Agenda

Your registration fee includes full access to all conference sessions and materials, breakfast, lunch, and access to the networking reception on Tuesday, breakfast on Wednesday, as well as refreshments and snacks throughout the conference.

8:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Top donor amounts look different from campus-to-campus, so we will start by taking a comprehensive look at how each institution is defining what it means to be a top donor. Once we have identified who these donors are, we will review how to frame and think about stewardship with intention and thoughtfulness. We’ll look at who is responsible for these efforts on your campus and what it takes to steward these donors in a way that is meaningful to them.

When it comes to stewarding top donors, it is increasingly important that their stewardship plans are unique and personalized with their needs and style in mind. We will begin this process by considering the intentional framework upon which each component is built. We will work through how to structure your stewardship plans and provide an example format for creating a personalized plan.

Now that you have your plan and ideas, we will discuss how you can document data in a way that is accessible and helpful for your organization. Our faculty will present questions that can engage donors and talk about documenting this information in your database so you can strategically track and align their donor experience. We will also discuss ways to pull data for reporting needs more easily.

From invitations to campus events and donor reports, your communication is critical with top donors. Our faculty will talk through examples of effective communication strategies and provide sample communications materials. We will also discuss considerations around frequency and timing of correspondence, as well as providing on-going updates and systemizing institutional happenings. We will provide a sample, discuss timelines, and consider recommendations for outreach and following up.

In this working session, we will build upon what you’ve learned from the previous session. This is an opportunity for our experts to offer feedback and suggestions around the samples you bring to the conference, as well as current publications and donor correspondence coming from your office.

Recognizing and engaging your donors is all about the details that “wow” and inspire. Our faculty will talk through the importance of providing intentional opportunities for donors to engage and being thoughtful about the ways donors are recognized. You'll receive examples of how to acknowledge and engage your donors at the highest level, including but not limited to: volunteerism, tokens of appreciation, giving societies, and more.

This informal reception is your chance to decompress, have some refreshments on us, and expand your network of connections. Our programs are intentionally designed for smaller groups, so this is a great time to catch-up with attendees and speakers whom you may not have connected with yet.

8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

During this working session you will have the opportunity to create a personalized stewardship plan for a donor of your choice, based on what you’ve learned so far. You will have the chance to receive consultation and personalized advice from our expert panel.

Now that you have your plan, and it has been added to your database, we will discuss how you can measure success in a way that is accessible and helpful for your organization. Our faculty will talk through ways to tell the story of your metrics and measure the work you and your team are doing around individualized stewardship.
 

12:30 – 3:30 p.m.

Your registration fee includes the post-conference workshop and materials, lunch on Wednesday, as well as refreshments.

Setting a vision and strategy for how to honor your most important donors is a great starting place, but without the ability to partner and collaborate, even the best laid plans can fail. In this post-conference workshop, our faculty will talk about positioning yourself as an ally and partnering with gift officers to make this work successful. You will have time to think through critical next steps in your stewardship plan developed during the conference, learn how to prioritize relationships, and avoid common pitfalls.