The Fundraiser’s Toolkit
June 15 -16, 2023 at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall
321 Mercer St, Seattle, WA 98109
Invest in yourself and your career
The Fundraiser’s Toolkit will provide tangible, practical tools for professionals of all career stages. Network with your peers and build your skills at this must-attend event for fundraisers in our region. With interactive sessions, an exciting exhibit, and keynotes from Karen Osborne and Nathan Chappell & Brian Crimmins, this conference has something for everyone.
Register by May 11 to receive Early Bird Pricing.
There will be a limited number of discounted $200 registrations available to support participation of Early Career AFP members 30 years old or younger. Verification will be requested at registration. If cost is a barrier to your participation, please inquire about event day volunteer opportunities. Email office@afpadvancementnw.org to request a discount code or inquire about volunteering.
Day 1 – Thursday, June 15
8:00 am – Registration and Exhibit open
9:00 am – Keynote Speaker
Karen Osborne: Strategic Thinking – A Superpower That Increases Your Effectiveness and Advances Your Career
The ability to think and act strategically is essential to every position in the fund development or advancement office. When you’re skilled at anticipating, forecasting, and capitalizing on opportunities, you become more vital to your organization, get noticed, and perform at your highest and best level. Join us for an engaging, interactive session on how to master or burnish your skills as a strategic thinker. Walk away with concrete learnings and steps you can put into action immediately and the motivation to act.
For eighteen of Karen’s forty-five professional years, she held leadership positions–Director of Major Gifts, Director of Development, and VP for College Advancement–at colleges and universities. For the past 27 years, Karen served first as President and now Senior Strategist at The Osborne Group, an international management, consulting, and training firm.
Karen enjoys a rich volunteer life and is also a suspense and mystery writer. She is the author of the award-winning and best-selling Tangled Lies and released True Grace in September 2023.
10:15 am – Break and Exhibit
10:40 am – Session one presentations
You can do it! Flexing your muscles to win planned gifts
This interactive session will help fundraisers develop a workable strategy and access the tools they need to establish and sustain successful planned giving programs. Three case studies of organizations that were able to develop doable, sustainable programs will be showcased along with the free crowdsourced Leave10 toolkit. Come and glean learnings, ideas, and resources you can put to work for your mission.
Jan Jacobs, Senior Vice President and Philanthropic Client Manager, Bank of America Private Bank
Janell Johnson, Senior Philanthropic Advisor, Phila Engaged Giving
Sherrana Kildun, Chief Philanthropy Officer, Tacoma/Pierce County Habitat for Humanity
Advancing Your DEIJ Initiatives: Securing Investments for Transformational Change
Advancement and development plays a critical role in ensuring transformational institutional change around diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. Little progress can occur without Advancement securing the funds to turn these commitments into reality. This session will highlight the importance of an equity-minded advancement framework, examine ways we can bring donors and investors on board with DEIJ initiatives, and how to create opportunities for funding transformational change.
Erika Del Villar, Associate Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, Bastyr University
11:50 am – Session two presentations
Leading with Values: A Framework for Ethical Decision Making
As societies become more polarized, there is increasing pressure for leaders to have a sense of purpose and to make moral decisions. Being a good leader requires both a keen understanding of the realities of human decision making as well as an analysis of what is right and wrong. Consider real world case studies and learn how to apply these skills to your difficult decisions. This session will help leaders better clarify their own values and lead organizations with them in mind.
Add Corporate Giving to Your Toolkit
Is corporate giving, that is sponsorships, donations/grants, goods in kind, employee volunteerism, workplace giving, cause marketing, a part of your fundraising plan? In this session attendees will learn the many ways they can grow revenue by engaging with the for-profit sector and explore the intersectionality of corporate giving and individual giving as companies want their employees to engage with the nonprofits they support.
Joy Stephens, Founder and CEO, the Corporate Giving Network (CGN)
12:50 pm – Lunch and Exhibit
1:50 pm – Session three presentations
Community Centric Fundraising & Your Event!
Curious about how to incorporate key elements of the Community Centric Fundraising principles into the strategy and design of your fundraising event? This session is your chance to explore this topic and take away some actionable steps. NWIRP has lessons to share from their 1,000+ person annual gala, where they have created healthier and more thoughtful relationships with staff, donors, sponsors, partner organizations, and clients.
Aarti Khanna, Director of Development, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project
Raul Alvarez, Communications Manager, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project
This is Not a Drill: Fundraising in a New Era
Join us as we discuss the new tools required for campaign and fundraising success in a new era of fundraising. In addition to real-time short surveys and opportunities for the audience to share their perspectives and shape the conversation, our panelists will provide insights and share their real-world experiences. This new era in fundraising – will call upon new and different tools to achieve authentic and sustainable philanthropic success, especially as it relates to community-centered fundraising and advancing DEIA objectives.
Teresa Koeppel, Founder, Connect Comms + Engagement
Christine Lessard, Director of Philanthropic Recognition Programs, University of Washington
Tracy Ostrem, President, Ostrem Leadership Group
2:50 pm – Break and Exhibit
3:20 pm – Session four workshops
Communicate for Good–a simple, surefire way for fundraisers to improve collaboration, increase morale, and raise more money
Communication has always been an important skill for fundraisers. Effective communication increases donor retention and acquisition, secures grants, and attracts sponsors. This interactive workshop will focus on internal and team communication as well as skills to communicate with donors, funders, collaborative partners, and volunteers.
Lost but not Forgotten: Converting Donors from Lapsed to Loyal
Often, organizations focus on annual fund/individual donor acquisition as the most important part of the development plan and place available resources there rather than putting those resources into effective engagement and retention. The session will walk participants through how detailed donor database research, donor segmentation, and focused outreach and relationship building techniques are the foundation of successful donor re-engagement at greater percentages than the industry standard of 5%.
Nick Newcombe, Nick Newcombe Consulting Services
5:00 – 7:00 pm – Happy Hour Reception
Day 2 – Friday, June 16
8:00 am – Registration and Exhibit open
9:00 am – Keynote Speakers
Nathan Chappell & Brian Crimmins: Conquer the Generosity Crisis Through Radical Connection
The number of Americans making charitable gifts has reached an all-time low and statistics indicate the percentages of people giving to charity annually could decline into the single digits within 49 years. This presentation will discuss the changing definition of generosity, and the need for nonprofits to develop a renewed appreciation for connection and leverage technology once only used by for-profit organizations. Attendees will learn the importance of fostering Radical Connection built upon the tenets of vulnerability, authenticity and Inclusion.
Nathan’s subject matter expertise has been featured in several publications, including Fast Company, University of Notre Dame and the Association of Healthcare Philanthropy. In 2021, Nathan founded Fundraising.Ai as a member-centric collaboration of nonprofit professionals with a focus on data ethics, data equality, privacy and security, sustainability. Nathan presented the first TEDx on the topic of artificial intelligence and the future of generosity in 2018. As a thought leader, public speaker, author and inventor, Nathan is one of the world’s foremost experts on the future of philanthropy. He is co-author of the recently published best-selling book, The Generosity Crisis, together with Brian.
Brian is a global leader in social impact, a public speaker on fundraising and philanthropy, host of the popular webcast series, Forging Forward and Chief Executive Officer of Changing Our World, a trusted philanthropy and social impact consulting firm. Through service lines that include fundraising, corporate social engagement, research and analytics, and communications, Changing Our World raises billions in support of client causes, while counseling leading companies and brands to design and implement strategic corporate responsibility programs that deliver social impact while driving business strategy.
10:15 am – Break and Exhibit
10:40 am – Session one workshops
Strategic Thinking and Agility – The Manager’s Roadmap
As a leader, you are often at the vortex of change – changes from the top down as well as changes you determine are required. In both cases, you must lead and persuade everyone above, across, and below to follow. Vision, strategy, and agility play a huge role. In this hands-on, experiential workshop, you will deepen your skills as a strategic thinker, planner, and agent of change as well as help your team members burnish their strategic thinking and agility skills.
Karen Osborne, Senior Strategist, The Osborne Group, Inc., and Author
Applying the Accessibility Lens to Donor Meetings
Donors with disabilities are everywhere. Consider those who are seniors, who develop disabilities as they age. Increasingly there are those who have invisible disabilities. Discussions will center around how we can unlearn our own ableism and make strides in accommodating those donors we meet either in person or through a digital space. Attendees will be able to practice relationship-building scenarios and learn first-hand what it looks like to make someone with a disability feel welcomed and heard.
Elizabeth Ralston, Accessibility Consultant, Elizabeth Ralston Consulting, LLC
Troy Coalman, Senior Director of Donor Impact, Wellspring Family Services
12:10 pm – Lunch and Exhibit
1:05 pm – Session two presentations
Build Capacity, Not Burnout: Make Your Fundraising Portfolio Move and Deliver
In this session, you will learn the secrets of highly effective and high-performing fundraising teams. If you are tired of spinning your wheels on a portfolio that isn’t delivering, this session will give you the tools to improve the effectiveness of your moves management. We will go beyond the guesswork and learn the specific metrics of moves management that lead to gifts. You’ll learn how to make your portfolio move and deliver by understanding common mistakes and utilizing four specific actions toward closing that gift.
Corinna Krauskopf, Founder, Fearless Philanthropy
Securing Transformational Gifts
Soliciting major gifts is critical to a fundraiser’s success. This session will discuss several essential fundraising tools including predictive modeling, table of gifts, and the moves management process. Beyond these practical tools, the session will offer attendees strategies to raise their own fundraising sights, as well as donors’, and will cover potential challenges and solutions around major gift fundraising.
Anne Rasmussen, System Vice President and Chief Development Officer, PeaceHealth
John Goodwin, Director of Community Philanthropy, Portland Art Museum
Thomas Hamby, Senior Director, CCS Fundraising
2:10 pm – Break and Exhibit
2:35 pm – Closing session
They Said What?! When Donor Conversations Get Difficult
We all know our donors are wonderful, kind, benevolent, and lovely. Except when they’re not. Cultivating donors sometimes means you’ll find yourself in a conversation that can be uncomfortable, distasteful, and even downright offensive. What’s a gift officer to do?! We’ll talk about how centering your values and the cause you serve in conversations can help you navigate when a donor says something upsetting about your clients, your organization, or even about you!
Maria Kolby-Wolfe, President and CEO, Washington Women’s Foundation
CFRE Credits
CFRE tracking is self-reporting. You are required to keep track of your own attendance. You can login to your CFRE account or start your application online. Please note that AFP Advancement Northwest is not a pre-approved CFRE provider. Please follow the CFRE guidelines regarding continuing education reporting.
Many thanks to our Conference Sponsors!
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DEIA & Event Sponsor
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