MARC 2011 Thursday Sessions

Session 1
9:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.

Relationship Management
Improve Your Prospect Management System Now!
Intermediate
Tricia Ambler, Manager of Client Service, WealthEngine

Proposals and metrics and numbers of visits, oh my! Today’s researchers are asked to not only measure their own successes but to track gift officers’ metrics as well. Learn the steps and key metrics to better manage your processes for better communication between the research and gift teams. Tricia will teach the key steps to make your system more donor-focused and transparent, to better capture metrics and align goals across the development and research offices and develop buy-in across all roles.

Fundraising Research-Advanced Research
Golden Parachutes – Golden Opportunities
Intermediate
Suzanne Barlow, Director, Prospect Research, Pace University
Deborah Greenberg, Manager of Prospect Research, Hadassah WZOA

We have all read stories of large bonuses granted to departing C-suite executives and we know they negotiated to create the best possible tax position for their golden parachute landings, but how do we know when to engage a person with windfall profits? And at what level? In this session, we will interpret SEC filings, use news media accounts, public and proprietary websites, and tax regulations to determine the timeline and the post-tax capacity of retirement packages and golden parachutes to determine the right time and amount for a major gift solicitation.

Data Analytics
Integrated Data-Driven Prospect Development
Advanced
Joshua M. Birkholtz (Josh), Principal, Bentz Whaley Flessner

To say prospect research has evolved is cliché. To articulate what a modern prospect development program should be seems all too rare. The session is designed to change the status quo. Come to this session and learn about integrated, data-driven program structures, purposes, and workflow targeting the areas of prospect analytics, identification, research, management.

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Session 2
10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.

Fundraising Research-Advanced Research
Ethical Use of Personal Information Within the New Social Media Landscape
Intermediate
Messellech Abebe (Selley), Senior Client Service Associate, WealthEngine

In our fundraising processes, we gather considerable personal information that is amalgamated, stored and applied through the various stages of donor development. We will discuss the ethical implications of personal information gathering and use as it applies to fundraising. We will review the ethical standards that apply to fundraising work and discuss real-world ethical and information security scenarios. This session will review the advent of social media and the special ethical challenges it presents.

Data Analytics
Reporting for Duty: Ad-Hoc Reporting Strategies
Intermediate
James Eichinger (Jim), Assistant Director of Prospect Data, University of Rochester

Fundraisers and top management have two reporting states: they don’t need anything or they need it now! This session will help you be more prepared for the sudden ad-hoc report request so you can turn a good report around quickly with little stress. Tips on staging data, utilizing templates, and anticipating requests will be discussed. Attendees will understand how to set up their data so requests can be met more quickly and efficiently. Attendees will be encouraged to share their own war stories, what challenges they faced, and how they overcame them.

Relationship Management
The Application of Donor and Database Surveys in Prospect Research
Intermediate
Lawrence Henze, Managing Director, Target Analytics, a Blackbaud Company

With all of the techniques we have for rating and identifying giving prospects we often ignore the opportunity to ask our prospects about their interests and attitudes. Learn how to make surveys an important part of your research efforts, as well as some design techniques that will permit you to use the results in quantitative analysis.

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MARC 2011 Keynote Address
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Janice Cunning, Co-Active Life Coach, APRA-Canada Chapter

Leadership: Joyful and Universal

Leadership is about the passion and strategy to create ways for people to contribute to make the extraordinary happen. Whether you are a member, manager or director within your organization’s fundraising team, this unique keynote address will challenge you to explore your role as leader with fresh eyes.

Keynote speaker, Janice Cunning, will show you that everyone is a leader in their own life, regardless of the perspectives toward the definition of a leader or the self-imposed connotations it may carry.

Examine the different perspectives surrounding leadership and encourage yourself to examine your role as a leader. In this unique keynote address, learn how to evaluate your leadership skills, identify your unique values, celebrate your unique strengths, and stretch yourself through personal and professional reflection. The outcome will be a greater understanding of yourself and a specific commitment to take action.

Reviews

Janice has been a mentor of mine since I entered the Prospect Research profession and recently I had the honor of attending a workshop she led as a Life Coach called “What Kind of Leader Do You Want to Be.” I found Janice’s session to be very interactive, engaging and thought provoking! Janice is a true leader in our profession.
-- Melissa Young, Manager, Prospect Research, QEII Foundation

Janice's session made me step outside my comfort zone and ask myself some hard questions about the kind of leader that I want to be in my organization and in my life. Her creative exercises were innovative and different than any other n I've ever attended. Being in the kind of supportive, creative and exciting environment that Janice created certainly helped me grow as a leader!
-- Shannon Terry, Consultant, KCI

Janice led a session on leadership at a national conference in October 2010 for prospect researchers. Janice provided the group with relevant and interesting information on the concept of leadership and coached the group through a variety of team exercises which provided us with greater self awareness and the opportunity to reflect on our own personal views about leadership.
-- Liz Rejman, Development Researcher, London Health Sciences Foundation

Janice Cunning is engaging and enthusiastic. I found her session on Leadership not only enjoyable, but also very informative and helpful. In a short time frame she facilitated my understanding of my working style, strengths, weaknesses, and made me think about my future career goals. She was able to make the group as a whole work together, while also getting each individual to look within themselves.
-- Megan Tilden, Prospect Research Analyst, University of Alberta
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Session 3
2:50 p.m. – 4:05 p.m.

Relationship Management
Moves/Relationship Management: Field by Field Review
Intermediate
Debra Darling (Deb), Director of Prospect Development, Washington and Lee University

Are you struck by how many questions there are on the listserves regarding how we track prospects? While our fundraising or CRM systems may be different, it’s time we developed a core list of basic needs and a secondary list for advanced moves management programs. During this session, we will outline what we should be tracking, how it should be tracked, and what types of reports are useful to both fundraisers and research staff. Participants will come away with a defined field list and sample reports and should come prepared to be a part of the discussion.

Management & Professional Development
Development Research as a Career: Establishing, Sustaining, and Growing
Intermediate
Kevin Thomas, CFRE, Development Research Manager, Smithsonian Institution

Development research’s history is as long as the field of development itself. But only after time did it become a specific occupation and later, a career option. Join Kevin Thomas, CFRE in a discussion about research as a career, implications for the future of development research, and career options beyond development.

Management & Professional Development
Us vs. Them: Communicating with Fundraisers
Intermediate
Hilarie Ashton, Research Associate, New York University

The differences in outlook between a researcher and a fundraiser are sometimes helpful and sometimes a challenge. This session will suggest ways for researchers to clearly and concisely present information to fundraisers without sacrificing information and enabling both sides to manage and communicate data. It will also explore ways of bridging this outlook gap, finding commonalities, and finding ways to record information that makes it fundraiser-friendly. Finally, the session will address techniques to manage fundraisers' expectations.

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Session 4
4:15 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Fundraising Research-Research Fundamentals
The Plane Truth: Private Aviation 101
Intermediate
Emily Kahn, Prospect Research Specialist, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Foundation

You probably have more aircraft owners in your constituency than you realize. Go beyond aircraft asset search results and use the FAA database to proactively identify aircraft owners for your institution. How can you easily tell which aircraft indicate significant wealth? What are different models’ annual operating costs? What do all those airmen ratings mean? What connections might your aviator prospects have? Come get answers to your aviation research questions… and look at pictures of some really cool airplanes!

Management and Professional Development
Who You Gonna Call: MythBusters, A Panel Discussion with Current and Former APRA International Board Members
Fundamental/Intermediate/Advanced

Panelists:

Rob Scott, President, Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement (APRA) and Executive Director of Development, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Helen Brown, President, The Helen Brown Group LLC

David Eberly, Senior Director, Prospect Development, Children’s Hospital Trust Boston

Hodan Hassan, Managing Director, Program Funding and Prospect Development, U.S. Fund for UNICEF

Lisa Howley, Director, Relationship Management, Johns Hopkins Institutions

Deborah Reinhardt Youmans CFRE, Director Advancement Research, Le Moyne College

David Shanton, Executive Director of Development, Baruch College

In this day of strong competition for every philanthropic dollar, a committed donor is one that should always be in the forefront of every desired result from our fund raising efforts. The importance of timely and accurate information is the foundation behind every successful campaign, springing from a comprehensive strategy that includes all members of the fund raising team.

Join leading APRA research, data analytics, relationship management and development professionals to discover a variety of methods to help build communication and resolve the myths that cause confusion and misunderstanding among members of the fundraising team.

This panel of current and former APRA International board members offers a creative approach to the most common concerns, issues and myths about fundraising, by inviting MARC attendees to ask questions, issues and pose situations that panel members will address during this session.

Data Analytics
Research & Excel: Creating Visual Data
Fundamental
Cindy Progin, Director of Advancement Research, Lebanon Valley College

As researchers, we love data. We love spreadsheets. This session will help researchers think outside the data to create spreadsheets and reports that can transform the numbers into visual definitions by using MS Excel. Specifically, we will look at creating Monthly Progress Reports (for gift officers) and Reports to Investors (individual reports to donors). Generally, we will look at the tools in Excel that can help in “Creating Visual Data.”

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