Course Category: Virtual Training Recording

Keys to a Successful Relationship Between Deans and Development Officers

Philanthropy is critical to helping institutions meet their academic missions, and at its core, it is all about building and maintaining relationships. Although fundraising is just one of the myriad responsibilities overseen by an academic dean, the development officer is a key partner in assisting the dean in achieving those fundraising goals. To find success in academic fundraising, the relationship between an academic dean and a development officer must be one built on mutual respect, trust, and clear communication. Successful fundraising teams develop complementary skills that, when combined, are more effective than the skills of one individual. Through this three-hour virtual training, you will be able to better prioritize fundraising goals as a dean and development officer team. You will learn how to build trust and set expectations with mutual fundraising goals in mind, establish a process to effectively move donors through your pipeline, and practice essential skills such as making an ask.

When Fear is Holding You Back: A Framework to Support Career Aspirations and Self-Efficacy

Have you ever found yourself stuck in a swirl of fear, asking questions like: What if I don’t get the job? What if I do get the job, and I can’t do it? What if I’m underqualified? What if I’m overqualified? What if I’m too old? What if I’m too young? What if I don’t get paid enough? What will my parents/children/partner/team think?   You are not alone. It’s not uncommon to experience doubt; however, if you are making career decisions from a place of overwhelm, guilt, and fear, you may be missing out on great opportunities and tremendous joy. During this session, our expert speaker and coach will share how she herself has faced her “fear beasts” and will share three resources to help keep you going when the fear creeps in.  

Leveraging Your Alumni Data for Deeper Engagement

It wasn’t long ago that gathering alumni engagement data used to be a challenge at many institutions. This is no longer the case today, as alumni engagement data is routinely collected across the industry. However, many advancement shops may not have a full grasp of how best to utilize their data to identify potential volunteers or help steward current volunteers toward philanthropic opportunities. Take your alumni engagement to the next level by developing a data-informed approach to creating strategies to drive your alumni and donor engagement with a focus on both volunteerism and participation. By developing and utilizing metrics that can help to inform and direct your long-term engagement strategy with volunteers, you will not only be able to increase your giving capacity across the gift spectrum, but you will also gain a better understanding of how to approach your alumni events, ensuring that no effort is wasted in the cultivation of your future donor base. Join us at this one-day virtual training to learn how to turn your data into measurable metrics that lead to new volunteers and increased giving opportunities, and which also ensure that your events are strategic and helping to convert attendees to donors. You will […]

Developing a Principal Gifts Program that Supports Transformational Priorities

Principal gifts, defined differently at different institutions, can bring high-level success to your institutional priorities—especially those advocated by your president and academic leaders. By building out a disciplined principal gifts program, regardless of its current maturity, you can bring clarity to how your team and institutional stakeholders advance transformational ideas in partnership with your top donors. Challenges to this endeavor, however, can prevent teams from building out the program they want. Whether it’s lack of confidence speaking to and managing prospect relationships, managing donor fatigue, or having budget shortfalls with capital projects without donors in your pipeline to finish the job, developing an effective principal gifts program can help you prepare viable prospects who are poised and ready to give when the moment is right. Join us for this conversation on developing a disciplined principal gifts program, and preparing your institution for sustained success both now and into the future.

Leading Change From Where You Are: Strategies for Faculty

Many faculty feel overwhelmed by the overlapping crises in higher education, and that they have little agency for making change. But faculty can take action to make change right where they are by leveraging their strengths and preferences as leaders and building effective networks of colleagues with complementary abilities. By identifying opportunities for meaningful change through service and committees, campus and community engagements, and fieldwork and research, you can make the kind of difference that creates impact and moves culture change across the academy. This workshop is your first step in understanding how to best align your leadership strengths with opportunities for impact. In this virtual training, we will begin by examining leadership myths that often inhibit effective leadership by and for faculty. We will then explore how you as a faculty member can leverage your leadership strengths and preferences to harness your power in sustainable and collaborative ways for grassroots change. By the end of this workshop, you will have identified strategies, next steps, and an action plan to initiate the change you want to see.

Using Feedback to Build a Growth-Minded Work Environment

Learning to address conflict and manage difficult personalities as a leader or manager can be a stressful process. Once a situation has reached the point of conflict, it is often hard to manage it without emotion and move forward in a productive way. However, supervisors who work intentionally to create a growth-minded environment can engender a space where addressing conflict or confronting different opinions comes naturally to everyone involved. As such, you create a space where unhealthy conflict cannot grow and provides opportunities for those who have a habit of dissention to compromise or find a position better suited to their needs. Join us for a virtual training to learn how to manage performance and feedback in order to create a healthy working environment that fosters debate and encourages empathy and positive intentional communication. Our expert facilitator Dr. Cié Gee will walk you through how to address conflict or difficult behavior with clear and regular feedback early on in the process. You will learn how implementing regular feedback and honest conversations will lead to a more productive, psychologically safe environment. You will also take a look inward to learn how your leadership practices could be unconsciously nurturing an environment in […]

Encore: Strategies to Confidently Communicate with Students Experiencing Mental Health Challenges

Encore: Strategies to Confidently Communicate with Students Experiencing Mental Health Challenges Learn best practices for more effective interactions with students experiencing mental health issues, even if you’re not a counselor. Login On: June 7, 2023 at 11:00 a.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:

Encore and Q&A: Structuring Scholarships for Women and Students of Color in a Shifting Legal Landscape

When donors want to establish a scholarship for the two federally protected class groups that receive the most legal scrutiny–women and students of color–your advancement shop must navigate risk in a way that doesn’t scare away donors or distract from their intent. It’s necessary to understand the shifting legal landscape affecting scholarships for these protected class groups. Join us online to learn how to establish scholarships for women and students of color that abide by federal guidelines. In this training, you’ll learn how to conduct a thorough review process of your current gift agreements to help protect the reputation of your institution and donors against legal or political scrutiny. To apply these strategies to your context, you will have the opportunity to share your own examples of scholarships for women and students of color ahead of time. Some examples will be showcased during the training to highlight what language to include or exclude to mitigate risk best.

Identifying Big Ideas to Secure Transformational Gifts

The maxim big ideas lead to big gifts has defined fundraising, and—by extension—most of academia over the last 20 or more years. The acceptance of this adage is evident not only by where the most generous gifts to academia are being targeted but also by the rapid expansion of advancement organizations across higher education globally. Institutions are often eager for transformational gifts, but the creation of the big idea to secure one remains elusive. In this virtual training, we will define the big ideas and big gifts while taking a deep dive into the processes that can generate those ideas that attract big gifts while not compromising the core mission of the institution. You will learn frameworks for sourcing ideas—who in academic, volunteer, and administrative leadership needs to be involved in the big-idea generation process, approaches to gift solicitation, and a review of funding models that could create an incentive for major donors.

Privilege and Its Role in Enhancing Equity

All of us enjoy privilege on some level, which means that all of us have an opportunity to use our privilege in support of those who experience marginalization. But how does one establish credibility and acceptance as an ally when there are so many opportunities to get it wrong? This training aims to remove the stigma from accepting our own privilege while identifying the nuances between performative and authentic connection. This session will identify bothtraditional as well as less recognizable forms of privilege and provide the tools toengage, create space for, and include communities where wedo nothold membership.

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