Reimagining Event Strategy to Deepen Donor Engagement: A University of Maryland, Baltimore Case Study

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Oct 02, 2025 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM ET

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Events remain one of the most powerful tools for building meaningful donor relationships—but in today’s digital-first world, traditional event marketing often falls short. With limited internal resources and growing demands, many advancement teams lack the creative and technological infrastructure to modernize event communications and scale engagement effectively.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB)—the founding campus of the University System of Maryland and the state’s only public university dedicated solely to health, law, and human services—recognized the opportunity to innovate. Hosting over 30 signature events annually through its Maryland Medicine Philanthropy team, UMB sought to elevate its event strategy with a focus on personalization, automation, and measurable outcomes.

By partnering with iFOLIO, UMB adopted a hybrid creative agency + technology model specifically tailored for donor events. The result: a transformative shift in how the university approaches event marketing—leveraging personalized digital invitations enriched with video, animation, and interactive features, all supported by robust analytics to track RSVPs, engagement, and next actions.

This session will walk attendees through UMB’s event modernization journey, from investiture ceremonies and VIP receptions to student awards and Shock Trauma celebrations. Attendees will see how UMB streamlined communications, saved internal resources, and enhanced the donor experience.

In this session, you’ll learn:

How UMB reimagined event communications to drive higher engagement and efficiency
What the iFOLIO creative + technology model looks like in real-world practice
Examples of compelling visual invitations, reminders, and automated follow-ups
Best practices for scaling high-impact event marketing, even with limited teams
Actionable strategies to boost donor relationships through smarter, more strategic event touch points

Thank you to our sponsor:

Julie Ecke
Director of Special Events, University of Maryland, Baltimore

Julie Ecke is a strategic event leader with over 20 years of experience producing high-impact events in higher education, medicine, and philanthropy. As Director of Special Events at the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB), she oversees planning and execution for more than 30 major annual events—including investiture ceremonies, donor celebrations, student award programs, and high-profile receptions—designed to enhance institutional visibility and deepen constituent engagement. Julie is known for her ability to blend operational excellence with creative vision. Her events consistently deliver seamless, high-touch experiences that reflect the university’s values and strengthen relationships from the first invitation to the final follow-up. She holds formal certifications in event safety and risk mitigation from FEMA, TEEX, and TIPS, bringing a unique combination of preparedness and professionalism to her leadership. A champion of innovation in donor and stakeholder engagement, Julie led UMB’s recent partnership with iFOLIO to transform event communications through rich-media digital invitations, interactive storytelling, and real-time analytics. This initiative has enabled UMB to personalize and scale event outreach more effectively than ever before. Julie is also skilled in cross-functional team leadership, sales and contract negotiation, and tools like Smartsheet, Cvent, Social Tables, Constant Contact, and CRM platforms. Calm under pressure and collaborative by nature, she brings vision, grit, and precision to every event she leads.

Jean Marie Richardson
Director of Special Events, University of Maryland, Baltimore

Jean Marie Richardson is the Founder and CEO of iFOLIO, a patented marketing technology platform powering communications tied to over $4 billion in philanthropic contributions across higher education and athletics. Under her leadership, iFOLIO has scaled to support more than 3 million digital pages and serve 22 university partners, including the University of Florida, Notre Dame, K-State, Northeastern, Clemson, and the University of Maryland Baltimore. With over two decades of experience in the technology sector, Jean Marie previously held senior roles at Microsoft, Oracle, and MasterCard, where she led innovation initiatives, managed a mobile platform acquisition, and helped launch new CRM products. She holds three U.S. patents in marketing analytics and has received six Stevie® Awards for Women in Business, including Tech Woman of the Year and Most Innovative Woman of the Year (2024). In 2019, she was named Marketing Innovator of the Year by the Technology Association of Georgia and in 2015, a Woman of Power by the National Diversity Council. Jean Marie is a recognized leader in higher education philanthropy, digital transformation, and analytics, and she frequently speaks on these topics at national conferences, universities, and media outlets. She serves on five boards at Georgia Tech, including as Chair Elect of the Scheller College of Business Advisory Board and on the Advisory Board to the President (GTAB). In 2025, she was honored in the Georgia Tech Pathways of Progress in a permanent tribute on campus. Jean Marie earned her B.S. in Management from Georgia Tech as a President’s Scholar and resides in Atlanta with her husband and their two dogs, Harper Lee and Beaux.