Registration and continental breakfast (included in registration)

Welcome and opening remarks

Aligning Leadership Giving to Your Mission

Revising a leadership giving effort is a fine goal, but a program can flounder unless it is in sync with your overall annual giving goals and how they work into your ongoing advancement engagement efforts –- including a planned or current campaign. This session will help you understand how leadership giving can –- and should -– interact with your current goals.

Thoughtfully Assessing and Resetting Your Leadership Levels

Leadership giving levels set by “guesstimate” may succeed initially but will never maximize the potential of your prospects. This session will walk you through how to use your current data to make educated gift-level decisions and then give you the opportunity to sketch out an information-based structure that will get the most out of your donor pool.

Morning break

Building Your Leadership Pipeline

Establishing accurate levels is one thing; filling those levels is an entirely separate effort. This session will help you identify the individuals you should be bringing aboard and learn how to manage them effectively to match their interests to your higher levels.

Lunch (included in registration)

Communicating the Purpose and Impact of Your Leadership Giving Program

Communicating the purpose of your program should be an engaging, not awkward, experience. This session will help you understand what messages and vehicles you should call on in addressing your different audiences. Particular attention will be paid to young alumni, social media, and how to make a compelling case for support.

Afternoon break I

Leadership Giving Donor Stewardship That Works

Effective stewardship of leadership donors is essential in moving donors through the donor pipeline. This session will explore how creative stewardship strengthens donor relationships and improves positioning for increased involvement (both in time as well as treasure) with your institution.

Afternoon break II

Integrating Leadership Giving Donors with Major Giving

As leadership donors progress through your leadership levels, an increasing number will be identified as major gift prospects. This session will define your role in coordinating that transition with your major giving team while also keeping annual commitments at the forefront of donors’ minds.

Networking reception (included in registration)

Continental breakfast (included in registration)

Building Top-Level Buy-In for Your Effort

How can you gain top-level buy-in for a leadership giving program that is based on your donor pool’s data-driven capabilities? How should you frame your case if your institution has a current program that is not living up to its potential? In this session, you will learn how to present and quantify your planned program to upper-level management in a way that convinces them to implement change and allocate the necessary resources for success.

Final conference break and hotel check-out

Developing Your Working Plan Moving Forward

You’ve learned how to define accurate levels, identify donors to fill those levels, communicate your purpose effectively, and obtain the necessary resources for success. This session will help you prioritize your efforts and outline your work together moving forward. Following a brief discussion of the goals to such a plan, you will begin to design a longer-term plan for maximizing your program’s effectiveness.

Closing remarks and final Q&A