It’s coming up quickly – eight more sleeps and we will be arriving in Washington for the 10th annual Bridge to Integrated Marketing and Fundraising Conference. We’re very excited for this year’s packed agenda. Here’s the breakdown of the sessions that I am most excited to see:
Sonal Shah – talk about my own personal rockstar!
Sonal is Professor of Practice and the founding Executive Director of the Beeck Center for Social Impact & Innovation at Georgetown University. She has had an extensive career within the government, business, and the non-profit sectors, including her role as the former Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the first White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation. She led Google’s global development initiatives for its philanthropy, Google.org. Prior to that, Shah was a VP at Goldman Sachs, Inc., where she developed and managed the firm’s environmental strategy. She co-founded a non-profit, Indicorps, which offers fellowships for Indian-Americans to work on development projects in India, and helped set up the Center for Global Development where she managed daily operations and developed the policy and advocacy programs for the Center.
Seeing Sonal speak will be something else altogether. We are so excited for her opening talk!
Why Fundraising is the F-word to your Board Members & 50 Ways to Fix It
From 8:15 a.m. to 9:20 a.m., Rachel Muir from Pursuant is going to hit on a very important subject – the issue of how to frame fundraising so it’s not a dirty word, and become more successful for getting your board on board with your fundraising goals. Anything that promises me 50 nuggets is worth sitting in on!
Using Data to Fortify a Castle
This session promises to be insightful in the world of matrix measurement. “Hear how the Friends of the Smithsonian program has creatively leveraged scientific data modeling and reporting insights to drive a consolidated, and efficient, membership program.” This seems highly relevant to the struggles we all go through with data so I think this is the can’t miss segment during this time slot.
Seven Things you MUST know about SEO
I’m a marketer first, so I can’t miss this one. SEO is a constantly changing animal and it’s a tough one to tame. It will be nice to hear the insight of some SEO professionals here. Let’s face it – we all want to rank better on Google don’t we?
Hollywood Storylines for NonProfit Crowdfunding
Another new tool that is making waves in the fundraising pool – “Crowdfunding.” From 8:15 a.m. to 9:20 a.m. on Thursday, I can’t wait to hear some stories on how this works for non-profits of all kinds. It really seems like one of the newest and best ways to engage millenials.
Givolution: A Case Study in Evolving Donor Engagement
Thursday from 2 p.m. to 3:15 p.m., I’m going to sit in on Givolution. Anytime we can talk more about donor engagement, I want to be there!
Adam Braun – I’ve had a professional crush on Adam since the first time I heard his story of travelling to India and changing his life by founding the orgainzation Pencils of Promise. As this organization grows, they are finding ways to be highly relevant to donors. My personal favourite is the new monthly giving program called PASSPORT. It is clear where your money is going and if you’re in the first 1000 members to sign up, your donation is matched by a corporate sponsor – which engages the private sector to do good as well. I think Adam’s brilliant and can’t wait to hear him session.
Tell me, who are you most excited to see?
If you haven’t yet registered, visit the 2015 Bridge to Integrated Marketing and Fundraising Conference website here. If you, or someone you know, would like to be featured on our Voice of the Donor series, we will be taking live footage at the conference. Email tamara@finelinesolutions.com or tweet us here!