Improving Your Gift-In-Kind Evaluation Process

Gifts-in-kind, or non-cash gifts, are unique. Most are appreciated assets that offer donors the ability to give an asset, receive a tax deduction for the value, and, depending on the donor, avoid capital gains tax. Yet, there are many gifts-in-kind that aren’t so easy to accept. This may be due to unverifiable value, such as with art collections, gifts of used equipment that may prove to be hard to place or to find a means to value, illiquid privately-held securities, or non-fungible tokens that pose issues in determining both ownership and value, as examples. Donors need to be responsible for providing bona fide appraisals and bearing those costs; but the institution also needs to be able to validate the value as well as many other aspects of a non-cash gift prior to acceptance. Whatever the non-cash gift, the viability of the value and its benefit to the institution must be analyzed before accepting. To better answer the question of whether a gift-in-kind has the value the donor claims, you must have a thorough review process in place and access to the right experts who can verify both the value and its benefit. Either way, gifts-in-kind must be analyzed on a […]

Encore: Building Confidence as a New Leader: Overcoming Internal Barriers

Encore: Building Confidence as a New Leader: Overcoming Internal Barriers Build your confidence in your leadership ability by overcoming self-doubt. Login On: December 7, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. ET Unable to attend this live training? Stay registered to receive the recording of the training after the live event. 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:

Preparing Frontline Fundraisers to Support Academic Leaders for Campaign Success

Academic leaders require the expertise and perspective of knowledgeable major gifts fundraisers to be successful in their campaign fundraising efforts. Without this support, deans may be uncomfortable with the fundraising process and struggle with donor strategy and campaign messaging—especially if they haven’t had success with fundraising attempts in the past. To improve the fundraising capacity of your academic leaders, and the overall success of the campaign, major gift fundraisers need to know how to communicate effectively and share best practices on topics such as engaging strategically with prospects, adhering to campaign messaging, and aligning funding priorities with institutional goals. Campaigns are marathons, and your dean will require your coaching!

Developing a Strategy for Equity-Based Fundraising

Unconscious resistance is the thing that continues to prevent shops from advancing and implementing a more equity-based fundraising strategy that engages the diversity of their alumni base. With the changing demographics in student bodies and young alumni in higher education today, implementing a sound strategy will deepen engagement and increase philanthropic giving from alumni who bring new and unique lived experiences to their philanthropic choices. To improve your engagement and fundraising results from a more diverse alumni pool, a culture and infrastructure built upon equally diverse voices and input must be created. Whether you’re planning to launch a listening tour to speak to your different populations, honing in on how data is gathered, or rethinking how prospects are screened, there are many different approaches you can take to advance equity-based fundraising at your institution. Join us in this training to lean into the commitment to continue advancing equity-based fundraising by defining the problem you want to solve and leaving with a concrete next-step to progress toward your goal.

Campus-Wide Equity & Diverse Faculty Pathways: A Discussion About the Future of Higher Ed

Campus-Wide Equity & Diverse Faculty Pathways: A Discussion About the Future of Higher Ed Inspiring partnerships that yield more campus-wide support on equity and inclusion and implementing diverse faculty pathways are the future of higher ed, so join fellow faculty affairs leaders and chief diversity officers, including those leading in the academic space, for an open dialogue. Login On: April 12, 2023 at 12:00 p.m. ET Unable to attend this live training? Stay registered to receive the recording of the training after the live event. 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:

Inclusive Retention Strategies for Underrepresented Faculty

Establishing retention efforts for underrepresented faculty is just as important as recruiting, hiring, or onboarding them. We will discuss ways campuses may unintentionally fail at retaining talented faculty due to a lack of thorough and meaningful planning, including the absence of high-quality mentoring programs for underrepresented faculty. Our guest speaker, Dr. Bridget Turner Kelly, will highlight key findings from her recent book, Building Mentorship Networks to Support Black Women: A Guide to Succeeding in the Academy, during the live event. Additionally, we’ll share and discuss findings from our speaker’s study on Recruitment without Retention: A Critical Case of Black Faculty Unrest, followed by recommendations for assessing and improving current retention efforts for underrepresented faculty. Using what you learned, you will identify at least two strategies for improving retention efforts for underrepresented faculty on your campus.

Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable: Engaging in Dialogue About Race and Bias

Feelings of defensiveness and discomfort are common when engaging in conversations around race and bias. Even those who have done extensive reading on these emotionally-charged topics can find themselves fumbling if they haven’t yet reflected on how their own identities and biases impact the way they show up in the world—and in these difficult conversations. To get more comfortable engaging in these dialogues, we must first lean into the discomfort of individual reflection and actions that prepare us to enter them in an open and effective way. Join us for a two-hour virtual training followed by a one-hour Q&A where we will explore four key concepts and how they come into play during conversations around race and bias: Sources of Bias Intersectionality Triggers of Bias Unpacking Bias You will be given a workbook of activities, tools, and resources to help you move beyond simply understanding the definitions of these key concepts. Throughout the workshop, you will begin the hard work of making meaning of how race and bias play out in your life and any conversation you enter.

Articulate Your Value as Associate Dean

As an Associate Dean, you likely don’t have a traditional job description. Instead, you manage a portfolio of different projects, initiatives and responsibilities. In addition to your administrative responsibilities, you may also teach and conduct research. Your portfolio can therefore look very different in size, scope and impact compared to the portfolio of other Associate Deans—even within the same college. Additionally, it can grow and shrink over time based on the ever-changing needs and priorities of your college/institution. Because of this, the value of your role—and the impact you can have—can be unclear, unknown, or confusing to many—especially senior leaders. Join us online to learn how to bring greater awareness, understanding, and visibility to your role and relevance as a divisional leader. Alongside your peers, you’ll practice ways to identify, differentiate, and communicate the full scope and impact of your work. Most importantly, you’ll gain confidence in your ability to communicate how your work supports and adds value to the college/institution.

Strengthening the Relationship Between Development and Alumni Relations Teams

Development and alumni relations teams make different yet equally important contributions to meeting institutional advancement goals. However, it can be difficult for these teams to focus on their relationships with one another when they are also focused on meeting different metrics and responding to the various needs of donors and alumni. Taking time to establish a communication plan or strategy for both alumni relations and development teams can be a real challenge amidst the day-to-day upkeep of meeting obligations and competing priorities. Additionally, knowing how to apply this communication strategy to working with other internal campus partners, like academic units, is just as important given their key roles in stewarding volunteers and donors for both units. Join us for this one-day virtual event designed specifically for alumni relations and development teams who would like to strengthen their internal working relationships to improve their success with fundraising, alumni engagement, and other advancement initiatives.

Impact of Repeal: Institutional Responses to the Dobbs Decision

The Supreme Court decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned the longstanding right to abortion established by Roe v. Wade in 1973, and colleges are now faced with determining if and how to respond to the needs expressed by students, faculty, and staff. This program will examine the public responses by several institutions through case studies to better help surface the factors that campuses may need to consider as they determine their approach to this topic.