Strategic and generative conversations are at the heart of our work. Questioning and listening are powerful life skills. First, they will help you create productive donor relationships. What organizations do you support with your philanthropy? Where are we on your list of philanthropies? How do you make your philanthropic decisions? What has been your most meaningful gift? Quality questions elicit amazing information that will guide you in the solicitation process and help you build relationships on campus with your supervisor, peers and faculty members. Learn how to develop questions instead of talking points that will inform your gift strategy, advance relationships, and result in a joyful, generous "Yes" to your request for increased engagement with your institution, a significant gift to one of your priorities or for whatever you were hoping that volunteer or colleague would do to help you achieve your goals.

Highly sought advancement professionals understand strategy. Whether you’re an early professional, mid-career, or aiming for an executive chair, those who are most valuable to their team understand what their university stands for, who it benefits, and why people should care. These essential but ephemeral ideas are wrapped up in the university’s brand and organizational strategy. In this session we’ll explore how to understand your university’s strategy and how to align your goals, talents and interests with the needs of your institution for the greatest mutual benefit.

For more than 10,000 years humankind has been moved by great stories. Stories have changed the course of history, been used to right wrongs, and to educate new generations. Each of our educational institutions is bursting with powerful, meaningful stories. As advancement professionals, we have the opportunity and the challenge to capture this vital information and bring it to life. Many believe that the best fundraisers are also exceptional storytellers. This elective session will dive into the techniques and approaches that will help anyone learn to tell a great story, including time to role play what you’ve learned with your classmates!

Looking for inspiration? In this session, you’ll see communication and marketing examples that use AI to solve problems, save time, spark creativity, and achieve successful outcomes. Plus, you’ll leave with a few AI best practices. Are you already getting creative with AI? As part of this session, you’re invited to share your AI success stories. Finally, you’ll hear about specific AI tools campuses are using now and what to look forward to trying next.

Whether you work in the department or not, understanding annual giving is foundational in successful development programs. This presentation will touch on common strategies, efforts and emerging trends; giving you a strong start for an annual giving specialist career or providing insight on how best to leverage the power of annual gifts.

A strong and thriving annual giving program requires that you must first have a clear vision of the role annual giving plays in your institution’s overall development effort. Understanding this relationship allows you to develop plans for your program in a strategic and meaningful way that increases your chances of having a successful fundraising program and building traditions of giving among your alumni, parents, students and others. In this session we will explore what it means to have a clear vision and mission for your annual giving program, how to develop annual and long-term plans based on a variety of factors, set metrics and evaluation methods, and report and analyze your program regularly.

A robust pipeline might be one of the strongest indicators of current and future fundraising success. It ensures that your organization will always have the critical philanthropic support that is so needed. Attend this session to discuss the various areas within the pipeline, ways to create robust pipeline activity, and how to measure and report its overall health.

Millennials are from Mars; Boomers are from Venus. Generational differences affect how successful we are in our workplaces as well as in our work. Do you want that next promotion? Do you want to close big gifts? Effective communication is critical to building productive and authentic relationships – with our colleagues and with our donors. Learn how understanding and adapting for generational differences can help us get ahead in our careers and raise more money for our institutions.

As a leadership annual fund or major gift professional, you can become a detective or anthropologist, uncovering clues to your donor's philanthropic interests, motivations and values. And, like a good detective or anthropologist, you have many different tools for gaining the information you need. In this session we will identify some of the critical skills needed to be a strategic listener and observer as well as an active participant in relationship building.

At many of our institutions young alumni are often overlooked and undervalued in our annual campaigns. As a result many fundraisers are forced to concentrate their efforts on “established graduates” with presumably more time and discretionary resources to support our organizations. This conversation will explore ideas and suggestions around identifying, engaging and soliciting young alumni. By actively engaging our alumni as volunteers and donors at an early age, we set the building blocks for success that will benefit our programs for many years to come. Please join us as we explore ideas to augment programs aimed at better serving the needs of our youngest graduates.