Course Category: Virtual Training Recording

Forging On and Off Campus Partnerships to Support Students’ Emergency Needs

Students of color, first-generation students, and low-income students are typically the most at risk of falling through the cracks in college. In addition to academic barriers, these students often lack financial resources to make it through emergencies or breaks in the academic year. As institutions look to increase retention and completion rates for students from minoritized groups, it is important to focus on what student support partnerships look like both on and off campus. Thinking creatively about who to partner with can extend an institution’s resources to many more students. Join us for a one hour facilitated discussion on creating connections both on and off campus to help support students through emergencies and times of need. Here, our expert Kristin Daiber will share an example of a creative student support partnership on her campus. Additionally, you will have the opportunity to network with other professionals providing support for students in times of need and to also share useful resources with one another.

Enhance Donor Experience by Conducting an Acknowledgement Audit

Institutions offer myriad giving opportunities that donors might choose to support. From the unrestricted gift to the gift supporting a scholarship or program, many institutions offer dozens or even hundreds of ways donors can allocate their gifts. Unfortunately, with decentralized institutions, a multitude of giving options can lead to inconsistencies in the ways that units, programs, divisions, and schools acknowledge their gifts. For instance, some units or programs may have the resources to acknowledge their donors’ generosity promptly, while others may struggle to acknowledge them even within the recommended two-week time period. In still other instances, a gift may languish in a forgotten fund and be overlooked for months—or even forever! These kinds of delays or inconsistencies with gift acknowledgements can diminish the experiences of your donors and negatively impact your retention rate, causing you to lose contact with even your most loyal and generous donors. Join us in this online training to help you prepare to conduct a gift acknowledgement audit at your institution by learning the steps that the University of Chicago took toward ensuring that their donors receive the thanks they deserve.

Let’s Talk About Race and Collective Responsibility

It is no surprise that in the United States, racial tensions—especially between Black and White Americans—are alive and well and continue to do harm. For example, those who are Black-presenting do not get to choose or operate from the historically privileged social identities such as class, age, or ableism that White-presenting people do. In this session, therefore, you will learn how race dynamics between these two groups play out in European countries versus the United States. You will also examine how you communicate subconsciously to avoid or shut down conversations, either as a defense mechanism or to prohibit critical dialogue about racial inequity. Finally, you will learn strategies that will help us, as a collective, to move forward while simultaneously embracing the new challenges that are sure to come our way.

Conflict Resolution: It’s What You Said AND How You Said It

A separate training in this educational series on racial inequity dialogue explored why conversations about racial inequity and bias can be so challenging, and now this session will help you to identify the root source of your discomfort and understand why a wide range of emotions in such moments is natural. In this workshop series, we will therefore examine historic and current roadblocks to true connection, barriers that can lead to distrust, and how we engage unconsciously with individuals based on their visible or assumed social identities. We will also explore how racial power dynamics influence everyday interactions and identify ways to challenge entrenched norms that influence how we choose to communicate and engage with each other.

Uncomfortable Conversations are Necessary, Not Unkind

For years, there has been an increasingly dominant narrative in our society about the importance of being kind or “politically correct.” While these are important principles, we must nevertheless unpack and examine how this narrative often gets in the way of difficult yet essential conversations about race and racial inequity. The truth is, if we are unwilling to engage with well-intentioned or well-meaning colleagues in critical conversations when bias appears, we are therefore consciously allowing for ignorance and harm to perpetuate. This means that conversations like these are not only critical, but also necessary for healing ourselves as individuals and as a collective. This first session will give you an opportunity to reflect on the messages you have learned over time about how to engage in conversations about race. We will explore how these messages have influenced your daily decisions to engage or disengage in difficult conversations over time. You will practice intentional engagement versus moving past uncomfortable scenarios and arrive at a place where you are more actively willing to take part in the conversation.

Developing a Cause-Based Campaign Initiative that Aligns with Your Community Needs

The past two years of annual giving have given rise to more short-term, cause-based campaigns, in which newly formulated 60- to 90-day campaigns have become more of the norm than the exception. With this change, advancement shops have been able to generate a more focused pipeline for different areas of their institutions, acquire new donors, and increase awareness of causes to existing donors. This pivotal focus to identify societal needs continues to evolve, but with limited campaign resources, it is inevitable that not every cause will be developed into a short-term campaign. Join us online to learn how to identify and develop a cause-based initiative that is specific to the institutional strengths and community needs for your next short-term campaign. During this training, you will learn how to: Identify guiding principles to help you define and choose which cause-based initiative to pursue. Decide which cause-based campaigns to begin, continue, or sunset. Know the roles and responsibilities of team members and campus partners.

Transitioning Leadership Annual Donors into Major Donors

To shift the mindset of a leadership annual donor into that of a major donor requires you to go beyond just knowing their capacity; you must also understand what the donor wants to see their gift accomplish, and how to align that specific desire with your institutional needs. This requires knowing how effective each component of your leadership giving program is and how to best manage and develop your leadership annual donors. Join us in this interactive virtual training to learn portfolio management and stewardship techniques to successfully transition leadership donors into major gift prospects. In this program, you will: Assess your leadership giving portfolio by evaluating the effectiveness of your donor strategies Identify high impact stewardship to build an authentic relationship with your leadership donors Practice productive donor conversations and key talking points, so you’re prepared for your next upgrade ask

Developing Campaign Volunteers to Optimize Your Faculty and Staff Giving

Faculty and staff giving campaigns are an integral part of every annual giving strategy. However, the key to their success is the participation of dedicated volunteers. Without those volunteers, your faculty and staff giving campaign cannot reach its full potential. As a result, by changing how you approach potential volunteers among your faculty and staff, you will be better positioned to maintain a healthy philanthropic culture on campus while also generating an increase in donors and financial donations among your colleagues. Join us online to learn and discuss how your shop can improve your faculty and staff giving campaign by: Creating alumni affinity groups among faculty and staff Identifying and developing campaign ambassadors Securing leadership buy-in to gamify fundraising efforts on your Day of Giving  

Actualize Your Purpose and Legacy: Workshop on Improving Your Well-Being

The pandemic has required all of us to pivot in new ways. We’ve often had to take on additional responsibilities that may not align with our strengths and interests, and have had to manage our relationships almost exclusively in a virtual space. Still, our success is often measured in immediate gains, and it’s unclear how to plan for the future. Amongst all of this, you may be feeling more disconnected and depleted than ever before, which is why there’s never been a better time to reconnect with the priorities that bring you joy and improve your well-being—those that fulfill your long-term goals and contribute to the legacy you want to create. Join us online for an interactive workshop that will help you refocus your time, energy, and future work in realizing your purpose and legacy. You’ll begin the workshop by assessing the current state of your well-being and reflecting on the factors that most contribute to it. You’ll then explore to what extent inherited norms shape your definition of success, so that you can create your own definition of success based on your values and the impact you want to have in the world. Finally, you’ll document a practical and […]

Actualize Your Purpose and Legacy: Workshop on Improving Your Well-Being (June 17, 2022)

Actualize Your Purpose and Legacy: Workshop on Improving Your Well-Being Get clear on what success looks like for you and intentionally create the impact you want to leave in the world. Login On: June 17, 2022 at 1:00 p.m. ET JOIN ZOOM MEETING Full Event Information VIEW EVENT PAGE Including: Agenda Overview Speaker Bios Prepare for the Workshop This workshop is intentionally designed to allow for maximum learning, connections, and engagement. We advise the following in order to participate fully: