2026 ADRP Northeast–Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference
Friday, May 15 | SUNY Global Center | New York, New York
About | Registration | Sessions and Schedule | Hotel | Sponsor Opportunities
About
Mark your calendar for May 15, 2026! The 13th Annual ADRP Northeast–Mid-Atlantic Conference returns to the SUNY Global Center in the heart of midtown Manhattan—one of our favorite venues.
Registration
This year’s conference features a dynamic mix of breakout sessions, a networking lunch, and a peer-led discussion panel. You’ll leave with fresh insights, practical strategies, and meaningful connections to support your work and professional growth.
Members: $175 | Non-Members: $205
Sessions and Schedule
From impact reporting and campaign stewardship to leveraging technology and strengthening donor engagement, this year’s sessions will feature forward-thinking ideas and practical insights from leaders across the donor relations community. Expect a full day of engaging sessions that spark new ideas and offer strategies you can bring back to your organization. Get a preview of the conversations shaping the future of stewardship!
Better Together: Team Stewardship, Data & Gifts - Presented by Gary Laermer
Stewardship is more than a process—it’s an experience that shapes a donor’s lifelong relationship with your mission. This can’t-miss session reframes stewardship as a development office–wide strategy that fuels long-term philanthropic growth. We’ll challenge the outdated divide between “thanking for the last gift” and “asking for the next one,” and introduce a unified, forward-looking approach centered on the donor’s past, present, and future engagement. You’ll learn how to build a powerful “Better Together” team that aligns stewardship, data/CRM, and frontline fundraisers to strengthen major donor relationships. Discover practical strategies to move beyond transactional acknowledgments toward experiential appreciation, compelling impact storytelling, and data-informed prospecting. We’ll also explore how evolving donor expectations—personalized giving, transparency, and values-driven engagement—are reshaping philanthropy. Walk away with a clear, actionable roadmap to deepen commitment, elevate retention, and accelerate major gift growth. If you’re ready to transform stewardship into a strategic engine for campaign success, this session belongs on your schedule.
Stewardship by Design, Not by Default - Presented by Safia Al-Sadoon
How can donor relations teams move from reactive reporting to proactive strategy? This session shares how Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia operationalized a vision for proactive stewardship through structured portfolio reviews, pipeline governance tools, and data-informed engagement strategies. Learn how recurring alignment meetings, gift audits, and forward-looking tracking systems helped anticipate reporting needs, smooth production cycles, and strengthen cross-functional trust. The session also explores how digital analytics and AI-assisted narrative refinement support continuous improvement. Attendees will leave with practical tools and a strategic framework to elevate stewardship from fulfillment to partnership.
Fractional, Consultant, Freelancer, Part-Time: How to Get What You Really Need - Presented by Kathleen Diemer and Debbie Meyers
Almost every donor relations and stewardship shop needs more help, but very few get more budget. While everyone is focused on using AI to lighten the load, there are many aspects of our work that require human analysis, experience, and knowledge. So how do you get the people and work product you need without breaking the bank? What sort of human resources are out there that can help? Knowing what types of support are available and when to use each can increase the capacity of your team without destroying your budget. Learn more about the various types of support, how they operate, and when to consider each for your team’s needs.
Streamlining Stewardship: A Data-Driven Approach to "Disengaged" Donors - Presented by Sara Emmenecker
Donor relations teams devote significant resources to creating custom impact reports, yet engagement metrics often reveal a hard truth: many reports are never accessed. This presentation details the "Disengaged Stewardee Project," a successful initiative designed to address this inefficiency. The session will outline a methodology for identifying disengaged recipients using longitudinal digital report access data, giving history, and other relevant data points. Attendees will learn how Brown University implemented a phased "opt-in" outreach strategy that streamlined the reporting roster — removing more than 400 inactive stewardees and 195 reportable funds (and counting!). The discussion will cover how this reduction allowed for the reallocation of resources toward higher-ROI stewardship efforts and improved data hygiene, all while maintaining donor relationships through careful communication.
What We Wish We'd Known Before Going Digital - Presented by Jenna Antenucci and Kate Frinton
Over the past few years, Siena University's two-person donor relations team has printed and mailed reports by hand, navigated a digital platform that didn’t deliver what they needed, and spent a full reporting cycle manually collating and emailing PDFs before finally finding a digital platform that actually works for them. In this session, Jenna Antenucci and Kate Frinton share the full arc of that journey, from snail mail to a fully digital stewardship program that produces personalized, photo-rich donor reports at scale. You'll hear what drove each transition, how they evaluated and selected tools, what it took to get leadership buy-in (side-by-side template comparisons were key), and what they'd do differently. Practical, candid, and directly applicable for any team weighing a change. Bring your questions, and expect to leave with actionable advice on how to best evaluate your options.
Fund and Scholarship Stewardship Practices in a Decentralized Environment - Presented by Lauren Jesmer and Shannon Dowling
Fund stewardship is essential to nurturing trusting relationships between our organizations and donors. But how do you ensure the information you’re sharing is accurate and timely when it’s coming from all over the place? This session will share strategies and tips for building relationships between key stakeholders, including finance, donor relations, and the units that distribute and/or benefit from the funds, to create a structure for fund administration and stewardship reporting that shows impact and fosters transparency.
| Time |
Activity |
| Morning |
Registration & Breakfast
Conference Open
Sessions
Sessions
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| Afternoon |
Networking Lunch
Sessions
Panel
Conference Close
|
*Schedule subject to change*
Hotel
Courtyard New York Manhattan/Midtown East
866 3rd Ave
New York, NY 10022
Attendees can now book their rooms for the Northeast - Mid-Atlantic conference with the group reservation link. Rates start at $399 per night and are available through April 14, 2026.
Sponsor Opportunities
Showcase your company at the NEMA Regional Conference! ADRP values your support of this event, and in exchange, you have the opportunity to promote your business to donor relations and stewardship professionals from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic.
2026 NEMA Conference Committee
Tory Flynn, Co-Chair, The UConn Foundation, Inc.
Kathryn Fogarty, Co-Chair, Wills Eye Foundation
Mitra Keykhah, Board Liaison, Northeastern University
Zackary Albrecht, University of Maryland, College Park
Carrie Bornmann, Elizabethtown College
Mitchell Chavez, Pace University
Katie LeClair, Brown University
Amy Massimo, Hackensack Meridian Health Foundation
Megan Pratt
Christine Scully, Swarthmore College
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