Champ of the Year, LaKiesha Henderson's BBCON Recap

BBCON was a great learning and networking experience for me. I had an opportunity to meet so many of the folks I interact with online on a regular basis, the people I’d previously known only by name and avatar. I also had a chance to meet fellow Texan, Dale Strange, the Vice President & General Manage of Blackbaud’s General Markets Business unit.  There were so many great sessions, inspirational stories and calls to action, and innovative products and services. The food was great, the receptions were amazing, and the entertainment was stellar.



There was a great Arts & Cultural forum about the constituent lifecycle. The presenters highlighted the importance of allowing constituents to determine what your mission means to them and giving them space to determine the value of your organization to them. They also touched on the ways cultural organizations can use peer to peer tools to increase contributions. While only 1 in 5 people respond to appeals, 50% of people give when asked by friends, family members, co-workers, etc. The key is to find ways to leverage your donor base and the huge influence they have within their social networks.

I also attended the Altru roadmap session, a very informative session on major donor cultivation, and a session on 10 numbers to live by. There were so many great takeaways from the sessions I attended…

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• An accurate email is worth $13 in donations.
  
• By 2015 mobile web usage will exceed desktop usage.
  
• It takes 2 – 2.5 visits to get patrons to become members.
  
• When someone grants you their email address, is there an immediate response?
  
• The top reason why a HNWI stopped giving to a nonprofit orgranization is because they were too frequently solicited or they were solicited for an inappropriate amount.
  
• Train your staff to have “mission moments” whenever they interact with a member.
  

The thing I enjoyed the most about my BBCON experience was the hot chicken. I kid! I loved interacting with other Altru users and having a chance to vent our frustrations, exchange ideas, and talk about our successes. While the sessions I attended were informative, I was disappointed that there was only one Altru-specific session. It was great to see the new Blackbaud Partner marketplace, but it was discouraging to find out that only one of the products represented at the conference synched with Altru. There was a huge area in the Expo Hall devoted to Customer Support, but there was no Altru representative there. Truthfully, I was hoping for more Altru substance. I’d like to see more varied and robust offerings for Altru users (and more folks from the support team!) at next year’s conference in my home state.

I hope to see y'all in Austin next year.