Speakers

We’ll kick-off Raise 2021 with a welcome from OneCause CEO, Steve Johns, and special recognition of the Fundraisers of the Year, with our annual Raise Awards.

Pam Sherman, writer, actor, and recovering attorney, will then guide us through an interactive keynote to ignite your passion find your EDGE, and grow your impact.

Welcome back to Day 2 of Raise!

Join us as we celebrate the innovators and storytellers among us – honoring four inspiring Raise Award winners.

Shanna Adamic, Executive Director of the Cerner Charitable Foundation will then kick-off Day 2 of Raise, sharing the importance of innovating quickly and taking the hill when you are called upon – those moments that combine your expertise, passion, and a powerful opportunity for impact.

Join us as we wrap #Raise2021. Experience the energy and excitement of our closing session. Our final panel explores what it truly means to be #Fearless as a fundraiser, leader, and organization. Hear dynamic Emcee Reggie Rivers, Keynote Shanna Adamic, and OneCause webinar host Kelly Velasquez-Hague get real on life and fundraising. This dynamic roundtable will arm you with powerful insights to journey forth, taking lessons learned back to our teams and causes.

We will also announce the live Raise Raffle – where lucky winners take home fabulous prizes. Winners must be present!

The Paddle Raiser (aka Fund-a-Need, Special Appeal, Appeal, The Ask) is one of the most underrated but incredibly powerful tools on the night of your event. Over the span of more than 600 nonprofit fundraisers, we’ve developed a process that is easy to learn and easy to replicate that works in events of all sizes.

Join dynamo Auctioneer Reggie Rivers as he helps break down old myths and barriers to fundraising. No more, awkward ask moments, board member resistance, or [insert any reason you don’t ask your donors for support]!

In this session you will learn the simple keys to turning your paddle raiser into a “team” effort, with lots of positive energy (rather than guilt and pressure) and you’ll produce the best paddle raiser you’ve ever had!

Key Takeaways:

• Learn how to transform your paddle raiser into a tidal wave of giving.
• Leverage talk tracks to galvanize your board members for support.
• Crush your next paddle raiser – bringing in more money than ever before.

Ready, set, here we go! Join us for the morning Day 1 General Session, as we kick off Raise 2022 with a welcome from OneCause CEO Steve Johns and special recognition of #FearlessFundraisers with our annual Raise Awards.

The electric Shanna Adamic, Executive Director of the Cerner Charitable Foundation and Raise alumni speaker, will inspire all with lessons on life callings, leadership, and resilience. Come learn how Shanna’s optimism and determination help her adapt in changing corporate environments and propel her philanthropic mission forward.

Join us as we celebrate the innovators and storytellers among us by honoring 4 inspiring Raise Award winners.

Then, join Jason Barnaby for an interactive, energetic and engaging keynote that is sure to fuel your creative fire and fan the flame of your hear! From IU grad and founding member of IU Dance Marathon, to professional ski bum, to college professor and coffee shop owner in Europe, to corporate trainer, to HR and culture guru to company founder, leadership content creator and podcast host, husband for 25 years (to the same woman) and father of 3, Jason has lived “a lot of life in the life he’s lived.”

That life and the stories he’s collected along the way provide the content Jason shares with humor and vulnerability via the Fire Starters Inc framework to find your fire, fan your flame and tend your tribe.
Some guaranteed #actionableinspiration you will walk away with include:

• A sure fire filter for where to focus your time and energy
• A fool proof delegation tool to fuel your time management
• Self-talk responses to battle your “WhatIfAbouts”
• A tried and tested framework to build a fiery tribe of supporters

Mental Illness is the number one reason for absenteeism and loss of productivity in the workplace today. The mental health and wellness of employees has become a major concern in the nonprofit sector, that needs to be addressed in order to support current employees and attract top talent. This session will examine: How mental illness is impacting the workplace and the nonprofit sector; How mental health affects employee retention, organizational culture, and a nonprofit’s financial bottom line; Why stigma is such a powerful force impacting our health; and What strategies nonprofit leaders can employ to support mental health and wellness in their organizations.

Key Takeaways:

• • Understand how mental health impacts everyone and plays a major role in employee morale, job satisfaction, and retention.
  • Implement simple strategies to cultivate a safe environment to learn about mental health and disclose a mental health issue.
  • Learn how to be proactive and involved concerning mental health awareness and wellness initiatives.

In an environment where donors can choose virtually any nonprofit to support, it is more important than ever to offer convenient and innovative ways to give. By looking at the behavior of your current donors, you can build a strategy on how to target your supporters through meaningful communications and by offering multiple effective giving options. In this session, we are going to explore how you can communicate, and more importantly fundraise, to both your current and prospective donors in a way that resonates with them to yield big results. This session features two fundraising experts from The Rotary Foundation’s Donor Engagement team sharing how they use fundraising analytics and philanthropic communications to create and manage multiple giving platforms that collectively make a big fundraising impact.

Key Takeaways:

• Identify multiple channels of communication to engage your supporters
• Analyze your fundraising communication results to identify important giving trends
• Use giving trends and communication engagement trends to identify potential giving platforms to create a multi-channel fundraising strategy

Hearing from those in the trenches about how they’ve approached this new fundraising world, is invaluable. Join us as top fundraisers share how they’ve navigated the challenges of the pandemic and redefined their event strategies to adjust to a changed fundraising landscape. This panel will be a live Q&A from the audience – your chance to ask everything you’ve wanted to know about, pivots, lessons learned and what the future of events looks like.

In this session, we’ll discuss insights into how peer-to-peer fundraising continues to evolve and how to best engage and motivate today’s participants. You’ll hear insights from seasoned peer-to-peer fundraising professionals as they share how they are infusing new energy into the in-person and virtual participant experience to increase engagement, improve retention, and grow fundraising year-over-year.

Participant engagement is more than just a fundraising ask.

Join us for a discussion on the importance of flexibility in event planning, execution, and participant journey mapping for continued engagement. Together we’ll share creative solutions for both in-person and virtual event executions.

If 2020 has taught us anything it’s that “Donors are gonna donor.” Whether you were asking or not, pivoting or standing still, donors across the board told us a lot about how they feel about the sector, causes that are important to them, and the importance of good in the world. Were you listening? During this interactive session, we’ll look at the major trends in giving during the pandemic, particularly through the lens of philanthropic psychology and interpreting the data. We’ll use all of that information to help you create a fundraising and communications plan that can weather any storm by applying the lessons from what donors have told us through their giving and who they are as individuals with big, caring hearts.

Key Takeaways:

• Articulate the lessons learned and impact of COVID on fundraising and the nonprofit sector
• Create a data-informed fundraising/communications plan that integrates principles of crisis communications.
• Understand principles of Philanthropic Psychology and how they inter-relate with data & metrics.

In this session, we’ll discuss insights into how peer-to-peer fundraising continues to evolve and how to best engage and motivate today’s participants. You’ll hear insights from seasoned peer-to-peer fundraising professionals as they share how they are infusing new energy into the in-person and virtual participant experience to increase engagement, improve retention, and grow fundraising year-over-year.

This session will dive into the innovative strategies the team at Hackensack Meridian Health used to keep on cultivating, engaging, and fundraising with supporters when traditional in-person event models were put on hold during the pandemic. We will share how we not only pivoted our fundraising events,  but were still able to advance major gift strategies and use events as key tools to cultivate and steward donors and prospects. Finally, we’ll cover how to refocus events strategically as we adjust to the new normal. We’ll talk how (hard) lessons learned serve as a springboard to design fundraising events in a new way for post-pandemic success and long-term engagement and we’ll delve into tactics that you can use in your planning today…and beyond.

Key Takeaways:

• Reimagine playbook for fundraising, cultivation and stewardship events.
• Tips and best practices  to coordinate and promote virtual and hybrid events and newly necessitated year-long fundraising activities.
• Learn contingency planning strategies for 2021 and beyond  with a focus on keeping donors safe and your fundraising on track.

Hearing from those in the trenches about how they’ve approached this new fundraising world, is invaluable. Join us as top fundraisers share how they’ve navigated the challenges of the pandemic and redefined their event strategies to adjust to a changed fundraising landscape. This panel will be a live Q&A from the audience – your chance to ask everything you’ve wanted to know about, pivots, lessons learned and what the future of events looks like.

We can dream big and set an array of goals, but during the road to victory we find ourselves taking the wrong turn or hitting a bump. We must keep our eye on the road and continue through the trenches to meet our final destination. This session will help you to put your vision together to help stay centered on where you’re headed even when it gets tough. During this session, we will walk through goal setting and learning more about ourselves to help us get to where we are the best versions of ourselves. Facilitated exercises will encourage reflection, critical thinking, and growth. You’ll walk away feeling renewed and confident to set goals that will bring their teams and organization to a fuller potential.

Key Takeaways:

• Set goals that are attainable.
• Reach new heights in your career with perseverance.
• Utilize a new tool in planning of events and fundraising.

On April 1, 2020 we were three weeks into shut down orders and one day into a fiscal year with a goal to raise $15M from 1,000 third-party events. This session is a case study of how a team of 10 dedicated and passionate fundraisers worked (from home) for 12 months to protect $5M in events revenue and lay the foundation for further revenue recovery in the months and years to come. We’ll share the lessons learned along the way and event innovations across our major categories of fundraisers to inspire your supporters to innovate as well!

Key Takeaways:

• Take action to steward and cultivate their supporters to protect and recover revenue.
• Tools and tactics to help third party fundraisers adapt and adopt virtual fundraising activities
• Take real world examples of event innovation to achieve similar results in their communities.

The most important topics of the day for fundraising event planners is when to host online, when to go to back to in-person, and when to go hybrid. In this session, you’ll learn the most essential elements of success for planning a virtual, hybrid, or in-person event in the post-pandemic era. From inspiring donor confidence in your plan, to igniting donor and volunteer actions, and creating concrete strategies for the successful inclusion all donors regardless of event type. Learn how to ensure all donors feel valued and appreciated regardless of how they participate. Join this session to hear lessons learned from our experiences with over 150 online events, 1,5000 in-person events, and more than a dozen hybrid events.

Key Takeaways:

• How to choose what type of fundraiser is best; virtual, in person, or hybrid.
• How to create an inclusive event that values all donors.
• Create and communicate planning strategies to your team and move forward confidently with concrete ideas for event success.

In this session, we’ll discuss insights into how peer-to-peer fundraising continues to evolve and how to best engage and motivate today’s participants. You’ll hear insights from seasoned peer-to-peer fundraising professionals as they share how they are infusing new energy into the in-person and virtual participant experience to increase engagement, improve retention, and grow fundraising year-over-year.

This session will be all about how to share stories to shatter stigma and soften hearts. Storytelling is one of the most effective forms of communication available. If we are looking to break barriers and give our missions, and those we serve a voice, we should be sharing stories! But sometimes it can be challenging for nonprofits to know what stories to share while honoring anonymity and promoting inclusion. This session will help provide practical tips and techniques for sharing stories ethically while protecting identities and avoiding exploitation.

Key Takeaways:

• How-To Share Effective Stories: Telling Stories That Change Minds and Open Hearts
• How-To Protect Anonymity: Tips and Techniques for Sharing Stories When You Can’t Share Identities
• How-To Avoid Exploitation and Improve Inclusion: Maintaining Integrity and Promoting Equality

Virtual events are here to stay – by engaging people within your organization and incorporating a little creativity, you can make your virtual or hybrid event just as engaging as a traditional in-person event while reaching a much wider audience. Learn about how Westminster College hosted an all-day livestream as part of their annual giving day, engaging a wider audience than ever before and smashing their fundraising goals, then discover how you can incorporate a livestream into your next fundraising event! Whether you’re on a small team or part of a big organization, you can organize your own entertaining and effective livestream.

Key Takeaways:

• Incorporate a livestream into a virtual fundraising event.
• Engage individuals across the organization in a livestream.
• Use the virtual format to engage a wider audience.

Storytelling is a key component of nonprofit fundraising and marketing. Over the last twenty years, I’ve seen the good, the bad and the ugly. There is much to be learned from marketing campaigns that performed flawlessly and those that were a big dud or even worse, caused massive backlash. We’ll discuss the elements of modern-day storytelling, learn how to use them to engage followers, build relationships, mobilize people to take action and ultimately increase donations. You’ll cringe, you’ll smile, you’ll groan, you’ll roll your eyes out the back of your head but most importantly, you’ll go back to the office with a bunch of simple tricks to use as you engage with donors, online followers, volunteers and your organization’s cheerleaders.

Key Takeaways

• Know how to use storytelling to help engage followers
• Incorporate hashtags, images, humor and more to help reach your target audience
• Focus on marketing strategies and upgrade your content

We get the question almost daily from nonprofit fundraisers: “What trends are you seeing in online fundraising?” or “What creative ideas have you seen in recent peer-to-peer campaigns” This session will answer those questions. We will share several peer-to-peer campaigns with creative engagement ideas and discuss why they were successful. We’ll feature a variety of campaign types (run-walk-ride, challenge, DIY, etc.) with the hopes that every fundraiser who attends will leave with ideas that they can implement into their own peer-to-peer and online fundraising campaigns.

Key Takeaways:

• Understand and implement best practices in peer-to-peer and online giving campaigns.
• Creatively utilize engagement tools such as activities, live streaming, fitness tracking, etc.
• Build a campaign with clear strategies to increase visibility and fundraising online.

We get the question almost daily from nonprofit fundraisers: “What trends are you seeing in online fundraising?” or “What creative ideas have you seen in recent peer-to-peer campaigns” This session will answer those questions. We will share several peer-to-peer campaigns with creative engagement ideas and discuss why they were successful. We’ll feature a variety of campaign types (run-walk-ride, challenge, DIY, etc.) with the hopes that every fundraiser who attends will leave with ideas that they can implement into their own peer-to-peer and online fundraising campaigns.

Key Takeaways:

• Understand and implement best practices in peer-to-peer and online giving campaigns.
• Creatively utilize engagement tools such as activities, live streaming, fitness tracking, etc.
• Build a campaign with clear strategies to increase visibility and fundraising online.

Leveraging peer networks and incorporated socially connected campaigns has been a booming trend for nonprofits over the last year. Especially for those new to peer-to-peer fundraising. Let’s keep the growth going! Join this session as we cover the “must have keys” to social fundraising. From peer-to-peer basics, to campaign essentials, motivational strategies and tips to set your fundraising team up for success – this session is for you! This presentation is a must for any organization looking to harness the power of peer-to-peer fundraising.

How prepared is your fundraising program to engage the next generation of donors? Millennials are currently the nation’s largest living adult generation. With immigration adding more numbers to this group than any other, the Millennial population is projected to peak in 2036 at 76.2 million. In this session, you will learn Millennials’ impact on giving and actionable ways to engage the next generation of donors in your fundraising efforts.

Key Takeaways:

• Understand the potential and current impact of Millennials’ philanthropic efforts.
• Actionable ways to motivate and engage Millennials in their fundraising efforts.
• Examples and success stories of Millennials of all backgrounds motivated to give.

Ready, set, here we go! Join us for the morning Day 1 General Session, as we kick off Raise 2022 with a welcome from OneCause CEO Steve Johns and special recognition of #FearlessFundraisers with our annual Raise Awards.

The electric Shanna Adamic, Executive Director of the Cerner Charitable Foundation and Raise alumni speaker, will inspire all with lessons on life callings, leadership, and resilience. Come learn how Shanna’s optimism and determination help her adapt in changing corporate environments and propel her philanthropic mission forward.

Join Emcee Reggie Rivers and OneCause CEO, Steve Johns, for a fun, heartwarming, and one-of-a-kind Raise 2022 conference close out.

We will also announce the live Raise Raffle, where lucky winners take home fabulous prizes. Winners must be present!

Hit the ground running and enjoy some fast and furious fun. See what’s on tap for Raise Day 1 with the one and only Patrick Kirby. The Go Getters Show – part Raise overview and part variety show – will include fun activities and showcase the hottest sessions + speakers. A must see to get you pumped for the Raise 2022!

For all our virtual #FearlessFundraisers! Gather to recap and celebrate the end of Day 1 with the ever-enthusiastic Patrick Kirby. We’ve got a fantastic party planned for you!

For those go getters who want to hit the day running, join us for some fast and furious fun. See what’s on tap for Raise Day 2, with the one and only Patrick Kirby. The Go Getters Show – part Raise overview and part variety show – will include fun activities and showcase the hottest sessions. A must see to help you get the most from your last day of Raise 2022!

Join Patrick Kirby for a lighthearted look at the tougher side of fundraising in this segment featuring industry pros seeking advice on their woes. Hope to see you there!

How prepared is your fundraising program to engage the next generation of donors? Millennials are currently the nation’s largest living adult generation. With immigration adding more numbers to this group than any other, the Millennial population is projected to peak in 2036 at 76.2 million. In this session, you will learn Millennials’ impact on giving and actionable ways to engage the next generation of donors in your fundraising efforts.

Key Takeaways:

• Understand the potential and current impact of Millennials’ philanthropic efforts.
• Actionable ways to motivate and engage Millennials in their fundraising efforts.
• Examples and success stories of Millennials of all backgrounds motivated to give.

Leveraging peer networks and incorporated socially connected campaigns has been a booming trend for nonprofits over the last year. Especially for those new to peer-to-peer fundraising. Let’s keep the growth going! Join this session as we cover the “must have keys” to social fundraising. From peer-to-peer basics, to campaign essentials, motivational strategies and tips to set your fundraising team up for success – this session is for you! This presentation is a must for any organization looking to harness the power of peer-to-peer fundraising.

If 2020 has taught us anything it’s that “Donors are gonna donor.” Whether you were asking or not, pivoting or standing still, donors across the board told us a lot about how they feel about the sector, causes that are important to them, and the importance of good in the world. Were you listening? During this interactive session, we’ll look at the major trends in giving during the pandemic, particularly through the lens of philanthropic psychology and interpreting the data. We’ll use all of that information to help you create a fundraising and communications plan that can weather any storm by applying the lessons from what donors have told us through their giving and who they are as individuals with big, caring hearts.

Key Takeaways:

• Articulate the lessons learned and impact of COVID on fundraising and the nonprofit sector
• Create a data-informed fundraising/communications plan that integrates principles of crisis communications.
• Understand principles of Philanthropic Psychology and how they inter-relate with data & metrics.

When attendees and donors feel connected to your mission that’s when the fundraising really begins. In this session, we will share how our organization grew our event from a $700,000 night to a $1.3m night in just two years by sharing more mission moments. We believe it’s all about sharing the mission in creative ways and we are excited to share how to do just that! We will explain how to incorporate your mission in everything from your invitations to silent auction items. To emphasize these points, we will share sample case studies from our organization and others. Our session will include insights from our past events and how we incorporated the mission and other times we missed the opportunities.

Key Takeaways:

• Incorporate your mission in more aspects of your events.
• Repackage your branding and mission in an engaging and impactful way.
• Identify ways to drive revenue through your mission.

On April 1, 2020 we were three weeks into shut down orders and one day into a fiscal year with a goal to raise $15M from 1,000 third-party events. This session is a case study of how a team of 10 dedicated and passionate fundraisers worked (from home) for 12 months to protect $5M in events revenue and lay the foundation for further revenue recovery in the months and years to come. We’ll share the lessons learned along the way and event innovations across our major categories of fundraisers to inspire your supporters to innovate as well!

Key Takeaways:

• Take action to steward and cultivate their supporters to protect and recover revenue.
• Tools and tactics to help third party fundraisers adapt and adopt virtual fundraising activities
• Take real world examples of event innovation to achieve similar results in their communities.

In this session, we’ll discuss insights into how peer-to-peer fundraising continues to evolve and how to best engage and motivate today’s participants. You’ll hear insights from seasoned peer-to-peer fundraising professionals as they share how they are infusing new energy into the in-person and virtual participant experience to increase engagement, improve retention, and grow fundraising year-over-year.

E-Appeals. Texting to Give. Online Giving. Facebook fundraising. There are so many ways nonprofit organizations can use online communication tools to connect with their audience and donor base. In today’s 21st century world, our nonprofit’s communications must be digital, analog, and, most importantly, personal. There is a way to use content marketing as a feeder to your donor funnel. But you may be wondering how? What criteria do you use to qualify donors who may be more likely to make a large gift? How do organizations effectively combine new fundraising platforms and approaches with an “old” way of relationship fundraising? This session will give you actionable tips and ideas about how to blend your “old school” and “new school” nonprofit marketing and fundraising experiences to create stronger stakeholder and audience connections and raise more money.

Key Takeaways:

• Understand the right components to craft a strong content marketing plan that informs and inspires your donors and potential donors.
• Identify criteria to use to pinpoint donors and potential donors who are open and ready to upgrade their giving.
• Learn tips for upgrading and retention strategies that work best for your organization’s resources and audience.

Our session will break down Artificial Intelligence (AI) into its simplest parts with humor. We will debunk the sci-fi myths, explain how all the pieces fit together, share real life examples in action, and outline the must haves for a competitive fundraising future. As the power of AI sweeps our society, we plan to better equip nonprofits with a foundational working knowledge of AI and the potential applications that could be implemented immediately to streamline organizational operations, provide keep mission-critical efficiencies, and segment and prioritize crucial fundraising efforts.

Key Takeaways:

• Intelligently articulate the components of AI vs science fiction myths.
• Share applicable examples of AI in action across multiple types of nonprofit organizations.
• Understand key “must haves” for the future of fundraising.

We get the question almost daily from nonprofit fundraisers: “What trends are you seeing in online fundraising?” or “What creative ideas have you seen in recent peer-to-peer campaigns” This session will answer those questions. We will share several peer-to-peer campaigns with creative engagement ideas and discuss why they were successful. We’ll feature a variety of campaign types (run-walk-ride, challenge, DIY, etc.) with the hopes that every fundraiser who attends will leave with ideas that they can implement into their own peer-to-peer and online fundraising campaigns.

Key Takeaways:

• Understand and implement best practices in peer-to-peer and online giving campaigns.
• Creatively utilize engagement tools such as activities, live streaming, fitness tracking, etc.
• Build a campaign with clear strategies to increase visibility and fundraising online.

We get the question almost daily from nonprofit fundraisers: “What trends are you seeing in online fundraising?” or “What creative ideas have you seen in recent peer-to-peer campaigns” This session will answer those questions. We will share several peer-to-peer campaigns with creative engagement ideas and discuss why they were successful. We’ll feature a variety of campaign types (run-walk-ride, challenge, DIY, etc.) with the hopes that every fundraiser who attends will leave with ideas that they can implement into their own peer-to-peer and online fundraising campaigns.

Key Takeaways:

• Understand and implement best practices in peer-to-peer and online giving campaigns.
• Creatively utilize engagement tools such as activities, live streaming, fitness tracking, etc.
• Build a campaign with clear strategies to increase visibility and fundraising online.

Participant engagement is more than just a fundraising ask.

Join us for a discussion on the importance of flexibility in event planning, execution, and participant journey mapping for continued engagement. Together we’ll share creative solutions for both in-person and virtual event executions.

When attendees and donors feel connected to your mission that’s when the fundraising really begins. In this session, we will share how our organization grew our event from a $700,000 night to a $1.3m night in just two years by sharing more mission moments. We believe it’s all about sharing the mission in creative ways and we are excited to share how to do just that! We will explain how to incorporate your mission in everything from your invitations to silent auction items. To emphasize these points, we will share sample case studies from our organization and others. Our session will include insights from our past events and how we incorporated the mission and other times we missed the opportunities.

Key Takeaways:

• Incorporate your mission in more aspects of your events.
• Repackage your branding and mission in an engaging and impactful way.
• Identify ways to drive revenue through your mission.

Hearing from those in the trenches about how they’ve approached this new fundraising world, is invaluable. Join us as top fundraisers share how they’ve navigated the challenges of the pandemic and redefined their event strategies to adjust to a changed fundraising landscape. This panel will be a live Q&A from the audience – your chance to ask everything you’ve wanted to know about, pivots, lessons learned and what the future of events looks like.

Our participants and fundraisers have lived through one of the most rapid evolutions of customer experiences and that has changed the way they expect to interact in the world. As we return to live events in 2021 and beyond, the incredible influx of technologies designed to provide enhanced virtual experiences is here to stay. How, though, can nonprofit event experts provide both an in-person event and a joint virtual experience? Is that the new definition of hybrid? The goal of this session is to provide attendees with a case study of a real event from this year that brings together smart event planning, innovative technology, and a dozen nonprofit organizations.

Key Takeaways

• Feel confident in examining their event plans and adjusting to feel safe on event
• Understand how great tech can enhance the fundraiser experience, even if they’re participating virtually.
• See how collaborative event models may provide a good solution to revenue gaps as their owned event series take time to ramp back up.

Differentiating oneself is more important than ever before. In a noisy and vast sea of email campaigns, direct mail appeals and social media overload, getting the attention of donors can feel quite challenging and exhausting. It might just be time for an intervention, a good look at your brand and a plan to cut through the noise. Branding is a critical component to fundraising sustainability, and it is a practice that is either often overlooked or confused with marketing. A strong brand is leads to financial health, building meaningful and long-lasting donor relationships, and successful events at your organization.

In this make-you-stop-and-think workshop, Taylor Shanklin, CEO of Barlele and brand strategist, will guide you through a branding journey.

Key Takeaways:

• Understand the distinction between branding and marketing.
• Build a stellar brand story for your organization.
• Differentiate yourself and standout.
• Create a brand guideline for your nonprofit.

E-Appeals. Texting to Give. Online Giving. Facebook fundraising. There are so many ways nonprofit organizations can use online communication tools to connect with their audience and donor base. In today’s 21st century world, our nonprofit’s communications must be digital, analog, and, most importantly, personal. There is a way to use content marketing as a feeder to your donor funnel. But you may be wondering how? What criteria do you use to qualify donors who may be more likely to make a large gift? How do organizations effectively combine new fundraising platforms and approaches with an “old” way of relationship fundraising? This session will give you actionable tips and ideas about how to blend your “old school” and “new school” nonprofit marketing and fundraising experiences to create stronger stakeholder and audience connections and raise more money.

Key Takeaways:

• Understand the right components to craft a strong content marketing plan that informs and inspires your donors and potential donors.
• Identify criteria to use to pinpoint donors and potential donors who are open and ready to upgrade their giving.
• Learn tips for upgrading and retention strategies that work best for your organization’s resources and audience.

We acquire new donors each year at our events. Event fundraising and solicitation are only one element of the donor life cycle.  What are you doing all along they cycle to further engage these event donors and nurture them into faithful annual donors? During this interactive session, grow your understanding of each stage of the donor life cycle, the role each plays in your development plan and how to nurture event donors through each phase.  This session will offer the big picture as well as practical tips and tools for success, with stories, research, statistics, and strategies on how to cultivate event donors in a meaningful way-engaging them long after your event.

If your organization has been working to engage event donors as annual donors for years or you are just getting started–there will be something to take away!

Key Takeaways

• Grow their understanding of each element of the donor life cycle. Gain creative ideas on how to engage event donors through every phase.
• Implement practical, incremental changes to their existing development plan to further nurture and engage event donors as annual donors.
• Leave energized, prepared to grow your annual giving donor base and feel confident in engaging your board and staff around new approaches and strategies.

Gone are the days of distributing brand messages through a series of marketing channels. In today’s world, people are the new channel, empowering all of us to write our own stories and connect in ways that used to be unimaginable. Traditional marketing and communications campaigns were often organized by channel (paid, earned, shared, and owned). But what if you check every box and your strategy still doesn’t work? This session will introduce a new approach, the Three Dimensions of Digital Strategy. We’ll explore how can we catch and keep supporter attention, how can we understand and anticipate their intention, and how can we inspire others to mention us?

We will feature examples of how nonprofits and associations have connected with today’s people to build connections, drive engagement, and generate revenue.

Key Takeaways:

• Learn a people-centered framework for digital strategy and why it’s more relevant than ever.
• Review examples from nonprofits that actively engage their stakeholders using digital and social media.
• Discuss how to measure success and communicate with leadership.

After 2020 hit and so many fundraising events were canceled what backup plan did your organization have to lean on for financial funds to keep things running smoothly? Many organizations do not have reliable multiple lines of income/donations coming in to support an organization if something were to be removed – i.e. events. This session will focus on how you can begin adding a “Netflix” like recurring revenue stream quickly and easily. Learn to create strategic recurring revenue from your “every day” donors that last month after month and year after year. Add this new way of thinking to your fundraising for consistent monthly income and sustainability

Have an event? See how all of these efforts help you build momentum and excitement for when you do host a fundraising event… it all works together!

Key Takeaways:

• Understand the strategy behind reoccurring revenue and how to implement it at your own organization.
• Create your own 12-month calendar of content.
• How email can help build relationships with donors (and not annoy them), producing emails that bring donors.

The impact that COVID-19 had on the nonprofit industry has left many organizations wondering where their donors and corporate partners have gone. And with some events taking place in a virtual setting for up to two years, it has been challenging more now than ever to find creative ways to engage with new constituents since we have lost that face-to-face interaction that we relied so heavily on. Now that we are slowly entering into a sense of normalcy, many fundraisers are looking at a blank slate and trying figure out how to meet goals without the same supporters that they had in the past. While this can be scary, this is a huge opportunity for your organization – if you are proactive and plan accordingly.

Key Takeaways:

• Identify new prospects and find a strategic plan to ask for support.
• Direction for future outreach and engagement with lapse donors.
• Renewed optimism and empowerment after the shock of COVID-19.

The impact that COVID-19 had on the nonprofit industry has left many organizations wondering where their donors and corporate partners have gone. And with some events taking place in a virtual setting for up to two years, it has been challenging more now than ever to find creative ways to engage with new constituents since we have lost that face-to-face interaction that we relied so heavily on. Now that we are slowly entering into a sense of normalcy, many fundraisers are looking at a blank slate and trying figure out how to meet goals without the same supporters that they had in the past. While this can be scary, this is a huge opportunity for your organization – if you are proactive and plan accordingly.

Key Takeaways:

• Identify new prospects and find a strategic plan to ask for support.
• Direction for future outreach and engagement with lapse donors.
• Renewed optimism and empowerment after the shock of COVID-19.

Virtual events are here to stay – by engaging people within your organization and incorporating a little creativity, you can make your virtual or hybrid event just as engaging as a traditional in-person event while reaching a much wider audience. Learn about how Westminster College hosted an all-day livestream as part of their annual giving day, engaging a wider audience than ever before and smashing their fundraising goals, then discover how you can incorporate a livestream into your next fundraising event! Whether you’re on a small team or part of a big organization, you can organize your own entertaining and effective livestream.

Key Takeaways:

• Incorporate a livestream into a virtual fundraising event.
• Engage individuals across the organization in a livestream.
• Use the virtual format to engage a wider audience.

In an environment where donors can choose virtually any nonprofit to support, it is more important than ever to offer convenient and innovative ways to give. By looking at the behavior of your current donors, you can build a strategy on how to target your supporters through meaningful communications and by offering multiple effective giving options. In this session, we are going to explore how you can communicate, and more importantly fundraise, to both your current and prospective donors in a way that resonates with them to yield big results. This session features two fundraising experts from The Rotary Foundation’s Donor Engagement team sharing how they use fundraising analytics and philanthropic communications to create and manage multiple giving platforms that collectively make a big fundraising impact.

Key Takeaways:

• Identify multiple channels of communication to engage your supporters
• Analyze your fundraising communication results to identify important giving trends
• Use giving trends and communication engagement trends to identify potential giving platforms to create a multi-channel fundraising strategy

In this session, we’ll discuss insights into how peer-to-peer fundraising continues to evolve and how to best engage and motivate today’s participants. You’ll hear insights from seasoned peer-to-peer fundraising professionals as they share how they are infusing new energy into the in-person and virtual participant experience to increase engagement, improve retention, and grow fundraising year-over-year.