In today’s changing landscape, are you wondering how to keep increasing the impact of your campaign events? Discover how Yale’s For Humanity Illuminated campaign tour creates and offers immersive programming and experiential engagement opportunities to connect with our most important audiences, while also adapting to changing internal and external environments. These events can boost your ability to tell your campaign’s story and your institution’s story, fostering greater engagement with friends, alumni, and donors while advancing campaign goals.We will share how our practical approach—integrating strategic storytelling into programming, designing immersive engagement experiences, and collaborating with key internal partners across campus and alumni networks—can lead to well-crafted, thoughtfully produced campaign events. Learn how to apply these strategies and tactics at all levels of institutional investment and campaign scope as you plan your long-term and multi-year campaign events. Join an engaging and honest interactive discussion about what’s working, what was planned (and unplanned), and how the tour has evolved as we responded to internal changes and external world events.

What makes someone a major donor—and how do they learn to give? This session explores groundbreaking qualitative research on how high-net-worth individuals develop a philanthropic mindset over time. Through in-depth interviews with major donors to higher education, Dr. Alexis Peter Salsedo-Surovov uncovers how adult learning, social influences, and institutional engagement shape lifelong giving behaviors. Attendees will gain fresh insights into the donor development process and leave with practical strategies to cultivate generosity through mentorship, reflection, and intentional engagement. Ideal for advancement leaders seeking to build deeper, more sustainable relationships with donors.

In this keynote, Therese draws powerful parallels between behind-the-scenes roles and the often overlooked contributions of the people who make success possible but don't always get the spotlight. Through compelling storytelling and own leadership journey, she challenges participants to reflect on their impact, recognize their value beyond the obvious, and reconnect with deeper purpose that drives them. The audience will leave inspired and equipped with practical strategies to recommit to excellence, take ownership of their influence, and progress with renewed confidence, knowing that their work sets the stage for success.