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.

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

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

Room 3: Tools

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.

Room 4: Innovation

Contactless, Cashless, Limitless: The Future of Digital Giving
Speaker: Lisa Evans, PayaCharity & Toucan Giving

Cash is disappearing—but donor generosity isn’t. The challenge? Making giving effortless in a cashless world. In this session, we’ll explore how charities can adapt to the rise of digital giving and why contactless technology is no longer a “nice-to-have” but a necessity. PayaCharity has helped thousands of charities—NHS Trusts, museums, churches, and more—navigate this shift successfully. We’ll break down the latest trends, share what’s working (and what’s not), and give you a practical roadmap to embracing digital fundraising with confidence. Whether you’re already using digital tools or just starting your journey, this session will help you unlock new fundraising potential.

Key learnings from this session:

• Understand the key trends shaping the future of fundraising, including the decline of cash and the rapid rise of digital payments.
• Learn how major charities, including The Royal British Legion and NHS Trusts, have successfully embraced cashless giving and what smaller charities can take from their approach.
• Discover the dos and don’ts of contactless fundraising and how to avoid common pitfalls.
• See how charities can integrate digital giving seamlessly into existing fundraising efforts (events, community outreach, online campaigns).
• Leave with a roadmap for future-proofing fundraising efforts and staying ahead of the curve in an increasingly digital world.

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