Managing Staff and Constituents in a Remote Environment
Practitioners in a variety of advancement roles will discuss best practices, management challenges, and innovative ideas for managing teams in the new realities of remote work. Learn from their years of experience working in a remote environment as well as what they have learned in these past few months.
In this seminar you will:
- Gain skills, tactics and best practices on becoming a successful remote worker.
- Consider ways to remotely engage your constituents beyond one-off program.
- Learn new strategies to reach more donors and better understand their engagement through digital development officer programs.
- Understand what your remote employees need and how to support them to ensure their success.
Who Should Attend
- Managers in all advancement disciplines
- Team leaders who are new to working in a remote environment
- Experienced managers who are looking to negative the new online landscape
Pricing:
$450 Members
$585 Nonmembers
Registering two or more people?
Contact Natalie Stevens at [email protected] for information on group discounts.
Program
Live session: August 13, 2:00 PM ET
Floyd Akins, Associate Vice President for Advancement, Michigan State University
Brian Hervey, Vice Chancellor, University Advancement and Alumni Relations and President of UCI Foundation, University of California, Irvine
Gregory R. Leet, Senior Consultant, Aspen Leadership Group
Join our speakers for a live facilitated conversation about the opportunities and challenges of managing a remote team. As we look at the future of our profession, what models exist to support increasingly remote or hybrid advancement teams? Can your team work from anywhere, or should you develop a regional structure, and what considerations need to be made as the nature of travel, in-person meetings, events, and advancement overall shifts? The speakers will answer your questions about various models, as well as support that remote professionals need and best practices for managing remote employees.
Recorded Sessions:
Being the Best Remote Employee and Team Member
Melissa Stires, Director of Development, Florida Atlantic University
Prior to Covid19, remote working was already making its mark on our industry. Technology has made it possible to hold remote meetings, remote events, and for many of us, work remotely either down the road, out of state or even out of the country for our institutions. As technology has changed, the way we run our teams, engage with our colleagues, and work from our own remote offices need to change too! This presentation will cover best practices for remote workers (or aspiring remote workers), for managers who manage one or more remote employees and for colleagues who work with remote teammates.
Digital Development Officers: How Kansas State is Connecting with More Donors and Passing More Prospects to Major Gifts
Georgina Clemens, Digital Development Officer, Kansas State University Foundation
Eric Holderness, Associate VP of Development, Kansas State University Foundation
Mike Nagel, Manager of Customer and Product Marketing, Evertrue
Quinlan Stein, Digital Development Officer, Kansas State University Foundation
The subscription economy, defined by the explosive growth of companies like Netflix, Spotify, HelloFresh, and Dollar Shave Club has changed the way we interact with businesses. As customers, we expect a custom, personalized experience everywhere we turn. This evolution holds huge implications for fundraising and donor expectations. While this subscription-driven industry has grown 200% annually, giving rates have dropped 33% and total giving declined in FY18. It’s time for advancement to adapt. Last year, the Kansas State University Foundation hired its first Digital Development Officers, a role created to quickly connect with thousands of potential donors with customized, one-on-one outreach. Hear how this newly formed team taps into social insights and donors’ digital footprint to personalize outreach, connects with people, and then refers the best prospects to K-State’s leadership giving and major gifts teams. With each associate responsible for hundreds of attempted connections a week, KSU can reach more high-potential prospects than ever before, while delivering a personal touch with every engagement. This leads to stronger connection with alums and new five, six, and seven-figure gifts for Kansas State. Learn how they got started, what the program looks like, and how to take this digital-first approach back to your campus.
Engaging your Larger Alumni Base Through Online Programs
Rose Laden, Executive Director of Alumni Relations, Villanova University
For many advancement professionals, Covid-19 brought online engagement programs to the forefront of our work. This quick pivot resulted in success stories along with learning opportunities. As we look ahead, it's likely that some of our remote work and life adjustments are here to stay. It's time to formally incorporate online engagement into our long-term strategies. What could this look like beyond Zoom? How do you stay relevant to your constituents and deliver meaningful engagement programs? What resources are necessary to build out a comprehensive strategy?
Managing a Remote Workforce - Is It Right for Your Team?
Floyd Akins, Associate Vice President for Advancement, Michigan State University
Brian Hervey, Vice Chancellor, University Advancement and Alumni Relations and President of UCI Foundation, University of California, Irvine
Gregory R. Leet, Senior Consultant, Aspen Leadership Group
In this session, the presenters, who have each managed remote or regional teams, will describe the current landscape for hiring and talent management and the rising popularity and need for remote work options. The session will include background on the need for talent in advancement, current and future budget considerations, and the competing demands of a workforce that wants flexibility and work/life balance. It will discuss the intersection of remote options and inclusion efforts to accommodate for personal, family, and economic needs.
The presenters will describe various remote or regional models that can be adapted to higher education advancement teams. They will outline the opportunities that become possible for fundraising, donor, corporate, and alumni engagement when staff are in close geographic proximity to their portfolio. They will assess considerations for placing staff in cities with higher costs of living versus the time and expense that comes with frequent travel. They will speak about required supervision expectations, metrics and accountability, internal communications to avoid overlap of portfolios, and implications for team culture that are part of adopting remote options. Finally, they will provide firsthand examples of where remote models have worked as well as pitfalls to avoid and lessons learned.
Speakers:
Floyd Akins
Floyd Akins is vice president for university advancement at the University of Toledo. Prior to his role at UToledo, Akins served as associate vice president for advancement at Michigan State University, where he oversaw constituent fundraising, individual giving and prospect development and corporate and foundation engagement. Prior to joining MSU he was a senior consultant with Aspen Leadership Group, an executive search and consulting firm specializing in nonprofit and philanthropic leadership, where he consulted with prominent organizations in higher education, the arts, community services, and institutes to recruit and retain talented advancement professionals.
Previously Floyd was an assistant vice chancellor for development for the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. In this role, he provided leadership and managerial support for UT’s Regional Major Gift Officers and Corporate and Foundation Engagement Team. He also helped develop the framework for and oversaw the creation of UT’s principal gifts program. He has been a strong advocate for diversity in advancement and higher education at all levels throughout his professional career and was the Co-Chair of UT’s Council for Diversity and Interculturalism.
Floyd has raised numerous multi-million-dollar gifts and managed staff in several billion-dollar campaigns. Before joining UT, he served as The Ohio State University’s Senior Associate Vice President for University Development and Vice President of the OSU Foundation and previously was Assistant Vice President for Principal Gifts at the University of Iowa Foundation. Other positions include Executive Director of Development in the Henry B. Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa and Director of the Capital Campaign at Grinnell College. In addition to his fundraising positions, he held numerous positions at both Grinnell College and the University of Iowa that included admissions, public relations and multicultural affairs.
He currently serves as a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advisor to Aspen Leadership Group. He has been an active speaker for CASE since 1998 and has chaired several conferences on major gift fundraising in both the US and Canada. He lives in Columbus, OH and received his bachelor’s degree from Eastern Illinois University and his master’s degree from the University of Iowa in Journalism and Mass Communication.
Georgina Clemens
Georgina currently works at the KSU Foundation as a digital development officer. In her role at the Foundation, Georgina has the opportunity to innovate, create and implement new strategies for personalized donor outreach and qualification. She focuses on starting and continuing giving conversations with those who are interested in making an impact and investment to Kansas State University.
Georgina Clemens grew up in Emporia, Kansas, before moving to Nebraska in 2011. When deciding which school to attend, she knew she wanted to come back to Kansas and chose Kansas State University. During her time at K-State, Georgina was involved with her sorority, Alpha Xi Delta, focusing on the philanthropy of Autism Speaks. Aside from Autism Speaks, she served as the communications director for the student-led philanthropy of K-State PROUD during her last year of Student Foundation. She also participated on the National Agri-Marketing competition team, where she served as team captain during her senior year. Georgina spent the summer of 2014 in Barcelona where she took a course in e-commerce and business Spanish. Georgina graduated from K-State in May of 2017 with a degree in marketing, a minor in public relations and an international business certificate. Upon graduation, Georgina relocated to Kansas City, MO where she worked as bilingual carrier sales representative for C.H. Robinson, Worldwide. Her responsibilities included negotiating rates for shipping freight domestically and across the U.S.-Mexico border, while also providing shipping solutions to customers such as Russell Stover, Walmart, Target, and many more.Georgina married her husband Dallas in November of 2018 in Denver, CO, relocating back to Manhattan shortly after.Georgina loves to travel, spend time outdoors, play tennis and relax with Dallas and her yellow lab, Rocky.
Brian Hervey
Brian T. Hervey serves as the vice chancellor for university advancement and alumni relations and the president of the UCI Foundation at the University of California, Irvine. He provides leadership over all aspects of the university’s fundraising programs, alumni relations and development initiatives. Before his appointment as vice chancellor, Brian served as associate vice chancellor for health advancement.
Prior to joining UCI, Brian led successful multimillion dollar fundraising campaigns at Scott & White Healthcare Foundation as its vice president for philanthropy and communications. In this role, he supervised staff in the areas of major gift development, communications and planned giving for the Baylor Scott & White Health Central Division, which included 14 hospitals and over 65 clinics in central Texas. Previously, he was director of institutional advancement at Texas A&M Health Science Center (HSC) College of Medicine.
Brian holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Texas A&M University. He is a Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) and a Certified Gift Planning Professional (CGPP). Additionally, Brian served as the chair for development on the institutional advancement steering committee for the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), and has presented at conferences on advancement topics for the AAMC, Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP) and Council for Advancement and Support of Higher Education (CASE).
Eric Holderness
Eric Holderness is a career fundraiser; serving as a student caller starting as a freshman at Kansas State University, cutting his teeth as a graduate assistant and assistant director of annual giving with the Ahearn Fund and K-State Athletics, living the life of a road warrior for both the College of Arts and Sciences and College of Veterinary Medicine at K-State, and now serving as associate vice president of development (innovation) for the KSU Foundation. Serving in this role since January 2018, Eric has overseen the transformation of the Annual Giving department into Strategic Solicitations and has tripled the size of the University-wide lead generation frontline development team. He also spearheaded initiatives like the Digital Development Officer program, the All In Day of Giving, and the Student Gift Officer program to align with KSU Foundation’s strategic vision to be the best development shop in higher education.
Rose Laden
Rose Laden is the executive director of alumni relations at Villanova University, where she provides strategic direction and leadership for an alumni engagement program serving 130k+ constituents. Prior to Villanova she spent 10 years at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where she was director of alumni engagement and programming. In this role, she led a team responsible for several areas, including the strategic direction of 77 independent alumni organizations worldwide, online engagement and services, alumnae programs, and served as a core member of the team responsible for launching Wharton's comprehensive lifelong learning program. Some outcomes of this work include a popular faculty webinar series, Women's Circles, an in-person program designed to create a personal board of directors for participants, and the development of a volunteer-driven engagement program that resulted in a 300% increase in philanthropic participation over 5 years. Rose previously worked in alumni relations at Thomas Jefferson University and West Chester University. She is a graduate of West Chester University from the Communications and International Business programs, and received her M.S. in Organizational Dynamics from the University of Pennsylvania.
Gregory R. Leet
Gregory R. Leet is a Senior Consultant with Aspen Leadership Group, where he consults with prominent nonprofit organizations spanning higher education, the arts, healthcare, community services, foundations, and institutes to recruit, retain, and advise exceptional advancement leaders and teams. He holds more than 25 years of advancement experience in higher education and research institutions. Most recently, he served as vice president for advancement at The Jackson Laboratory where he led development, strategic communications and trustee relations.
Prior to joining JAX, Leet was vice chancellor for university advancement at University of California, Irvine (UCI) leading all advancement programs, including the UCI Medical Center and Chao Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the university’s community and government relations programs. Under his leadership, UCI became the youngest university to complete a $1 billion fundraising campaign. He also secured UCI's then largest gift ever of $40 million to establish the Bill and Sue Gross School of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences.
Leet also held leadership positions at the Arizona State University (ASU) Foundation, where he managed the development staff for a then-planned $1.3 billion campaign. He also collaborated on fundraising projects such as the ASU Biodesign Institute and helped with ASU’s rebranding initiative and implementation of an innovative prospect management program, which garnered national awards from the Council for Advancement & Support of Education (CASE). Prior to ASU, he held several frontline gift officer and management positions at Creighton University, a private research university. While directing Creighton’s principal gifts program, the university secured its largest ever gift of $50 million. Leet’s passion for fundraising began as an undergraduate student, when he helped his alma mater’s annual giving program establish its first phonathon, using volunteer student callers.
Leet received his bachelor’s degree in agricultural journalism from Kansas State University and his master’s degree in nonprofit management at Arizona State University. He has served on the board of the Orange County (CA) Business Council, and on the board of overseers for the Bushnell Performing Arts Center in Hartford. Leet resides in Phoenix, Arizona with his partner, a professor in the school of music at Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.
Mike Nagel
Mike Nagel is the Manager of Customer and Product Marketing for EverTrue. He helps equip advancement teams with strategy and tools to drive meaningful engagement and become more effective fundraisers. Prior to EverTrue, Mike got his start in advancement by spending six years at Phillips Exeter Academy as the Associate Director of Digital Communications. Previously, he worked for Care.com, STA Travel, Good Morning America, and NBC Universal as a storyteller and communicator. He lives in NH with his wife, Sonja, and their three kids and two cats. He speaks regularly at RAISE, CASE, APRA, and other fundraising and marketing conferences.
Quinlan Stein
Quinlan Stein grew up in Dodge City and Hoxie, Kansas, surrounded by a sea of purple and a family of K-Staters. Quinlan attended Southwestern College, in Winfield, KS, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in History, and minors in Religion/Philosophy and Leadership Studies. As a student, Quinlan was President of the Southwestern College Philanthropy Board, and a leading member of Leadership SC, a service learning leadership organization. Both groups helped develop her strong passion for philanthropy and higher education. Before joining the KSU Foundation, Quinlan worked as a Development Officer for Pi Gamma Mu, International Honor Society in Social Sciences. Quinlan is very glad to be living in the Little Apple, building new relationships with K-State alumni and friends.
Melissa Stires
For nearly two decades, Melissa Stires has traveled the globe to build relationships, seek investment, and manage events.
Melissa is a Certified Advanced International Protocol Officer and an accomplished event, marketing, and fundraising executive with experience in the corporate, tech, academic, and government sectors. Melissa has been privileged to work with, advise, and train members of royal families, politicians, nonprofits, and business influencers from all over the world.
Since 1999, Melissa has worked with purpose and passion to create connections and build relationships on a global scale. Trained in public relations and international protocol, Melissa has developed unique insights and skills in cross-cultural communication and cultural sensitivity. From orchestrating opening day events for The Washington Nationals Ball Park, to curating a five-day VIP trip to Art Basel Miami, and leading delegations on more than 50 international goodwill and fundraising expeditions, Melissa has done it all. These varied experiences allow Melissa to bring expansive knowledge into her consulting business, which focuses on training and equipping individuals, c-suite leaders, and teams in high-impact event management, protocol advising, executive coaching, and much more.
Melissa believes in the transformative power of ideas and the potential of business to drive social change for good. From the Queen of Jordan to titans of Wall Street and K Street, Melissa has a unique ability to connect with individuals from all walks of life. Her unique and carefully crafted skill set allows her clients to thrive and move forward in their goals faster than imagined.
Melissa is the Director of Development for the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing at Florida Atlantic University. She resides in sunny South Florida with her husband Nick, their three-year-old daughter Ella and their six-year-old Golden Retriever, Quinn.