Here are NEAGC’s sessions for Wednesday, March 18th.
All times are Eastern.
Download an at-a-glance conference schedule.
8:00-9:30 a.m. – Registration and Breakfast
Registration
The registration table is located in the Gerrish/Judge Lobby (where sponsor tables and breaks are also located).
Breakfast
A hot breakfast is available in the Callahan Dining Hall from 8-9:15 a.m. The Callahan Dining Hall is is in the Callahan Center building adjacent to the Gerrish/Judge Lobby.
9:30-11:45 a.m. Conference Opening Plenary Sessions
Cleary Lecture Hall, Hempstead Commons
Conference Opening Welcome Session:
All The Sessions You Don’t Want To Miss… Welcome, Introductions and a Celebration of 23 Years of NEAGC
Bob Burdenski, Host, With a Welcome From Patrick Hewett, Vice President, Institutional Advancement, Endicott College
We launch the 23rd-annual Northeast Annual Giving Conference with a festive welcome, some conference memories, and a rapid-fire rundown of their favorite annual giving conference sessions and speakers to follow. Join Skylar and Bob as they provide a preview of the great conference sessions to come, and hear a special welcome from our sponsors.
Presentation of the 2026 Diane Thompson Award
Presented to Sylvia R. Racca, Dartmouth College
The Diane Thompson Award is an annual award presented to an annual giving professional who, in the opinion of the Northeast Annual Giving Conference Committee, has exhibited excellence in annual giving practice and commitment to the profession. First presented in 2015, the award is named after Diane Thompson, a founder of the Northeast Annual Giving Conference back in 2003.
Giving Days – Past… and Future? A Conversation With Sylvia Racca
Sylvia Racca, Dartmouth College
Twenty years ago in 2006, eight years before the first Giving Tuesday and well before anyone had a giving day (or platform), Sylvia Racca at Dartmouth College launched an “April Challenge” to motivate alumni giving. It was one of the first short-term “challenge” fundraising appeals that used the energy of real-time immediacy. Featuring email messages, “internet giving” and some new “social media” fundraising channels, the April Challenge attracted 4,000 donors in a month, along with $400,000 in matching funds from five alumni donors. The results she collected, reported to constituents each Monday morning and showing the day-by-day growing numbers of gifts and enthusiasm for achieving the April Challenge goal, had not been seen before in education fundraising. (Mostly just on-the-air at PBS.) It’s an origin story for what would become the giving day – an idea that remains a fundraising engine for many annual giving programs. (She’s even a chapter in the CASE book “Online Innovations in Annual Giving.”) Today, Sylvia is in her 23rd year as Executive Director, The Dartmouth College Fund. Join us for a chat about the beginnings of giving days, how they’ve evolved in the years since, and what she sees for the future of giving days.
Noon-1:30 p.m. – Lunch in the Callahan Dining Hall
Join your conference colleagues for lunch in the Callahan Dining Hall, a short walk from the Cleary Auditorium in the Callahan Center.
1:30-2:45 p.m. – Breakout Sessions #1
Leadership Annual Giving:
Dartmouth’s Major Gift Program Within an Annual Giving Program
Mark W. Harris and Jennifer Atkinson Dartmouth College
Join Mark and Jennifer to hear about Dartmouth’s leadership annual giving “major gifts program within an annual giving program.” They’ll talk about elements including Dartmouth’s Centennial Circle, reunion and class giving, women in philanthropy, parent and family giving, and their use of volunteers. What elements of Dartmouth’s program are scalable and transferable to your shop, and what’s their best advice for growing your annual giving pipeline? Join them for an inside look at one of the best leadership annual giving programs in the country.
Faculty. Staff and Employee Giving Campaigns
Vicky Cedeño, John Muir Health Foundation and Julie Phillips, Holyoke Community College
This faculty and staff fundraising forum will discuss how to bring together internal campus partners to explore how collaboration, storytelling, and shared purpose can inspire their philanthropic support. Bring your ideas, real-world examples, and practical strategies for engaging employee donors in ways that resonate. How can faculty and staff play a meaningful role in fundraising efforts—helping to inspire giving, build trust, and advance the institution’s mission together?
The Light at the End of the Tunnel: Transitioning Software, Platforms and More
Kellie Sullivan, Boston University
Technology transitions are inevitable — but for annual giving teams, they can feel overwhelming. Whether implementing a new CRM, onboarding texting, migrating online giving platforms, change impacts workflows, culture, performance, and morale. This session explores how leaders and individuals can successfully work through software and technology transitions without losing momentum, data integrity, or your own sanity. Rather than focusing solely on technical implementation, we’ll examine the human side of change: building buy-in, managing resistance, protecting campaign performance, and turning disruption into opportunity. The session will have practical examples, resources, and ideas from team members who themselves have worked through technology transitions and onboarding.
Increasing ROI Through Data Modeling, Direct Mail, and Digital Marketing
Ryan Talbert and Allison Shore, Excalibur Direct Marketing
This interactive discussion will focus on developing a deeper understanding of your data to help impact your Annual Giving campaigns. It will include a review of the benefits of Data Modeling, and how to directly target your most likely donor matches from your current lists.
2:45-3:00 p.m. – Break
3:00-4:15 p.m. – Breakout Sessions #2
An Annual Giving Directors’ Forum: Participation, Pipelines, and Pivots
Amanda Tsapartsaris, Endicott College, Liza Boffen-Yordanov, Girl Scouts of the USA, Kellie Sullivan, Boston University with (host) Kathy Howrigan
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.
A Leadership Annual Giving Forum – All About the Pipeline
Joe Castaldi, The College of the Holy Cross
A discussion all about leadership annual giving programs, with an overview of the elements of the College of the Holy Cross leadership annual giving program. Topics will include face-to-face fundraising strategies. alumni, class and reunion leadership giving strategies and giving societies.
Direct Mail Still Delivers
Matt Sulzer, MCR
Direct mail remains the primary driver of donors and dollars for most annual giving programs. Join MCR for an interactive session that explores classic best direct mail performers, as well as cutting-edge ideas to get your mail opened, read and churning results. Together we’ll dive into:
◾ Audience Styling – unique campaign packaging, creative marketing, as well as eye-popping designs and copy for your core segments
– Leadership
– Renewal/Retention
– Acquisition
◾ Priming & Timing – connect your message with other channel
– Giving Days
– Donor Journeys
◾ Ask Strategies – when, where and how much to ask
Unlocking Revenue Through Interest-Based Engagement
Rebecca Scott, Tufts University, Rachel Riani, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, Rob Lewis, Friedman School of Nutrition, Science and Policy at Tufts University and Elyse Wallnutt, Agility Lab Consulting
If you work for an educational institution, alumni aren’t your only potential supporters — and in this session, you’ll discover how to identify, cultivate, and convert mission-aligned non-alumni audiences into donors using interest-based digital engagement strategies. Through real-world case studies from Tufts University’s Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine and the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, we’ll explore how interest-driven messaging, website optimization, and email onboarding can expand your donor pipeline and increase digital giving. From integrating tools that segment audiences according to their passion areas to rethinking calls to action based on audience psychology, this session will leave you with a replicable approach to identifying and activating new revenue opportunities.
4:30-6:00 p.m. – Drinks Reception at Tupper Manor Sponsored by MCR
Join us on Wednesday after a day of sessions for complimentary nibbles and drinks at Tupper Manor on the campus of Endicott College, just a short walk from the conference sessions. (Parking available too.) Thank you to MCR for their sponsorship.
