Quick Studies for Independent Schools

About

This webinar series includes 30-minute or less quick studies on important topics for independent school advancement professionals.

	Quick Study on Independent School Crisis Communication Jan Abernathy, Chief Communications Officer, The Browning School Learn the basics of crisis communications across a variety of issues, and how to avoid the common mistakes that even good schools make when considering how to respond to the media and community. During a crisis, speed is of the essence – even if all of the facts aren't immediately known. Discover how trust can be gained and reputation enhanced by an effective communications response to a crisis. Career Level 3: Practicing/Maturing Mid-Career CASE Competencies: Industry/Sector Expertise & Leadership
	The Key to Maximizing Giving Days: Students Danielle Hladky, Director of Communications & Marketing, Calvert Hall College High School At Calvert Hall College High School, their annual day of giving recently celebrated its eighth anniversary, raising more than $450,000 from more than 1,400 donors. A day of giving not only focuses on dollars raised and donor participation, but it also is an opportunity to engage and retain donors through the art of storytelling. This 20-minute session will discuss The Hall's giving day and how they incorporate students to make their giving day experience one that is celebrated and remembered. Attendees will learn more about the format of Calvert Hall's giving day, how to build storyboards that incorporate students, and how to create timely, organic content that spans generations and constituencies. Career Level 4: Senior/Experienced Mid-Career CASE Competencies: Industry/Sector Expertise & Strategic Thinking
	A Crash Course in Independent School Marketing Kraig Doremus, Associate Director of Marketing and Communications, Swift School This session will cover 5 key topics in 6 minute segments: 1. Your brand is more than your logo and tagline. 2. Best practices on how to leverage social media to market your school 3. How to turn your website into an inquiry magnet 4. How to work hand-in-hand with admissions and have a successful school year 5. How to increase email marketing open and click rates" Career Level 2: Emerging Early Career CASE Competencies: Industry/Sector Expertise & Strategic Thinking
	Change Your Fundraising Mindset Mary Carrasco, Senior Vice President, GG+A Jim McKey, Senior Vice President for GG&A Do you struggle with finding the right language to make your best fundraising pitch? You may be worried unnecessarily. Change your mindset from making a pitch to determining what you need to learn from a prospective donor in order to create a winning proposal. This webinar will help you identify the most helpful strategic questions to ask prospective donors. Join GG+A Senior Vice Presidents, Jim McKey and Mary Carrasco to find the most helpful strategic questions to ask prospective donors. Learn specific questions for matching donor preferences with your School's priorities Develop a skill to enhance your professional and personal life Become a more curious and interesting conversationalist Career Level 3: Practicing/Maturing Mid-Career CASE Competencies: Relationship Building & Emotional Intelligence
	Short Course on Data Hygiene: Best Practices and Easy Wins Vidya Kagan, Director of Development Services, Menlo School Data hygiene is a necessary part of our job as advancement professionals. In this webinar, our speaker will explain the importance of data hygiene and provide a “Top 5 List” of things you can do to clean up your database easily and quickly. Accurate and complete data and a clean database benefit all of us! Career Levels 1-3: Early Career - Practicing/Maturing Mid-Career CASE Competencies: Industry/Sector Expertise
	Positioning Your Small Communications Team for Success Aisha Laspina-Rodriguez, Director of Communications, Hackley School New to your team or simply want to refresh your communications strategy? This workshop provides helpful tips to create a strong foundation for your communications team. Takeaways will include: Completing the communications audit Laying the groundwork for a communications plan that sets the tone for one or more years Leading with empathy Career Level 4: Senior/experienced Mid-Career CASE Competencies: Industry/Sector Expertise & Strategic Thinking
	Essential Elements of (Campaign) Fundraising Success Elizabeth Kolb Farr, Senior Vice President and Independent Schools Practice Leader, Grenzebach Glier and Associates Fundraising – annually and in campaigns – comprises eight critical components that can serve as advantages or obstacles as a school strives to increase philanthropic support. In this presentation, attendees will learn the essential elements of fundraising success as well as the steps advancement staff, heads of school, and trustees can take to ensure the school is prepared to achieve substantial, sustainable fundraising growth. Career Level 4: Senior/experienced Mid-Career CASE Competencies: Strategic Thinking & Leadership
	Managing Diverse Teams Erica Pettis, Vice President and Independent School Practice Group Leader Dr. Anthony Heaven, Vice President and Higher Education Practice Group Leader, Graham-Pelton Managing Diverse Teams will focus on high-level education and strategies for understanding the various facets of diversity and how they benefit the organization. Viewers will better understand inclusion, learn how to increase cultural competency to lead more effectively, and create a strategy that fosters a more inclusive culture, especially regarding recruitment, retention, and employee engagement. Career Level 4: Senior/experienced Mid-Career CASE Competencies: Relationship Building & Leadership
	Giving Societies: Are They Worth It? Melanie Hoffmann,Director of Advancement Melissa Bonafonte, Director of The Fund for RE, Ransom Everglades School We all have giving societies for our annual funds, but are they working? This case study will show how one independent school raised 50 percent of their total annual fund from one giving level, and what they did to maximize the entire giving society. The presenters will talk about how to maximize the impact of the giving levels through: Defining the levels and benefits Empowering volunteers Focusing staff time Career Level 3: Practicing/Maturing Mid-Career CASE Competencies: Industry/Sector Expertise
	Ten Ways to Increase Your Email Open Rates Fiona Ross, Director of Development, Giggleswick School There are so many ways to communicate digitally, and diverse audiences require ever more tailored messaging. In a VERY crowded space, we need to focus on breaking through the noise! This session will focus on 10 simple tips for creating targeted emails and increasing the chances of these messages being read, whether that be with mass emails or more personal messages. Career Level 1: Early Career CASE Competencies: Integrity and Professionalism & Strategic Thinking
	How to Prioritize Your Major Gifts Prospect List Jennifer Williams, CFRE, Director of Major and Planned Giving, Northfield Mount Hermon Perrine Meunier-Jones, Senior Regional Engagement Officer/Major Gifts, Northfield Mount Hermon Your prospect list has 100-200+ names, and you have no idea where to start (or start over). Learn how to: analyze your portfolio, quickly review prospect research to spot prospects with potential, identify your “Top 25” and “Tier 2” prospects, and create a plan for who to visit, where, and when. Career Level 2: Emerging Early Career CASE Competencies: Industry/Sector Expertise & Strategic Thinking
	Allow Us to Reintroduce Ourselves: Pingry School’s Unexpected Rebrand Emily Cooke, Director of Strategic Communications and Marketing, The Pingry School Tom Sternal, President, Generation Branding & COmmunication The Pingry School embarked on a research-based positioning and rebranding effort in 2022-23. That was the easy part! Challenges arose as leaks emerged and misinformation populated social media and the proverbial rumor mill. Wait, our color is changing? Hold on, there’s a new tagline? What else is changing? This is a disaster! As false reports circulated, Pingry leaned in. They introduced levity and playfulness and the rebrand team engaged with the leakers and pot-stirrers. The result was transformative—and filled with lessons learned. Takeways from this webinar include: How does research make the rebrand—and the rollout—more effective? How to foster collegiality, consensus, and unity throughout a rebrand? How to engage the student body in a brand’s evolution? What preparations are needed for roll-out? Career Level 3: Practicing/Maturing Mid-Career CASE Competencies: Relationship Building & Strategic Thinking
	Focus on what matters and let AI, automation and other technology do the rest Amy Smucker, Assistant Head of School for External Affairs, Berwick Academy Simon Tumansky, CEO, ChalkBooks We are all under-resourced for one reason or another, and yet we have massive engagement and fundraising goals. While we recognize that change is hard for all of us, to reach our new goals and be successful in our new reality we have to make extra effort to adopt new technology including AI, automations, and other modern technology. In this session you will learn strategies to prioritize the most impactful work for you and your team. We also cover a few strategies for how to utilize conversational AI, automations and new technology to help you spend less time on tasks that keep you busy and more time out of the office speaking with donors. Career Level 3: Practicing/Maturing Mid-Career CASE Competencies: Industry/Sector Expertise & Relationship Building

About the CASE Competencies

Integrity and Professionalism
Excellence in conduct representing oneself and one’s institution and the profession (Builds and maintains trust, ethical conduct, personal accountability, storytelling, effective communicator, presenter and facilitator)

Business and Financial Acumen
Understands the business situation and financial factors and takes responsibility for the best course of action (Data based decision making, financial fluency, institutional business knowledge, industry business knowledge)

Industry/Sector Expertise
Focused upon knowledge and skills requisite to specific domains of practice within the profession (Fundraising, Constituent and Alumni Relations, Marketing and Communications, Public Affairs and Government Relations, Management, Advancement Services)

Relationship Building
Effectively utilizing interpersonal skills to build and maintain strong professional relationships between the organization and internal and external stakeholders (Effectively engage volunteers and stakeholders, consensus building, collaboration and teamwork, stewardship, negotiation, conflict resolution, proactive relationship development)

Emotional Intelligence
Recognizing emotions and understanding how they impact you and others to guide thinking and behavior (Active listening, self-awareness, empathy, social awareness, social skill)

Strategic Thinking
Employs methods and processes to view a situation, assess factors, and create effective implementation plans with measurable results (Align strategy with action, critical thinking, innovative problem solving, change management, adaptability to complexity, strategic planning, understanding data and context, strategic stakeholder engagement)

Leadership
Leading with vision and credibility, to effectively manage self, others and resources to achieve organizational impact. The ability to define what the future should look like, align people with that vision, and influence others through authenticity and inspiration to make the vision happen despite obstacles. (Entrepreneurial, models’ engagement in advancement, manages ambiguity, future focused, executive presence, perseverance, courageous communicator, continuous learning)

About the CASE Career Levels

Level 1 - Early Career (acquire knowledge about the common core of the advancement function for new professionals and mid-career professionals transitioning into advancement)

Level 2 - Emerging Early Career (develop technical, explicit knowledge in a chosen specialty and grow skills in the advancement competencies)

Level 3 - Practicing/maturing Mid-Career (work on achieving fluency in all aspects of advancement and grow leadership skills and gain a deeper understanding of ethics)

Level 4 - Senior/experienced Mid-Career (develop deep expertise in your discipline and your understanding of other disciplines)

Level 5 - Expert Seasoned Professional (develop an understanding of the role advancement plays in executing higher-level institutional strategy)

Level 6 - Leadership/Transforming Seasoned Professional (contribute with work that is more strategic than managerial and maintain a multidisciplinary understanding and portfolio)

Summary


Availability:	On-Demand


Credit Offered:	No Credit Offered

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