Here are NEAGC’s sessions for Tuesday, May 25th. All times are Eastern.
Use the RSVP links for the sessions you’d like to attend if:
1) You were registered for the 2020 conference, or…
2) You work at the same institution with someone who registered in 2020, or…
3) You work at an institution that’s registered for the 2021 conference. (Your institution can register here.)
You must use your personal work email address to be approved and checked in. Note that recordings for all sessions will be available after the conference. Do not register for more than one session scheduled at the same time. You’ll receive an email confirmation with joining instructions for each session.
And don’t forget to sign up for our bonus sponsor demo sessions on Wednesday and Thursday, May 26-27.
9:00-9:45 a.m.
Creating Your Giving Day in a Small Shop
Stacey Scherer Cole, Alvernia University
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Creating a giving day can seem daunting when you’re a team of one, or even two. We’ll walk through how to develop a new giving day or elevate an existing day with a small team by utilizing other staff members, departments and volunteers.
Social Advertising for Annual Giving that WORKS!
Stephanie Rasamny, MainSpring Media Communications, Inc.
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Impressions, reach, traffic, engagements, retweets, InMail, Gmail promos, retargets, keyword targets, pixels and tags – social media advertising can feel a bit like opening Pandora’s box for an annual giving shop tasked to raise immediate donors and dollars. In this session, we’ll discuss social media advertising that will work for you. Together we’ll review case studies of annual giving ad campaigns and how they generated results. You will leave the session with valuable takeaways to create successful, cost-effective ad campaigns for your institution!
The Rise and (Pit)Falls of Incentives
Colin Hennessy and Megan Rajski, University of Chicago, Julie Knight, University of Miami
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The use of “give a gift, get a gift” has been used world-wide to attract donors. Through acquisition, renewal or re-hooking the long lapsed, these tools are often talked about in small circles. Whether it be socks, a calendar, PJ pants or a re-usable straw – these carrots have a point of activation for our donors who are both philanthropic in nature and those who perhaps like rewards for that behavior. But when is the best time to use them? What are some potential wins and risks in offering them to your donor base? How do you fulfill those and how successful are they YOY? This panel of development professionals who have used them in varying degrees want to share their secrets and experience – and hear yours! – in this facilitated discussion.
Balancing Engagement and Giving to Build a Culture of Philanthropy
Meg Peake, George School and Elizabeth Schwartz, George School
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What do you do when your culture of affinity does not match your culture of giving? How do you stay focused on the long-term goal of cultural shift while making the necessary incremental adjustments to get there? In this session, we will share the challenges, changes, and cultural shifts occurring at George School in our quest to increase alumni engagement and giving in the long term.
10:00-10:45 a.m.
Increasing Young Alumni Participation
Meghana Nene Golden, The Lawrenceville School
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This session will highlight various strategies surrounding Young Alumni communication, technology tools and events, which help increase annual giving participation for this critical constituency.
Direct Mail Recipes – Add Spice to All Your Channels
Christina Brandel, CFRE, Marketing Communication Resource, Inc.
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Stuck in an appeal rut? Want to spice things up but can’t seem to find the right recipe that pulls in all your favorite channels? Join in a conversation about how to use your favorite “ingredients” to spice up all your appeals.
Video Engagement Examples to Inspire (and Steal!)
JD Beebe, ThankView
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Video content is far and away the best way to reach your donors and build a culture of philanthropy. But where do you start when implementing video into your communications? Join ThankView CEO JD Beebe as he explores how video is being harnessed by institutions across the country to tell better stories, make acknowledgments more meaningful, and retain more donors. Learn from what’s worked and find what will work for you with actionable next steps to supercharge your donor engagement.
Utilizing data to identify strengths and weaknesses in your program
Paul Muite, Stony Brook University
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In this session we will discuss metrics that can help you identify opportunities to grow your annual programs.
11:00-11:45 a.m.
Texting 101
Emma Barnes O’Neill, Blair Academy
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Incorporating texting into your overall fundraising and engagement strategy.
Enhancing Your Social Advocate Engagement Strategy
Gloria Goosby, Furman University
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In this session, we will explore examples of how various institutions keep social advocates/social ambassadors engaged throughout the fiscal year and share how Furman University enhanced its social advocates recruitment and engagement efforts for giving day.
Engaging Your Organization’s Leadership in the Annual Fund by Merging Metrics and Mission
Stacey Grady, Springbrook
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This presentation will cover best practices in reporting annual fund metrics to your organization’s leadership. We’ll begin with a brief history of Springbrook and The Springbrook Foundation. Then we will cover the engagement nuts and bolts of “Who, Why, What, and How” using The Springbrook Foundation as a case study. “Who” will define the stakeholders that need to see your annual fund reports. “Why” digs into understanding your leadership audience’s needs, expectations, and basic governance requirements. “What” details the key points that should be communicated in annual fund reporting. These include not just what the report is comprised of (statistics), but how you’ve accomplished your goals (solicitations, events, etc.) and how they’ve advanced your mission. “How” will present ideas on how to make your annual fund report visually accessible, as well as how to present accompanying contextual information. Effective annual fund reporting requires an understanding of your audience and an awareness that stakeholders (who may not come from the fundraising world) may need help to efficiently interpret your report. Lastly, we will open the floor for a discussion where attendees can share victories and roadblocks in their journeys to successful AF reporting.
Boosting Athletics Community Engagement to Increase Giving
Connor Forde, BoostMySchool and Caroline Golja, Saint Joseph’s College of Maine
Watch a video preview of this session.
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Join this dynamic session where you will hear first-hand from Saint Joseph’s College of Maine on how they saw a measurable increase in athletics fundraising through a strategic focus on community engagement during the pandemic. Their SJC Monk campaign achieved a level of success that even got coaches excited to fundraise! In addition, listen to how the SJC advancement team uses their centralized fundraising platform to manage stewardship processes with the athletics department.
1:00-1:45 p.m.
Making the Call…The New World of Phonathons
Angie Myers, LEAD, and Keegan Myers, Kutztown University Foundation & Alumni Relations, Associate Director of Annual Giving
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The pandemic has changed many aspects of our lives for the foreseeable future. Throughout this session, we will explore Phonathons and the new world they can bring to your advancement office. Through remote calling and other technology options, Phonathons are now tasked with increasing stewardship outreach, care calls, texting, emails, and overall moves management practices.
Armed with stories to share and expressions of interest to be relayed, your typical student caller now becomes your school’s ambassador – able to walk donors down memory lane and show how your school is just as relevant today as it once was in the past.
Tell Us About Your Job Title – Today’s Annual Giving Skill Set
Bob Burdenski, Robert Burdenski Annual Giving and Nkiruka (Nky) McGinnis, PhD, Towson University
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Ever wonder what an annual giving fundraiser does in their particular job role? Join Bob and Nky and a bunch of their colleagues — all with some distinctive job titles. Annual giving data analyst? Student engagement center manager? Digital experience officer? Director of participation? Audience development specialist? Director of pipeline programs? They’re all great job titles – and may reflect some skills missing in your own annual giving program. Bob and Nky will interrogate a group about what they do, how they do it, and how their role brings value to their institutions.
Virtual International Programming: Pivoting in the Pandemic
Alexandra Washington, The George Washington University
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International alumni programming was easily reimagined for the virtual world we found ourselves in last Spring, but uniting our networks for a common goal has proved a bit more challenging. Learn how GW has begun taking steps to unite their international alumni networks to develop more cohesive strategic engagement plan for the future.
Engaging New Generations: Characteristics & Strategies to Prepare for What’s Next
Felicity Meu and Seth Newman, GiveCampus
Watch a preview of this session!
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In recent years, Millennials became the largest generation in the U.S. labor force and “Generation Z” -those born after 1996- began graduating from college. This generation’s “coming of age” has led to a widespread decline in alumni participation and few institutions have escaped these trends, giving rise to concerns about a potential “lost generation” of future major donors.There is reason to be optimistic, however. People born after 1980 will be the beneficiaries of the largest transfer of wealth in human history. Their purchasing power, which already stands in the hundreds of billions of dollars, will steadily increase as more of them enter their peak earning years and according to numerous surveys and studies, between 80% and 90% of Millennials give to charitable organizations each year.The presenters will share a series of high net worth millennial donor personas developed while Felicity served as a consultant at Stanford’s Effective Philanthropy. Based on these personas the presenters will share actionable tactics to increase this population’s philanthropic engagement.
2:00-2:45 p.m.
An Annual Giving “Last Call” Forum
Cameron J. Hall, Texas Tech University
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Join Cameron and other fellow annual giving experts for a catch-all annual giving chat. Get a chance to ask all of your unanswered questions!
Shake Up Your Giving Day: Keeping Ideas Fresh and Donors Engaged
Emma Rowan, Shawna Hanley, and Julia Judson-Rea, William Penn Charter School
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Penn Charter just completed its 6th annual interactive giving day, Great Day to Be a Quaker, and over the years has navigated everything from snow delays to competing events to school closing due to a global pandemic (yes, Great Day 2020 was on March 12th). Emma Rowan and Julia Judson-Rea share how they have developed new ideas each year and turned challenges into opportunities to keep both on-campus and virtual audiences participating in the day.
A Dozen Essential Annual Giving Innovations from the Past Pandemic Year
Bob Burdenski, Robert Burdenski Annual Giving
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CASE Laureate Bob Burdenski has chaired Zoom conferences, moderated Zoom forums, seen a lot of samples and had a front-row seat to see who pushed the virtual envelope this past year. Come and see a quick rundown with clips and commentary of his favorite pivots and smart ideas – and hear his predictions about what’s going to remain a part of an annual giving fundraising program for good.
The Fun Stuff, The Money Stuff, The Other Stuff of Panthers Forward
Sarah Webb, University of Pittsburgh
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Panthers Forward is a creative program that addresses young alumni giving and young alumni engagement at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt). As a 2018 signature initiative, Panthers Forward is part of Pitt’s Alumni Annual Giving department and utilizes data and research to enhance and develop young alumni engagement and philanthropy. Please join Sarah Webb, Director of Panthers Forward, as she shares specifics on this innovative pilot program, which focuses on young alumni, and reviews how the findings from newly released research impacts the program’s success.
3:00-4:15 p.m.
Closing Session:
Presentation of the Diane Thompson Award recognizing Angie Myers
Closing Keynote Session:
DEI Fundraising and Stewardship: Engaging Diverse Donors for Growth, Impact and Change
Tarsha Calloway, The Woodruff Arts Center (Moderator) | Rachel Vassel, Syracuse University | Zuleika Johnson, El Pomar Foundation | Clarybel Peguero, Duke Alumni Association | Karen Hamilton, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
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As non-profits and institutions of higher learning look to increase new donors, working to increase engagement with diverse populations is key. A panel of multicultural female leaders discuss the engagement tactics that have worked within their organizations, including targeted programs, culturally relevant giving opportunities, volunteer recruitment, stewardship and recognition. Increase your organization’s fundraising efforts by building stronger relationships with diverse donors using timely and impactful strategies from these pros.