Foundation for Fraternal Excellence

NIC Educational Symposium

Dr. Jean M. Twenge, Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University and Owner of Generation Me

Traditional-age college students are members of Gen Z (born after 1995), the first generation to spend their adolescence with smartphones. National surveys of teens and college students show that Gen Z students are growing up more slowly as adolescents, spend more time with technology and less time with each other in person, and are more likely to experience unhappiness, anxiety, and depression. We'll discuss the implications of these generational shifts for guiding this generation.

FFE Keynote &
NIC Educational Symposium

Lindsay Boccardo

Generations misunderstanding each other is not a new problem. Every generation thinks the one that comes after them is less competent, more entitled or harder to work with in an organization.

The good news is that no one generation is broken.

According to a 2019 study, multi-generational teams with a range of 25 years or more from youngest to oldest meet or exceed expectations 73% of the time. Those with a narrow range of less than 10 years did so only 35% of the time. The future of collaborative work is truly about inclusion.

In this interactive session, Lindsay will facilitate a dialogue on generational differences and their impact on relationships within membership and volunteer engagement. Participants will explore their individual experiences growing up and how these directly shape their interactions within organizational settings.

In this session, attendees will learn:
• Understand the origins of generational divides within membership and volunteer engagement.
• Identify the key factors contributing to generational tension within organizations.
• Anticipate the cultural expectations of future young employees and volunteers within organizational cultures.
• Discover strategies to enhance the positive influence of multi-generational membership and volunteer teams.

FFE Keynote

Patrick Alderdice and Aaron Parker, Pennington & Company

Eager to know how your foundation compares to its peers across the interfraternal community? Pennington and Company has researched, compiled, and interpreted IRS Form 990 filings for fraternity and sorority foundations for the last 21 years. In this State of the Industry session, Patrick and Aaron will team up once more to present information from this year’s IRS Form 990 data and compare it to two decades of previous trends.

The 990 data is a vast repository of non-profit information such as value of assets, donation dollars raised, grant amounts, and spending on program services. Each year, Pennington and Company analyzes this data for our foundations, allowing them to assess progress and benchmark themselves against fraternity and sorority industry averages. Patrick and Aaron will use their industry insights to identify opportunities and challenges while providing tips and recommendations for sustaining and growing our industry.

FFE Keynote

Nathan Chappell, MBA, MNA, CFRE, Chief AI Officer at DonorSearch AI, Co-Founder of Fundraising.AI Collaboration

Connection is the currency of the attention economy.  When there are fewer American households giving to charitable organizations annually coupled with an increased demand for philanthropic dollars, the modern nonprofit needs to dig-deep to understand the forces at play and learn how to win the competition for connection.

This keynote highlights the changing definition of generosity, shedding light on the unprecedented competition for connection facing modern nonprofit organizations. To this end, nonprofits must develop a renewed appreciation for radical connection and learn to leverage technology once only used by for-profit organizations. Using current data and analysis, attendees will learn the importance of measuring and prioritizing connection as well as which technologies can help them to work smarter, not harder.