Topics and speakers are unlikely to change, but they might. We’re constructing the program with an emphasis on annual giving, advancement services, management, digital, data and stewardship.
We’re going to have more than 40 sessions at this year’s MOTM Conference, so check back as we confirm our topics and update the content…
Opening Plenary Session:
Be Mindful: All The Sessions You Don’t Want To Miss…
Welcome, Introductions and Conference Highlights
Bob Burdenski and John Taylor, Conference co-Chairs
Well-known Crystal Apple teachers, CASE authors, listserv moderators, and fundraising curmudgeons Bob Burdenski and John Taylor launch the 2025 Meeting of the Minds Conference with a festive welcome from the sponsors and a rapid-fire rundown of some of their favorite can’t-miss sessions and speakers to follow. Often in sync, lovingly in conflict, and always working in support of philanthropic goals, annual giving and advancement services offices play a critical role in advancement success. Join Bob and John as they provide a preview of the great conference sessions to come, and hear a special welcome from our sponsors.
Closing Plenary Session:
What Next For Our Work?
Ray Watts, CSU San Bernardino, Andrew Carillo, Claremont McKenna College, with Bob Burdenski John Taylor, and Karen Latora
Session description to follow.
Pre-Conference Workshop:
An Introduction to Annual Giving and the “Meeting of the Minds” Conference
Bob Burdenski, Robert Burdenski Annual Giving
New to the profession? New to the conference? Join CASE Laureate and long-time MOTM host Bob Burdenski for an overview of today’s annual giving fundraising. We’ll talk about the evolving goals, methods, channels, messages, metrics — and the very idea of “annual giving” itself. Ideal for “newbies” (or you “oldbies” in need of a refresh) and also get some ideas for maximizing your “Minds” conference experience in Pomona.
Pre-Conference Workshop:
Advancement Services Fundamentals: Accepting Weird and Bizarre Gifts
John Taylor, John H. Taylor Consulting
This workshop will address key gift acceptance topics. The initial emphasis attempts to address how donors are attempting to donate unique, and not always desired, forms of non-cash gifts. The workshop will focus on the establishment of protocol and policy to facilitate acceptance or rejection of these gifts. Part of this will address the importance of Gift Acceptance Policies and the associated Gift Acceptance Committee. The participants will learn how CASE addresses these topics, providing valuable insights for all nonprofit organizations regardless of type. This will include a look at gifts of securities, as well as the IRS’s concern regarding related versus unrelated gifts of property. Accompanying these discussions will be a discussion of counting versus valuing and the numerous IRS forms and documents required when accepting and processing various forms of property gifts. The workshop will conclude a lightning round covering a dozen or so forms of non-standard gifts – including cryptocurrency!
Opening Plenary:
Your Crowdsourced AI Update for Annual Giving and Advancement Services
Bob Burdenski with Rodger Devine, Pomona College
You’re the contributors for an instant inventory and discussion about who’s using AI in their work for exactly what at this moment. Using open-ended Menti questions on the various uses of AI, we’ll compile and discuss the uses of AI in the room for:
◾ Your First “Gateway” Use of AI in Your Personal and Professional Life
◾ Writing “First Drafts” of Content or Messages?
◾ As a Search Engine to Find Answers to Questions?
◾ To Create Graphics, Video or Designs?
◾ To Review Your Work For Clarity, Voice, Biases, Etc.?
◾ For Summarizing Content or Notes – Meeting Recording Minutes, or Groups of Messages?
◾ For Automation/Coding/Programming?
◾ Other Ways You Use AI Today?
◾ And What Tools Are You Talking About When You Say “AI”?
We will also give the floor to the non-adopters (including those with environmental concerns) and welcome their thoughts and comments too! Join us for a real-time look at who’s incorporated AI into their work – and how.
An Annual Giving Directors’ Forum: Participation, Pipelines and Pivots
Panel TBA
From participation, to pipeline? From socks, to more sustained stewardship? From alumni, to other audiences? We’ll talk about the evolving metrics of broad-based giving (including capital campaign participation goals), synergies with engagement and what it all means for a range of institutions.
Building a 100% Stewardship Model: Automating Gratitude and Accountability in the Age of Third-Party Giving
Natalie Greenhouse, Occidental College
When the legal donor isn’t the real donor, stewardship can fall through the cracks. Occidental College tackled this challenge head-on by designing an automated model that ensures every donor—no matter the payment source—is acknowledged accurately and personally. This session will walk participants through how Advancement Services partnered with Prospect Research and Individual Giving to build a scalable, rules-based stewardship engine that identifies donor relationships, routes tasks to the right team member, and measures completion rates in real time. Learn how this cross-functional collaboration replaced “ghost lists” and manual spreadsheets with a living system of gratitude, transparency, and operational accountability. Attendees will leave with a replicable framework and change management insights to help them bring similar transformation to their own institutions.
Cause-Based Fundraising
Greg Carlson, USC
Today’s annual giving landscape is evolving rapidly. As generational shifts, digital engagement, and changing donor expectations reshape how people give, annual giving professionals must rethink traditional appeals and strategies. This session will explore how cause-based fundraising offers a powerful framework for engaging modern donors, particularly Millennials and Gen Z, who prioritize impact, transparency, and alignment with personal values. Attendees will learn how to infuse annual giving campaigns with compelling storytelling, leverage donor segmentation and behavioral data, and integrate cross-channel tactics to inspire gifts through their institution, not just to it. Whether you’re running giving days, digital campaigns, or direct mail, you’ll leave with practical tools to reframe your annual giving efforts around causes that resonate—and build stronger, longer-lasting donor relationships as a result.
The Collab Lab: Where Insight Meets Initiative:
Empowering Teams to Think Together, Solve Together, and Succeed Together
Quamrun Salam & Jeremy Taylor, Pomona College
The session introduces the four key stages of CPS—Clarify, Ideate, Develop, and Implement and demonstrates practical tools like “Stick ’Em Up Brainstorming” that foster creative thinking and collaborative decision-making. Participants will leave with techniques they can immediately apply to strengthen communication, enhance problem-solving, and inspire innovation within their own teams and organizations.
A Digital Fundraising Forum
Ryan Lawrence, UC Berkeley, Jacob Blodgett, City of Hope
Session description to follow.
Direct Mail Still Delivers
Matt Sulzer and Sara Pond, MCR
Direct mail remains the primary driver of donors and dollars for most annual giving programs. Join MCR for an interactive session that explores classic best direct mail performers, as well as cutting-edge ideas to get your mail opened, read and churning results. Together we’ll dive into:
◾ Audience Styling – unique campaign packaging, creative marketing, as well as eye-popping designs and copy for your core segments
– Leadership
– Renewal/Retention
– Acquisition
◾ Priming & Timing – connect your message with other channel
– Giving Days
– Donor Journeys
◾ Ask Strategies – when, where and how much to ask
DIY Your Digital Engagement Program – The Sequel
Michelle Poesy, UC Davis
Session description to follow.
Donor Journeys : Green Lights, Cross Roads and Stop Signs
Rachel Spencer, VanillaSoft
An understanding of where a given prospect sits on their individual journey of awareness, interest and desire to take action, should be at the core of our outbound engagement strategies; as well as the way we think about sustainable pipeline development. From the Engagement Center, to DXO and Leadership Gift programs, we need to pay close attention to the various signs and signals of “readiness to progress” (or – perhaps – a lack thereof!!!) So, what signs should we look out for? And what should we do when we encounter them?!!
Employee Giving – Casa Colina’s “Five Days of Fame” Campaign
Grace Casian & Savannah Thomas, Casa Colina Hospital and Centers for Healthcare
Need new ideas to get employees excited about giving? Join this session and gain insight into increasing your organization’s employee giving by debuting your version of Casa Colina’s 5 Days of Fame Employee Giving Campaign. Launch a customized campaign using strategies from annual and major giving practices, stewardship, marketing, education, and leadership support. Whether you have an established employee giving program, or are just getting started, this session will inspire you to think outside the box when appealing to your peeps!
Task Management for Well-Being in Advancement Services
Chelsey Morrison, Harvey Mudd College
Advancement Services professionals are often the quiet problem-solvers behind the scenes, managing constant requests, shifting priorities, and invisible workloads. At Harvey Mudd College, it was realized that to support colleagues effectively — from Major Gift Officers to leadership — we first needed to support ourselves. In 2023, the team adopted Teamwork and Teamwork Desk as our task management and ticketing tools. What began as a way to handle requests has become a form of self-care: a framework that reduces burnout, clarifies priorities, and provides the data needed to advocate for the team. By shifting from a reactive to a proactive approach, utilizing automations, and capturing metrics with Tags, they’ve transformed the workflow, enhanced collaboration, and gained the ability to demonstrate value in tangible ways. This session will share the HMC journey, the lessons learned, and practical strategies that other teams can adapt to foster efficiency, collaboration, and well-being, regardless of the platform they use.
Key Takeaways
◾ Investing in Ourselves Strengthens the Organization: How structured workflows protect staff time, prevent burnout, and improve service to colleagues.
◾ Technology as Self-Care: Practical ways task management and ticketing systems help teams shift from reactive to proactive.
◾ Metrics for Advocacy: How reporting from task systems can demonstrate impact, justify resources, and elevate the visibility of Advancement Services.
Favorites From the 26th Annual Giving Appeal and Idea Exchange
Bob Burdenski
For 26 years, Bob Burdenski has hosted an annual exchange where hundreds of institutions share thousands of annual giving innovations, ideas and success stories. Awesome appeals, terrific technologies, dynamic discoveries and marvelous messages. It was a great year of pushing the envelope in direct mail, digital and beyond. Come and see 3-time CASE Innovations in Annual Giving author Bob Burdenski dump out his bag of BOB (Best of the Bunch) favorites with some specially-selected fundraising ideas.
Fundraising Reality Check: 5 Truths We Don’t Talk About (But Should)
Kimberly Bottoms, Feathr
2026 brings a wealth of opportunities for fundraising. Masses of new, younger donors.
AI to improve the human experience, not take it away. Automation that saves valuable resources (and your sanity)… just to name a few. But to bring in the new, we have to check ourselves on habits that are holding us back. We’re tackling the big issues that could make or break your next fundraising campaign:
◾ Calling out the DON’Ts (antiquated opinions, outdated tools, and inefficient practices).
◾ Highlighting the DOs (time-saving tech, performant channels, and data-driven trends). You’ll leave with ideas and action items to create more impactful, reliable, and scalable campaign plans moving forward. You’ll feel empowered to:
◾ Use the latest research and trends to amplify strengths and correct weaknesses in your fundraising strategy
◾ Harness tools and channels that work best for nonprofits
◾ Track key benchmarks and adjust strategy based on data
◾ Budget like a boss and when needed, make the case to ask for more
Gift and Pledge Administration – A Panel Discussion
John Taylor, Moderator, with Trina Richardson, Harvey Mudd College, Erika White, Occidental College, and Quamrun Salam, Pomona College
This audience participation session will attempt to answer fundamental questions about gift processing and entry that have raised concerns for decades! The session will begin by asking the audience to identify the gift processing issues they face in daily operations. The panel will attempt to suggest solutions and share national best practices. They will also come prepared to discuss various topics, including gift dates, receipt requirements, gift processing metrics, copying/scanning requirements, and recurring giving challenges. (Feel free to email your discussion topics beforehand if you prefer to be anonymous!)
A Healthcare Fundraising Forum: Patients, Physicians, Providers, Policies, and Pipelines
Wayne Combs, PhD., CHOC Children’s, and Catherine Quirk-Hanneke, Lucile Packard Foundation for Children‘s Health, Moderators
Healthcare institutions offer their own challenges (HIPAA) and opportunities (grateful patients, healthcare professionals, companies and the community) for annual giving fundraising. Join us for a special annual giving forum all about healthcare. Join us for a two-part forum that will share group information and discuss topics including:
◾ What does the prospect journey look like: from acquisition to renewal to major giving prospect?
◾ Using digital options to the fullest: emails, unique web landing page, ongoing impact updates;
◾ Tribute and 3rd-party giving-making the process easy and meaningful;
◾ What’s new in stewardship;
◾ Valuable vendors – Who are you using? Email vendors? Print? Business Associate Agreements?
◾ Giving initiatives: Doctor’s Day, Giving Day, Nurses Week? Do these help?
Impact Storytelling, the Sequel – The Video
Iyoni Rice, USC
Legal and IRS Topics That Keep Us Up at Night
John Taylor, John H. Taylor Consulting, LLC
The session will review legal issues related to charitable gift solicitation, acceptance, recording, and receipting. Topics will be selected from the FundSvcs archives email exchanges to identify the most common questions from the past year. The session will start off with a review of State registration requirements—something every nonprofit must do in each state that mandates it if they accept online donations. There will also be a review of IRS Publications that no practitioner’s library should be without. After that, time will be devoted to the 2026 quid pro quo rules, including related DAF rules (and bifurcation). Other topics include IRA distributions, corporate sponsorships, “mandatory” internships, charity auctions, and games of chance. Finally, the session will open up to address any related questions attendees have in mind!
Leadership Annual Giving – Fundamentals of Personal Solicitation and (More-or-Less)
Face-to-Face Fundraising
Ray Watts, CSU San Bernardino
Annual Giving is a dynamic and changing field, no longer solely focused on mass marketing through direct mail and student phonathons. The “new normal” for annual giving is a team-centered approach with a group of individuals who have personal prospect portfolios and expectations of much more face-to-face identification, cultivation and solicitation work. This workshop will be structured in an interactive format, with a focus on real-time learning and specific coaching. Come prepared to share experiences and learn strategies and tactics to make you a better development professional as you get on the road and work with donors one-on-one.
Leadership Annual Giving – Key Components to Building your Program
Karina Chappel and , Scripps College
This presentation will provide an overview of how Scripps College has operationalized its Leadership Annual Giving Program using a play sequence of diverse communications. During the presentation, we will discuss how Scripps identifies leadership annual giving prospects, break down how Scripps specifically applies a multi-channel approach that includes email, phone, text and mail to reach donors and explore the program methodology that has helped shape pipeline development at Scripps. After hearing this presentation, attendees will be able to apply these methods in their advancement teams, so that they too can maximize prospective leadership annual giving donors and operationalize Leadership Annual Giving programs to be both efficient and effective.
Order from Chaos: A Change Management Survival Guide for Advancement
Laurel Brenner, UC Irvine
Working in advancement can sometimes feel like juggling chainsaws while herding cats, all during a CRM rollout. This session offers a practical survival guide for leading and navigating through that kind of chaos – no matter where you sit on the org chart.
Blending established change management principles with humor, empathy, and real-world examples, participants will gain strategies to build buy-in, reduce resistance, and turn disruption into a path forward. You’ll leave feeling more confident and empowered to navigate the winds of change with clarity and confidence. (No cats or chainsaws were hurt in the composition of this session description.)
Outwit. Outplay. Outlast. Surviving Multiple Giving Days
Ryan Lawrence, UC Berkeley
Session description to follow.
The Eight Classic Principles of Annual Giving
Clark Gafke, LEAD Philanthropy
Discover the science behind donor motivation in this engaging and insightful session! Principles of Ethically Influencing Annual Giving will equip you with eight proven principles—Authority, Consistency, Contrast, Liking, Reciprocity, Scarcity, Social Proof, and Unity—that inspire donors to make meaningful gifts to their university. Rooted in the groundbreaking research of the Cialdini Institute, these principles provide a framework for authentic and ethical donor engagement. Clark Gafke, a Cialdini Certified Professional and Ethical Influence Practitioner, will guide you through the subtle yet powerful elements of everyday communication that drive generosity. With practical examples and actionable takeaways, this session will empower you to build stronger connections with donors and achieve sustainable results in annual giving. Whether you’re a seasoned fundraiser or new to the field, this session will improve the way you approach donor engagement!
Records Management – A Panel Discussion
Karen Latora, Moderator, with Zac Spurlin, University of the Pacific, Chelsey Morrison Harvey Mudd College, and Alexandra Blasy, Loma Linda University
Please join our group of industry experts prepared to discuss your records management concerns and conundrums! They will encourage audience participation as you are the experts, too! They will come prepared to discuss topics including data governance, deceasing best practices, common data entry errors, when – and when not – to create a spousal/partner record, matching gift company management, daily and weekly data integrity edits, and whether you really need to create a new record when you receive a gift from an existing donor’s estate. While they will be happy to discuss these topics with you, the panel also want to review what is most important to you! They will add your suggestions to their list at the session’s opening.
Roadmap To Build Data Strategy, Infrastructure & Governance
Karen Latora and Joe Lanasa, Advance Data Systems
The true test of whether you’re from Southern California isn’t your zip code—it’s how you say a freeway number. Locals insist on the 15 to the 91 to the 105 to the 405, while everyone else just rattles off numbers. Either way, the route gets you where you’re going. Let’s true test your fundraising system, reports, and data. Do you have a strategy, a plan, a road map. If not, then…we all know what happens, chaos, delays, roadblocks, and stress.
In this lively, road-trip-themed session, our panel will decode how to turn your data ambition into measurable advancement outcomes. We’ll explore metric alignment, infrastructure readiness, governance, data quality, and ROI, backed by real case studies featuring detours, traffic jams, and breakthrough moments. Buckle up: the team at Advance Data Strategy will equip you with the map, the milestones, and the know-how to become both a freeway-system road warrior and a confident navigator of your institution’s data strategy. By the end, you’ll know exactly where you are on the journey, and how to chart the smartest route forward.
Scholarship Management
Derrick Fang, Cal Poly Pomona
Session description to follow.
Shaping and Sustaining Relationships with Development Officers
Ryan Frank, UC Irvine
Prospect Development professionals, especially those responsible for Relationship Management, play a pivotal and integral part in building relationships with Development Officers. In creating these relationships, we invest a significant amount of time, energy, and effort in maintaining them. This session will delve into the world of forming and maintaining strong bonds with Development Officers through truthfulness, relatability, and shared accountability.
The 3Cs: Curiosity, Clarity, & Communication
Mark Longo, Caltech
This interactive session is designed to foster a culture of open dialogue, mutual understanding, and effective collaboration within advancement teams. Participants will explore the foundational principles of Curiosity, Clarity, and Communication—the 3Cs—and learn how these elements contribute to high-performing, inclusive work environments. Through role plays, practical tools, and guided discussions, attendees will gain insights into how to ask better questions, express expectations clearly, and engage in meaningful conversations that can drive success for their advancement operation. By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
◾ Define and apply the 3Cs—Curiosity, Clarity, and Communication—in daily work interactions.
◾ Recognize the importance of open-ended questions in fostering deeper understanding and collaboration.
◾ Practice effective communication strategies through role-play scenarios that simulate real workplace challenges.
◾ Utilize prompts and tools to enhance clarity and invite constructive dialogue between staff and managers.
◾ Understand the Communication Pyramid and how behavior, writing, signals, and speech contribute to impactful communication.
◾ Create space for feedback and diverse perspectives to ensure alignment and shared ownership of outcomes.
Trendy with a Chance of Impact: A Practical Guide to the Big Picture
Felicity Meu, GiveCampus
Discover the key trends shaping advancement strategy and execution—and how they apply to your institution. This session will share insights from a meta analysis of philanthropy research, GiveCampus data, and real-world examples. You’ll leave with actionable tools and data to evaluate your performance, understand how peers are adapting, and identify opportunities for meaningful impact.
Key Learnings:
◾ Understand the most significant trends currently influencing advancement strategy and execution.
◾ Connect these trends to your institution’s specific goals and challenges.
◾ Gain insight from aggregated data
◾ See real-world examples of how peers are responding to these trends.
◾ Identify where your institution can take action to drive measurable impact.
The Value of Good Data in Developing Dashboard and Reporting Solutions
Zac Spurlin, University of the Pacific
In today’s fast-moving higher-education advancement environment, data is no longer just a back-office asset—it’s a strategic enabler of insightful dashboards, accurate reporting, and confident decision-making. In this session, advancement services professionals will walk away with a real-world, actionable roadmap for turning raw data into reliable dashboards and reports that drive fundraising performance and donor engagement.
Women in Leadership in Advancement
Kalyn Rose Miller, Pomona College, Gizel Avina, Drucker School of Management, Claremont Graduate University, and Panel TBA
Women make up the majority of nonprofit employees, yet they are underrepresented in leadership positions across nonprofit organizations. In this panel, we bring together women leaders and aspiring women leaders of nonprofits to engage in discussion about relevant issues and foster meaningful relationships. How can we understand both the challenges and the opportunities presented by women’s leadership? How do issues like gender roles, work-life balance, and mentorship shape women’s leadership?
Year-End Giving Strategies
Catherine Quirk-Hanneke, Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health
Session description to follow.