Room 1: Skills

The state of digital fundraising today
Speaker: Ali Walker Davies, Forward Action

This session takes stock of where we are now: what’s still working, what’s stalling, and what’s coming next.

Ali will cover big changes on the horizon, including potential changes to data permissions that could reshape list growth, the growing role of influencers in getting attention online, and how AI is changing the way supporters find and engage with causes. From email to WhatsApp, and from rapid response campaigns to the power of frictionless giving, this session will give you a clear-eyed view of what to prioritise in 2025 to keep your online income growing, even in a crowded, noisy digital world.

Key learnings from this session:

• Where to focus your digital fundraising efforts in 2025: which channels are delivering the strongest results, and where emerging opportunities are worth testing.
• How upcoming changes, like potential GDPR reform and evolving AI search behaviours, might impact supporter engagement and list growth, and what you can do now to prepare.
• Practical strategies to future-proof your digital fundraising, from building resilient owned audiences to integrating fundraising into real-time campaigns and optimising donor journeys for conversion.

Building your stewardship programme from the ground up
Speaker: Paul Taylor, JustGiving

The average person takes 9 seconds to scan an email. Join this session to learn how to optimise your charity’s emails to make them count. In this session, JustGiving’s Head of CRM, Paul Taylor will take you through planning, building, crafting and sending the perfect email. Whether you’re new to email stewardship or a seasoned pro, discover the insights, tips, and tools to apply to your charity’s emails and drive performance. Plus learn how we engage with your supporters through the JustGiving fundraiser email journey, aim to increase conversion, and see proven results.

Key learnings from this session:

1. Key elements to consider when planning and building the perfect email
2. How to increase your email open rate and click through rate
3. Discover and learn from JustGiving’s own optimised email journey to your supporters

Using digital to secure a long term relationship with supporters: The Second Gift challenge
Speaker: Eoghan Beecher, iRaiser

One of the biggest challenges in fundraising is turning single interactions into lifelong relationships with supporters. The elusive “second gift” is often a key indicator of whether someone will become a long term donors or will soon lapse.

In this session, we will explore the challenges faced in creating multiple interactions with supporters, and focus on both ways of working and products that can increase the chances of someone coming back to give again.

Key learnings from this session:

• Digital Fundraising Strategy
• Software tools
• Conversion rate optimisation
• Personalisation
• Fundraising storytelling
• Ad tech

Beyond Meta: Building a Full-Funnel Digital Program with Pmax, Programmatic & Audio
Speaker: Nathalie Ormrod, Blue State

Too many digital fundraising programmes are too concentrated in Meta, and this creates both a risk and a problem with scaling when results are positive. But there’s more than just Meta in today’s digital fundraising world – from performance max to audio advertising and programmatic and connected TV, we’re seeing strong fundraising results from a more holistic approach to digital fundraising.

We’d love to come and show several case studies on how to evolve your digital programme to be less reliant on Meta, and have a wider fuller-funnel approach to planning digital campaigns that deliver better ROI.
We have done this for multiple clients, and we know that in some cases this can double the ROI – like it has for our clients from Comic Relief in the UK who are happy to come talk alongside us about our journey together and the results of two years of working in this way.

We can show through our case studies from the UK, USA, Italy and Singapore how working in this way works for large established organisations, like comic relief and save the children, as well as new challengers like GiveDirectly.

Key learnings from this session:

• How to keep innovating in a volatile fundraising landscape.
• Channels that drive returns when Meta is starting to show it’s gaps.
• How to brand build while still driving returns.

Engaging Gen Z: The future is crowdfunded
Speaker: Dina Rickman, GoFundMe

This session will explore the opportunities of crowdfunding as a fundraising tool, including how to engage Gen Z.

We will explore how younger donors are using GoFundMe as a way to respond to trends and news that they see break particularly via social media.

We will share any opportunities and growth strategies, statistics and insights, as well as any best practice for charities to embed GoFundMe into their strategy.

Key learnings from this session:

• How to reach Gen Z with GoFundMe
• Insights about low risk fundraising techniques
• The best way to work with GoFundMe

Making The Most Of Email Soft Opt-In Changes
Speaker: Joshua Leigh, Hynt

Recent updates to email soft opt-in guidance have opened new doors for charities looking to grow their email lists ethically and effectively. But with opportunity comes responsibility — and risk. How can fundraising and engagement teams make the most of these changes without compromising trust or compliance? In this session, we’ll break down what’s changed, what it means for your supporter acquisition and retention strategy, and what you could do next to start discussing soft opt-in in a way that’s smart, sustainable, and aligned with your charity’s values.

Key learnings from this session:

Understand the updated soft opt-in rules, and what’s changed for charities, and where to get started implementing them.

Room 2: Strategy

Sneak Peek: Early Findings from 2025 Charity Digital Skills Report
Speaker: Zoe Amar, Zoe Amar Digital

Join Zoe Amar for a mid-survey snapshot from the 2025 Charity Digital Skills Report. This session presents preliminary findings based on responses collected halfway through our research process, ahead of the full report launch on July 10th. Discover emerging digital trends and get a first glimpse of the challenges and opportunities shaping the sector this year.

Key learnings from this session:

• What the surge in AI adoption means for your fundraising strategy and team skills
• How to address leadership digital confidence gaps that could be limiting your organization’s growth
• Practical ways to overcome resource constraints even if you’re a small charity with limited budget

Scaling Your Digital Fundraising
Speaker: Dean Gillespie, International Justice Mission

Trigger Warning: As IJM is one of the world’s largest anti-slavery organisations, this session may sensitively reference issues of modern slavery, violence, and exploitation. No graphic images will be shown, all images of survivors have been gathered with consent and sensitive topics will be discussed respectfully within the context of survivor stories and marketing campaigns.

Closing the digital fundraising and storytelling skills gap
Speaker: Jonathan Waddingham, Lightful

Digital fundraising and storytelling can feel overwhelming – especially for small charities juggling multiple priorities with limited resources. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

In this session, we’ll explore how hundreds of grassroots charities have overcome the most common digital challenges – from a lack of confidence to not knowing where to start. Drawing on learnings from Lightful’s BRIDGE programme (which has supported 3,500 charities across 120+ countries), we’ll share the practical steps that helped small teams build skills, tell more powerful stories, and raise more money online.

You’ll learn how to identify the barriers holding you back and what really works to move forward – even with tight budgets and small teams. We’ll share one charity’s journey to show how a focused approach to digital can transform both fundraising and confidence.
Whether you’re new to digital or looking for your next step, you’ll leave with clear, actionable tips and free resources you can start using straight away.

Key learnings from this session:

1. 1. Recognise the key barriers to digital fundraising and storytelling: Learn what’s really holding small charities back, and how to overcome these challenges with confidence.
2. Build stronger storytelling and fundraising skills: Discover practical ways to improve your content and fundraising strategy using ethical storytelling and SMART goal-setting.
3. Learn from a real charity success story: See how one small organisation improved their skills and results, and how you can apply the same principles in your work.

Ways of working: the skill of learning skills
Speaker: Kim Lewry, Royal College of Surgeons of England

Struggling with adoption of a new technology? Want to embed digital skills and overcome resistance to change but not sure where to start? Join Kim’s session to learn about building user communities and feedback loops into an effective digital skills programme. We will look at how to gather data and identify gaps, communication methods, ways to use existing channels to maximise adoption and some change management principles to incorporate. One specific example we will be looking at is the rollout of Copilot 365 licences in a phased approach. All of these tips and tools are low cost and easy to implement. Adoption doesn’t have to be expensive – and we will look at an ROI report from the Copilot trial as a way to demonstrate business value and secure funds for scaling up.

Key learnings from this session:

• Learn some simple, low-cost ways to accelerate the learning curve and embed skills
• Learn some change management principles to guide you in the journey
• Learn how to use data to identify knowledge gaps and measure success

Building Digital Teams That Raise Millions
Speaker: Carmen Barlow, Carmen Barlow Digital

Transform your digital function with Carmen Barlow’s battle-tested frameworks

Struggling to structure your digital team for maximum fundraising impact? Carmen has been there-and transformed digital operations from barely breaking even to raising £3.2 million in new supporters within 12 months.

Drawing from a decade leading digital teams and insights from 60 charity leaders interviewed through the Charity Change Collective, Carmen will tackle the questions keeping digital leaders awake:

• Centralisation conundrum: When does it work, when does it fail?
• Specialists vs generalists: The right mix for your context
• Team sizing: The 10% rule and when to break it
• Future-proofing: Building digital resilience across your organisation
• Making the investment case: Getting leadership buy-in

Whether you’re scaling, restructuring or starting fresh, this session delivers practical frameworks to build digital teams that drive sustainable growth.

Key learnings from this session:

• What does a great digital team look like?
• Should your digital team be centralised or decentralised?
• Are digital specialists or generalists better?
• How big a digital team do I really need?
• How to future-proof your organisation in terms of (digital) skills and capabilities
• And making the (business) case to grow digital

Digital Learning Grant Q and A
Speaker: Neville Pope, Children’s Hospice South West

A discussion with Nikki Bell, co founder of Fundraising Everywhere, about my experiences on the Digital Learning Grant program.

Key learnings from this session:

An insight into the benefits of successfully gaining a place on Fundraising Everywhere’s Digital Learning Grant and a discussion about the resources available and their practical application.

Room 3: Tools

Tackling hate and misinformation online
Speaker: Helen Alderson, Social AF

In an age where misinformation spreads faster than ever, charities are facing increasingly hostile digital spaces.
In this practical and eye-opening session, Helen from Social AF will share strategies for moderation with regards to tackling hate, misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation across social platforms.

Drawing on Social AF’s experience with charities such as Shelter and The Salvation Army, this session explores how online falsehoods can cause direct harm, damage public trust and threaten a charity’s reputation.

Whether it’s harmful myths about homelessness or conspiracy-fuelled attacks on fundraising efforts, Helen will unpack how to spot the warning signs, choose the right response style and protect both your community and your team.

Expect insights on moderation tactics, tone of voice, wellbeing safeguards and how to turn even hostile conversations into opportunities to educate and build support.

This session is ideal for digital leads, social media managers and comms teams.

Key learnings from this session:

• Understand the difference between misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation, and why it matters.
• Learn moderation frameworks that prioritise supporters, accuracy and brand integrity.
• Discover the importance of tone, timing and team capacity in your moderation response strategies.
• Actionable steps to improve your own charity’s readiness to tackle misinformation online.

Using AI and segmentation to boost email donations by 300%+: A case study
Speaker: Mohammed Khalil, Giving Analytics

A step-by-step case study on Giving Analytics’ award-winning project with Muslim Charity – where we used LLMs to generate hyper-personalised emails at scale (30,000+) during Ramadan 2024. The results were nothing short of remarkable – seeing over 3x donated per LLM-generated email vs standard template emails sent in the same period!

Key learnings from this session:

• How to use LLMs to talk to donors about their specific impact, rather than just talking about the charity’s activities as a whole
• How to effectively segment donors with a CTA in mind
• How to do these things with a less-than-perfect donor database

Navigating Meta Restrictions: A Digital Fundraisers Guide
Speaker: Ellie McGuigan, Cancer Research UK

This session unpacks the Meta domain categorisation update introduced earlier this year and its implications for charity advertisers. Drawing on her experience leading the response at Cancer Research UK, Ellie provides an explanation of what the update involves, a timeline of how events unfolded, and how to identify if your paid social activity is affected. She’ll also highlight the impact advertisers have seen or can expect to see. Looking ahead, Ellie shares practical recommendations to help advertisers feel more informed, confident and ready to adapt – so they can continue delivering meaningful results through paid social in a rapidly changing digital environment.

Key learnings from this session:

1. What are the Meta domain categorisation changes and how do you know if your paid social media advertising is affected?
2. What are the impacts of the changes?
3. Looking ahead: how can advertisers navigate the changes?

TikTok for lead-gen
Speaker: Ben Collins, Social Sync

TikTok’s popularity in the UK has surged in recent years, with UKOM data showing 54% of the UK population now uses TikTok every month! While Gen Z remains the core user base, the 45–54 age group has seen the fastest growth, increasing by 15% in 2024.

This session explores TikTok for non-profits:

• Who’s doing it well
• Acquisition – What we’ve learned from TikTok ads so far
• Conversion – How to convert TikTok leads to active fundraisers

Social Sync will share learnings and examples from recent campaigns to help you raise more, engage better and grow smarter.

The organic social media landscape
Speakers: Nana Crawford, Tereza Litsa, & Olga Chevganiuk

Meta, TikTok, LinkedIn, X — the organic social media landscape has changed dramatically in just a few years. For charities, the question is no longer whether to engage, but how to do so effectively amid shifting algorithms, formats, and audience behaviours. This panel brings together social media leads from across the charity sector to explore how they’re adapting, and thriving in this new landscape. From driving awareness to building communities and telling compelling stories, discover what’s working now, what’s changed, and how to stay ahead without losing sight of your mission. Organic reach may be harder to earn, but the power of story, purpose, and connection is as important as ever for charities like ours.

Optimising your online donation journey
Speaker: Vicky Reeves, goDonate

Join digital fundraising expert Vicky Reeves, in this insightful session, revealing how charities can significantly boost their online donations in today’s competitive landscape. Through practical examples drawn from goDonate’s work with some of the UK’s leading charities—including NSPCC, Marie Curie, Battersea and The Royal British Legion – Vicky will share best practices, learnings and actionable advice to help your organisation increase donor engagement and optimise each stage of the online donation journey.

With focus on the improvement of online donations, and from keeping abreast of latest trends, Vicky will also offer insight and advice on how charities can stay relevant within the continuing evolution of online giving. From digital wallets to cryptocurrency donations, Vicky remains current with technological trends and developments in the e-commerce world ensuring they are suitably applied to the charity sector.

From this session you’ll discover how to increase your average donation value, encourage regular giving, improve marketing consent rates, and create more successful campaigns; all through carefully crafted online donation experiences. With real-life success stories and hands-on tips, you’ll leave equipped with ideas and techniques to elevate your digital fundraising efforts, creating a more compelling journey for your supporters and maximising income for your cause.

Key learnings from this session:

1. Optimise the Online Donation Journey
   Learn actionable strategies to enhance every stage of the online donation process, including increasing donor engagement, improving user experiences, and maximising average donation values.
2. Boost Regular Giving and Consent Rates
   Discover techniques to encourage recurring donations and improve marketing consent rates, ensuring sustainable and impactful growth in your charity’s digital fundraising efforts.
3. Leverage Real-Life Success Stories for Practical Insights
   Gain valuable insights from goDonate’s work with leading charities like NSPCC, Marie Curie, Battersea, and The Royal British Legion, offering proven practices and innovative ideas that can be tailored to your organisation.

Room 4: Innovation

Beyond Hand-Raisers: Quizzes, Digital Value Exchange Guides And More
Speaker: Sarah Crowhurst, Hynt

Lead generation isn’t just about collecting emails anymore — it’s about offering something meaningful in return. As the digital landscape evolves, charities are finding success with fresh formats like quizzes, digital value exchange guides, and interactive journeys that do more than capture data: they build trust, deliver value, and prime supporters for action. In this session, hear from fundraising and engagement experts using creative tactics to turn passive audiences into active participants. Discover what’s working, what’s next, and how to go beyond the basic hand-raiser to build deeper, more dynamic supporter relationships.

Key learnings from this session:

1. Understand how to design digital value exchange campaigns that drive both lead generation and income
2. Learn how to approach developing audience-first lead magnets that work

How Commercial Brands use Email for Customer Experience
Speaker: Tom Carter, PensionBee

Email is one of the most powerful and underused tools in the marketer’s toolkit – especially when it comes to turning leads into loyal customers. In this session, Tom Carter, Performance Marketing Manager at PensionBee, will share how a fast-growing fintech brand uses email to drive results through smart, strategic communication.

Tom will walk through PensionBee’s lead-to-customer conversion journey, highlighting how they use data points like age, employment type, and engagement behaviour to build personalised, high-performing email flows. You’ll see how commercial brands treat email as a core performance channel – not just a monthly newsletter – and how segmentation, automation, and a clear sense of purpose can transform your email strategy.

Whether you’re just starting to experiment with journeys and automation or wondering how to email more regularly without annoying your audience, this session will give you practical ideas, encouragement, and a fresh perspective on what email can do for your cause.

Key learnings from this session:

1. How to segment your email audience using simple, impactful data
2. How to design effective email journeys that convert leads
3. Why email should be treated as a performance channel, not just a content update

Digitise the service user’s experience and turn them into donors or fundraisers
Speaker: Rebecca Whitwick, Anthony Nolan

Anthony Nolan recruits young donors to our stem cell register between the ages of 16 & 30. Younger donors provide better outcomes for patients, so it’s imperative that we engage our younger donors with relevant content. We need to meet this young audience where they are, moving away from a reliance on email towards a multi-channel approach, and developing a relationship with our donors that will increase the availability of the youngest members of our community.

Hear about how Anthony Nolan is using digital channels and innovation as well as providing relevant and timely content to keep the youngest people on our register engaged and lifesaver ready. From our digital welcome journey, donor cards for Apple & Google wallets, to social content that engages our audience with our work and the people behind it.

Key learnings from this session:

• How you can intergrate digital innovation into your multi channel approach
• What has and hasn’t worked for us when engaging our younger audience
• What we’ve gained from having a focus on the experience of being on the Anthony Nolan Stem Cell Register

How AI and Data can help us understand staff wellbeing
Speaker: Tim Walpole, Retail Trust

Explore how Data and Agentic AI are revolutionising staff wellbeing across the UK retail sector. In this session, we’ll delve into how advanced analytics and AI-driven agents are used to monitor, understand, and enhance the wellbeing of over 600,000 colleagues working in more than 220 retailers.

We’ll demonstrate how real-time data insights uncover trends in stress, engagement, and satisfaction, enabling early intervention and tailored support. By leveraging these technologies, organisations can proactively reduce presenteeism, absenteeism, and staff turnover, whilst boosting morale and productivity. We’ll share practical examples of how AI-powered solutions provide actionable recommendations to managers and colleagues, fostering a healthier, more resilient workforce. See how this data-driven approach not only supports individual wellbeing but also delivers measurable improvements in business performance.

Whether you’re a leader, HR professional, or data enthusiast, you’ll leave with a clear understanding of how AI and data can be a force for good in the workplace—making a tangible difference to people and the bottom line.

Key learnigs from this session:

Understanding of how we have used Agentic AI to make a different to both people and business and the challenges this has with regards to governance, risk and sustainability.

Q+A: Behind the Everyone Hates Elon Campaign
Speaker: Sarah Crowhurst, Hynt

When Trump returned to power in 2024, he brought Elon Musk with him. The partnership was chaotic, meme-fuelled—and short-lived. But behind the scenes, one anonymous group was making sure Musk’s downfall didn’t go unnoticed.

From billboard subvertising to viral videos and even a Tesla-smashing stunt, Everyone Hates Elon was a fast-moving campaign that blended digital disruption with real-world action. It was bold, irreverent, and impossible to ignore.

In this live Q+A, we speak to the activists behind the campaign (anonymously, of course). How did it come together? How did they move so quickly? And what impact did it have—not just on Musk’s image, but on culture, media, and even fundraising?

We’ll explore what charities and campaigners can take from their tactics: a digital-first brand, online/offline synergy, and activism that drives attention and action.

Yes, we’ll ask if it raised money. And yes, we’ll ask who’s next.

Key learnings from this session:

Unconventional, digital-first activism—when timed right and executed boldly—can drive real-world impact, cultural relevance, and even fundraising results.