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Connecting Values to the Gift: Strategies to Incorporate Families into Your Fundraising Goals

Pullquote Overview 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.   Who Should Attend This training is for advancement professionals who want to […]

The Role of Philanthropic Conversations in Families

Bring institutional initiatives into your philanthropic conversations with families. Overview Transferring values, not just dollars, is the essence of philanthropic conversations in families. These conversations rarely occur with families who have the actual capacity to give, however. Whether your alumnus identifies as middle-class or is part of a family with a long-storied history with your institution, cultivating conversation among their closest familial ties is often the missing link when developing strong and sincere relationships with multiple generations. Join us in this first of a three-session series on family giving. In this training, you will gain insights into the role of philanthropic conversations within families and why it is important to bring institutional values into the familial relationships you’re stewarding.   Who Should Attend This training is for major and principal gift officers who want to build deeper relationships with the families they are working with in their institutional fundraising goals. If you’re a vice president of advancement or an academic leader, this program will also contribute to your knowledge of how to improve upon your institution’s relationships with families who have a history of giving. Recording available 10 business days after the live training. The Academic Impressions Online Learning Experience […]

Effective Donor Cultivation Strategies for Academic Deans

Approach donor relationships with a focused engagement strategy. Overview Donor cultivation is a critical element of sustainable fundraising practices. Academic deans must employ strategies that are aligned with the donor’s personality, values, and philanthropic outlook to meaningfully develop the donor relationship. Without this intentional approach to donor cultivation, less strategic fundraising strategies may cause a dean to fail to build a relationship with a donor that would allow them to contribute through the institution in a way that is aligned with how they want to impact the world. Join us for this one-hour training to learn how to use specific strategies to foster relationships with your donors in individualized ways. You will identify the key principles of donor cultivation, learn what to listen for in donor conversations, and consider different methods of donor engagement while working through real-world donor scenarios.   Who Should Attend This training is designed for academic deans looking to improve their approach to working with donors. Members of a dean’s leadership team, including associate and assistant deans or center directors, may also benefit from this training. Development officers who work in partnership with academic leaders are also encouraged to attend. AGENDA September 21, 2023 12:00 p.m. […]

Building Communities of Practice: Extended Orientation and Development Programs for Campus Leaders

Impart new leaders with a clear sense of how to be successful in their role and at the institution. Overview    At this time of continued transition in higher education, institutions are regularly welcoming new leaders at all levels. Many institutions do not have well-developed, intentional practices for to fully onboarding new leaders in ways that will help them understand the culture, complexity, and wide range of responsibilities and expectations of their position. Additionally, many leaders are relatively isolated in their roles from a wide-ranging support network across their campus community. Developing a program that will impart new leaders with a clear sense of how to be successful in their role and at the institution, share resources that will support their transition, and provide intentional opportunities to build relationships can supplement what any one specific department or area is able to provide to ensure success for the new leaders on campus. Join us to learn how creating extended orientation and development programs can shorten transition periods and set a strong foundation for success. Using the Virginia Tech Academic Leaders Program and New Senior Leader Cohort as models, we will explore essential programmatic elements, learn how to make the case for such […]

Maintaining Collaborative Momentum After Securing a Transformational Gift

Extend the impact of a transformational gift by thoughtfully engaging internal and external stakeholders. Overview Identifying and cultivating a major donor whose personal beliefs and philanthropic vision align with institutional purpose is no small task, and securing a transformational gift from such a donor is a significant accomplishment for an institution. Not only can such a gift transform the lives of current and future students, but it should also shift the ways in which the advancement shop engages with campus partners, the donor themselves, and alumni and other potential donors. Using her experience with Western Michigan University’s Empowering Futures Gift, Kristen DeVries, Vice President and Executive Director of WMU Foundation, will share how a transformational gift can motivate additional alumni and donor engagement. In this two-hour training, you will consider how to establish clear internal processes and communication methods that will allow you to use momentum from a transformational gift to inspire others to contribute to historic institutional change.   Who Should Attend This training is primarily designed for principal and major gift officers who may be cultivating major donors and are looking to plan for steps after a gift has been committed. Additionally, marketing and communication staff who craft […]

Bridging the Equity Gap in Higher Education

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Cultivating and Stewarding Transformational Donors: A Conversation with Vice Presidents

Identify deeper insights from conversations with ultra-high-net-worth prospects and donors. Overview Identifying key insights from casual but meaningful conversations with transformational donors can lead to strong relationships that provide your institution with the support it needs for generations to come. These conversations don’t always come easy. In fact, they often encompass their own unique challenges, depending on the type of donor you’re speaking to, the campus partners joining the conversation, and how well their donor experience has gone. To overcome the potential challenges within these conversations, there are phases of cultivation and stewardship in which you can become more fluent over time, such as: Letting the donor get their personal story on the table. Creating an institutional opportunity for the donor where they would feel proud to give. Knowing the right partners whom the donor trusts that you can bring into the fold. Join us in this panel conversation with Vice Presidents of Advancement, Dexter Bailey of California Institute of Technology, and Kristen DeVries of Western Michigan University Foundation, alongside Mitchell Spearmen, Founder and Dreamer of Gifts of a Lifetime, to discuss how they have approached conversations with ultra-high-net-worth families. You will have the opportunity to ask questions to help […]

Encore and Live Q&A: Bridging the Process Gap for Major Gifts Between Advancement Services and Frontline Fundraising

Develop an efficient process to ensure that your major gifts receive proper institutional placement and acknowledgment. Overview When your institution receives a major gift, whether in the form of one single gift or through a multi-year pledge, it is important to manage that gift accurately. This includes placing the gift in its appropriate account on campus, ensuring that pledge reminders are sent out and payment secured in a timely manner, and that the donation is used according to donor intent. However, when frontline fundraisers introduce new gifts, the institutional destination and purpose of the gift can get lost in translation as it makes its way to advancement services for processing. Therefore, it is vital to ensure that the processes between advancement services and frontline fundraising are sound, and that communication is consistent to prevent circumstances that can lead to loss in revenue, missed pledges, or money spent incorrectly. Join us for this online training to learn how the University of Utah created a new position to specifically address these common problems within advancement. This session will help your shop to identify and scale your current process by adopting some of Utah’s best practices to better streamline communication across these two […]