Pre-Conference Programming

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Pre-conference workshops will take place on Wednesday, March 11. Programming will consist of group sessions, keynote speakers, and a joint networking reception, sponsored by Libretto. 

 

Women’s Leadership

The Women’s Leadership pre-conference track will offer sessions for a diverse group working across many fields of employment at all levels. The track will explore the necessary skills to prevent and respond to sexual harassment, to develop authentic leadership through core values and beliefs, and to create boundaries at work and at home. The track aims to bring together members from the greater CASE DI community to advance women’s leadership and full potential.

Breaking the Silence Habit: Role of Advancement Leaders in the #MeToo Workplace        

Ready to get uncomfortable? In this interactive session, we will explore the role advancement leaders can play in building teams and organizations with the skills necessary to prevent and respond to sexual harassment. Participants will walk away with a better understanding of the roles managers and leaders can play in preventing sexual harassment in advancement and a set of practical tools to bring a skills-based approach to their own teams and organizations. 

Speaker:
Sarah Pierson Beaulieu, Founder, The Uncomfortable Conversation, Inc.                   

 

Stop Lighting Yourself on Fire: Creating Boundaries at Work and at Home             

Laura Freebairn-Smith, organizational development expert, will explore the issues of boundaries we create and hold with others in our work and personal lives, and how those boundaries affect our well-being and our careers. Laura will guide the group to consider expectations, relationships, and rights and responsibilities. This session will help participants to develop a deeper understanding of the benefits and barriers in specific relationships as well as how to find the right work environment.             

Speaker:
Kristina Ramsay, Alumni Officer, Global Networks, Concordia University

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

There are several important steps toward redesigning traditional engagement and fundraising models for the 21st century. They include acknowledging the unique experiences of alumni who are from marginalized and under-represented populations, understanding the adverse impact of institutionalized white privilege in higher education, and recognizing and reconciling personal biases. Advancement professionals at all levels are encouraged to participate in this track and reflect upon the diversity-related challenges in their respective institutions, with the goal of learning from experiences at peer institutions and exploring possible solutions.

Sponsored by Aspen Leadership Group.

Multicultural and Global: Understanding Donor Perspectives and Experiences    

As university fundraisers, we work with highly diverse donor populations that are both multicultural and global, and philanthropy may be interpreted among them in varying ways. Our jobs as fundraising, alumni relations, and communications professionals are to bring those external perspectives into our institutions to put forward the right engagement strategies and proposals tailored to each individual donor. How can we gain a perspective on the experiences that shape their philanthropic values and build deeper relationships and sustainable engagement for our institutions?

Donor values, in general, are driven by life experiences that shape their individual and unique perspective on meaningful engagement and philanthropy. To understand the impact of those diverse experiences and how they impact giving and engagement, we need to examine our own assumptions, pre-conceived and inherent biases and apply best practices in order to uncover donor motivation.

The panel will provide strategies to discover donor perspectives illustrated with actual donor situations.  The panel will also include an interactive discussion in addition to presentations and provide a basis to work more effectively with diverse donors.

Speakers:
James  Murphy, Strategic Partner.  Advancement Resources Inc.     
Endia DeCordova, Director of Development for Strategic Initiatives, University of Connecticut Foundation               

 

The Big Tent: Listening and Learning to Build Programs for Alumni of Color, LGBTQ+ Alumni               

Learn how Clark University embarked on a listening tour to learn from alumni of color and LGBTQ+ alumni about their experiences as students, relationships with the university, and interests in becoming more involved. Speakers will share the genesis for the project, how they built a 70-person task force, engaged alumni in the work, and are developing new programming, volunteer structures, and communication.      

Speakers:
Kevin Wesley Executive, Director of Alumni and Friends Engagement and the Clark Fund, Clark University               
Cindy Ironson, Associate Director of Alumni and Friends Engagement, Clark University

New to Educational Advancement

Did you spend a decade working in healthcare before your latest role at a growing university? Are you a seasoned fundraiser starting their first job in higher education? Or are you brand new to the workforce and advancement? All of the above are applicable to our New to Educational Advancement preconference track. Meet with peers from across District I to learn insider tips, terminology, and best practices in the field of higher education and nonprofit advancement.

Improv in the Workplace             

The principles of Improv, especially the foundational skills of "active listening" and "yes, and...," can help you get much more out of your conversations with donors, prospects, volunteers, and fellow colleagues.  Through this session, you will come to appreciate even more the importance of active listening.  You may even realize how much we often are not really listening at all when we think we are.  Additionally, through exercises in practicing, "yes...and," you will see the power of building on what another person has said through adopting a mindset of "and" rather than "but" or "no."        

Speaker:
Alex Barber, Assistant Director, Events and Marketing Technologies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology