But I'm going to get started. So, okay, I think we can definitely get started now. We have most of the people that are arriving. So welcome to CASE's January monthly membership webinar. We are thrilled to have you here with us this afternoon, or if it's some of you, it's still the morning, as we dive into all the ways CASE can support you in achieving your professional goals. My name is Candice Fitzsimmons, and I serve as the Manager of Membership Engagement here at CASE. Over the past year and a half, I've had the privilege of connecting with many of our members and seeing firsthand the impact of our resources and community. Joining me today is Christina Portz, CASE's Senior Manager of Membership Operations. Christina will be keeping an eye on the chat today, so feel free to drop your questions and comments there. After my presentation, where I'll be highlighting some of CASE's most popular membership benefits and resources, we'll dive into the Q&A session to address any questions you have that weren't addressed yet in the webinar, or answered in the chat. Excuse me, I think somebody has their, if somebody can mute themselves. Okay, all right. Cherry Sullivan, if you can hear me, if you could kindly mute yourself, that would be very appreciated. Thank you. Thanks. So I feel like it would be great if you could now introduce yourself to everyone in the chat if you haven't already done so. By mentioning what institution you are with and what area of advancement you work in, such as marketing, communications, alumni relations, et cetera, you should have received an email with the link for today's webinar slide deck. We will also be sharing a link in the chat, so you can sit back, relax, enjoy the session without worrying about taking notes. A quick introduction to CASE. We are a global nonprofit membership association dedicated to advancing education and in transforming lives in society. The only organization of its kind, CASE brings advancement practitioners together across the globe with members and volunteers at the heart of our organization. For the past 50 years, since our founding in 1974, we have been the professional home for advancement professionals, inspiring, challenging, and equipping them to act effectively and with integrity to champion the success of their institutions. Through our CASE global reporting standards, CASE defines the competencies and standards for the profession of advancement, leading and championing the dissemination and application. CASE is headquartered in Washington, D.C., just a stone's throw from the White House with offices in London, Mexico City, and Singapore. In the U.S. and Canada, we have eight districts, each with its own regional council and district cabinet, providing invaluable local insights and leadership. The districts hold at least one in-person meeting annually to foster community and collaboration. Our organization is led by president and CEO, Sue Cunningham, who has been at the helm since 2015, alongside a 23-member board of trustees that guides our mission and strategic direction. CASE has nearly 3,000 member institutions around the globe and more than 100,000 individual members from 82 countries. Our members work across alumni relations, communications, development, marketing, and advancement services, representing a wide array of institutions, including two- and four-year colleges, universities, K-12 schools, nonprofit organizations, and school system offices. CASE offers an extensive array of benefits and resources, many that are exclusive to CASE members. I will soon be discussing several of them. Our website, case.org, in addition to our newsletters, membership magazine, Currents, and social media sites, such as LinkedIn and YouTube, provide up-to-date information on our latest offerings. We also send emails to members on events and resources of specific interest to them. Now, before we jump into the member benefits, I'm excited to tell you about our monthly membership webinar contest. Since most of you work in education, you must all get excited over the idea of pop quizzes, right? Well, I'm going to be chatting about several different CASE benefits today. After speaking about some of the benefits, I am then going to have a pop quiz. The first person to answer the question correctly by putting the answer in the chat will receive a $10 Starbucks gift card. There will be a total of five pop-up quizzes, so you will have several chances to win. And for all our A-plus students out there, there is a limit to one prize per person. However, you are welcome to post your correct answers every time, even if you're already a winner. So pay close attention so you can be one of our winners today. All right, let's get started. We are now going to dive into some of CASE's most popular benefits and resources. One of the standout benefits that our members absolutely love is the CASE Library. This members-only online resource is a treasure trove of knowledge, featuring thousands of item records and resources. Whether you're looking for fresh ideas, answers to your questions, or samples to guide your own projects, the CASE Library has you covered. Let me walk you through some of the invaluable resources that you'll find in the CASE Library. First, there is the Advancement Resource Catalog. This is an extensive online database with over 15,000 item records, specifically focused on advancement in education. It's a go-to resource for in-depth research and inspiration. Next, there are the CASE Subject Guides. These are curated collections that address common advancement questions, linking you to CASE publications, survey results, books, and more. Each guide provides a comprehensive reading list on the topic, making it easier to deepen your expertise. The guides cover a wide range of topics, including offering insight into areas such as athletics fundraising, online giving days, fundraising during economic downturns, and even managing controversial gifts. Then we have the CASE Files. These files track critical topics in advancement, such as the largest gifts to education. And finally, there are the CASE Samples. The library has a large collection of samples that have been obtained over the years. Our members find them extremely helpful in getting ideas for their projects. These samples include alumni surveys, gift agreements, gift officer metrics, social media policies, strategic plans, stewardship, videos, alumni magazines, annual reports, branding materials, and much more. Okay, now it's time for our first pop-up quiz. The question is, name two types of resources that you can find in the CASE online library. The first person to post the correct answer in the chat wins a $10 Starbucks gift card. And Christina, when you see that first answer, first correct response, feel free to announce it. Yes, I would say Anna Parra. All right, that was fast, great. Well, congratulations, Anna. I'll be in touch soon with your Starbucks gift card. But for everyone else, there are four more pop-up quizzes to go. So be sure to pay close attention so maybe you can win one of our other Starbucks gift cards. Now let's talk about CASE Events, which are often the first point of connection for our new members. CASE holds a wide array of educational in-person meetings and events. They address the key areas and challenges our members face, whether in advancement, alumni relations, marketing and communications, or fundraising. We also tailor our events to meet the needs of various types of institutions, including four-year educational institutions, community colleges, and more. CASE organizes over 50 meetings annually across the US and Canada, along with numerous international events. These gatherings attract thousands of professionals and offer great opportunities for learning and networking. We also collaborate with other organizations, such as our annual joint conference with the National Association of Independent Schools. And that conference actually will be happening at the end of this month in DC. Additionally, our districts host numerous events each year, from annual district meetings to informal drive-ins and online gatherings. CASE members always receive 40% of the registration fees for CASE conferences. In addition to in-person meetings, we also host numerous webinars and online events and gatherings each year. Many of these webinars and online events are offered free of charge. These webinars and online events are offered free to our members. We're constantly adding new webinars, so I encourage you to check our website regularly to see our latest offerings. Our districts also host numerous online events and gatherings each year. So there really are so many opportunities to learn, engage, and network through CASE. And what's nice is these opportunities exist at a national, international, and local level. Our webinar topics are incredibly diverse, ranging from hot topics and gift processing to quick studies for community colleges. CASE members receive 40% off all CASE webinars too. And as you can see, many of these webinars are free for our members. As a volunteer-driven organization, CASE relies on the contributions of its members to make these events a success. We encourage you to volunteer for meeting committees or even serve as a speaker at our events. If you're interested in volunteering, you can sign up for our website at case.org.volunteer. A full listing of events can be found at case.org.events. Now I'm going to discuss the CASE awards and scholarship programs. Our members have done amazing work in advancement and CASE is honored to recognize them through our CASE Annual Awards Program. Our Circle of Excellence Awards spotlight creative and inspiring projects that make a significant impact on institutions and their communities. In fiscal year 24, CASE received over 4,000 entries and awarded Circle of Excellence Awards to 522 institutions. And I will mention it's an institution-based award. CASE also recognizes individual achievements through our CASE Leadership Award and CASE Distinguished Service Awards. In addition, the eight CASE districts in the U.S.-Canada region also offer their own awards program. And I should mention that the awards program is only open for CASE members. And this year's program has actually now launched and you can apply through March 12th. So you can find out more information about our awards program. You can submit an entry and you can even check out past winners by going to case.org slash awards. So it really is a great opportunity to get deserved recognition both for yourself and your institution. In addition to our awards, CASE also offers an annual scholarship program to help members attend CASE meetings. Scholarship recipients can attend one CASE conference at no cost, covering the meeting registration fee. Travel-related expenses are not included. Last year, in honor of our 50th anniversary, we awarded 50 scholarships out of 77 applications, doubling the usual number of recipients. Many scholarship recipients are early in their advancement careers or come from smaller institutions, making this opportunity an invaluable chance for learning and networking that they might not otherwise have. The scholarship application process opens up on January 31st and closes on February 28th. And the winners are announced in April. Winners have one year to use their scholarship. You can go on our website to find out more information and to see a list of past winners. Okay, now it's time for our second pop-up quiz. The question is, how many CASE members received the Circle of Excellence Award in fiscal year 24? Once again, the first person to post the correct answer in the chat wins a $10 Starbucks gift card. And Christina, do we have our winner? Yes, Mac Nickel. Okay, great. Well, congratulations, Mac. I'll be in touch soon with your $10 Starbucks gift card, but for everyone else, there are three more pop-up quizzes, so pay close attention. Now we are going to talk about CASE Global Reporting Standards. All professions have standards and advancement is no different. CASE is proud to be the leader for advancement standards, focusing on fundraising, alumni relations, and marketing and communications. We first published our reporting standards in 1982. And in 2021, we published our first CASE Global Reporting Standards, which expanded our standards to organizations around the world. This past July, we updated our standards with guidance on new funds committed and campaign counting. The CASE Global Reporting Standards provide guidelines and definitions reporting the results of educational philanthropy at schools, colleges, and universities around the world. The standards are intended to help educational leaders understand and mitigate risk and enable effective leadership in the area of philanthropic support. They provide worldwide standards for institutional fundraising with definitions for educational philanthropy and important guidance around gift counting, funds received, new funds committed, and donor control and influence. All CASE members receive a complimentary one-year digital subscription to the electronic version of the CASE Global Reporting Standards. If you need help with signing up for your digital subscription, please contact the membership team and we can help you with this. Additional electronic subscriptions can be purchased and also print versions. Some of our members especially like the printed book because it allows you to highlight and mark pages and annotate where needed. It also can be shared among a team and added to your office library. And the book is spiral bound and includes tabbed sections. CASE is the global leader in empowering advancement professionals at colleges, universities, and schools to make data-informed decisions. Institutions of all sizes, types, and locations around the world find that CASE Insights, our comprehensive suite of data standards and research is an invaluable tool for driving success. Our members leverage strategic benchmarking reports, data access toolkits, specialized trainings, and more to adopt the data-informed strategy that enhances their work. There are additional fee-based services offered through Case Insights that are only available for members. Members can also participate in Case Insights surveys online. In doing so, your institution gains easy access to personalized summary benchmarking reports, including peer comparisons, detailed data, and other valuable insights. Case Insights provides specialized data, standards, and research that enable advancement professionals to make informed decisions, demonstrate strategic impact, highlight success stories, and define ethical practices at their institutions. As the world leader in helping institutions achieve their goals, Case offers many of these resources as part of your membership benefits. Further, participants in our surveys receive access to detailed survey results and a customized benchmarking report specific to their institution. All right, now it's time for our third pop-up quiz. The question is, name two ways you can use Case Global Standards. And once again, the first person to post the correct answer gets one of our $10 Starbucks gift cards. And Christina, do we have a winner? I'm going to give it to Mark. I wasn't sure if you meant digital and print or the different categories. Mark only listed one, mitigate risk fundraising, but I think we can allow it. And Anne mentioned insights and awards, which I would say those are different parts of our research and analytics, unfortunately. So we'll give it to Mark. Okay, very good. Congratulations, Mark, and good job, Anne, too. So I will be in touch with you soon, Mark, with your $10 Starbucks gift cards. And for everyone else, there are two more pop-up quizzes, so pay close attention. Okay, now I'm going to talk about volunteering at CASE. Volunteers are at the core of everything CASE does. One of our guiding principles is that CASE runs on volunteer power. Volunteering is a great way for you to become more engaged with the CASE community and make an invaluable contribution to the field of advancement. And we offer a wide range of opportunities for those who are interested. Each year, more than 350 volunteer leaders serve on CASE boards and advisory groups, while another 3,200 advancement professionals volunteer their time as speakers, authors, conference planners, judges for our awards programs, and much more. CASE volunteers are at all stages of their advancement careers, from newcomers to senior-level practitioners, and work across all advancement disciplines, such as alumni relations, communications, development, and marketing. Volunteers can serve on a short-term basis, such as by contributing to a conference, or more long-term, by serving a multi-year term on the CASE Board of Trustees. There are many different volunteer opportunities at CASE. These include serving as a volunteer leader on the Board of Trustees, serving as an awards judge, writing a piece for Currents, our membership magazine, or volunteering to be on a conference committee, which is the most common way that our members get involved with and volunteer for CASE. Our conferences offer many volunteer opportunities, including serving as a speaker, leading a roundtable discussion, serving on a panel, working the Welcome Desk, seeking sponsorships, or working on an online program. There are also opportunities to volunteer at the district level. For example, I have the privilege of working with an incredible group of volunteers who focus on member outreach at the district level. In fact, Sheriff Freeman Hochul, who you'll be hearing from shortly, is one of the wonderful volunteers who I work with. If you're interested in volunteering, I encourage you to go to case.org slash volunteer and fill out the online form to get started. I'm now going to highlight one more membership benefit before we move on to a special video presentation, and that is CASE communities. One of the best ways to connect with your peers and expand your professional network is through our CASE communities. The communities are vibrant, secure, members-only online spaces where our members come together to exchange questions, stories, insights, and resources. CASE communities is a great platform for seeking and sharing advice, ideas, and support. And while many of our members first experience a members-related CASE community, there are so many more CASE communities to explore. Within CASE communities, you can engage with colleagues on a wide range of topics, including advancement services, alumni relations, communications, marketing, fundraising, DEIB, and much more. Our communities cater to diverse interests, such as college and university editors, foundations, community college grants, and independent and international schools. Here is a screenshot of the CASE community page that lists the communities by topic. And as you can see, as of now, there are 11 different communities here, and we are always open to adding new communities. So, if you have a great idea for one, please let us know. So, you can explore all the possibilities and start connecting today by visiting case.org slash connect. All right, now it's time for our fourth pop-up quiz. The question is, name two topics that have CASE communities. Once again, the first person to post a correct answer will be the recipient of a $10 Starbucks gift card. Okay, Christina, do we have a winner? Yes, Melissa M. Meyer was on it. All right, wonderful. Well, congratulations, Melissa. I will be in touch soon with your card, and for everyone else, pay attention, because there will be one more pop-up quiz. Now, it's time for our special video presentation from one of CASE's long-time members and volunteers, Shara Freeman-Hoffel. And Shara actually wanted to be here today, but unfortunately, due to a scheduling conflict, she wasn't able to come. However, she did make us this really wonderful video. So, first, a little background information on Shara. Shara is the assistant head of school for external relations at Francis Parker School in San Diego. She oversees fundraising, parent and alumni relations, communications, marketing, and admissions. Shara has also worked for Cornell University, Fordham Law School, and the Chaplain School. Shara's been a CASE member since 2004 and has spoken at CASE regional and national conference. She's the CASE School Advancement Institute chair and a CASE U.S. Canada council member. Shara is also the District 7 membership liaison, and it's in this position that I have the honor of working with her. And I will mention, she is absolutely wonderful to work with and an amazing volunteer. Shara received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Cornell University and a master's degree in sports psychology from Ithaca College. So, I now want to play Shara's video. Hello, colleagues. I am Shara Freeman-Heffel, and I've been a CASE member for more than 20 years. CASE has been a through line throughout my career, no matter where I've worked, and I value my membership so much with CASE and honor to be with you today. I've been a CASE member for over 20 years, and I'm honored to be with you today. I wanted to share three things that I love about CASE that I think can help you maximize your membership. So, I love to keep a pop quiz going. I'm wondering, how many of you know what CASE district you were in? Gosh, did I stump you? Yeah, trust me. I didn't know what CASE district I was in until I moved across the country from New York to San Diego and realized I was not in the same district anymore, but I want to teach you how you can find out that information. So, if you go to the CASE website, case.org, and you go to the top navigation and click on connect and choose districts, this will show you the districts in U.S. and Canada and Europe, and you can figure out which district is yours. I love that point, too, because guess what? CASE is a global organization, so yes, there are districts all over the world, which is fabulous. Once you navigate to your district, there should be a volunteer interest form. This is what I'm going to ask you to do. Fill it out. CASE is 98% volunteer-led. That means that your voice and your actions matter, so let yourself and the leaders in your area know that we need you. We'd love for you to help plan a conference, serve on a committee, share your thoughts about ways that we can better serve your institution. So, now that you know your district and you are so open to volunteering in your area, I want to expand your thinking, and I'll give you a way to get fresh ideas. Serve as a CASE awards judge. At the top navigation of the CASE website, go to the awards button and click on Circle of Excellence. There is a link for volunteer judges on the left-hand side. Once you get there, there's a form you can fill out to judge in the future. There's so many categories that you can judge, from advancement services to fundraising to marketing, and I encourage you to do an area that you don't normally spend your time in to get some fresh ideas and perspectives, or you can do where you spend your time and get some new ideas there, too, but great ideas are plenty, and it's an awesome way to serve as a volunteer. As you know, CASE is unofficial model, and motto is copy and steal everything. Okay, two action items. I have one more for you. I promise it's not too much. I would love for you to touch base with your primary coordinator for CASE. That is the person that manages your membership with CASE, and they control your roster, and they can determine who is part of the CASE membership and who is not, and as we see with transitions and advancement, it's really important that we keep these rosters up to date, and the primary coordinator is the person that can ensure that that happens. They also can determine who's receiving digital content, so again, please connect with your primary coordinator for your CASE membership. I will tell you one of my favorite things about my CASE membership is the CASE Currents magazine. You can get it digitally, and the primary coordinator actually gets it in print, which print is not dead in my opinion, and I really encourage you to find out, again, who that primary coordinator is and get a print copy of the magazine every month and take a moment to go through it. I love CASE Currents. The other thing that I would really encourage you to do with your membership is the library. CASE library is fantastic, not only for the articles that it has archived there, but also for the data reporting standards that I love to research, especially before I go into a committee or advisory meeting, because everybody always wants to know what's happening at other schools and other universities and how your institution is stacking up compared to others, so please use that library. I just want to thank you in advance for getting involved. Again, three action steps. Know your district. Volunteer in your district. Definitely be a volunteer judge, and just like I maybe snuck a fourth in there. Please, please use all the resources available to you. That is through the membership, and by getting in touch with that primary coordinator, you can figure out who's on your roster and who's getting what information. Thanks so much. Again, I'm so honored to serve CASE and to be the membership chair in my district, and thanks so much for having me. Hello, Colin. Okay, that was great. I hope you really enjoyed that. Shara did a great job at really sharing how she's made the most of her CASE membership and utilized her CASE experience to both the benefit of her school and her own professional development. She also shared a very popular three-step plan for members to make the most of their CASE membership and to really get involved with CASE, and if anyone has any questions for Shara, she made it clear to me that you are welcome to reach out to her, and her email is included on the previous slide, and we will also share it in the chat. Now that we've covered many of CASE's most popular benefits and resources and had a chance to hear from one of our longtime members and volunteers, it's time for our Q&A session, so if anyone has any questions, please post them in the chat, and now is the time we can also answer any questions that were posted earlier in the webinar. So, Christina, are there any questions? No questions. Well, I've addressed some of them. People would like to know how to update their roster, and they would like to know how to find who the CASE membership primary coordinator is at their institution. Okay, wonderful. Great. Well, thank you, and if you think of any questions later on, you are welcome to reach out to us at any point. Well, looks like we answered all the questions, but like I said, if you think of anything, reach out to me or any member of the membership team, such as Christina or anyone else, and I will be sharing our contact information, but now it's time for our fifth and final pop-up quiz, and hopefully it's an easy one for everyone, so here is the question. Name two things you have learned in today's webinar, and the first person to post a correct answer in chat, and of course there can be many different correct answers, will receive our last Starbucks gift card, and do we have a winner? Yes, Lindsay Lauer, although I feel like I kind of cheated Ann earlier, but Lindsay Lauer. Well, congratulations, Lindsay, and congratulations, Ann, again for a great effort, and I will be in touch with you and all of our winners later on today with your Starbucks gift cards, but I think everyone here should actually feel like a winner today because you're learning about how to take full advantage of your CASE membership and to use it to be more successful in your position and your career, so really congratulations to everyone. So, as we wrap up today's session, I'm going to quickly review what we've covered. We explored some of the most popular benefits and resources available to you as a CASE member, including the CASE library, our extensive offering of in-person and online events, our awards and scholarship programs, the CASE global reporting standards, CASE insights, volunteer opportunities, and CASE communities. For more information on any of these topics, I encourage you to visit our website at case.org. There you'll find detailed resources and ways to connect with our team if you have additional questions. I am also listing here the web addresses for the resources I discussed today. As I have mentioned, the slide deck for today's webinar is available to download. Also available to download on the meeting website is a detailed list of all CASE benefits and resources, including some that, due to time restrictions, I wasn't able to cover in today's webinar, such as our internship program, employment resources, LinkedIn groups, and more. At this time, we would greatly appreciate it if you could post in the chat any topics or CASE benefits and resources that you would love to learn more about. That would be so incredibly helpful for us in planning future membership webinars and other outreach activities. And, of course, you are welcome to send me an email with this information, too. So, once again, a big thank you for joining us today for our monthly membership webinar. We are excited to continue these sessions on the third Wednesday of every month, so our next one will be on February 19th, and we'd love for you to join us again. It will be another chance to win a Starbucks gift card, and please feel free to invite your colleagues as well. And thank you so much, Christina, for all your help today and to Shera for sharing her insights and experience with CASE. So, thank you again, everyone, and have a wonderful afternoon. Bye. Bye. Have a great day. And I see your message, Jelena, and I can reach out to you to find out why you're having issues getting into case communities.

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