Development Institute

July 26–29

DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE

The boarding school landscape poses profound opportunities and challenges for philanthropic and advancement teams. From day one, development practitioners need to cultivate the habits of mind and key behaviors essential to making an impact. To do so, they need skills ranging from research to data analytics to effective storytelling and insights about how to best engage and inspire a wide variety of audiences.

In this four-day synchronous and asynchronous institute, participants will dive into a comprehensive curriculum designed to on-board development professionals to quickly make an impact within advancement teams in their boarding school communities. Participants will participate in large and small-group sessions, utilizing best practices, case studies and authentic assets straight from the boarding school ecosystem in conversations with mentors and colleagues.

When

July 26–29 • Noon–4pm ET

where

Virtual

who

Early career development and advancement professionals eager to develop the skills to make an impact on your team from day one

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Develop the habits of mind and daily practices that position effective fundraisers to support their teams and their own success within a boarding school environment.

Unpack insights about generational giving and strategic approaches customized that will inspire your specific audience.

Dive into the tools and resources you’ll need for effective research and learn to utilize data analytics to allocate your time.

Identify the key components of an advancement and development portfolio and strategy, from the fundamental campaigns utilized by most boarding schools to the power of time, talent and treasure resources of your stakeholders.

Explore the varied landscape of international fundraising and practices to help you tailor your efforts for international audiences.

Learn to unleash the power of alumni relations programs.

Understand the latest data about why families choose boarding schools for their children--and how those insights impact their posture toward fundraising.

Learn the basics of effective storytelling that makes your listeners connect, feel and act.

Identify the building blocks of an effective development event and how to measure ROI of strategic events.

Monday, July 26 • Noon–4pm ET

BLOCK 1

Kickoff: Welcome to the TABS Development Institute!

Get to know your program mentor, fellow attendees, and lead facilitators for the program.

Why Do Families Choose Boarding? And What That Means for Fundraising

Join TABS leadership to unpack the data, both quantitative and qualitative, about what leads students and families to choose the boarding school experience and explore the unique ways you can leverage those insights for your school’s development strategy.

BLOCK 2

Habits of Mind for Greatest Impact

Daily conversations in the dining hall, visiting classes, making your team members shine–these are some of the habits and daily practices that position development officers for success. Explore the key habits and behaviors you’ll want to incorporate into your daily routines to most effectively support your team and your own impact within the boarding school environment.

BLOCK 3

Building–or Shifting–a Culture of Giving

How do you build a culture of philanthropy in a community where giving is not yet ingrained in family, faculty and alumni culture. And, when faced with a moment of profound crisis or profound opportunity, how can you shift philanthropic attitudes in a new direction? We’ll explore ways to inspire your community into new philosophies and behaviors of support.

We’ll introduce you to the elevator pitch exercise during this session.

Tuesday, July 27 • Noon–4pm ET

Understanding Your Stakeholders

INDEPENDENT LEARNING

Major Components and Key Resources of a Development Portfolio

BLOCK 1

Unleashing the Power of Alumni Relations

Learn to unleash the power of alumni relations programs through intentional relationship building, community cultivation, identification of talent and resources, and event and program design. Identify the building blocks of an effective development event and how to measure ROI of strategic events.

BLOCK 2

Know your Audience: A Generational Approach to Fundraising

Unpack insights about generational giving and strategic approaches customized to inspire your specific audience.

BLOCK 3

Fundraising Across Cultures: Effective International Fundraising Strategies

Explore the varied landscape of international fundraising, practices to help you tailor your efforts for international audiences, and strategies for maximizing your travel resources, time and energy to have the greatest impact on your goals.

We’ll introduce you to the elevator pitch exercise during this session.

Wednesday, July 28 • Noon–4pm ET

Inspiring Toward Action through Storytelling

BLOCK 1

Inspiring Toward Action: Storytelling Workshop

Learn the basics of effective storytelling that makes your listeners connect, feel and leave inspired to act. Explore ways you’ll need to collaborate across departments to unify and align your core message and translate it most effectively to each of your unique stakeholder audiences.

BLOCK 2

Why We Give: Learn from a Panel of Donors

Hear from a panel of boarding schools donors about why they chose to support their institutions, the moments of engagement that had the most significant impact, and the advice they’d give to professionals cultivating cultures of robust philanthropy.

BLOCK 3

The Cultivation Journey: Opportunities and Challenges

Stewardship of gifts of major impact are often the result of relationships built over years of thoughtful engagement. Explore proven paths of donor cultivation to understand which moments have the greatest impact and to brianstorm create ideas to engage your most powerful supporters.

BLOCK 4

An Equitable Approach to Fundraising

What does data about the intersection of gender, race, ethnicity and sexuality tell us about opportunities for cultivating stewardship that organizations may have historically overlooked and how can we maximize opportunities to create truly inclusive cultures of stewardship?

Thursday, July 29 • Noon–4pm ET

Data-Driven Decision-Making

BLOCK 1

Effective Research and Metrics that Matter

When it comes to determining where and how your team can best spend your valuable time, prospect research and data analysis is essential. Dive into the tools and resources you’ll need for effective research and learn to utilize data analytics to allocate your time.

BLOCK 2

Data Visualization for Impact

Development professionals often live in worlds of spreadsheets and reports. Explore how you can mine those datasets and reports for the narrative you want to convy and use visualization tools to make the story of your impact clear to internal and external stakeholders.

BLOCK 3

Wrap Up and Send Off

Bring your Development Institute experience to a close with a celebratory send-off into the academic year and the affirmation of your colleagues.

We’ll introduce you to the elevator pitch exercise during this session.

Schedule is subject to change.