All sessions are Central Time.
All Friday sessions are at the DePaul Conference Center, 8th Floor, 1 E. Jackson Blvd.
9:00-10:15 a.m. – Breakout Sessions
Email Fundraising + Digital Analytics Bootcamp
Beth Hatcher, Beth Interactive
Auditorium Room 8005
You’ve overcome the “send sweats,” and your email is in inboxes! So what happens next? All about email fundraising, this interactive workshop will cover strategies to take your email communications to the next level—and how to leverage post-campaign engagement data to drive greater giving. We’ll walk you through the latest email fundraising best practices, advanced analytics and A/B testing. We’ll also present case studies on how emails can build a donor pipeline through acquisition and engagement. Finally, we’ll provide practical tools like an email send checklist and library of samples, so that you can begin implementing your new ideas right away. Participants can even get live feedback on their email campaigns, with guidance on copy, design and fundraising strategy! Just send your sample in advance to beth@bethinteractive.com. Join us for this instructive bootcamp—and walk away full of actionable and practical next steps to see real results with your next email campaign.
Playing to the Crowd – Getting the Most Out of Crowdfunding
Ramona Maza, University of Illinois, Chicago
Room 8002
Join UIC’s Ramona Maza and learn about UIC’s Flames Funded crowdfunding platform — including its use for UIC event fundraising. Then, share your own crowdfunding victories and challenges as Ramona will lead a discussion on the latest good ideas and strategies for crowdfunding success.
Gift Processing 101 – A Panel Discussion
Elizabeth Tavares, Loyola University (Moderator), with Bob Rickards, St. Norbert College, and John Taylor
Room 8010
This “audience participation” session will attempt to answer fundamental gift processing and entry questions that have raised concerns for decades! We will begin by asking the audience to list the gift processing issues rearing their ugly heads in day-to-day gift processing. The panel will try to suggest solutions to those conundrums and reflect on national best practices. The panel will also come prepared to discuss various topics, including gift dates, receipt requirements, gift processing metrics, copying/scanning requirements, and recurring giving issues, among others. You are encouraged to email your discussion topics ahead of time if you prefer to be anonymous!
Frontline Fundraising for Introverts
Carol Flanigan, UChicago Booth School of Business
Room 8009
As an introverted annual giving professional, Carol could ask thousands of people at a time for a gift through email, but the thought of asking one person over coffee was terrifying. She thought for years that she “just wasn’t cut out” for frontline fundraising. Until she made the move out from behind mass appeals to one-on-one solicitations, and where she was happy to discover the stereotype of outgoing, charming, schmoozing gift officers was all wrong. The way introverts and extroverts approach their work might look different, but they can both be top-notch fundraisers. You’ll identify those introvert talents and skills that bring fundraising success, and learn how to set up a visit and outreach structure that will lead to meaningful gifts–not burnout. Asking face-to-face might still be a little scary, but it’s a lot easier and more fulfilling with the right mindset. A session for the Quiet and anyone who manages them.
10:15-10:30 a.m. – Break
10:30-11:45 a.m. – Breakout Sessions
Favorites From the 24th Annual Giving Appeal and Idea Exchange
Bob Burdenski
Auditorium Room 8005
For 24 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 3-time CASE Innovations in Annual Giving author Bob Burdenski dump out his bag of BOB (Best of the Bunch) favorites for some of the clever fundraising ideas of the year.
UNICEF’s First-Ever Donor Stewardship Program – How’s It Going One Year In?
Mary Weingartner, UNICEF
Room 8002
At last year’s “Meeting of the Minds,” Mary was new on the job as UNICEF’s first-ever Managing Director of Donor Stewardship, after years in higher education stewardship at the University of Chicago. One year in, how is it going? And what perspectives does Mary have about the similarities, differences and challenges compared with her experiences in education fundraising. A far-ranging discussion featuring UNICEF — one of the nation’s largest non-profit donor populations.
How Do You Do Advancement Services in a Small Shop?
JoHanna Young, Manchester University, and Melissa Mares Stambor, Catholic Charities of Chicago
Room 8010
Has your small advancement shop only gotten smaller? You’re not alone. As budgets get tighter and staff size continues to shrink, the task of simply maintaining a database can become daunting, let alone attempting to innovate and improve. This session will focus on the ways we’ve tackled these challenges, including but not limited to campaign preparation and execution, engagement metrics, prospect management, data updates, annual fund outreach, and financial forecasting.
Finding the Synergy for Annual Giving and Membership
Angie Floyd, University of Missouri, Mizzou Alumni Association
Room 8009
How does this work? How big is your team? How are you speaking to your constituents? These are some of the questions Angie Floyd and her counterpart on the membership side are receiving when they hear that their team of Annual Giving and Membership is combined. If your shop is thinking about this, or you just want to learn more about collaborating with your Alumni Association (or other memberships) team, join me to learn how our team is doing this at the University of Missouri!
11:45-Noon – Break
Noon – 1:00 p.m. – Closing Session
AI, USN&WR, DAFs, VSE, DXOs, LAG and More:
Reviewing the 2023 MMOTM Alphabet Soup
Closing Session with Conference Faculty
Auditorium Room 8005
Join us for a grand finale review of conference sessions, as we share some favorite take-aways, words of wisdom and inspired ideas from this year’s conference. Ask your final questions, and hear some final thoughts.