic pipeline, focusing on scholarship donors and annual giving prospects with demonstrated loyalty or potential. With limited staff capacity for 1:1 outreach, the team saw an opportunity to ensure more donors receive timely, mission-aligned communication that supports deeper development work. Sacred Heart University's approach centers on expanding alumni engagement, increasing participation rates, and growing the annual giving pipeline. Early results show strong signs of progress as the team works to turn broader outreach into sustained donor relationships. Bloomsburg University Foundation is leveraging VEO technology to extend their outreach capacity and build stronger connections with donors who previously received limited personal engagement. Discover how these institutions are using AI-powered outreach to engage overlooked donor segments, extend the reach of their advancement strategies, and lay the groundwork for stronger long-term results.

Uncertainty is nothing new to higher education. From the aftermath of 9/11 and the tech bubble to the 2008 financial crisis, through COVID-19 and national reckonings on racial justice and equity, colleges and universities have repeatedly found themselves at critical crossroads. In each of these moments, advancement professionals and the donors and volunteers who stand beside them have helped institutions not just endure, but evolve.

Today, we face another complex set of challenges: intensifying political rhetoric, economic pressures, policy uncertainty, and shifting public perception about the value of higher education. Yet, in the face of it all, philanthropic giving to higher education continues to grow—more than doubling over the past 25 years, from $28.2 billion to over $61.5 billion in 2024.

This isn’t a coincidence. It’s the result of a resilient community of advancement professionals who know how to build trust, forge partnerships, and make the case for lasting impact.

In this session, three seasoned Vice Presidents will engage in a dynamic conversation exploring how advancement leaders are adapting to the current landscape—and thriving. We’ll share lessons learned from working alongside hundreds of institutions, offer strategies for sustaining team morale and productivity during times of change, and discuss new approaches to talent, leadership, and delivering value within advancement.

Elevate your alumni engagement strategy through programs that connect institutional pride to philanthropic impact. This session highlights how Syracuse University’s Office of Alumni and Constituent Engagement designed and delivered dynamic event series programs in key regions to drive alumni engagement, deepen relationships with fundraising prospects, and convert participation into meaningful philanthropic support during its recently completed Forever Orange Campaign.

Drawing on case studies from Syracuse University’s signature programs around cultural interests, sports, lifelong learning, and professional development, participants will explore how to design scalable, high-impact events, with an integrated approach to fundraising and engagement outcomes. Discover how to harness faculty expertise, partner with colleagues across advancement, leverage alumni networks, and amplify institutional stories to create programs that resonate with a variety of audiences, from recent graduates to principal gift-level donors.

Many of us in higher ed have an email marketing problem. We rely too heavily on emails to communicate with our alumni, contributing to growing fatigue, disengagement, and worst of all, unsubscribes. This impact can be felt across alumni engagement and development efforts, and gets in the way of the mission-critical work we do. At Dartmouth, we were no different. With 17.5% of our alumni population unsubscribed and another 17.5% unengaged, we knew we needed to take action to engage our alumni and better their email experience before we lost them for good. In this deep dive, we’ll show you how centralizing our email efforts—from 10 marketing communities to 1, and dozens of contributors to a small core team—revolutionized our email marketing and our alumni engagement.

Whether you are an analytics professional or frontline staff, you will have heard a story about high priority report, that took too long to develop, which was ultimately used once a year until it was forgotten completely. Or worse, you know of a dashboard that’s held together with rubber bands which must now live on in perpetuity and would break if the person who built it were to ever leave. Delivering insights in this way can lead to a mountain of technical debt, a mistrust in the data, and poor strategic decision making. As a small newly-established business intelligence team we are always looking for ways to optimize our workflow and deliver insights that are the most widely impactful to all of Boston University Advancement. To be effective we must begin by making sure we are speaking the same language. We will discuss steps we have taken to break down that barrier which have lead to a reduction in development time for new reports, improved data integrity, and grown the adoption of our dashboards across various audiences. You will leave with practical, tool-agnostic tips to reduce miscommunications and break down barriers to adoption, regardless of the size and maturity of your teams.

Strap in and join us for a fast-paced, high-impact session where fundraising meets flight school. Drawing inspiration from the Blue Angels’ training tactic of “Chair Flying,” this interactive workshop will equip you with practical tools to improve your donor conversations through live role-play and group debriefs. Together, we’ll explore how to ask better questions, gauge capacity with curiosity, build authentic rapport, and qualify prospects more effectively. Whether you're new to frontline fundraising or looking to sharpen your edge, this session will help you chart a more confident flight path from discovery to meaningful engagement.

What does it take to lead with impact in today’s ever-evolving nonprofit sector? In this candid conversation, four accomplished fundraising professionals will share how they navigate the complexities of managing teams, building relationships with influential donors, and leading authentically in a rapidly changing sector.

This panel will explore the nuances of building a vibrant fundraising career, managing up and down, mentoring staff while meeting the expectations of sophisticated philanthropists, and setting strategic direction amidst competing internal and external demands. Panelists will reflect on pivotal career moments, personal leadership philosophies, and how their identities and lived experiences shape the way they lead their teams.

Whether you're a seasoned leader or a mid-career professional on the rise, this session will offer honest insights, practical takeaways, and a candid look at what it means to lead effectively in today’s philanthropic landscape and find purpose in their work.