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Catalog
Road Map to Advancement
Panel Discussion and Q&A
Panel Discussion and Q&A
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our four panellists with us today. They're senior volunteers with CASE, so it's a pleasure to have them on board. So for the panel discussion, we have Mark Schroeder, who I have worked with previously. You heard me speak about University of Queensland yesterday a little bit, and we did work, we were on the same team actually, marketing and communications. So Mark's career began, it's described as eclectic. His stops have included media, marketing, broadcasting, commercial departments at national sporting leagues, such as the Australia's National Basketball League, managing teams of journalists, media operations, and staff at two Olympic Games and two Commonwealth Games. So he's got deep experience in marketing communications. Now he is, in addition to leading the advancement marketing communications team, he has worked through the UQ's 607 million philanthropic campaign for research and scholarships. He also runs his own social enterprise, which I won't get too much, I won't get into that detail, but it sounds like he has a little bit of fun on the side. And he is currently the strategist within UQ advancements development and principal giving team. So he's got experience across marketing communications and the fundraising area. And I do hope that you watched his on-demand session on communications and advancement. We have Jimmy Buck. Jimmy is the chief advancement officer at Deakin University, and he is leading a team of advancement practitioners at one of Australia's youngest and most progressive universities. He's a lifelong fundraiser and he started his career in advancement as a university student, which is great, co-chairing Boston University's class gift campaign. During his nine years at the University of Sydney, Jimmy has worked across advancement. He's also led advancement services, alumni relations and development teams in both higher ed and medical philanthropy. So he has also worked on a billion dollar inspired campaign. So which was, was one of Australia's largest philanthropic campaign in higher education. His session was from networking to building and nurturing relationships. So again, I hope you listen to his session. We've got Liza Boffin-Yordanov, who is currently sitting in the US, but she is the chief development officer and executive director of the development office at Nanyang Technological University. She leads the university's development team and supports a drive for excellence in education, research and innovation. She joined NTU in 2018 from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay. And we were just having a chat before we all logged on. She's gone around the world a little bit in her role as advancement, which is something that is a key message that we like to share that advancement is something that you can move globally. And I know a lot of people that do. And there's a lot of opportunities around the world. Essentially, you're carrying the same skills skill set with you. So her two decade plus career includes roles as the Vice President of Advancement at Franklin University in Switzerland, George Washington University and Sing Health, a seasoned practitioner. And her session was on Philanthropy 101. And again, I hope you listen to. Then we have Joanna Watts, who is the Director of Operations at the University of Melbourne. And Jo has over 25 years experience in the higher education sector in the UK and in Australia. So another international mobile leader. She joined the advancement team at the University of Melbourne in 2017 to head up the operations team and provide leadership in the areas of organisational development, HR, financial management, policy and governance. Again, which just consolidates a lot about what we were talking about yesterday, the importance of the advancement services role and just how critical it is. So she is from the University of Birmingham, as in she studied there and today's Russian language and literature. She delivered the session, the on demand session on the importance of advancement services, which as we discussed yesterday, I think is critically important part of the portfolio. So these are our speakers. And I think that we're very lucky to have them with us today. Very broad skillset. And I look forward to hearing more from them as we go through the discussion and the questions. Fantastic. Okay. So we'll just start off just with the general question this morning. What do you think is the greatest misconception about your area of work or advancement in general? And how are you overcoming those misconceptions? Jimmy? Okay, I'll go first. And then I'll hand it over to Mark because I saw he put his hand up as well. But one of the things that I sort of started to find quite funny after several years is this notion that as fundraisers, predominantly, we've got this magical rolodex of all of the donors who will be able to fund all of the projects and programs that somebody is keen to see happen. And it's one of those things that I wish, I wish that we had that I wish that we could do that. It would make life so much easier than it would, but it would probably make work a little less fun, I think, because that's part of the beauty of the work that we get to do is to discover people's interests and passions through conversation and developing relationships with them. And so one of the ways that I try to overcome that is really to demystify the whole experience with with our academic colleagues as early as possible in the relationship. And to say, you know, at the outset, this isn't really how this works. This is a common misconception. But really, it's about finding a meeting of the minds with these people, not saying, hey, we need 50 grand to finish this project, will you give it to us? Sometimes that happens, but that's not really meaningful philanthropy. And so I would say one of the, yeah, the greatest misconceptions, because I come across it so often, still is this assumption that there's just this pool of donors waiting to throw their money at projects, and that will we can just sort of cherry pick them. Thanks, Jimmy. I followed this, followed that up by saying, the biggest misconception, I think, in communications and advancement is thinking that our alumni are sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to hear from us. They're not. You know, in my presentation, I start by saying that as soon as a student graduates, their motivation to stay in contact plummets. Forehand, they're in contact almost daily, looking at lectures, online notes, timetables, all of those sorts of things. They have to keep up to date and in contact at all times. Once they graduate, that disappears. The importance of the university in their daily lives takes a massive shift overnight. They may still hold great affection for the institution all their lives, but, you know, its importance to them achieving their life goals diminishes quickly. It erodes quite quickly. So the biggest mistake I would say people make is not recognising that change and thinking that the university still holds a front of mind place. And that doesn't mean you can't be effective, but it changes your strategy. When they're a student, the onus is on them to keep up. From the day they walk off your campus for the final time, the onus is all on you to provide genuine value and reward for their time. Okay. Liza. Those are two brilliant pieces of advice, I think, for those of you who are new to the profession. You know, I think the challenge that we all face coming, you know, at this question as a fundraiser like Jimmy, too many of us have the expectation that we're just out there asking everybody for money. And, you know, like Jimmy mentioned, that's just not the relationship building aspect of what we do. You know, it takes a while to get to the to the part of the relationship where you can have that conversation about what a gift would look like. So it's not about us rushing in. And at the very first visit, we say, hey, how about a million dollars? That's just not the way that we do our work. And that's not the way that you build a relationship. You know, I think you've all probably heard this, you know, on the first date with someone you don't propose marriage and, you know, any relationship with the donor, even if they're an alum, this takes a while to build. You know, they need to learn about you, not just you personally as a fundraiser, but the institution. So really making sure that we're being ethical in our fundraising approach, that we are being donor centered, that we're listening to our donors, we're listening to our prospects and understanding what they want out of the relationship. So it's meeting them where they are. It's not us, you know, not having them meet us where we are. So, you know, the challenge, the misconception is that, you know, we rush out and we ask people for money. And that's just not the way that we do effective fundraising. Thanks, Heather. I think the common misconception around advancement services or advancement operations is that we're traditionally thought of as just the data people. And that puts us a bit on the periphery of advancement in people's minds, you know, a bit like, you know, someone who comes to mow your lawn, you know, you know, you could do it yourself, but you could get somebody and it's easier. And you only really think about them when things start getting overgrown. And I think that's really limiting in terms of what advancement services does. It's kind of in the name. And I know there are a lot of advancement shops that now call that team advancement operations as we do at Melbourne. But when you think about advancement services, it is a service. That's what we're there to do. We're there to support the fundraisers and the engagement professionals and without them, nobody in advancement services would have a job. But that said, we have a huge range of expertise within that advancement services category of staff. And of course, some of them are data people, but we will have people that do prospect research, people who look after gifts, and that can be everything from gift acceptance through to gift processing and gift reporting. We have project managers, we have people that look after our systems, CRM, training, and that's just kind of tip of the iceberg stuff there. So advancement services would not exist without development and alumni relations staff, but advancement wouldn't function without the advancement services team. So I think it comes back to what you said in your first slide header there, it's an integrated organism, and we need to make sure it's always viewed that way. And the way we get the best results is to ensure that we bring advancement services professionals in early on into conversations and projects and activities that are planned within advancement, because that really helps to deliver the best outcomes. So that is my feeling on where the common misconception lies. Very good. And I think yesterday I put a model up of the integrated advancement model in the virtuous life cycle, and there's things I call enablers, and I put marketing communication in there as enabler, and advancement services is very much an enabler to everything that we do. That's great. Fantastic. Thank you all. I'm going to jump back to Jimmy. And so Jimmy, how do you effectively balance managing all your relationships at the workplace, your donors, your alumni volunteers, colleagues, bosses? I think being effective in that kind of management is sort of an aspiration to feel like definitely, truly effective with the various types of relationships that we have to manage. And I think hopefully one of the messages that I hoped to get across in the presentation that I did was the fact that our jobs, whether or not we work in sort of which part of what sort of function we have in the overall advancement operation, our work is about people. And from the word alumni relations to the word philanthropy, it all has to do with people. So we're constantly working on relationships. But I think one of the things that sort of moves further down the list of priorities is the relationships that exist, maybe not necessarily for our KPIs, but sort of are important in our professional development. And I think this is one of the things that CASE does really well in forums like this to give people the opportunity to develop those relationships outside of the ones that are in our position descriptions, like working with donors, working with academics, working with alumni. Those are the relationships that sort of fill our nine to five. But I think for the other relationships with the mentors that we have, the people that we mentor, or for the colleagues who we can bounce ideas off of, I think we really have to work hard and deliberately to make time for those kinds of relationships. And I think for me, that's where finding that effectiveness is really important, because it's those additional relationships that can make the nine to five relationships sort of much easier to go. If you're dealing with a difficult alumni volunteer, for example, which I may or may not have done in previous roles, it's colleagues who work in similar positions who I could say, how do you think that I should manage this? How can I sort of deal with this? And so I think it is really important that we make that time. For me, some of the ways that I do that, I diarize birthdays, or I put into my calendar and outlook birthdays of people that I work with, of people that I know, just so that I remember just to drop them a note to wish them a happy birthday. That's a personal thing for me, because I love birthdays. Another thing that I do is back in the days when I could leave my house and wasn't in lockdown, it would usually be about an hour drive between some of our different campuses at Deakin University. And so I would use that time to call people on my team, but also to call people that I previously worked with, just to check in and say hi. So using that time to nurture those relationships rather than, you know, listening to Taylor Swift. Another thing that I think is really, really important for those of us in various levels of lockdown around the world. So if you don't have a commute right now, maybe go for a walk around the block and, you know, get some fresh air and call somebody and check in with them. But another thing that I've started doing with our donors and our alumni as well, we just went into our sixth lockdown in Victoria a couple of weeks ago. And I called a few of our sort of longer term donors who I knew were a bit older, living on their own, just to call in and say hi and see how they were doing. There was no ask, I wasn't updating them on the impact of their gift, I was just calling to say hi. And so I think having that genuine interest in people is really important. But the way that I think that we can be most effective is to make the time to deliberately build that time in. And it sometimes has to happen outside of that nine to five. But I think those relationships that exist outside of the nine to five can be the ones that help us professionally develop, which we probably don't prioritize as often as we should or could. Great feedback, Jimmy. It's interesting because when I used to commute to work, I used the time in my car to make a lot of calls and connect with people that but unfortunately, given the situation working from home, it's not as easy to find that downtime sitting in a car. But yeah, no, it's a fine balance keeping in touch with everybody. But I think that's great. So I'm gonna jump to Mark. Some would say that over communicating is still better than not communicating enough with stakeholders. And what are your thoughts about this? My thoughts on that is you got to first define what over communicating and under communicating is. And I don't think it's a number you can pull up off the off the top of your head or even I don't think you should even be comparing yourself to other universities. Let me give you an example. To me, it's how closely the content that you're producing aligns with the reader's passions and interests. Okay. So two examples here. Years ago, I've got a six year old son years ago before my wife and I knew we were having a child. I don't think I had read a single blog or article about how to raise children. The day it was confirmed by the doctor, I bought two books. And I was googling like mad. Okay. Another example, two months ago, I couldn't have cared less about pets. Well, on Saturday, we bought an eight week old West Highland Terrier. And I have been consuming information nonstop about how to potty train a puppy. So so what's over and what's under there? One thing would have been over before those events happened. And right now it's it's all under under communicated. So it's motivation and interest. So I'd ask yourself a few questions, you know, how much do we know about the interest of your readers? How much do you know about the interests of your alumni? Do you know anything? And it's okay. There's this there's shortcuts if you don't because we don't all have million dollar analytics platforms to use and we don't have a lot of time. The second question I ask, and be really honest with yourself on this answer, is the content you're providing going to make a difference in anyone's life today? Or is it all self congratulatory, institutional blabbering? Okay. And be honest about that. Have you included it because you know, deep down, it's interesting? Or have you included it because someone higher up than you said you should, like an academic, and be really honest about the motivations about why you're putting something in an e-newsletter. So I'd also say, also go and find out across the institution who else is communicating with your alumni. Now, if you're on this today, and you're from a high school, maybe it's only you. If you're from a university, I can bet you, you're not the only one sending stuff out. People have done double degrees across two faculties and they're now back doing postgraduate study and then you're working in central advancement. They may actually get five or six emails a week from your institution. So you've got to take that into account. I'll give you a few tips. If you're not sure about the interests of your readership base, maybe start with no more than once a month, but keep the number of articles that you're sending out really small. Just a few, maybe three or four. Don't do the nine or 10 or 12, just keep it simple. One way we early on broke things up was by age. And you think about, we tried to break it up to pre-having a family while you're having kids and then post kids. So we did under 35 and 36 to 54 and then 55 above. And you can just move those ages accordingly. So we had experts talking about things relevant to each of those areas. So under 35, social and networking opportunities, life finance, like tax, because no student knows how to do tax when they come out unless they're done at accountancy and career advancement tips. And then the middle life stage, family and raising children, how to invest for prosperity, how to change careers is really big in that area. 55 plus, medical and health advice, social opportunities again, because the kids don't wanna hang around mom and dad anymore, transitioning or in retirement and philanthropy. Okay? So there are stories that you know are probably going to appeal to your readers and are not just institutional fluff, but it's leveraging your expertise. You come with expertise as an institution. So leverage the expertise. Other good ones, your rankings. Why? Because a rising tide floats all boats and the value of the degree of your graduates goes up. Campus photos, because they all have that in common. Graduation photos, because it's nostalgic. And maybe if you wanna do something different that I haven't seen many institutions do on social media is go and copy humans of New York, walk around campus, see if you can take a photo of someone emptying the garbage, someone mowing the lawn, the cafeteria person, a student, an academic, get a little quote from them. Do something that makes people think about your institution in a little bit of a different way. My last tip with any of your communications, can we all get away from award stories that have a photo of four people standing in a line holding a certificate and maybe get a photo of the award winner doing what they got the award for. And then maybe the story is only one to two paragraphs about the award. And then five facts from the award winner about the area of research that the common person might not know. Maybe that would get more readership than four people in a suit holding a certificate with endless quotes from senior leadership about the importance of the award. Today, I did talk about it. If you're a school practitioner though, I had community members that were a hundred years old and I had to segment the data or we had to segment the data or segment our communications in some ways to ensure that your readership right through those generations. It's very important to do that segmenting. So Jo, why is it critical for advancement professionals, not just those in leadership positions to understand the relevant advancement data and what is in it for someone who's just starting a career in advancement? That's a good question, Heather. So in my view, I think we undervalue data broadly speaking. It's pretty much, it should be seen as currency. The same principles apply. So data has value and the more you look after it in terms of the better the quality of the data, the more you invest in it, the greater the returns are that you're gonna get from it. More good data that you have, the more informed the decisions that you can make based on it. And I think one of the things that we've noticed over the last couple of years, and this is something that was starting already, but the change is accelerating thanks to COVID. The fact that we're all now doing things online, we're really relying on the tools and the systems that we have to do our business more and more. So most advancement shops that I'm in communication with, we're finding people have either just implemented a new CRM, they're in the process of implementing a new CRM, or they're investigating a CRM. And that's not to say they didn't have an advancement system before, it's just that the world has changed and they're finding that what they had before is no longer fit for purpose. So all of that kind of raises an expectation around digital literacy, which may be a term you've heard bandied around a little bit, but that basically, it applies in our personal lives and it's really something we're very comfortable with. We all use smartphones, we're all comfortable with apps, we can do all sorts of things. But put it in a work context around an advancement CRM and suddenly people get a bit kind of hands off and a bit afraid of it. And I think that we need to conquer that fear because digital literacy is here to stay and the expectation that we can use our tools and systems more effectively ourselves, independent of the data specialists in the advancement services team, I think is only gonna grow. So that would be my tip for people who are early in their career is get to know the data in your CRM, get to know the system itself, learn how to use it, learn how to get reports out of it to interpret the dashboards that may be served up to you and figure out how you can start to view the data and the CRM a bit differently. So not thinking of it as a thing that gets in the way, an awkward piece of admin you have to do after you've had a prospect visit or some kind of convoluted thing that you have to use to get a report out. This is actually about seeing it as an enabler and it's gonna help you do your work more effectively and see it like you would see your phone. It's just an extension of how you do your day-to-day work. And if you take that approach to data and the CRM that it lives in, you'll become a more effective operative with an advancement, regardless of what role you have. Yes, and that cuts across whether you work in a not-for-profit or whether you're in a school or a university. So yes, very good. Thank you, Jo. Liza, how do you prepare for your first ever ask from a donor? And how do you know it's the right time to make the ask? Well, I gotta say, hopefully everybody listened to what Jo just said and they've put really great data in the database and you've reviewed it and you've had a chance to really live with the data about your prospect. I think those are the key pieces when it comes to knowing who you're building a relationship with, right? And like I mentioned earlier, and Jimmy and Mark and Joanne, we've all kind of reiterated this idea that the work we do is relationship building. So we don't just go in in the first meeting and say, hey, here's a proposal for a million dollars. That's not the work we do. So it's really about looking in the donor or the prospect's eyes and seeing what gets them excited when they're talking about a project that they're keenly interested in. And how does that resonate on your campus? How can you create that kind of buzz of excitement for that person with a project that is on your campus? And once you kind of make those connections, then the relationship becomes quite honestly a little bit easier. You're able to bring them onto campus. You're able to invite them to meet a dean. You're able to have the conversation about that project that they're interested in. And, you know, working at a large institution that many of us are at larger institutions, you know, there are a thousand different things that we can get people excited about on our campus. Take the time to know your prospect. Take the time to think through, and maybe even, you know, role play what that ask would look like. But it should never, and I will say never, come on your first meeting. So, you know, I think there are some folks who will tell you, oh yeah, I've asked people for money on their first visit. How'd that go, man? I think we have to be really careful about how we, you know, project our personal image. Few of us on this call have been doing this for a while. And we want to be in this for the long haul. We want people who are engaged and excited about the profession, people who love the work and building philanthropy. And you're not going to get there if you're asking people for money on the first shot. So get to know your donors, get to know your prospects, really understand what gets them excited and engaged, and then build the ask out from there. You'll know when it's time to make an ask. They will probably make the first offer by saying, how much does a scholarship cost? How can we get more women involved in STEM? How can we create a pipeline from a polytechnic to NTU? So these are some of the questions that, you know, you need to be prepared for. And that's, you know, reading up on your institution, making sure you know what your price chart, what does it cost for a scholarship? Making sure you have all of these things, maybe not memorized, but in the back of your folder that you take to the donor meeting. So these are all key pieces of being, you know, prepared. Because you never know, it could be on the second visit that somebody gets really excited after you've shared, you know, websites and YouTube videos. And they'll ask you, you know, how much is a scholarship? How many students can I support with $100,000? You need to be prepared for those kinds of questions. And that comes with practice, so role-playing, but it also comes with just doing this So create the relationship, let the donor lead, let the prospect lead, and then be successful. Thank you, Liza. Okay, so I've got a couple of questions. In the on-demand video yesterday, one said we should not ask for money when we first contact alumni. How should we treat graduation giving? I think that may have been mine. So I did talk a little bit about graduation giving and the pretty extraordinary program that we have at NTU. You know, the challenge when you're talking to students, so folks who are currently on your campus, and you're building this culture of philanthropy is making sure that, again, you're giving them information. So this isn't about, hey, give us money. It's really about talking about the people who came before you, people who created a legacy. You know, the reason that you had that scholarship is because people who came before you felt that there was a need, that they really got a lot out of their education. They wanted more people to have that same experience. So really kind of turning it on its head so that it's not just about that $5 that that senior or that second year student is gonna give you. It really is about them buying into the idea of leaving a legacy, and that can be a philanthropic gift. Not sure if I answered exactly the question, but when your students kind of understand how we built this culture of philanthropy and why alumni give back, it's an easier sell, essentially, to ask them for a recurring gift of $1 every month, or easier to ask them for a one-time gift of $5. But making sure that as you're building and being intentional about building a culture of philanthropy, you're really trying to figure out what those stories are that can capture the imagination of students. And it's almost always a story of somebody who persevered, somebody who came from maybe humble beginnings and is now a really successful alum that they see on campus all the time. And NTU has some great examples of that. So I would encourage you to go out and find your own examples on your campus. Thanks, Liza. I've got another question. Alumni are often called upon to give back, perhaps by being featured in a webinar, talking to current students or sharing their story expertise in some way. With many people working from home and some under significant strain due to lockdowns, how do we encourage or compensate alumni involvement without impinging too much on their capacity? It's an important one, I think. I think, especially those of us in Australia who just feel like this is never ending, right? And everybody's bandwidth is stretched around the world. And so how can we possibly ask more from other people outside of our organization? And not that this is necessarily sort of a one-size-fits-all thing, but I think it's a similar approach when we talk about, talking to somebody about a major gift or talking to somebody about speaking on a webinar, it's sort of framing the question around, well, what would be meaningful for you? And really making sure for them, it might be that, you know what? I could do a 45-minute webinar, that's fine. Or, you know what? I am just flat out, check back in with me in six to 12 months. I think in this sort of environment where we're just not too certain, there's so much uncertainty in the world now. When we have an idea and you wanna invite somebody to speak on a panel, I think it's fine to ask them to participate in the webinar to say, we think that what you could bring to this would be really valuable and that people would appreciate it. But I also just wanna make sure that this would be meaningful for you. And it then gives them the opportunity to say, no, it's probably not the right fit for me. Or actually, this is what would be meaningful for me. So then at least if you get a no, then you can at least get an answer about what would be meaningful. I would encourage you to think about it like that. And it's the same way that we would talk with a major gift prospect about their philanthropy, what would be meaningful with their philanthropy. It's the same thing with the time and the sort of the service that our alumni can give back to the institution as well. I think we have to have backup plans for everything. And I think that's what the last 18 months has taught us. And this is where we can use the data as well to say, okay, well, this is what our sort of no-show or decline rate was pre-COVID. This is what it has been in the virtual space. Use the data to inform sort of the recommendations that you make around planning events or sort of gatherings with people, but also be prepared with a backup plan because there are so many things that at the last minute, your plans have to go out the window. And it's not that we should sort of shy away from planning things. We don't wanna lose connections with these people, but we should think a bit more creatively and a bit differently. And so I would say with any event that I've been involved with in the last year or in the next six to 12 months, we think about making sure that there's, if we do wanna plan to do something in person, which increasingly is less the case, then we at least have what our virtual backup would be. Whether we would do something virtual, we would just postpone the event in general, but also think about what people want to do as well. And if you're planning an event and you've got very low registrations for it, take it back to the people who wanna have the event and say, is this the right thing for us to do? Which for us, I know, and our team is a very live issue. It's something that we've been working on, but I think it's about having backups and sort of having those contingency plans because those will be with us for a very long time, I think. Thanks, Jimmy. We've got another question. Oh, I'm just regarding engaging our donors and alumni in the over 55 age bracket who may not be as digitally literate. So I'm on the fringe of 55, but I think I'm pretty digitally literate. And my father's 80 and he's always ringing me on Facebook Messenger. So from Canada, you'd be surprised at how many people in that age bracket from 55 to 80 are becoming more and more digitally literate or are more literate in some ways. I think it's sometimes a bit of misconception because you look at the 18 year olds, which are mid-20s, my daughter's one of those, who I can't get her to look at Facebook and I can't get her to read text messages. So it's my question is more, how do you communicate with that generation who attention span is less than eight seconds? And so, Jimmy, I can see you've got your hand. I would love for you to answer that. I think the last year has thrown the rule book out the window and the assumptions that we made about our older alumni have been challenged. And some of the donors that I talked to who are in their 70s or 80s, tell me about the Zoom calls that they do with their grandkids and the Zoom Pilates that they're doing. People have sort of really come really far in using technology much more so than they did two years ago. But one of the things that I still do that I'm a very big proponent of is a handwritten card. Even if it's a handwritten card to check in on somebody, if there are people in your constituent base who won't engage with technology, they could be 40, they could be 50, they could be 20, they could be 90. Sometimes if you have a postal address, they might appreciate the effort of somebody just writing them a handwritten card just to say, I'm thinking of you. I hope that you're well. I know that it's a challenging time. Look forward to catching up together on campus sometime. Thank you for your recent gift. Thank you for dialing into the webinar. I really think that when we have these kinds of challenges, going old school, keeping it simple can be really quite valuable. And so one of the things that I still do is the handwritten card. And oftentimes it results in a phone call, which then we talk about a gift. So you can use them strategically as well. But I think that it can be a really, for me, that's been a really useful tool. And it sort of helps to address that issue about not knowing about some levels of confidence with technology. Thank you to all our panelists, Mark, Liza, Jimmy, and Joe. Thank you.
Video Summary
In the video, four panelists discuss various topics related to advancement in higher education. The panelists include Mark Schroeder, a senior volunteer with CASE, who has a diverse background in marketing and communications. Jimmy Buck, the chief advancement officer at Deakin University, who has extensive experience in fundraising and alumni relations. Liza Boffin-Yordanov, the chief development officer at Nanyang Technological University, who leads the university's development team. And Joanna Watts, the director of operations at the University of Melbourne, who has over 25 years of experience in the higher education sector. The panelists discuss misconceptions about their areas of work, the importance of managing relationships in the workplace, effective communication with stakeholders, and how to prepare for donor asks. They emphasize the importance of building relationships with donors and prospects before making an ask, and highlight the need for genuine interest and personalized approaches. The panelists also touch on the significance of data in advancement work, encouraging professionals to understand and use data effectively to inform their strategies. Additionally, they discuss ways to engage alumni and donors, particularly those in the over 55 age bracket who may be less digitally literate. Suggestions include handwritten cards, personalized communication, and finding alternative methods of engagement that cater to individual preferences and comfort levels. Overall, the panelists provide valuable insights and advice for professionals working in the advancement field.
Keywords
advancement
higher education
communication
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