Many of us work with volunteers, and while we value their time and their talent, we often wonder what it takes for them to give their treasures too. Most volunteers are not at the executive level and can’t just write a check or underwrite an event. They get involved because they want to give back. As fundraisers, our job is to provide meaningful opportunities and create connections. So what can we do to engage them?

Christina will share tips to help engage corporate and individual volunteers and teach you how to engage them in your mission. She’ll discuss how volunteering is a great equalizer for how people can interact with your nonprofit. Regardless of racial, ethnic, socio-economic, or professional backgrounds, everyone has something to bring to the table, and Christina believes our job is to utilize that lived experience to make a connection with those served by our mission.

Working with volunteers is a long game, but the yield can be incredibly meaningful for all.

Key Takeaways:

• Complete a volunteer action plan.
• Understand the infrastructure needed to engage volunteers.
• Build a portfolio of volunteer engagement opportunities.

This session will break down the strategy of building a recurring donor base into digestible, easy, applicable tips that every nonprofit can do to create sustainable, recurring revenue through a solid recurring donor program.

Even if you don’t have a recurring donor program, you can follow along and build the foundation of your program during the presentation!

Key Takeaways:

• Understand the psychology behind what makes someone give and give again.
• Implement actionable takeaways for how you can cultivate a recurring donor.
• Speak confidently to new donors and bring them into your recurring donor program.

Join Christal Cherry to discover how boards can get fired up about raising funds for their organizations! She’ll also discuss how fundraising is evolving to center diverse communities, development officers, and high net worth donors.

After this session, you’ll understand the motivating factors behind the giving patterns of diverse donors, how to lean in to stewarding your donors, why trust-based relationships are so important, and how to ensure equity is at the core of your fundraising practices.

Key Takeaways:

• What motivates diverse donors to give.
• The value of trust-based relationships when stewarding donors.
• The ins and outs of centering equity in fundraising.

As a nonprofit fundraiser, you know firsthand the importance of every dollar that helps achieve your organization’s mission. That’s why it’s essential to find creative, effective ways to raise funds and engage donors.

But… what if the robots have already found the solution and are using skills to develop incredible ways to create, repurpose, and utilize artificial intelligence (AI)?

At first glance, AI might seem like a threat to job security, with analysts predicting that as much as 50% of current jobs may be lost or replaced by AI by 2030. But don’t despair! While AI is capable of handling certain tasks, it is not able to possess the “soft skills” or “human skills” that are necessary to building truly deep relationships with your donors. These skills, like communication, leadership, empathetic listening, and connection, are what set us apart from the machines.

So, how can you use AI as a fundraising tool and integrate soft skills to remain relevant in the nonprofit industry?

Key Takeaways:

• Benefits of Chat GPT, Open AI, and other AI resources as fundraising tools.
• How AI can help with personalization and convenience in the donor experience.
• The role of and how to develop soft skills to remain relevant and valuable.

Email appeals. Text fundraising. Online giving. Facebook fundraising. There are so many ways nonprofit organizations can use online communication tools to connect with their audience and donor base! But how do organizations effectively combine new fundraising platforms and approaches with an “old” way of relationship fundraising?

Join top industry experts as they share how organizations of all sizes can blend emerging technology and “analog” fundraising to create stronger stakeholder and audience connections and raise more money. It’s new school meets old school fundraising for success!

This panel will feature live Q&A from the audience. It’s your chance to ask what’s on your mind!

This session will walk you through the importance of tying every fundraising event detail back to the people. We all know that fundraising is about building relationships, but did you know that every detail of your event can help foster deeper connections with your supporters?

So, what about the details? From live and silent auctions to mobile bidding, raffles and fund-a-need, utilize the intricate strengths of each of your fundraising professionals and volunteers to plan and implement events that raise more money, build better awareness for your cause, and leave your attendees wanting to come back.

We will also dive into sponsor engagement and why it is vital to the success of your event. Learn how to make your sponsors feel valued from the time you ask for their support to the time you say ‘thank you’ post-event. And lastly, learn how to fundraise, and friend-raise, through the use of genuine speakers that ignite passion and stories that tug on the heart strings.

Key Takeaways:

• Explore new event ideas to build better engagement.
• Cultivate better sponsor and attendee relationships through attention to detail.
• Be intentional in thanking and stewarding your donors.
• Learn to think creatively when choosing speakers and stories of impact.

JEDI (Justice, equity, diversity, inclusion) is not just about race, is not just about who we serve, it is about all of us as fundraising staff, as vendors, as volunteers, and as donors. This session will explore key themes of activation for organizations and event leaders to own in their own organizational JEDI journey.

Using the JEDI model implemented by Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America, Deb will take the attendees through the strategies and practical approaches used by BBBS. This session is a MUST SEE for any fundraiser looking to explore, learn, or implement inclusion practices into their organization and fundraising.

Key Takeaways:

• Actionable steps to begin your own JEDI-focused initiatives.
• Understand JEDI and your personal role in the work.
• Real examples of tactical actions a group can take now.

As fundraisers, we tend to have an idealistic picture of what it looks like for a donor to give to our organizations. We often assume that because they’re already on the donation page, they trust us, are motivated to give, and all it takes to get a donation is a streamlined way for them to enter their donation information.

But what all the data tells us is that, in the best scenario, your donation page is FAILING donors 78% of the time.

In this session, we’ll uncover how to optimize your forms for the busy year-end giving season. You’ll discover 5 common ways that your donation page could be failing your donors. And you’ll be equipped with tested and proven tactics to improve your donors’ experience and increase donations.

Key Takeaways:

• Find out where most donation forms fail their donors.
• Learn small changes that lead to big increases in conversion rates.
• See what’s worked for other nonprofits, given tech stack limitations.

Don’t miss this session! You’ll hear the top 10 ways that nonprofit leaders can achieve exponential growth by leveraging the power of existing content!

In today’s rat race, we’re all busy. Learn how to maximize your organization’s content to exponentially impact your storytelling via multi-channel marketing. You’ll walk away with strategies to rinse, repeat, and recycle your content in a way that reaches your audience and saves you time! Come learn a proven framework to help you achieve flawless content execution.

You’d be silly not to take advantage of this session and the 10 ways to grow your fundraising shared by the Nonprofit Nerd herself, Jarrett Ransom.

Key Takeaways:

• Walk away with tactical techniques to implement a 12-month content calendar.
• Learn how to leverage your storytelling in multi-channel marketing platforms.
• Learn how to save time and preserve your sanity!