Fundraising Marketing Conference 2027

Session details

Session information updated as and when speakers submit their details.

Room 1

Silos, One Year On: What Integration Actually Looks Like Now

We revisit 2026’s top-rated sessions to see how charities are getting on one year later.

Key learnings:

What genuinely changed when fundraising and marketing teams tried to work as one unit.

• How a single organisation and a federated, multi-branch charity each approach integration differently
• Practical ways to build a shared language between teams with different KPIs

High-Impact Marketing on a One-Person Budget

Speaker: Rebs Curtis-Moss, Rebs Curtis-Moss Consulting

A practical session for solo fundraisers and small teams on getting real results without a big budget or a dedicated marketing function.

Key learnings:

• The highest-impact marketing activities when you have limited time and no spare resource
• How to prioritise effort when you are doing every job at once
• Simple ways to grow reach and engagement on a small or non-existent budget

Beyond Vanity Metrics: Making Insight-Led Decisions on Any Budget

Moving past content output and follower counts to decisions genuinely driven by audience insight, whatever your resources.

Key learnings:

• The difference between research and real-world testing, from quant studies to live experiments
• How to use insight to sharpen creative and decision-making on a small budget
• Real examples of insight-led thinking drawn from work with major charities

Diversify or Die: Building a Channel Mix Beyond Meta and Google

A look at reducing reliance on the major digital advertising platforms and building a more resilient channel mix for the years ahead.

Key learnings:

• Practical alternatives to Meta and Google for reach and acquisition
• How to assess which channels are worth testing for your organisation and audience
• What organic, community-led and offline options can offer as a genuine complement to paid social

Creating a pipeline of future supporters
Speaker:  Lauren Huss, Associate Director and Adam Blakeman, Press Officer, Keele University

Keele University’s Inspiring Alumni campaign celebrated the achievements of graduates through a multi-channel marketing campaign spanning digital channels, billboards, bus stops, local media, and university communications. Alongside this, the Rising Leaders initiative recognised emerging alumni with the potential to become the next generation of influential supporters, volunteers, advocates, and donors. This session explores how alumni recognition can strengthen institutional pride, deepen engagement, and build a long-term pipeline for philanthropy

Key learnings:

• Discover how donor/alumni storytelling can build affinity, pride, and engagement at scale.
• Learn how to identify and cultivate future donor and volunteer prospects through recognition programmes.
• Explore how marketing and advancement teams can work together to turn alumni success stories into long-term fundraising opportunities.

The Legacy Gap: Reaching Donors Beyond Gen Z

Addressing the sector’s growing focus on younger audiences by looking at how to market effectively to donors across every generation, including older supporters.

Key learnings:

• Current data on legacy giving and multigenerational donor behaviour
• How to balance content and channel strategy across age groups rather than defaulting to Gen Z
• Practical ways to bring older audiences into digital and social strategy without alienating them

Room 2

Beyond Automation: Practical, Responsible AI for Comms and Fundraising

Speaker: Meena Das, CEO, NamasteData

AI is increasingly becoming part of how nonprofit organizations communicate, engage supporters, and raise funds. But beyond questions of efficiency and automation, how do we ensure that our use of AI reflects our organizational values, respects the communities we serve, and strengthens rather than compromises human relationships?

In this practical and interactive session, Meena Das will introduce the AI Equity Framework, a tool designed to help organizations evaluate AI use cases through the lenses of equity, access, power, accountability, and human impact.

Using real-world scenarios from nonprofit communications and fundraising, participants will learn how to apply the framework to everyday decisions, from creating AI-assisted content and personalizing donor communications to analyzing fundraising data and engaging communities.

Rather than focusing on which AI tools to use, this session invites participants to ask better questions about when, why, how, and for whom we use AI.

Participants will leave with a practical framework they can apply to their own work, helping them make more thoughtful, equitable, and responsible AI decisions without losing sight of the human relationships at the heart of nonprofit work.

Key learnings:

• Understand the AI Equity Framework and how it can guide more thoughtful, equitable, and responsible AI decision-making in nonprofit organizations.
• Apply the framework to real-world fundraising and communications scenarios, including donor engagement, content creation, audience segmentation, and data analysis.
• Ask better questions before adopting AI, moving beyond efficiency and automation to consider who benefits, who may be excluded, and whose voices should inform decisions.

Philanthropic Psychology: The New Way to Grow Love and Grow Giving

Speaker: Dr. Jen Shang, Co-Founder and Co-Director, Philianthropy Institute

An introduction to philanthropic psychology and what the science of donor behaviour means for your messaging and campaigns.

Key learnings:

• Why donors give, beyond the obvious motivations
• How identity, emotion and wellbeing shape giving decisions
• Practical ways to apply behavioural science to donor communications

Ethical Storytelling: Consent, Dignity and Case Studies That Don’t Exploit

A session on gathering and sharing supporter and beneficiary stories with genuine consent, dignity and care.

Key learnings:

• What informed consent actually requires, beyond a signed form
• How to move from permission-based to partnership-based storytelling
• Practical approaches to presenting case studies sensitively without losing impact

Brand in Motion: What We Learned From a Major Rebrand

A behind-the-scenes look at a major charity rebrand and what it means for fundraising and supporter growth.

Key learnings:

• Why a well-established brand can become a barrier to new audiences
• How research shaped the decisions behind the rebrand
• What other charities can take from the process, regardless of scale

The Humans Behind the Work: Sustainable Pace for Comms and Marketing Teams

A session on protecting wellbeing and sustaining pace for comms and marketing teams managing constant digital pressure and crisis response.

Key learnings:

• How to recognise and respond to digital overwhelm before it becomes burnout
• Practical ways to build sustainable working patterns into a high-pressure role
• Steps individuals and teams can take to protect wellbeing without waiting for organisational change

Copywriting that converts

Speaker: John Lepp, Agents of Good

Crafting your storytelling super hack: Lights, camera… emotion! This hour-long dramedy is your behind-the-scenes pass to the storytelling “super hack” that blockbuster fundraisers like you can use to inspire action and spark generosity. You’ll step into the role of creative director—rewriting tired scripts, casting compelling characters, and using cinematic storytelling and decision science insights to emotionally move your audience (and their wallets).
Whether you’re producing a suspenseful direct mail appeal, a tear-jerking donor newsletter, or a heartwarming legacy ask, this session gives you the tools to break through the fourth wall and transform passive viewers into passionate supporters. You’ll discover how to craft narratives that don’t just inform but truly resonate, creating fundraising stories that your donors can’t wait to be part of.

Key learnings:

• How to UNLOCK your inner creative deviant – Break free from traditional fundraising story tropes that bore donors and discover fresh narrative approaches.
• Techniques to CAST the full range of your organization’s “voices” – Create more dynamic, human, and effective donor communications by featuring authentic characters.
•  The science behind stories that MOVE people to act – Harness key principles of decision science—like social proof, loss aversion, and the bizarreness effect—to craft scenes and stories that trigger generosity.