Join me in showing you how the Leiden University Fund unlocks the power of alumni relations. Join me in exploring how cultivating lifelong relationships with alumni paves the way for substantial gifts and legacies. Discover the transformative journey undertaken by the Leiden University Fund, illustrating the profound impact of sustained alumni engagement on philanthropic success.

How can focused engagement of alumni outside of a ‘home’ country be used with limited resources as a means for advancing your university’s alumni strategy? Join this session to learn tips and tricks from the University of Twente in the Netherlands on how these alumni support education, research as well as institutional brand-building.

Explore Vilnius University's 2023 recruitment campaign, focusing on leveraging its famous or highly accomplished alumni network. Learn how representatives per faculty were selected for the campaign, how they were reached and convinced to participate in this campaign and become poster-people. Discover the benefits for both alumni and the university, see the impact on the recruitment numbers. Expect an unfiltered discussion revealing the campaign's successes, challenges, and key takeaways.

In this dynamic session, you will hear about the four key ingredients to achieve impact, and practical tips within each. We will cover: crafting inspiring messaging about the impact of your institution; creating a culture of philanthropy among key internal people; ensuring an audience and donor-focused approach; and recognising and thanking supporters effectively. We will share inspiring, relevant case studies from around the world – and there will be plenty of time for questions and to share your own experiences.

The systematic use of donations and communication about the impact is essential to internal community´s commitment to fundraising, but above all for strengthening donor relations. The University of Oulu has been developing an effective and transparent process of allocating donation funds and following up on results and impact. In this session we will review how the use of donation funds supports the development of university's operations, engages both internal stakeholders and donors and increases the impact of university´s scientific activities.

Ever wondered how the next generation can seriously shake things up? Join us for a workshop that’s all about how student ideas changed the game and gave us a fresh perspective on how we create awareness about the alumni network. BI Norwegian Business School recently held a case competition, where students were asked to give their solutions on how to best recruit young students, build awareness about the alumni network, develop the relation, and retain the members by creating value. It turned out to be a valuable source of bright ideas, students' thoughts, and expectations on how the alumni network should work and function. We’ll explore the ideas from the competition and how the alumni team put these ideas into action, from brainstorming to execution. The students' significant impact in building an active alumni network and integrating innovative ideas has transformed our approach to alumni awareness.

Georgs Rubenis' session will offer a comprehensive look at the higher education landscape in the Baltic region, delving into successful fundraising case studies and best practices for donor engagement. It will explore innovative fundraising strategies, including digital platforms and alumni networks, and emphasize the importance of impact measurement and transparent reporting. Additionally, the presentation will cover the legal and regulatory context of philanthropy in the Baltics, providing insights into emerging trends and future predictions for educational philanthropy in the region. This rich content mix is designed to equip participants with practical, actionable insights for effective higher education fundraising.

At the annual CASE Europe conference in summer 2024, CASE and More Partnership released a seminal report analysing a decade of fundraising in the university sector – it is freely available here. This included deep analysis of millions of data-points and interviews with practitioners, senior leaders and donors. In this session we’ll share some of the key learnings from the report, ensuring these are placed carefully in the Nordic context. We will look at the ingredients of the most successful programmes, and the priorities for those programmes at earlier stages. There will be time for questions and debate on the key recommendations, and ten top tips to take from the evidence in the report.

2024 marks the 50th Anniversary of CASE as an association. To mark the anniversary, CASE is looking squarely into the future, and how our work as champions of our institutions, may change. Whether you work in advancement services, alumni relations, communications, fundraising, marketing, or any other specialty, we want to surface the trends and issues that are around the corner. At many conferences during the year, CASE is asking a panel of volunteers some questions about the profession – in the future. At the end of the year, we will take stock of the responses and share what we think the future might hold for our profession and all its disciplines – the ones we know now, and the ones that might emerge!