Starting Point

Ann Lawrence Grasty, Executive Director, University Annual Giving & Stewardship at the University of Virginia, talks about showing your enthusiasm, living your life, starting with trust, leveraging shared experiences, entering traffic circles, and more!

Jake Strang, Associate Vice Chancellor for Individual Giving at the University of Pittsburgh talks about raising your hand, valuing strong leadership, utilizing data, telling meaningful stories, being the “Beatles of Annual Giving”, and more!

Carolyn Haddad, Director of Class Giving and Initiatives at Brown University, talks about seeing amazing things that students can do, making educated guesses, letting donors know what you know, creating time to be creative, being a good communicator, and more!

Mike Morsberger, Vice President for Institutional Advancement at University of the Virgin Islands, talks about the importance of sending handwritten notes, smiling and dialing, asking open-ended questions, making a gift yourself, being the best you can be, and more!

Kara Tompkins, Executive Director of Philanthropic Engagement at Syracuse University, talks about building more trust, bifurcating your program, focusing on the good, collaborating with others thinking about next steps, and more!

Josh Nay, Director of Advancement at Solebury School, talks about embracing other duties, valuing authenticity, succeeding as an introvert, knowing what to listen for, being kind and more!

Kellie Sullivan, Executive Director of Annual Giving at Boston University, talks about sticking it out, using data, solving the world’s problems, appreciating people who are willing to say no, coming full circle, and more!

Mike O’Brien, Associate Vice President for Individual Giving at Wheaton College talks about being a pro, articulating your mission, focusing your efforts, boosting people up, knowing how to think, and more!

Cameron J. Hall, Executive Director of Annual Giving and Lead Generation at University of South Carolina talks about organizing your day, hearing “no” a lot, doing things well, questioning things often, practicing servant leadership, and more!

Josh Harraman, Director of Constituent Experiences- Strategy at Ohio State University, talks about focusing on why, caring about your work, appealing to younger generations, developing a pipeline, engaging alumni beyond philanthropy, and more!