Day two at Fundraising Convention was another cracker of a day, with 1,000 people attending at the QEII Centre in London, and more than 300 people joining from around the world via our online Convention.
The morning kicked off with Professor Jen Shang, PhD sharing her insight about how to explore different types of love (or call it kindness, generosity or compassion if you prefer) from a donor perspective, and using that insight to shape fundraising communications, to help grow giving. Looking at the different types of love donors have, and how they see themselves, the charity and the beneficiaries, can make a real difference to income.
Rooms were packed out for sessions on engaging younger donors. A session looking at engaging with Gen Z and Millennial donors highlighted how people in these groups value transparency, stewardship and being involved with charities. A key takeaway was that younger donors want to get involved as well as giving money, and they want to do it with your charity.
At lunchtime, the fringe programme took place with sessions on neurodiversity, wellbeing, and menopause. Over the two days, lots of people engaged with these sessions and will take away with them tips and information that will help them to be well-rounded fundraisers.
Throughout the day, the Connection Hub, expo area, networking areas and communal spaces were buzzing with people chatting and connecting.
The afternoon saw sessions on faith, wealth insights, community fundraising and lots more. Lots of engagement with the audience has been enjoyed during the session on dismantling the patriarchy.
Salesforce, our headline sponsor, held a busy session about filling the gap between the fall in funding and increasing demand for services, using data insight and AI to help guide this area of work.
At the closing plenary, Katie Docherty, chief executive of the Chartered Institute announced that Harpreet Kondell will be the Chair of the Board of Trustees following our next AGM in September.
Delegates left Convention brimming with new ideas, tools to help them with their work, and empowered with innovative ways to keep their fundraising fresh for their communities. We hope to see you all again next year!