SWFF Fundraising on the Margins 2024

After running the ‘Fundraising On The Margins’ conference for two years, we have decided that 2024 is the year to have big audacious goals that have accessibility at their heart.

Last November, we welcomed over 500 fundraisers live and online for our virtual conference that supported them to deliver great fundraising – wherever they were. But we’ve decided that we shouldn’t stop here, because we know there are thousands of charity staff and volunteers that have little or no budget at all to access the training they need.

And now for 2024 - Reclaiming ‘AWOL’ for Small Charities

This year’s Small Charities Week brought into sharp focus how desperate the landscape is for thousands of small charities across the UK. They are the lifeblood of grass-roots support in our communities and represent 97% of the organisations in our sector. They also live on a knife-edge when it comes to funding and the last thing that they have budget for is training (so we never see then at the mainstream conferences and events!).

We don’t want small charities to be AWOL!

So, Fundraising on the Margins 2024 will reclaim AWOL – giving small charities Access With Out Limits!

Any small charity with an annual income of under £500,000 will be able to book an unlimited number of tickets for their staff, volunteers and trustees completely free of charge (see ticket option below).

We are HUGELY grateful to our sponsors for making this event possible and for helping us to offer free tickets to small charities and keep ticket prices as low as possible for everyone else (and maintaining our super-value group ticket options too!)

Headline Sponsor

Making a Difference Locally https://www.nisalocally.co.uk/community/

Event Sponsors

GifeEase Solutions - www.gift-ease.co.uk

Polly Symondson Recruitment - https://pollysymondsonrecruitment.co.uk

Beautiful Insights   - www.beautifulinsights.com

Check out the programme below (and keep an eye on our social channels for more exciting speaker announcements soon!)….

1230-1330 – ROOM ONE - Welcome and Opening Plenary

Keep an eye on our social channels for an announcement about our opening plenary speaker in the coming weeks!

1330 – 1340 – BREAK

1340 – 1425 – CHOOSE YOUR SESSION

ROOM ONE – Empowering Beneficiaries to Play an Active Role in Fundraising - Hayley Everett, Head of Fundraising & Communications, Trevi and Tammy Lewis, Blossom Support Practitioner, Trevi.

In this session, we address a common concern: how can charities involve beneficiaries in fundraising without feeling like they’re taking unnecessary risks? Some charities feel protective about targeting fundraising asks to their beneficiary audience. However, involving beneficiaries can transform fundraising efforts, strengthen relationships, and elevate the impact of your organisation’s mission. We’ll explore practical strategies to help you feel confident advocating for beneficiary involvement in fundraising to your management team, armed with compelling reasons why it’s a valuable step forward. By directly engaging beneficiaries, charities can shift from a top-down model to one that is collaborative, empowering, and truly reflective of the people they aim to serve. This approach not only honours the voices and experiences of beneficiaries but also enhances the authenticity and effectiveness of fundraising efforts.

You will leave equipped with:

• Practical tools and strategies to involve beneficiaries      confidently in your fundraising efforts.
• Persuasive arguments to convince management of the benefits of      this approach, backed by success stories and evidence.
• Guidance on best practices for safeguarding, communication, and      ethical considerations to ensure a respectful and empowering process.

Join us to gain the knowledge and confidence to advocate for and implement beneficiary involvement in fundraising, transforming how your charity connects with its supporters and those it serves.

OR

ROOM TWO – How to create a collaborative fundraising strategy that doesn’t languish on a shelf – Mike Zywina, Lime Green Consulting

We can probably all remember a time when we saw a new strategy launched with much fanfare, the product of many exciting conversations about the future, and then…nothing. The strategy went to its final resting place in a dusty drawer or a dark corner of your shared drive, and everybody went back to their daily business as if nothing had changed. This is always extremely frustrating, given the time we invest in creating a strategy and the potential for it to transform your fortunes, if people get behind it. This session will explore how to create a fundraising strategy that is a valuable ongoing resource and guiding document. We'll be covering two important aspects to this:

- How to design a collaborative strategic planning process that involves your wider team in creating your fundraising strategy - What to do after your fundraising strategy is finished, to ensure your team are engaged and involved

OR

ROOM THREE – The most powerful thing a fundraiser can do: mastering your story - Mark Preston - Start Bay Enterprises Ltd

‘The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision, values and agenda of an entire generation that is to come’ (Steve Jobs). This session will explain the critical importance of story in a market place that is buzzing with more communication than anyone can handle. You’ll hear some powerfully communicated stories as well as learning how to construct your story and use it to improve engagement and results.

1425 – 1435 – BREAK

1435 – 1520 – CHOOSE YOUR SESSION

ROOM ONE – Are your supporters SAFE? Measuring Supporter Satisfaction And Future Engagement – Steven Dodds, Managing Director, Beautiful Insights

As fundraisers increasingly look to deliver better supporter experiences which minimise lapsing and build donor loyalty, the key question remains ‘how do you know it’s working?’. Appeal response rates and income can only tell you so much, and they tell you very little about exactly how you should make the supporter experience better. Beautiful Insight’s SAFE Index is designed to address this, allowing fundraisers to measure and benchmark key aspects of the supporter experience and the impact on supporters’ intentions to keep giving in future.

This session will share the results of a pioneering pilot programme of the SAFE Index involving donors to four universities (Bristol, Manchester, Kingston and Trinity College Dublin), which allowed each university to understand their own performance, benchmarked versus the sector and their peers.

Key insights for attendees:

- The SAFE Index approach to measuring the supporter experience - which parts of the experience have the biggest impact on future giving intentions?

- The link between positive supporter feedback and supporter ‘s future value and loyalty – what’s the ROI of better supporter experiences?

- What the participating universities have learnt about how to improve the supporter experience from sharing results and insights

OR

ROOM TWO – Mastering Facebook Fundraising Challenges & Social Giving – Carla McLuskie Head of the Digital Fundraising Academy and Angela Massey, Digital and Community Fundraising Manager at Roy Castle Lung Foundation

Get ready for 2025 with this must-attend webinar on Facebook Fundraising Challenges and the future of social giving. Gain insight into creating engaging challenge campaigns that inspire action, grow your donor base, and raise funds efficiently. We will showcase case study examples and cover the latest updates, best practices, and innovative tactics to help you harness the full power of social giving. Perfect for both beginners and seasoned fundraisers, this session will arm you with actionable strategies to boost your charity's reach and impact in the ever-evolving world of social fundraising.

OR

ROOM THREE – SESSION INFO ANNOUNCED SOOON!

Full details coming soon.

1520 – 1530 – BREAK

1530 – 1630 – Closing Plenary - Allyship on the Margins

Join Simon Blake, CEO of Stonewall UK and Kate Carroll, Head of Charity at Making a Difference Locally as they explore what allyship really looks like in our charities. This is such a vital topic for charities all over the UK, especially in places where diversity isn’t always as visible. How can we authentically embody belonging for those that often feel excluded? How do we work to create safe spaces for our staff, volunteers, existing and potential supporters?

Please Note – the event organisers reserve the right to make changes to the event programme due to circumstances that may arise that are beyond their control. Any changes will be notified in advance to all attendees with updated schedules shared on the event website and across social channels.