1:45 PM - 2:45 PM

Breakout sessions

You've heard of the Great Wealth Transfer, you know that the time has come for your foundation to solicit more deferred gifts and more gifts of assets other than cash, and you also know you need to solicit and close those gifts to reach your fundraising goals.  Where do you begin?  Enjoy a fast-paced, non-technical overview of gift planning from an experienced gift planning fundraiser and consultant.  Learn which philanthropic opportunities make the most sense for your donors in the current legal and regulatory environment.  Return from this session confident to explain the value of planned gifts to your leading donors and key internal stakeholders.

In times of uncertainty and rapid change, visionary leadership requires more than strategic planning—it demands values that ground decisions, shape culture, and sustain organizational purpose. This interactive session invites leaders to reflect on the core values that anchor their leadership while exploring practical leadership moves that build trust, resilience, and alignment across teams and communities. Through guided reflection, discussion, and real-world application, participants will examine how values-driven leadership influences organizational culture, strengthens relationships, and supports long-term impact. The session will also create space for honest conversation about leadership challenges, competing priorities, and the tension between vision and reality. Attendees will leave with actionable strategies and intentional next steps for leading with rooted care, cultivating collective purpose, and “planting seeds” today that support healthier, more sustainable organizations for the future.

Education foundations play a critical role in expanding access to engaging, future-ready learning opportunities that schools cannot build alone. This session explores how foundations can partner with districts, community organizations, and industry leaders to create sustainable STEM programming that increases student engagement, strengthens workforce connections, and builds long-term community support. Attendees will learn practical strategies for launching or expanding hands-on STEM initiatives, aligning programs with donor and district priorities, and communicating measurable impact to stakeholders. Through real-world examples and implementation insights, participants will leave with adaptable ideas for developing inclusive, high-impact programs that inspire curiosity, support career exploration, and create meaningful opportunities for students across their communities.

Not every organization is ready for grants, and not every grant is ready for every organization. This session explores the critical distinction between program development and grant writing, and why confusing the two is one of the most common — and costly — mistakes education foundations make. Attendees will examine how grants fit into the organizational life cycle, identifying specific markers of grant readiness: infrastructure, program maturity, leadership capacity, and diversified revenue. Participants will learn where grant seeking belongs within a comprehensive fundraising strategy, not as a starting point, but as a complement to a healthy development ecosystem. Attendees will leave with a clear self-assessment tool and the confidence to pursue grants strategically rather than reactively.

Preparing our students for the steps they will take after high school is crucial to their success after graduation! Over the past six years, the Forest City Education Foundation has partnered with the Forest City High School to create a system that helps students to look at all of their options for post-secondary education, explore their career options, and get a better understanding of how feasible it can be to go to college. The FCEF uses a combination of ACT Prep, student-led interviews, college/career readiness classes, and more to help students feel more confident in their post-high school plans and future career goals. Find out how our system works and how you can incorporate the same tactics for your district!

This session introduces nonprofit lifecycle thinking as a practical framework for strengthening organizational capacity and long-term sustainability. Drawing from the Nonprofit Lifecycles Institute model, participants will explore how leadership, governance, financial resources, administrative systems, and programs evolve across different stages of organizational growth. Through relatable examples and real-world nonprofit experiences, attendees will learn why capacity building looks different for startup, growth, mature, and turnaround organizations—and why traditional strategic planning often fails when lifecycle realities are ignored.

Participants will leave with tools to identify their organization’s current lifecycle stage, recognize “wobbly table legs” that threaten mission impact, and communicate capacity needs more effectively to boards, staff, and funders. This session offers practical insights for nonprofit and education foundation leaders seeking to build healthier, more sustainable organizations equipped for long-term impact.

5:00 - 6:30 PM

Opening Reception

9:15 AM - 10:15 AM

Keynote Session

• Leadership & Planning
• Board Development
• Collaboration
• Finance

1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

Breakout Sessions

An example of turning a long-standing teacher focused “event” that gobbled up foundation resources, stretched staff time, provided no tangible benefit to the foundation, generated zero revenue, and was, at best, controlled chaos, into a community building, brand defining, revenue generating signature event.  

Learn how the Granite Education Foundation pivoted one of their entrenched educator focused affairs into a  defining event.  More than simply duplicating this event, come learn transferable principles that can guide your foundation into pivoting successfully.  

Follow the process from identifying the problem, the ultimatum, ideation, iteration, to implementation.

And if you like the idea, imitation is the greatest form of flattery. 

Your website is no longer just an online brochure—it’s the front door to your mission, the center of your marketing ecosystem and one of the most powerful tools you have to inspire action.

This session is based on the updated edition of the 2018 book Captivate and Engage, by Firespring Founder, Jay Wilkinson which will be revised and released in September 2026. The session explores how nonprofit organizations can create audience-centered digital experiences that strengthen trust, deepen engagement and increase donor, volunteer and community action. Attendees will learn the most common mistakes nonprofits make with their websites and communications, what today’s audiences actually expect from an online experience and how to create messaging and content that connects emotionally while driving results.

Through real-world nonprofit examples, practical strategies and actionable recommendations, participants will walk away with ideas they can immediately implement—regardless of their organization’s size or budget.

Learning Objectives:

- Identify the biggest communication and website mistakes preventing audience engagement
- Understand the key elements of a modern, audience-centered nonprofit website
- Learn how storytelling, messaging and user experience work together to increase action
- Discover practical ways to create more connected digital experiences across websites, email and social media
- Walk away with actionable strategies to improve engagement, trust and conversions

Donors respond to specific, high-impact stories. By introducing dedicated special education programs, your foundation can tap into new donor demographics while serving a critical student population. This session unpacks how adding targeted special education initiatives can elevate your foundation's community profile. Using real-world examples of impactful student programs, we will discuss how to pitch these initiatives to board members, engage passionate community donors, and execute smooth program rollouts.

2:30 PM - 3:30 PM

Breakout Sessions

Attendees will discover how one school turned parents, teachers, students, and alumni into an energized fundraising team that actively promoted and raised money for the mission. The session will explore creative strategies for increasing participation and engagement beyond the “same few volunteers” every year, while showcasing how peer-to-peer and team fundraising can create excitement, friendly competition, and stronger school-wide involvement. Participants will also gain practical ideas for motivating supporters to become fundraising ambassadors, learn how technology can simplify campaign management and communication, and walk away with actionable takeaways and real-world lessons learned they can immediately apply to future fundraising campaigns.

How education foundations can align programs, partnering, messaging, and fundraising around a long-term vision supporting students from early learning through career readiness. Attendees will learn how making small strategic investments, testing programs, and developing theories of change, education foundations can turn pilot projects into full programs impacting students from cradle to career. At the Foundation for Edmonds School District, seven pilot projects have grown into full programs impacting students across their developmental journey.  This session will share practical lessons in program growth, partnership development, and community-centered fundraising, while highlighting measurable outcomes tied to kindergarten readiness, literacy, graduation rates, and college and career readiness.

We are in the midst of the Great Wealth Transfer. When we will witness an estimated $84 to $124 trillion in assets from Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation to their heirs and charities over the next two decades. It is important for Education Foundations to position themselves in a way to maximize their opportunity to accept transformative donations through estates or other financial plans. 

This panel of experts, moderated by Joe Callahan, Executive Director of the Education Foundation of Anne Arundel County Public Schools, will discuss the characteristics of a successful planned giving campaign, and what you need to know to effectively and successfully design and launch your own program.  

9:15 AM - 10:15 AM

Keynote Session

This fun and motivational session, which includes a powerful call to action, is for those ready to take ownership and accountability of their lives, choices, and impact on others. Attendees will explore the art of heart-centered, intentional living and  personal and professional leadership. They will challenge themselves to move beyond mere self-awareness to self-mastery by owning their behaviors and actions, controlling their narrative, enhancing their communication style and improving work and life performance.

By the end of the session, attendees will be able to answer the questions:

• How do I leave everything and everyone a little better than I found them?
• How do I show up in my personal and professional relationships at home, work, and in the quiet moments with myself?
• Am I the person I aspire to be, or is the chaos of work and life dictating my story?

10:45 AM - 11:45 AM

Breakout Sessions

Today’s education foundation leaders are expected to raise funds by inspiring communities, strengthen donor trust, lead through uncertainty, and create measurable impact while navigating constant change. The foundations that thrive are led by individuals who know how to combine bold vision with authentic leadership, operational excellence, and outrageous fundraising goals.
In this dynamic and actionable session, Christina Winters shares the fundraising and leadership lessons she learned while leading major community initiatives and raising millions of dollars for education and scholarship programs. Attendees will walk away with practical ideas for strengthening donor relationships, increasing community engagement, building trust with stakeholders, and creating fundraising momentum that lasts beyond a single campaign or annual event. The session also explores how strong organizational culture, consistency, communication, and leadership presence directly influence fundraising success, donor retention, volunteer engagement, and long-term sustainability for education foundations and the communities they serve.

Money Confident Kids® is T. Rowe Price’s financial education program designed to help students build lifelong money habits. The program helps young people understand that every financial decision has a time horizon – from short-term spending choices to longer-term goals like saving for college, a home, or retirement. The curriculum is built around five core concepts: goal setting, decision-making, money and inflation, asset allocation, and diversification.

For years, nonprofit leaders have been told a familiar story: donors are harder to reach, resources feel tighter, and the future of fundraising is uncertain. But what if that narrative is incomplete? 

Drawing on Bloomerang's Giving Signals 2026 Report—a Harris Poll study of 1,003 donors and 405 nonprofit decision makers—this session presents a data-backed look at how generosity is truly evolving. 

Attendees will leave with a clear picture of what motivates giving today, why Millennial donors represent an immediate strategic opportunity, and where organizations may be creating avoidable friction in the donor experience. 

Practical takeaways include how to use donor identity and values as a fundraising hook, how transparency builds trust and drives gifts, and what to prioritize now to move donors from intention to action.

The greatest wealth transfer in history is underway, and education foundations that act now will secure their missions for generations to come. This workshop equips attendees with practical tools to launch or strengthen a planned giving program, including how to cultivate relationships differently for Boomers and Gen X donors, how to build and leverage relationships with professional advisors, structure an endowment, and communicate the power of legacy giving to your community.

Through real donor stories, small group discussions, and actionable strategies, participants will leave understanding why planned giving matters, how simple it is to launch this important development strategy, how basic tax-smart giving vehicles work, and what one concrete next step looks like for their foundation.

Attendees will leave able to:

-Articulate the case for planned giving to donors and board members
-Identify relationship-building strategies with donors and advisors
-Take one immediate action to launch or grow their legacy society

Given the shifting landscape of philanthropy, education foundations must adapt to changing donor behaviors, communication preferences, declining in-person engagement, and rapidly advancing technology. This workshop will equip foundation leaders with practical strategies to strengthen fundraising resilience and position their organizations for long-term success in support of their district’s students.

Participants will learn new tools to diversify fundraising efforts through annual campaigns, events, major gifts, corporate partnerships, and grant funding to reduce reliance on any single revenue source. The session will also explore how to engage today’s donors more effectively through digital communication, virtual engagement, and emerging AI tools. Drawing on their own fundraising experiences, the presenters will give real-life examples of what is working in today’s philanthropic landscape.

Education foundation leaders will leave the workshop with ideas to modernize outreach strategies, strengthen volunteer participation, and build a sustainable fundraising model that can thrive in the ever-changing world of philanthropy.

Does “strategic planning” conjure endless meetings and a binder gathering dust on a shelf? Too many education foundation leaders are held back by misconceptions that make planning feel rigid, marketing-driven, and painful. This interactive session shatters five common myths and offers a fresh way to pause, reflect, and declare your foundation’s intentions. We’ll explore why you don’t need a step-by-step master plan, why goal-setting belongs at the end—not the beginning—and how embracing trade-offs sharpens focus. Attendees will leave able to (1) cultivate genuine board and staff ownership of the plan, (2) replace rigid plans with a flexible Strategic Framework that adapts to shifting district and funding realities, and (3) apply a phased “Planning Funnel” that moves from possibilities to trade-offs to goals. The value: a deeply owned framework that sets clear boundaries and drives lasting impact for the students you serve.

Community engagement succeeds when education foundations stop treating people like marketing audiences and start treating them like partners. This session will provide education leaders with a practical framework for building authentic community engagement strategies that deepen trust, strengthen partnerships, and create long-term support for public education. Using real-world examples from Educate Fairfax centered on alumni engagement, storytelling campaigns, feedback-driven program design, and cross-sector partnerships, attendees will learn how to move beyond transactional outreach to create meaningful community relationships rooted in listening, trust and shared ownership. The session will explore actionable strategies for building feedback loops, cultivating alumni and donor relationships, leveraging storytelling to sustain momentum, and engaging community stakeholders as collaborators rather than audiences. Attendees will leave with practical tools and replicable approaches they can immediately apply to strengthen visibility, engagement, fundraising, and long-term community investment in their schools and students.