It’s a brand a new year, a fresh start and an opportunity to find (or re-find!) the purpose that drives our work. We are dedicating 2022 to working holistically – from defining our teams’ ultimate vision, setting corresponding strategy, and translating that down into tactics. All of this specifically designed to get us out of reactionary mode, work smarter not harder, design more effective shops, impact more donors, and ultimately affect the fundraising bottom line. Join us as we ring in the new year with a powerful discussion on finding purpose in our day to day work, defining boundaries, and designing shops and teams that are highly effective and donor-centric. 

Learning Outcomes:

1. Learn how to identify your team’s most pressing strategic needs

2. Learn how to complete a donor experience matrix and use tool as a strategic guide in business planning

3. Explore how to evaluate the ROI and purpose of current initiatives

V-I-D-E-O! It’s all we hear about! Create it, use it, repurpose it! But no matter how much we want and know we need to incorporate video into our donor engagement strategy, it can be daunting to know where to start, how to capture the best content, and where and when to the use the medium for maximum return on investment. Join Lynne as she walks you through the very best video strategies (timing, scripting, platforms, theming, and more!) designed to give you maximum impact, without requiring maximum staff and budget. You are guaranteed to glean many bite-size tactics that you can deploy right away to your most critical donor audiences. We call that a WIN!
 

Learning Outcomes:

1. Learn how to craft an overarching video strategy that fits your budget and staff needs

2. Develop 3-5 immediate tactics that will allow you to deploy video quickly

We all have them…those special events that have been taking place for years simply because someone “likes it”, “it’s always been done that way”, the “donors would be upset if we didn’t have it”. It’s time the event was retired and the ineffectual, non-strategic drain on resources moved off into the sunset. But how do we make the case for this change? Join us for a deep dive into how to develop and track not just anecdotal, but empirical, evidence on the impact of special events to your organization’s overall fundraising priorities. We will explore topics such as pre- and post-event expectations, key data reports, partner collaboration, internal and external surveys, and many other topics! It will be a full hour and you will be guaranteed to eliminate at least one of your “special” events by the end!

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Learning Outcomes:

1. Identify key data reports to track event metrics

2. Review survey samples and questions for attendees and non-attendees

Acknowledgment Nirvana: Hitting the Height of Thank You Perfection

Aside from tax receipts, acknowledgment (or thank you) letters are the bedrock of our work. They must happen, but in an efficient, personalized, and meaningful manner – no small fete no matter the size of your shop or level of resources! Every year we tackle this crucial topic because it continues to elude even the best of us. Join us for a packed hour-long session on acknowledgment best practices, samples from across the world, and a long list of tips and tricks to help you get your acknowledgements in order. We will discuss optimal length, salutations, leveling, templates, personalization, delivery, and so much more! Get ready for fast and furious thanking!

Learning Outcomes:

1. Identify appropriate levels of personalization for the size of your organization

2. Explore templates that allow for personalization without slowing down the process

The lights are fading, the party is almost over, the goal has been met…your campaign is coming to a close. Your development officer and leadership teams may be starting to breath deep, but now it’s our time to shine – it’s time for donor relations, stewardship, engagement, events, and communications to take the stage and breathe life into all that has been accomplished through your massive fundraising accomplishment. Join the team as we explore to role of these teams in effectively recognizing donors to the campaign at all levels, reporting the impact of funds raised, stewarding new funds, consolidating and converting events as necessary, and more. We will explore key data reports to be pulling, important annual communications to be issuing, and how to develop retention strategy for these important donors. It’s now our job to retain and engage these campaign donors – until the next big party!
 

Learning Outcomes:

1. Identify 1-2 retention strategies for key campaign donor segments

2. Develop post-campaign plan with 3-5 key engagement touchpoints

We are good at a lot of things. We can literally do everything from decipher endowment financials and distribution rates to execute the most elaborate events with multiple AV faux pas. And we do it with grace and skill. But that breadth of ability, adaptability, knowledge, and general proficiency leads us down dangerous roads of overwork, mission creep, and weak boundaries – setting us up for excess stress and unmet expectations on all sides. It’s very common in our industry, at all levels, and in all size organizations. This webinar is dedicated to exploring how to properly align your current workloads, based on empirical metrics and best practices, and how to create clear definition to the work you and your team can, and should, be undertaking. We will explore how to manage up to leadership, how to manage out to partners, and how to manage down to teams in order to maximize time, energy, and resources. 

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Learning Outcomes:

1. Learn how to complete a SWOT analysis on your current team and workload

2. Identify strategies on how to manage up to leadership and set realistic expectations

Some are good. Some are meh. And some are really, really bad. Where does your giving page experience fall on the spectrum? Is it helping or hindering your organization’s fundraising efforts? Join Lynne for an insightful hour teaching you everything you need to know (and things didn’t even know you needed to know) about your giving page and how to maximize this critical tool. Learn how to give it a complete overhaul with the donor experience front and center in order to make it simpler, increase gifts, encourage retention, convert donors, and so much more. You will see the good, the bad, and the ugly as Lynne bares it all…when it comes to organizations that do it right and what clearly misses the mark. You will cringe, you will laugh, and you will definitely learn what it takes to compete in the online giving space.

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Learning Outcomes:

1. Identify 2-3 critical factors in a successful online giving form

2. Explore the biggest giving experience detractors for donors including language to never use

Donor Relations is not the black hole of fundraising. It’s not the “catch all” team. Yes, we may affect all areas of the donor’s relationship with the organization, but that doesn’t mean we are responsible for all areas of the donor’s experience. We are notorious for mission creep in our areas and can quickly become task-masters that deliver or execute at the whim of others. In order to be sound, strategic partners that can directly tie our work to the fundraising bottom-line, we have to stay just as driven, focused and results driven as our organizational peers. Join us as we explore infusion of strategy into all levels of work and prioritization of tasks, avoiding overwork and unrealistic expectations, setting appropriate team limitations, and more. Come and learn how to define your circle!

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Learning Outcomes:

1. Learn how to identify and create 2-3 KPIs for your team to develop your boundaries

2. Recognize appropriate expectations and develop tactics to say to no to unrealistic requests

By far, one of the most challenging areas of our work is determining legality standards in the gift agreements that govern our philanthropic gifts. Is it legal? Is it possible? Is it practical? Chances are, the answer is in a gray area, or at least requires a legal or financial judgement call. Of which, we are not typically lawyers or accountants, but we serve on the front lines of these conversations. The good news is that you are not alone and many organizations struggle with determining the legal, possible, and practical status of their fund purposes. The bad news is that it doesn’t make it any easier and doesn’t take away any of the liability of your organization may be facing if you are administering funds not in compliance with IRS or federal regulation, or against the court of public opinion (otherwise known as potentially really bad PR). Join this webinar for an overview of what constitutes legal, possible, and practical in your gift agreements, how to bring your development partners along in these critical conversations, and how to course correct these issues if they currently exist in your gift documentation.

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Learning Outcomes:

1. Define legal, possible, and practical in term of gift agreement terms with samples of each

2. Identify steps on how to correct illegal and impossible fund criteria

3. Explore samples of sustainable and tiered gift purposes
   
    

Engaging and recognizing annual fund donors is critically important, but it is often challenging to fully integrate the strategy of the annual giving and donor relations teams. Who is responsible for what? Who makes what decisions? What populations are most important to focus on and where we do focus staff efforts? Join us as we discuss not only annual giving recognition best practices (backed by tons of samples and a case study or two), but a deep dive into collaboration with annual giving and data partners to create programs that are efficient and effective to execute as well as donor centric. We will explore sample team/staffing structures that allow for maximum partnership and deploy resources to the most critical annual giving donor segments. It will be a win/win for everyone!

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Learning Outcomes:

1. Explore sample AG/DR staffing structures that allow maximum partnership

2. Collect samples of highly effective annual giving donor relations and recognition

Have you ever looked at your peer who works in Advancement Services and felt as if they were speaking Greek? Glazed over halfway through the conversation because you are clearly not on the same page? We certainly have. All too often we end up in cyclical, ineffectual conversations with our more technical peers (whether it be data, finance, research, gift processing, legal, or others) because of the natural bounds of our comfort and knowledge bases. We naturally lean towards being left or right brained, but don’t comfortably straddle both spheres. This can be detrimental to our ability to collaborate, move projects forward, or generally define our ultimate goals and needs. Join Lynne, the master of thinking with both sides of the brain, to learn how to translate the technical space of Advancement Services (that is needed to fuel our work) and the relational space of Donor Engagement (that is the ultimate goal of our work). It’s guaranteed to be an insightful hour!

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Learning Outcomes:

1. Identify key phrasing in requests and communications to maximize collaboration with technical partners

2. Learn how to develop joint, collaborative space with the donor experience being priority

Mask mandates have been lifted and many of our offices have reopened—but the pandemic has forever changed the way our workplaces look and operate. Teams are navigating remote and hybrid schedules, readjusting to being back in the office, and trying to maintain morale, motivation, and collaboration as everyone adjusts to the new normal. Join the DRG Group as we explore the modern workplace from both a management and employee lens. We'll discuss trends we're seeing across the industry, what's working and what's not, the pros and cons of remote, hybrid, and in-person teams, and how to manage teams in this new environment. We'll share research around productivity, tips and tricks for maximum staff performance, and how to keep the donor experience at the core of your work. 

Learning outcomes: 

• Identify ways to successfully collaborate in the modern workplace

• Tips and tricks for employees navigating up, down, and sideways

• Explore the pros and cons of remote, hybrid, and in-person workplaces

• Learn how to set goals, maintain morale, and measure productivity with a remote team