Jeff Wood is the Executive Director of the South Region for DonorsChoose.org. DonorsChoose.org improves public education by engaging citizens in an online marketplace where teachers describe, and individuals can fund, specific student projects. Jeff leads a team dedicated to building a strong donor community, including developing corporate and institutional partnerships, covering nine southern states: from Florida to Oklahoma. Jeff joined DonorsChoose.org after running two business units at Blackbaud, the leading developer of fundraising software for nonprofits. He previously worked as a product manager at Online Insight and a consultant at Bain & Company. Jeff holds a BBA with High Honors in Management Information Systems from the University of Georgia and an MBA with Distinction from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where he majored in nonprofit management, marketing, and management & strategy.
Nonprofit fundraising has become highly specialized, and each segment of your donor market requires a different set of relationship management skills. Whether you are reaching out to private foundations, wealthy individuals or your own members, you need to understand who they give to, and why. The Atlanta Summit focuses on the relationship aspects of fundraising, and offers you several ways to enhance your relationship management skills: Day One: In the morning, listen to a panel of private, corporate and community grantmakers who will openly discuss their philosophy on grantmaking, how they operate, and most important, how you can build a more successful relationship with the grantmaking community. In the afternoon, participate in seminars led by experienced grant seekers who have successfully secured many foundation grants, and have built successful relationships with the grantmaking community. Day Two: Attend a series of fundraising seminars covering the hottest areas of fundraising (capital campaigns, major gifts, annual giving campaigns, and many more). Panels of experts will discuss the latest developments in these fields, and then enter into a dialogue with the participants that addresses their most pressing questions. WHY ATTEND THE FUNDRAISING SUMMIT? Fundraising is primarily a relationship business, and with increasing pressures facing all nonprofit professionals to build key relationships, it is becoming more important, though much more difficult to meet people face-to-face. Our innovative Summit format provides the most efficient and cost effective use of time away from the office by enabling attendees to interact with experts in the field, as well as other nonprofit leaders. CAN ONE ATTEND SPECIFIC SESSIONS ONLY? We understand the demands that are placed on you and on your time. That’s why you can attend only the seminars that are of interest to you. Come for the day or stop by for a couple of hours. You pay for only the seminars you wish to attend and only for the information relevant to you. It’s a novel approach to learning that allows you to get exactly what you’re looking for in a short amount of time. WHAT IS THE FORMAT OF THE SEMINARS? Each seminar features a panel of 3-4 experts who will give a short overview of the key developments in that field. After that , we will move into a moderated discussion to explore what these developments mean for nonprofit organizations. During the seminar, panelists will engage with the audience in an interactive manner to ensure the real-world implications of these developments emerge, and the session will end with a summary of practical next steps. HOW IS THE SUMMIT DIFFERENT FROM OTHER EDUCATIONAL EVENTS? The Summit offers a unique format to help you accomplish the following:
