1. ARD Central Sessions :

Focusing on our mission for alumni relations and development and exploring the following: 

• What should the mission and vision be for this kind of work and how do you get there?  
• Alumni relations vs. development. How is alumni relations work differentiated from development, and how do these intersect?  
• Annual Giving. How is this type of giving unique? How does this area relate to other types of philanthropy and how do we approach annual giving?  
• ​Campaigns 101. What is a campaign? How do we build them? What did we learn from our last campaign (We Will)? 
• ​Continuum of engagement. How do we move our alumni and friends from early stages of engagement to committed major gifts?  
• Donor relationships. How do we cultivate and steward donor relationships? 
• Alumni clubs (domestic and international). What are these and how do they serve alumni?  
• Staff experience at ARD. How are we trying to build an inclusive experience for our staff? 
• Campus collaboration. How does ARD work with the various schools, units, and departments at Northwestern? 
• Info session with West Coast or NY office. How do you decide if you need regional locations? What does development work look like when staff and alumni are distributed across the US and the world? 

 ARD Central Technical sessions 

• Prospect research. What tools are used to identify potential donors? 
• IT systems. What tools do we use to track alumni and support relationship management? (CatTracks, Encompass, Professional Schools systems, +) 

ARD in other Northwestern areas (outside of the central office)  

• Professional Schools (Law, Medicine, Business) - How do they work with their alumni/donors? How do professional schools collaborate with central university staff? What is unique? 
• ​·Northwestern Alumni Association board members – How do we work with volunteers? How are alumni clubs organized/what is their role?  
• Zoom session with our Northwestern Alumni Volunteers (former students who volunteer from their current place of residence).