Education

Under the guidance of the Education Committee we continue our commitment to an annual roster of educational seminars and workshops.

Members may visit scholarship guidelines to explore education scholarship opportunities offered by our chapter.

2010 Schedule

• March 26: Messaging in 2010: New Ways to Talk with Donors About Your Good Cause
  Grand Rapids & Traverse City - Calvin College & Northwestern Michigan College

• April 16: Motivations for Giving: A Multi-Generational Approach
  Grand Rapids - Grand Rapids Community Foundation
  Approved for CFRE credit: 2.5 points

• June 18: AFP's 50th & AFP-WM's 25th Anniversary Celebration
  Grand Rapids - JW Marriott Hotel 8:15am-1:30pm
  www.afpwm.org/events

• August 20: Call Reports from Starbucks and other tips for the road warrior development officer
  Grand Rapids - Calvin College, Prince Conference Center 9-11:30a
  This advanced seminar is designed for experienced development professionals who hold major donor portfolios. Attendance is limited to 15 participants, who will be asked to contribute their own experiences to the group knowledge. Discussion will be organized around four topic areas, intended to cover both gift development for your organization and career development for you: Finding the Right Fit, Job Transition, The Major Gift Pipeline and Working on the Road. (See registration flyer for more detail.)
  registration flyer

• November: 2010 National Philanthropy Day
  Grand Rapids - Calvin College, Prince Conference Center

2010 Audio Conferences

The following AFP audio conferences will be held in Traverse City in room 216 of Northwestern Michigan College's University Center.

• January 26 - Evaluation Tools That Can Strengthen Your Development Program
  Target audiences: Entry to advanced-level practitioner. This session will teach participants how to perform an internal assessment of your development programs strengths and weaknesses, and learn how to analyze your infrastructure and human resource needs.

• February 4 - Warming the 'Cold' Call: Strategies for Major Gift Prospect Identification and Qualification
  Target audiences: Entry to advanced-level practitioner. Many charities are, for the first time, making the transition to major gift fundraising. While they are to be applauded in their pursuit of long-term sustainability and strategic growth, the reality is that many organizations have far more “suspects” than truly qualified prospects. Identification calls are needed. This session examines the process of opening the door for the first time. Using proven methods, participants will learn basic but effective methods for qualifying prospects for the purpose of major gift cultivation, solicitation and stewardship.

• March 24 - The Innovation Impulse
  Target audiences: Entry to advanced-level practitioner. “Innovation is the only sustainable competitive advantage” says Philip Kotler, marketing guru. This challenging webinar will demonstrate how organizations, both commercial and not-for-profit, are ensuring they gain and sustain that competitive fundraising advantage.

• May 6 - A Comprehensive Review of Capital Campaigns
  Target audiences: Entry to advanced-level practitioner. Successful capital campaigns require careful planning, pre-campaign research, and sophisticated strategies. Before you launch, learn from an expert at this session that will provide a solid overview of capital campaign planning.

• June 9 - 50 Asks in 50 Weeks: How to Jumpstart Your Small Development Office
  Target audiences: Entry to mid level. 50 Asks in 50 Weeks is a "back to the basics" concept for executive directors and development directors who want to raise more money for their organizations. It specifically targets non-profit organizations with small development offices (0-3 paid staff members,) and provides clear steps on how to create a simple plan for raising more money. Most development directors are so busy doing day to day tasks of fundraising, including writing thank you notes, grant reports and newsletters; managing databases; creating budgets; and more, they don't have time or forget the most important thing – asking! This session will help participants create a development plan which ensures a diverse funding stream, a system for asking for gifts in smarter, more efficient ways, and ensuring they ask for gifts all year long. Brief discussions on event planning, grant writing, individual solicitations, and direct mail will be included.

Each workshop is a 90-minute audio conference that offers the opportunity to learn the latest from the best in the field and qualifies for 1.5 points toward CFRE education requirements.

The cost for each session is $10/person.  Advance registration requested. To register, visit www.northskynonprofitnetwork.org or by calling 231.929.3934.

All audio conferences will be held in room 216 of Northwestern Michigan College’s University Center from 1 to 2:30pm.  Please arrive 10 minutes early to confirm registration.  Each session begins promptly at 1pm.

This series is sponsored by NorthSky Nonprofit Network and the West Michigan Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals with the support of Northwestern Michigan College.

2010 Regional Education Offerings

The following educational opportunities are available through GVSU's Johnson Center and the Western Michigan Planned Giving Group, respectively. For Johnson Center events, visit www.johnsoncenter.org or contact Matthew Downey at . For WMPGG events, contact Kathi Bates at or visit wmppp.org/meetings.php.