Major Donor Fundraising Conference 2023

Amy Sweeting, Director of Development & Fundraising. United Kingdom Sailing Academy

Michael Winehouse, Head of Partnerships Income, Scope

As major donors, our goal is to build lasting relationships between donors and our organisation that inspire them to give again. Yet, it can be one of the trickiest parts of our job. Our panel bring experience from across the arts, health, medical research, education, disability, international development and family carers. We will share our stories of when we have got stewardship right, and, also, when we haven’t and how we handled it. We will talk about the art of stewardship to surprise and delight as well as the importance of getting the fundamentals in place. Charities have different resource levels and we can talk about creative stewardship that is meaningful without being expensive or resource intensive. Please do come with questions, we’d love to hear and respond to them. 

Moderator

Dee Brecker, Principal Consultant | Executive Coach, FJ Philanthropy

Panellists

Anna Cogger, Head of Philanthropic Partnerships, The Royal Free Charity

Felicity Sutherland, Head of Development, Dulwich Picture Gallery

Oliver Gell, Head of Global Philanthropy Development, Save the Children International

Income from philanthropy is now an established part of a charity’s fundraising mix. But how do you build a successful philanthropy programme? How impactful is a Development Board? Do you need a giving club? How do you generate significant unrestricted gifts? How to keep donors engaged and giving?

This session will explore these questions and some of the lessons learned by ClientEarth as it built its philanthropy programme, securing over £7m in 2022, predominately in unrestricted support.

Emily Thomas, Global Head of Philanthropy, ClientEarth

In this session, you will hear about how to set up a Mid-Value fundraising programme. Lynne will share her top five tips on laying the foundation for Mid-Value donors and bridging that important gap between Individual Giving and Major Donors. You’ll hear about what processes you’ll need in place, ways of working between Mid-Value and Philanthropy teams as well as what makes it all so unique. The Plan International UK programme is still in its infancy, but Lynne is excited to share the learnings that have helped her along the way.

Lynne Davies, Fundraising Manager, Plan International UK

The rise in Major Donor Fundraising in recent years has coincided with a rise in reputational risks faced by institutions.

Now more than ever, organisations need to think strategically about who they accept money from. But gathering the information needed to make those kinds of strategic decisions is an increasingly complex task.  

With relentless news cycles and the ongoing explosion of online data, critical information regarding a Major Donor can appear anywhere, anytime, in any language.

How can the latest advances in AI, Natural Language Processing and cloud computing be used to deliver useful, decision-ready insights to fundraisers?

Joseph Forrest, Partnerships Researcher, RNLI

Jessica Denny, Head of Comms & Partnerships, Xapien

In this 30 minute case study session we’ll give look at:

• The state of reputational risk in the fundraising sector in 2023
• What information is most useful to fundraisers when making complex decisions
• Concrete examples of how the RNLI approaches today’s challenges
• Technological innovations to harness the information explosion 

Philanthropy is being reshaped by Millennials and Gen-Z. The next generation of major donors promises to be the most significant group of philanthropists in history — shaping our world and our sector in profound ways. This session will bring together some industry expert voices who are working with younger donors, sharing learnings, opportunities and challenges. With a younger generation starting to disrupt the ‘traditional’ ways of philanthropy, is your organisation ready to embrace the change?

Moderator

Matthew Ross, Head of Philanthropy, The Academy of Music

Panellists

Angharad Hughes, Philanthropy Manager, LSE

Victoria Roe, Senior Philanthropy Manager. UNICEF UK

Lynda Harwood Compton, Head of Partnerships and Philanthropy, The Brain Tumour Charity

Michael will talk to Paul about the relationship between Services and Fundraising: what works well, what does not and how to make this relationship a success. Paul has spent several years working on both sides of Services and Fundraising so has a unique perspective. A conversation with audience participation and questions. 

Paul Maher, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Alliances, The Children’s Society

Michael Winehouse, Head of Partnerships Income, Scope

How can we build better relationships with major donors to create meaningful change for our organisation? Hear directly from Richard Bronze, Trustee of the EA Foundation, who will be sharing his experience of philanthropic giving and what organisations can do effectively to raise significant funds for their critical work.

Join Samantha Harford, a philanthropy gifts fundraiser at British Red Cross, for a conversation with Richard Bronze, to hear reflections on what philanthropic supporters look for in the organisations they support, and how effective relationship management can play a key role in establishing longstanding, transformational partnerships.

Samantha Harford, Senior Officer- Philanthropy, British Red Cross

Richard Bronze, Trustee, EA Foundation

After studying high-achieving fundraisers for 18 years, Rob has found one of the most effective ways to transform results is to have more actual chats with your donors and potential donors.

Although this is not the easiest part of your job, he has found that if you can find ways to improve here, it massively pays you back. In this session, Rob will share:

• Practical techniques, with examples, that help you get more chats over coffee;
• What one fundraiser did to QUADRUPLE the donor chats he achieved; and
• The technique one shrewd fundraiser used that inspired a donor to DOUBLE the value of their monthly gift.

Rob Woods, Director, Bright Spot

Amy Sweeting, Director of Development & Fundraising. United Kingdom Sailing Academy

Michael Winehouse, Head of Partnerships Income, Scope