Never Daunted: IU Advancement Conference Agenda
Registration, Light Breakfast and Networking
8:30–9:15 a.m.Fourth floor pre-function lounge
Opening Session
9:15–10:15 a.m.Room 450
Remarks from Pamela Whitten, Indiana University President
Leading from Where You Are, J T. Forbes, IU Foundation President and CEO
Break
10:15–10:30 a.m.Discipline of Frontline Fundraising Tools for the Campaign
10:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.Room 450
All frontline fundraisers should attend this session.
Bill Ring, Plus Delta
Fundraising
Success Across IU
10:30–11:15 a.m.Three, 15-minute talks showcasing successful initiatives across CSUs.
These sessions are designed for those whose primary work is in engagement, advancement services, or marketing and communications.
Session 1
Room 405
Odd Couples
Sarah Beggs, IUF Sr. Vice President, Advancement Services
Peanut butter and mayo. Vanilla ice cream and soy sauce. Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton. AI and personal Stewardship. Gift Agreements and Prospect Management. Partner Engagement and Donor Experiences.
None of these pairings should work. All of them do.
Two years ago, we rebuilt Advancement Services around a bet: that the fastest way to strengthen a team is to pair people or systems who have no obvious professional reason to be in the same room. We put unlikely partners next to each other — physically, on projects, and inside hard problems — and watched fresh perspective do what org charts can't. Not every pairing took. The ones that did changed how we work and gave us a clearer perspective of the fundraising continuum.
This session tells those stories so you walk away ready to spot an unlikely partner and how to turn borrowed expertise into a stronger team that maximizes private support for Indiana University.
Advancement Services
IU Foundation Archive: Preserving Our Story, Supporting Our Future
Matt Malher, IUF Archivist
Archives aren’t just dusty boxes in storage—they are strategic tools for modern fundraising, stewardship, and storytelling. This session reveals how the IU Foundation Archive directly supports daily advancement goals. Participants will explore hidden archive treasures—from historic campaign materials and donor correspondence to rare photographs—and learn how to leverage these assets for speeches, donor cultivation, campaign anniversaries, and naming opportunities. We will debunk common archive myths, showcase real-world success stories, and demonstrate how development, marketing, stewardship, and leadership teams can easily access institutional memory. Attendees will learn how preserving yesterday’s records empowers today’s philanthropy and leaves with practical steps to request research, contribute key assets, and integrate the archive into their daily workflow.
Advancement Services
What I See Differently Now
Ree Palmer Easton, IUF Asst. Vice President, Donor & Partner Engagement
After years in a CSU development role, I moved into Advancement Services and gained a broader view of the same IU Advancement system I had always worked within.
A year later, I understand some things differently: how much expertise already exists across our advancement community, why bringing partners in earlier creates better options, how systems and shared tools connect our work, and how decisions that seem small in one place can ripple across data, processes, and teams.
This session is a quick, candid look at those lessons, including a few “ohhh, now I get it” moments, and the practical habits I now use to approach projects, donor needs, systems, and problems differently.
Advancement Services
Session 2
Room 409
From 3 to 19: Building Internal Trust to Scale IU Day Crowdfunding
Yi-Ling Lin, Assoc. Director of Advancement, Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies
How can a giving day become a gateway to stronger campus partnerships, donor-centered storytelling, and new donor engagement? During 2026 IU Day, we grew from three crowdfunding campaigns to 19 by treating crowdfunding as more than a giving-day activity: it became a relationship-building strategy, both internally and externally. This TED Talk-style session shares how a coordinated giving day can create a meaningful opportunity to connect with partner units, listen to their priorities, uncover compelling stories, and make first-time participation manageable. Participants will hear how we addressed common concerns about time, project fit, audience reach, and campaign support—and what we learned along the way. The result was more than campaign growth: units connected their stories with supporters, welcomed new donors, and gained confidence in crowdfunding as a pathway for fundraising and engagement. Supplemental tools and data will be available.
Annual Giving
Beyond the Prompt: Using AI to Solve Everyday Advancement Problems
Jayme Little, Asst. Dean for Alumni Engagement, IU McKinney School of Law
We collect a lot of information about how alumni and friends engage with our institutions—but turning that information into something useful can be a challenge. In this 15-minute talk, I’ll share how I used AI as a thought partner to rethink the collection, tracking, and analysis of volunteer engagement data. From designing a practical tracking system and building formulas to creating dashboards and identifying meaningful measures of engagement, AI helped turn an idea into a usable tool without requiring advanced technical expertise. More importantly, the process offers a model for how advancement professionals can use AI to move beyond simply generating content and begin solving everyday problems, improving processes, and uncovering insights from the data we already have.
Alumni Engagement
Finding the Stories Worth Telling
J. D. Denny, Director of Audience Development and Publishing and Andrea Alumbaugh, Manager, Editorial Services, IUF Marketing and Communications
Learn what makes a strong philanthropic impact story, how to use our storytelling checklist to recognize opportunities in your work, and how to partner with MarCom to help share those stories.
Marketing & Communications
Breakout Sessions
11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.Session 1
Room 405
How We’re Teaching Service, Not Just Expecting It
Ree Palmer Easton, IUF Asst. Vice President, Donor & Partner Engagement
Mary Mortara, IUF Director, Partner Engagement
Great service is easy to value and surprisingly hard to define, teach, and deliver consistently.
As we’ve continued building our service model, our DPE team has looked outside higher education for ideas, especially to organizations like Disney and Zingerman’s that are unusually intentional about how they train people to create strong experiences. We’ve borrowed and adapted practices around setting clear expectations, creating consistency, preparing for difficult moments, and giving staff the confidence to use good judgment.
This session shares what we’ve put into practice, what we’ve learned along the way, and how those lessons can apply across Advancement. Whether you work with donors, alumni, colleagues, faculty, volunteers, or guests, great service works better when we teach it intentionally rather than simply expect it.
Advancement Services
Session 2
Room 409
Never Daunted in the IU Shark Tank
Allison DeWitt, Asst. Vice President, Alumni Engagement
Lindsey Pearsey, Assoc. Vice President, IUF Annual Giving
Join this session where Lifelong Engagement & Giving hosts a live Shark Tank style competition showcasing three units who will pitch engagement plans for a chance to win $1,000 toward the fund of their choice. Four IU Advancement Sharks will be recruited from the audience to evaluate each pitch.
Alumni Engagement
Session 3
Room 307
Your Website Is Not a Filing Cabinet: Rethinking the Advancement Website
Becca Bogenschutz, Director of Advancement
Ryan Demarest, Web Content Specialist, O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs
What if your advancement website was more than a filing cabinet? What if it became an active tool for storytelling, stewardship, and engagement?
At O’Neill, we needed an update. Imagine two campuses and two webs of static information. Knowing that impact storytelling and digital-first strategies needed to lead the way, we started small: inviting donors to follow a QR code on the back of a thank-you card to view our annual impact report. But we couldn’t stop there. How could we better connect alumni stories, donor impact, and school priorities into one dynamic digital experience?
In this session, we’ll share how we partnered with Marketing and Communications to evolve from static webpages to an engaging digital presence. We’ll walk through the questions, choices, and challenges we encountered, and what we’re still learning and refining.
When your alumni and donors are continually making an impact, your website shouldn’t stand still.
Marketing & Communications
Networking Lunch
12:30–1:30 p.m.Room 450
Breakout Sessions
1:30–2:30 p.m.Session 1
Room 405
Applying the Discipline of Frontline Fundraising Tools and the Donor Engagement Process in your Role
Bill Ring, Plus Delta
This session is designed for those whose primary work is in engagement, advancement services, or marketing and communications. Choose attending at 1:30 or 2:45 p.m.
Advancement ServicesAlumni EngagementAnnual GivingMarketing & Communications
Session 2
Room 305
Scholarship & Student Support Stewardship in Action: Best Practices from Across IU
Brina Moore, IUF Director of Stewardship
Victoria Whaley, Development Coordinator, O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs – Following Freshmen to Graduation
Jennifer Lehman, Director of Development, IU East; Leila Faraday, Executive Assistant – Meeting Students Where They Are in Canvas
Josh Lodolo, Sr. Director of Advancement, College of Arts + Sciences; Devin Coryell, IUF Stewardship Officer – From Student to Donor: Streamlining Reporting at Scale in Overture
Frances Brooks, Executive Director of Development, Scholarships + Student Experience, Indianapolis
Peter Mikolaitis, IUF Sr. Stewardship Officer
What does great scholarship and student support stewardship actually look like across IU—and what can we learn from colleagues who are doing it particularly well?
In this interactive panel, IUF Stewardship will spotlight strong and innovative stewardship practices from units across the university, including O’Neill, IU East, the College of Arts & Sciences, and IU Indianapolis. Through a series of short case studies, speakers will share how they are connecting scholarship and student support donors with meaningful evidence of impact, building sustainable stewardship practices, and making smart use of tools and resources already available across IU.
The conversation will feature approaches ranging from simple, low-cost practices to more robust strategies supported by IUF systems and resources. Attendees will leave with examples they can adapt to their own unit and a clearer understanding of the tools, partnerships, and opportunities available to strengthen scholarship stewardship.
Advancement ServicesStewardship
Session 3
Room 307
From Engagement to Action: Turning Relationships into Fundraising Opportunities
Josh Suiter, Director of Alumni Engagement; Meg Williams, Director of Development, IU Southeast
Lindsay Fish, Director of Development and Benjamin Liechty, Director of Alumni Relations, IU Kokomo
This session explores how advancement professionals can turn existing resources, relationships, events, research lists, faculty connections, alumni expertise, and stories into intentional engagement opportunities that ultimately support philanthropy. Drawing from practical experience in development on a regional campus, the session will examine how collaboration across advancement and academic areas can create meaningful touchpoints.
Alumni EngagementFundraising
Session 4
Room 309
What I Wish You Knew: Prospect Researchers and Fundraisers in Conversation
Teresa Crafton, Research Analyst
Michael Tipton, Sr. Research Analyst
Kenya Cockerham, Research Analyst
Dan Morris, Associate Vice President of Development, Arts & Culture
A prospect researcher’s primary responsibility is to identify and deliver the best prospect at the best time—but doing that well requires a strong partnership with fundraisers. Researchers and fundraisers share the same goals, yet often approach their work from different perspectives. What does each group need from the other to be successful?
In this interactive session, researchers and fundraisers will come together in small groups to better understand how they can work together effectively. Through a guided exercise and real-world scenarios, participants will examine how research can provide fundraisers with the information, insights, and partnership they need to succeed. Participants will compare perspectives, identify effective approaches, and share insights with the larger group, leaving with practical ideas for strengthening collaboration and connecting the right prospects at the right time.
Advancement ServicesFundraising
Session 5
Room 409
Success Across IU
Three, 15-minute talks showcasing successful initiatives across CSUs
These sessions are designed for those whose primary work is in fundraising.
Simon’s Scaffolding for Stewardship Success
Amber Senseny, Executive Director of Advancement; Meghan Forestal, Director of Development from the School of Medicine
Learn how the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center team has organized our efforts for impactful annual stewardship for all gifts $100,000+
Stewardship
The Two-Year Window: Rethinking Major Gifts Through Parent Philanthropy
Abby O’Neal Pritz, Director of Development, Parent & Family Giving
For decades, higher education fundraising has operated on the assumption that meaningful philanthropy requires years of cultivation and lifelong institutional affinity. Parent donors challenge that model.
For pure parent prospects, the window to identify, engage, and inspire a major gift is often just two years. At the same time, “legacy parents,” who are alumni with a current student, bring a unique combination of longstanding loyalty and a renewed connection to campus, creating powerful philanthropic opportunities.
Fundraising
From Philanthropic Impact to Powerful Stories
J. D. Denny, Director of Audience Development and Publishing
Andrea Alumbaugh, Manager, Editorial Services, IUF Marketing and Communications
Learn what makes a strong philanthropic impact story, how to use our storytelling checklist to identify promising opportunities, and when and how to partner with MarCom to bring those stories to life.
Marketing & Communications
Break
2:30–2:45 p.m.Breakout Sessions
2:45–3:45 p.m.Session 1
Room 405
Applying the Discipline of Frontline Fundraising Tools and the Donor Engagement Process in your Role
Bill Ring, Plus Delta
This session is designed for those whose primary work is in engagement, advancement services, or marketing and communications. Choose attending at 1:30 or 2:45 p.m.
Advancement ServicesAlumni EngagementAnnual GivingMarketing & Communications
Session 2
Room 305
Scholarship & Student Support Stewardship in Action: Best Practices from Across IU
Brina Moore, IUF Director of Stewardship
Victoria Whaley, Development Coordinator, O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs – Following Freshmen to Graduation
Jennifer Lehman, Director of Development, IU East; Leila Faraday, Executive Assistant – Meeting Students Where They Are in Canvas
Josh Lodolo, Sr. Director of Advancement, College of Arts + Sciences; Devin Coryell, IUF Stewardship Officer – From Student to Donor: Streamlining Reporting at Scale in Overture
Frances Brooks, Executive Director of Development, IU Indy Campus-Wide Initiatives; Peter Mikolaitis, IUF Sr. Stewardship Officer
What does great scholarship and student support stewardship actually look like across IU—and what can we learn from colleagues who are doing it particularly well?
In this interactive panel, IUF Stewardship will spotlight strong and innovative stewardship practices from units across the university, including O’Neill, IU East, the College of Arts & Sciences, and IU Indianapolis. Through a series of short case studies, speakers will share how they are connecting scholarship and student support donors with meaningful evidence of impact, building sustainable stewardship practices, and making smart use of tools and resources already available across IU.
The conversation will feature approaches ranging from simple, low-cost practices to more robust strategies supported by IUF systems and resources. Attendees will leave with examples they can adapt to their own unit and a clearer understanding of the tools, partnerships, and opportunities available to strengthen scholarship stewardship.
Advancement ServicesStewardship
Session 3
Room 307
From Engagement to Action: Turning Relationships into Fundraising Opportunities
Josh Suiter, Director of Alumni Engagement
Meg Williams, Director of Development, IU Southeast
Lindsay Fish, Director of Development
Benjamin Liechty, Director of Alumni Relations, IU Kokomo
This session explores how advancement professionals can turn existing resources, relationships, events, research lists, faculty connections, alumni expertise, and stories into intentional engagement opportunities that ultimately support philanthropy. Drawing from practical experience in development on a regional campus, the session will examine how collaboration across advancement and academic areas can create meaningful touchpoints.
Alumni EngagementFundraising
Session 4
Room 309
What I Wish You Knew: Prospect Researchers and Fundraisers in Conversation
Teresa Crafton, Research Analyst
Michael Tipton, Sr. Research Analyst
Kenya Cockerham, Research Analyst
Dan Morris, Associate Vice President of Development, Arts & Culture
A prospect researcher’s primary responsibility is to identify and deliver the best prospect at the best time—but doing that well requires a strong partnership with fundraisers. Researchers and fundraisers share the same goals, yet often approach their work from different perspectives. What does each group need from the other to be successful?
In this interactive session, researchers and fundraisers will come together in small groups to better understand how they can work together effectively. Through a guided exercise and real-world scenarios, participants will examine how research can provide fundraisers with the information, insights, and partnership they need to succeed. Participants will compare perspectives, identify effective approaches, and share insights with the larger group, leaving with practical ideas for strengthening collaboration and connecting the right prospects at the right time.
Advancement ServicesFundraising
Session 5
Room 409
Talent Without Boundaries: The IU Way
Shannen Gibbs, IUF Director of Talent Acquisition
Casey Chell, IUF Vice President of Advancement, Indianapolis,
Betsy Feeny, IUF Vice President of Development
The IU Way calls us to think and operate as one team, and that includes how we grow, develop, hire, and share talent. With more than 600 advancement professionals working across IU and the IU Foundation, we have an incredible opportunity to create a more connected advancement community where talented people can see a future, understand what it takes to grow, and pursue opportunities across IU regardless of where they sit today or who employs them.
Whether you’re leading a team, growing into leadership, exploring what’s next, or just beginning your IU journey, this conversation is for you. Building great careers and a thriving advancement community takes all of us. Never Daunted, always growing, and moving IU forward together.
Advancement ServicesAlumni EngagementAnnual GivingFundraising
Conclusion and Reception
3:45–5 p.m.Room 450