The Desert Botanical Garden - American Public Gardens Association

Thursday, May 23, 2013 Concurrent Session I: (8:15 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.)
Campaign Evolution! How Today’s
Funding Climate is Challenging You to
Change your Ways
When it comes to campaign fundraising, some of
the tried-and-true methods still work.
However, if you’re still subscribing to “what worked then
will work again” thinking, you’d better start evolving
your game plan. Learn what rules to break for campaign
success now.
Major fundraising campaigns have long followed a
typical playbook when it comes to organizing structure,
developing policies, managing volunteers, and stewarding
donors. And for the most part, these “rules” have
withstood the test of time. But when an organization
is new, or when it doesn’t have a deep prospect pool in
their community, or when board members and campaign
volunteers have less time than ever before, and when
donors are changing the rules on how and when they
give, it’s time to re-think the traditional approach to
campaign fundraising.
Development directors from two gardens – one old, one
new – both undertaking their first major campaigns will
share, with their campaign counsel, their experiences
with the new campaign paradigm. Participants will gain
new perspectives on managing staff time, volunteers,
and how donors want to give now and to be recognized.
Presenters: Joan Thomas, Director of Development, Bok Tower Gardens; Greer
Polansky, Senior Consultant; Carrie Henderson, Director of
Development, Oklahoma Centennial Botanical Garden; Rick Daley, Partner,
EMD Consulting Group, LLC
What we are doing to the forests of
the world is but a mirror reflection
of what we are doing to ourselves
and to one another.
Mahatma Gandhi
Embracing Diversity
Historically, public gardens have served a limited
segment of the population. Boards, donors,
members, staff, and visitors tend to share similar
socio-economic, educational, and ethnic profiles.
Changing demographics can make these institutions
irrelevant. This session will show how embracing diversity
can strengthen the sustainability of public gardens,
now and into the future.
Participants will gain a deeper understanding of
diversity and how to develop skills to build meaningful
partnerships and collaborations that enhance services
and reap benefits from inclusiveness. They will discuss
practical steps to increase sensitivity and relevancy
and also provide some general guidelines for embracing
continued diversity in public gardens.
Presenters: Susan Lacerte, Executive Director, Queens Botanical Garden; Kamala
Green ASU Executive Director of the Office of Equity and Inclusion, Arizona State
University; Nancy Chambers, Director (retired), Enid A. Haupt Glass Garden and
Horticulture Programs, New York University Medical Center; Casey Sclar, Executive
Director, APGA
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