President’s Report

We are Queensland, we are advancement … – We’ve won the ‘Best Chapter Conference 2019’ again based on metrics from the delegate survey gauging overall impressions and whether goals in attending were achieved. We scored an incredible 194 out of 200 and while it is our second in a row, this year we share it jointly with our kiwi cousins in the New Zealand Chapter. I had the pleasure of presenting a Keynote address in Dunedin and can testify to a fantastic NZ Conference. View or relive the QLD conference highlights clip here.

Our two strategic initiatives – Are to assist members with ‘managing up’, and to deliver greater value to our regional members. Considering that over 35 institutional leaders attended the conference and that there was a huge increase in the number of regional attendees, both areas are developing extremely well. Our 240 delegates clearly felt encouraged, inspired and challenged which were the Conference Committee’s overall aim.

Chapter Awards – I’m thrilled that we received a total of 32 award nominations as it was the highest number ever received. All nominated were acknowledged at the Conference and Awards Dinner hosted by Programmed. Special congratulations to all those who received a Highly Commended and of course each of the category winners. All awardees will be encouraged to present at a Special Interest Group (SIG) in 2019/2020 so please take a moment to view the full list here.

Events held – July and June also saw healthy attendance at the events held. Thank you to Nambour Christian College for hosting a Marketing and Admissions SIG and Emmanuel College, UQ for hosting our Masterclass by US based ‘Donor Guru’ Lynne Wester who certainly lived up to her reputation.

Next event – Our next benchmarking and networking opportunity is an Alumni and Fundraising SIG on 31 October at Sheldon College. I encourage all those working in those areas to attend this no-cost, interactive session – more details here

Save-the-Date – For our EOY Extravaganza covering a Professional Development session, fastest AGM in QLD and a Christmas Lunch all for $55! So why not use the opportunity to have your team Christmas event with likeminded advancement professionals (even if you are ‘the team’)? Thursday 28 November – more details here.

Thank you – to Digistorm our 2019/2020 QLD Partner. We are grateful for the support of all our corporate partners as they enable the delivery of our quality program with exceptional value so please consider them for any opportunities you may have in the future. List here

Membership – Make the most of your membership by registering as a mentor, mentee or both and follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn. Since May 2018 Educate Plus has grown by 24% now having 2,128 members, with Queensland enjoying 40% growth now having 389 members.

It is wonderful to see so many new members as our QLD Chapter continues to go from strength to strength thanks to the generosity of professionals openly sharing their expertise and those volunteering on committees – thank you.

I look forward to seeing you soon and as the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison reportedly said, “How good is Queensland?!!!”

Lea Walker-Franks F.Edplus
President – Qld Chapter

Thanks to our Chapter Partners

We want to thank our major partners for helping to make our Queensland Chapter conference a great success. Without the assistance of Digistorm, Look Education, Programmed Maintenance, Troop, SchoolBench, New Word Order, Charidy and Innova, we would not have been able to put on such a quality conference with an abundance of content and fantastic social events.

The upcoming school holidays is an ideal time to follow up with any of our partners from the conference whose products or services you are interested in hearing more about. It is also a great time to reach out to colleagues in other organisations who may be able to give references for these products and services.

Lynne Wester Masterclass

On the 10^th of June the QLD Educate Plus Chapter had the privilege of hosting international speaker and Donor Relations Guru, Lynne Wester, at The University of Queensland’s Emmanuel College. 23 Advancement practitioners from 20 schools, universities, not for profit organisations and tertiary colleges gathered for this special Communications Masterclass which focused on creating and implementing a winning donor fundraising communications strategy.

Lynne inspired those in attendance, sharing samples of best practice donor communications and teaching the proven strategies she has shared with clients globally.  So many practical tips were shared, but above all the message was clear: in communications seeking philanthropic support for your organisation, the donor needs to be at the centre; that is, the donor is the hero. When the organisation is at the centre, that is marketing for admissions. In fundraising, we don’t need to be perfect; we need to be vulnerable and speak about our institution as a cause. Lynne also shared a very simple formula for this termed ‘The Pixar Pitch’! Every Pixar film shares the same narrative DNA – a deep structure of storytelling that involves six sequential sentences: 1. Once upon a time, there was … (a person, a protagonist); 2. Every day … (there was this one obstacle); 3. One day … (a donor showed up! Someone just like you!); 4. Because of that … (the person received the help they needed); 6. Until finally … (the problem was solved! The donor was the hero!).

We thank Lynne for spending the morning with us and for sharing her expansive knowledge and experience. Our organisations will be all the better for it.

Admissions and Marketing SIG

On the 25^th July, the Qld Educate Plus SIG (Special Interest Group) was held on the stunning Sunshine Coast at Nambour Christian College where admissions and marketing staff were treated to fantastic presentations from JWBandCo and Chapter Sponsor Digistorm

Joe and Troy went through some history lessons in branding and standing out in the crowd through brand positioning, SEO and online marketing with many insightful tips and sharing of great ideas. 

Heather and Monica lead a discussion about strategies they’ve been implementing to drive enrolments and examples of best practice. Top key takeaways – parent want authenticity and genuine interactions and data and databases change everything! Thanks to our presenters for a valuable morning.

Congratulations to our Award Winners

Congratulations once again to all our Award Winners from the recent QLD Chapter Conference. This year saw a record number of nominations across all categories. Each category was judged by two Fellows from Chapters other than Queensland.

ADMISSIONS
The winner of the Admissions award was Citipointe Christian College.
Judge’s comments – An excellent campaign with clear success and outstanding results. Also the judges noted a great use of budget throughout the campaign

The Highly commended award for their ‘Prep Open Morning’ campaign was awarded to Ormiston College
Judge’s comments – A very successful campaign with great results and highly successful outcomes; integrated well with other marketing initiatives

ALUMNI & COMMUNITY RELATIONS 
The winner of the Alumni & Community Relations award was The Glennie School for their Glennie Poppy Project celebrating 100 years of their Old Girls organisation and the end of WW1.
Judge’s comments – Excellent concept which has clearly had impact throughout Toowoomba, thereby branding the school and alumni network incredibly positively; excellent use of the Glennie Fair as a community engagement and awareness activity. Well done on such a creative mechanism designed to engage alumni.

The Highly Commended award went to St Aidan’s for their ‘Reunion Week’ campaign.
Judge’s comments – What an incredible exercise! A program of this size requires extensive strategic planning, collaboration and ability to work with many individuals and teams; the success of this program, we have no doubt, will be adopted by other schools; a well thought through reunion program where all alumni are welcomed positively – congratulations to all involved.

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS
Winner of the Marketing & Communications award was Citipointe Christian College. 
Judge’s comments – The ‘I Can’ campaign by Citipointe is a standout; creative storytelling; clean and integrated look and feel; great use of alumni; well done in thinking about the investment required and how to re-use for future years; congratulations on a very successful strategy.

Highly commended award again went to Ormiston College for their ‘Day in the life of Prep’ and ‘Prep Open Morning’ campaigns.
Judge’s comments – Congratulations on targeting a specific Grade entry with your campaign as this can be hard work. However, from your results it has been hugely successful – well done on such a good targeted campaign.

FUNDRAISING
Winner of the Fundraising award was St Margaret’s Foundation.
Judge’s comments – Extensive campaign which reached its objective effectively; used a good mixed approach including a Giving Day; pleased to see 100% giving by Council, Leadership Team and Foundation

Two Highly Commended awards were decided by the judges. The first, St Joseph’s College – Gregory Terrace for their ‘Join the Journey’ campaign
Judge’s comments – High quality collateral was developed for this campaign. Positive outcomes were achieved in terms of College community perception and fundraising targets. Good mixed approach in the campaign including a Giving Day.

The second Highly Commended award for Fundraising went to Citipointe Christian College for their ‘Day of Giving’ campaign for their Equity Scholarship Fund
Judge’s comments – An effective fundraising campaign exceeding expectations; focussed on Giving Day; very strong support from staff; inclusion of students was very good

DIGITAL, ON-LINE OR FILM
The winner of the Digital, On-Line or Film award was St Joseph’s College – Nudgee for their documentary series – “The Season”
Judge’s comments – The judges really liked the creativity of this campaign; it showed great reach and engagement and achieved excellent results; good use of creative storytelling which was authentic, emotive and relatable. Congratulations to Nudgee College.

The Highly Commended award went to St Joseph’s College – Gregory Terrace for their ‘Giving Day Film Clip Series‘ campaign.
Judge’s comments – Congratulations to Terrace on this successful digital campaign; it was creative, relatable and inclusive; nearly 43% of donors were new which is outstanding; the financial return was fabulous and the use of gift matching was an effective incentive to give. Well done!

NEWCOMER AWARD
The winner of the Newcomer award was Lesley Simms from St Luke’s Anglican School.
Judge’s comments – Lesley has been able to successfully transition her corporate marketing skills to the education sector in a very short time at St Luke’s. Her projects have spanned a number of aspects of Advancement including marketing, communications, public relations, alumni engagement and event management. The judges were impressed by the quality of her publications and communications using a good balance of print, social media, press articles, video and events. Well done Lesley – a very impressive achievement by a newcomer to our profession. 

PRESIDENT’S AWARD
This award, which is decided by the current Chapter President, is in recognition of outstanding contribution to Educate Plus. The winner of the 2019 President’s Award was Nicole Wykes of Nambour Christian College.

Educate Plus would like to thank Programmed as the host sponsor for the event.

What’s On

Click on the events below to view more information about these great upcoming events in Queensland 

QLD Chapter – Alumni and Fundraising SIG