Michigan Alumni Relations Professionals (MARP) 2024 Conference

June 20, 2024

General Information

The 2024 MARP conference is a free one-day conference. Those who should attend include anyone working at a Michigan college or university whose role pertains to alumni relations or advancement. The objective of this conference is to learn about other institutions' successes, grow your network of professionals in your role, and collaborate in finding best practices from one another revolving around alumni relations.

Key Note Speakers: Scott Ochander and Brian Gawor

"Alumni and Donors are Changing Fast: Let’s Inspire Them With Powerful, Personalized Experiences." Scott Ochander and Brian Gawor will present this session. They will discuss the dramatic and accelerating generational shifts and the trends associated with them. They will also outline key methods for creating powerful, actionable demographic and psychographic data streams that can drive your alumni and donor engagement.

Scott Ochander is a co-founder and chief leadership strategist at Carnegie. With his extensive experience as a University Vice President for Enrollment Management and Chief Marketing Officer, Scott is an expert in change leadership, reputation, marketing strategy, and communications across higher education. He has pioneered a consensus-building reputation and change management research model in higher education.

Brian Gawor, CFRE, is a 25-year higher education and non-profit veteran, and a dedicated “giving geek”. Having been a former annual giving and major gifts professional turned consultant, Brian has helped higher education institutions of all sizes transform their engagement with data-driven strategies that maximize response from an inclusive, purposeful donor base. He has presented at over 100 professional conferences and created the top-rated Fundraising Voices podcast to showcase innovation in donor engagement.

Session Slides

Below are the slides available from the sessions from the conference in order of the MARP Detailed Agenda (162KB).

Keynote Presentation:

Key Trends in Alumni Relations and Fundraising (7,673KB)

Session 1

Increasing Alumni Philanthropy and Campus Engagement (1,073KB)

Alumni Reunion Weekend-An Alternative to Homecoming (255KB)

Session 2

Building a Cohesive Team (475KB)

Giving Day & Gamifying Annual Giving (727KB)

Session 3

New Graduate Communication and Engagement Strategies (579KB)

This Meeting Could Have Been a @#$ing Email (1,767KB)

Session 4

Making a Career out of Alumni Relations (2,187KB)

Evolving Multi-Channel Approach to Annual Giving (3,038KB)

Location

Conference

The conference will be held in the banquet rooms on the second floor of Curtiss Hall at Saginaw Valley State University. SVSU is located at 7400 Bay Rd, University Center, MI 48710. Click HERE for a campus map.

Parking

The closest free parking for this event is in lots J1 and J2. For exact directions, you can put these lots directly into Google Maps.

Hotel

Find Hotel and Restaurant Recommendations (157KB) close to the SVSU campus. If you need additional information, email the Manager of Alumni Engagement, Jenny Rosser-Nesbit, at jlrosser@svsu.edu.