We’ll have more than 30 sessions, so check back for additional sessions, session descriptions and the complete schedule. Speakers are unlikely to change – but they might.
An Introduction to Annual Giving and the Northeast Annual Giving Conference
(Monday Morning Pre-Conference Workshop)
Bob Burdenski
There’s a special FREE preconference workshop on Monday morning featuring CASE Laureate and CASE Innovations in Annual Giving author Bob Burdenski teaching a special “Introduction to Annual Giving… and NEAGC” workshop. This pre-conference program is FREE, but is a bonus session only for those attendees coming in-person to NEAGC in Baltimore. We’ll talk about the evolving goals, methods, channels, messages, metrics — and the very idea of “annual giving” itself. Pack up your newbies (or your “oldbies” in need of a refresh)!
Annual Giving Branding and Identity – The RhodyNow Story
John Garcia, and Austen Farrell, University of Rhode Island (URI) Foundation
Session description to follow.
An Annual Giving Directors’ Forum: Participation, Pipelines, and Pivots
Jake Strang, University of Pittsburgh with Christine Riendeau, College of the Holy Cross, Amanda Lazarus, Brown University, Gina Simonelli, University of Rhode Island and Nora Marzocchi, Bryant University
From participation, to pipeline? From socks, to more sustained stewardship? From alumni, to other audiences? And what of AI? We’ll talk about CASE’s Alumni Engagement Metrics, the continuing value of a broad base of giving (including capital campaign participation goals), and what it all means for a variety of educational institutions.
DEIB and Affinity Scholarships
Alyssia Coates, Ph.D., Brown University
Session description to follow.
Direct Mail: 5 Things You Should be Testing
Sara Pond and Matt Sulzer, MCR
Testing, testing 1, 2, 3… Are you testing your direct mail approach? Join MCR to learn 5 things you should test, how to perform a quality test, and lessons learned from client results – plus, view a smorgasbord of direct mail samples! Implementing these elements into your upcoming campaign will reveal insights about your audience, identify donor patterns and help you develop a sound fundraising strategy.
Favorites From the 25th-Anniversary Annual Giving Appeal and Idea Exchange
Bob Burdenski, Robert Burdenski Annual Giving
For 25 years, Bob Burdenski has hosted an annual exchange where hundreds of institutions share thousands of annual giving innovations, ideas and success stories. Awesome appeals, terrific technologies, dynamic discoveries and marvelous messages. It was a great year of pushing the envelope in direct mail, digital and beyond. Come and see CASE Innovations in Annual Giving author Bob Burdenski dump out his bag of BOB (Best of the Bunch) favorites for some of the clever and successful fundraising ideas of the year.
Filling the Funnel: Engagement Centers and DXO Strategies
Emily Etzkorn, VanillaSoft
From unaware to loyal giver, your constituents travel a journey to becoming a donor. It’s your role to make sure they land in a place that can answer their questions, support their connection to your institution, and nurture that relationship. Join VanillaSoft Fundraising Evangelist Emily Etzkorn for this session, and dive into the idea that your Engagement Center can and should be playing a crucial role in not just finding one-time donors, but also filling your DXO funnel and helping each and every donor land in the correct place at your organization. Discuss donor loyalty and pipeline development, strategies for leveraging your Engagement Center alongside your DXO program, and more!
Generative AI: What Does It Mean for Fundraising… and For Me?
Sean Devendorf, Tufts University and Mike Nagel, Evertrue
Generative AI — the technology that powers platforms like ChatGPT, CoPilot, and Gemini — is experiencing explosive growth. And it’s projected to grow even more (10x by 2030). For many, this new technology designed to create content is their first hands-on experience with AI. And it’s their first time encountering how AI will transform how we live, work, and fundraise. In this interactive workshop, we’ll talk about the rise of AI, help attendees understand generative AI and large language models, and discuss data protection and privacy. We’ll then spend time in an interactive prompt engineering workshop, showing how generative AI can increase efficiency, generate ideas, and become a part of your daily work. Every participant will walk away with the skills and knowledge to use these platforms in their work and personal lives.
A Giving Day Forum
Amanda Tsapatsaris, Endicott College and Meg Cummins, Bryant University
Session description to follow.
High Impact, Low Touch: Redesigning Your Annual Fund with Giving Loops
Holman Gao, Boost My School
As an annual fund leader, balancing broad participation with major gift cultivation can feel like an impossible trade-off. What if there was a way to grow both without overextending yourself? Join Mayfield Senior School and Boost My School for this session where you’ll learn how to design a peer-led giving model that energizes your community. By driving participation through donor-to-donor outreach, you’ll not only increase engagement but also create a foundation of support that makes major donors more willing to invest in your school. We’ll guide you step-by-step through spreading initiatives across the calendar, encouraging peer-led giving, and reducing the day-to-day demands of participation campaigns. Walk away with a clear roadmap to achieve sustainable growth while freeing time to focus on transformational gifts.
An Independent Schools Forum
Skylar Beaver, The Lawrenceville School
Join Skylar for a forum session devoted to independent schools. Bring your questions, answers, challenges and solutions to this open discussion session.
The Integration of Engagement Data and Prospecting
Gina Simonelli and Kira Mudd, University of Rhode Island
Session description to follow.
Let’s Get Digital: Introducing & Capitalizing on Digital Fundraising Strategies
Daniel Burgner, The George Washington University
This practical session is designed for fundraising professionals ready to take their digital efforts to the next level. Presented by the Assistant Vice President of Annual Giving at George Washington University, this session draws from GW’s hands-on experience in implementing and refining digital strategies that engage and retain donors. Attendees will explore a powerful toolkit of tactics—from organic and paid social media ads to targeted video content, dynamic email segmentation, and personalized online giving pages—that turn digital communication into a full donor journey. Whether you’re looking to boost your online presence, maximize ad budgets, or create meaningful post-gift touchpoints, this session will provide actionable insights and real-world examples to help you build a sustainable, digital-forward fundraising model. Join us to learn, strategize, and get inspired by the future of digital fundraising!
Leveraging Loyalty and Leadership: A Look into Five Giving Society Programs
Dominique Marcial-Clark, The Lawrenceville School
How are we celebrating, recognizing, and retaining our dedicated donors? Join The Lawrenceville School’s Associate Director of The Lawrenceville Fund to discuss how they group and interact with donors based on their giving behaviors. From participation to major gifts to women in philanthropy, The Lawrenceville School wants to ensure it is meeting donors where they are to foster long standing relationships through giving society recognition.
Managing a Volunteer Peer-to-Peer Leadership Giving Society
Yoni Sunshine and Nadia Baum, Brown University
Session description to follow.
Raise the Sails: Jumpstarting Your Student Philanthropy Program
Letitia Evans, Elizabeth City State University
Session description to follow.
The Reunion Giving Playbook – A Class-Based Fundraising Forum
Heather Gelardi, College of the Holy Cross and Lane Sulzer, Vassar College
The College of the Holy Cross and Vassar College have highly effective class-based fundraising and reunion giving programs. Hear from Heather and Lane about how they manage them. Should you be looking into class-based fundraising at your institution? Are their methods and strategies scalable to your shop? Do you have any of your own success stories to share? Bring your question and solutions, successes and challenges to this forum on reunion and class-based fundraising.
A Small Shop Forum
Christopher Chambers, SUNY Canton
Are you a one-person annual giving shop? Are you <1? Join Chis for a little therapy and a lot of shared ideas on how to leverage your work, scale the solutions, work with third-party resources and accomplish annual giving goals when the “team” is you.
Sustaining the Spark: Reinvigorating and Growing Giving Days for Long-Term Success
Nora Marzocchi and Meg Cummins, Bryant University
At Bryant University, Giving Days have become pivotal moments to unite the community, inspire generosity, and celebrate a shared mission. But staying relevant and impactful year after year requires innovation and strategic growth. In this session, Nora and Meg will share insights drawn from their experiences at Bryant, highlighting the strategies they’ve used to keep a campaign fresh and effective. From expanding participation and increasing annual donations to fostering deeper major donor connections, you’ll learn actionable steps and creative ideas to ensure your Giving Day not only thrives but grows stronger each year.
Talk the Talk: Training Your Team Through Every Part of the Gift Cycle
Amanda Talbot, Brown University
In this session, hear about the process in which Brown University has piloted a training program for their front-line Annual Fund fundraisers. Want to try it out yourself? Experience hands-on practice qualifying, soliciting or stewarding your peers.
Why is AI All Up In Your Business?
Felicity Meu, GiveCampus
AI is everywhere, in every industry, and it’s actually been a part of our daily lives for years. Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Face ID, Netflix’s movie recommendations, and Gmail’s spam filter all use AI to–at least in theory–make our lives easier and better. But what does it mean for you as an advancement professional? After all, cultivating an authentic, personal relationship is key to getting someone to give, so how exactly can AI help? Discover how to leverage this emerging technology while preserving and enhancing the most important aspect of the work you do—meaningful human-to-human engagement.
In this session, participants will learn:
• Why advancement teams should care about Artificial Intelligence
• The opportunities and challenges of this technology in the fundraising space
• Practical ways to start leveraging AI in order to reclaim your most precious resource—time.
Join Felicity as she discusses the opportunities and challenges posed by AI and how to effectively leverage this powerful tool today.
From 0 to 43 Student Organizations:
Building Your Crowdfunding Campaign From the Ground Up!
Shannon Wood, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth
In October 2024, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth launched a brand new initiative – the inaugural Registered Student Organization Crowdfunding Campaign. In collaboration with the Office of Student Affairs, this campaign was a remarkable accomplishment with 43 student organizations participating. Aside from total donors and dollars raised, the effort was successful in many unexpected ways; engaging students in philanthropy, gathering updated contact information and bolstering on campus relationships. Join Shannon Wood, Director of Annual Giving at UMass Dartmouth as she shares her story and best practices on building a student crowdfunding campaign from the ground up by securing campus partnerships and supporters, setting expectations, communicating clearly with students, and thinking creatively in soliciting alumni, friends, community members and more. This session is perfect for schools new to crowdfunding, or those looking to expand on their successes!