Day one of this year’s Fundraising Convention has come to a close and what a day it has been. Tomorrow we will continue the learning, connecting and sharing but for now let’s take a quick look at some of the things that happened at the QEII Centre today.
The morning started with hundreds of professional fundraisers all creating a buzz in the reception area and in the Connection Hub. It was fantastic to see so many people coming together and excited to start.
Fatima Whitbread MBE started the day with a plenary session about how sport changed her life and how she’s using her lived experience of being in care as a child, to help improve the lives of children in the care system now through Fatima’s UK Campaign.
Fatima’s talk really highlighted how focus, working together and pursuing your passion can drive you to achieve your personal and professional goals.
Between sessions all the spaces were buzzing as fundraisers from big and small charities reflected on what they had been learning, and during sessions people were scribbling away lots of notes to take back to their teams to share their learning.
From the Supporter Insight and Research track, one session covered segmentation and how it can help charities, the impact it can have and what fundraisers need to think about before they start undertaking segmentation.
Over on the Trusts, Philanthropy and Partnerships track, two fundraisers discussed what it was like to go from trust applicant to grant maker. Key themes from the session were about being clear, concise and remembering that trustees probably won’t spend very long looking at your application, so making sure the important information stands out.
From the Leading the Sector track, AAW and the Chartered Institute shared results from the benchmarking survey, and fundraisers were super keen to see how their fundraising compares. The results will be very helpful for a range of charities and the more charities that participate in future surveys like this, the more useful the next set of results will be.
Another takeaway from day one at Fundraising Convention is that the Chartered Institute is launching an EDI mentoring programme. This was shared as part of the inclusive leadership panel and will help EDI champions to support their regions and special interest groups.
The expo area with sponsors and exhibitors was thriving all day with people finding out how the companies present could support their work and help to develop their fundraising.
A fantastic and buzzing first day at this year’s event, with plenty more to come tomorrow!