More than 150 communications, alumni relations and development professionals flocked to UB on June 26 to attend a one-day conference featuring fundraising communications guru Tom Ahern.

Participants from 42 colleges, universities, private schools and other institutions arrived from as far away as New York, Philadelphia, Toronto and Washington, D.C., to learn about “The Science and Secrets of Effective Donor Persuasion” from the man considered one of the world’s top authorities on increasing revenue through donor communications.  UB’s Office of Development Communications hosted the daylong presentation.

CASE—the Council for Advancement and Support of Education—partially sponsored the event, which featured advice on how to best promote programs, endowments and initiatives to engage and retain supporters while increasing income.  

Valerie Ingram, director of donor relations at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., said the UB event was well worth the drive to hear from Ahern, author of four books on donor communications whose recent client list includes Save the Children, PBS, the National Parks Conservation Association and numerous universities and hospital systems.