We are delighted to share a snippet of the Scottish Fundraising Conference 2024 programme. This will give you a flavour of what is to come. Check back for the full programme soon.

Legacy Track 

Growing your Fundraising appeals using agencies or in-house by John Brady and Lorna McCafferty 

In this session John and Lorna will outline in practical terms how St Andrew’s Hospice grew their appeals income by an additional 167% by increasing donor Appeals from one hardy annual Light up a Life appeal to four appeals a year. This presentation will illustrate the journey by describing the process of using a creative design agency to transforming into where we are now -  creating appeals in-house by building an Individual giving team. It will also describe the data journey undertaken that sees us moving to significantly cutting volumes mailed without affecting results. 

How to develop your major gift legacy pipeline by Barrie Bryson, Fiona Orr and Laura Morton

Research shows that wealthier people are more likely to leave a gift in their Will to charity and for it to be a bigger share of their Estate.  However, major donors are often very focused on the difference their gift can make now.  The University of Glasgow began a legacy programme with a strong major gifts focus over 20 years ago and regularly raise £3m+ in annual income and pledged gift value.

 In this session we will share practical tips and insight into propensity indicators for this audience- who are your best prospects and how to identify them- how you can build on activities you are already doing with major donors and blended giving- getting your whole team involved- key take away for what will get results to help you prioritise what to do and when, with limited resources

State of the nation: How does the public view charities in Scotland? by Peter Dawson and Cian Murphy 

NFPResearch will display how attitudes towards charities have changed in Scotland. Using sector wide data from the last decade, we will dive into three vital strategic areas for Scottish charities – trust, donor habits and localism.

• Exploring trust and visibility – how does trust in charities compare to the rest of the UK? Are charities visible enough and are they significant actors in dealing with the challenges of the day? How can they achieve breakthrough?

 • Exploring donor habits - how has the Scottish public’s donation habits and attitudes changed in the last decade? How and where do they want to see their money spent?

• Exploring the importance of ‘local’ in Scotland – NFPResearch has tracked an increase in the number of people showing a preference towards a Scottish / local charity. What does this mean for charities operating in Scotland, especially for those working across the UK? 

Creating an innovative legacy campaign, with a focus on low engagement audiences by Mark Docherty 

In September 2023 Worldwide Cancer Research ran a legacy campaign with the primary aim of targeting our less engaged Sweeps prize draw players who were of an older demographic.The appeal elicited a phenomenal response, with 110 mail responses, 50% of whom were pledgers, and generating leads on Facebook with a cost per lead as low as £6.

Also we wanted to raise awareness of our brand and leaving a gift in your Will to the charity. We created an incredibly successful PR angle using celebrity ambassador Russell Watson.Plan would be to have 2 breakout sessions where fundraisers consider their legacy audiences as mentioned above, and where they discuss how and if they would consider using a celebrity within a legacy campaign.

The presentation will involve an overview of the campaign including strategy and tactics as well as insight into our prize draw audience.

Stories of grief and what charities can learn from them by Nancy Everson

Introduced by Nancy Everson - In-Memory Consultant at Legacy Voice - this inspiring and insightful in-memory fundraising session begins with a collection of powerful stories. Each story demonstrates the individuality of a person’s experience of grief. 

Nancy will start by exploring some of the different ways that people experience grief, and how supporting a charity in memory of a loved one can bring therapeutic benefits.  

In the second half, she’ll suggest what charities can learn from these stories and experiences, drawing from insights from Legacy Voice’s own supporter research findings and knowledge of in-memory giving. 

This is chance for fundraisers to deepen their understanding of in-memory supporters’ needs and expectations when choosing to support a charity in memory.

Embracing the Power of Your Legacy Pipeline by Ligia Peña

The success of any legacy program relies on good prospects, inspiring stories and a strategic approach to engaging with donors. Without a thoughtful and strategic approach to engagement, you may find yourself with disengaged and disenchanted donors. So to get to the joyful “yes, I’ll leave a gift in my will” stage, what actions/moves should you do at every stage of the legacy process?

This concrete, research-based and practical masterclass will show you how simple it is to implement a 3-step pipeline matrix to inspire donors to include a gift in their will to your organization. At the end of the session, you will have a draft of a legacy pipeline for your organization, as well as a variety of engagement ideas, tools, tips and legacy marketing examples. You will feel inspired, excited and ready to have legacy conversations with your donors.

Small Charities Track  

How good 'Impact Reporting' can support future fundraising by Nadia Aslam

The session is aimed a small charities that sometimes do not have a dedicated Fundraising function. The CEO or project Manager apply for T&G funding and once successful are burdened with reporting back to funders. This reporting can be quite  time consuming and often  a scary prospect if not handled properly from the onset. The session will cover two main points

1. How to set up capturing data/case studies/M&E from the onset

2. How once this data is reported can become a good foundation for further T&G applications.

3. How to translate the impact report into bite size infographics/case studies/statistics to increase brand awareness and fundraising.

Income Diversification for Small Charities and Solo Fundraisers by David Page 

Small charities are disproportionately affected by economic, social and political fluctuations. One key tactic to mitigate the unavoidable risks is to spread fundraising around different sources. On the surface this can seem daunting, but this masterclass will walk through the different stages required to create a diversification strategy which focuses on existing skills, desires and opportunities (both internal and external). Spending time where it is important, delegates will leave with insight, a template and various tools to use as soon as they get back to their laptops. This is a ranging but measured session, appropriate for all causes and approached with the experience and capacity limitations of small charities and solo fundraisers in mind.

Donor Delight: Crafting a welcome pack from first donation to lifelong support by Jamila Daley

Discover the art of wowing, inspiring, and engaging your donors right from their first contribution. Learn the secrets to constructing enduring connections and loyalty through meticulously designed welcome packs. Uncover how these packs can supercharge your fundraising endeavours while nurturing and expanding your donor base. This course offers valuable insights and actionable strategies that will propel your donor engagement to new heights.

Funded to Fail: Aspirations and Challengers of small African Women led organisation by Mukami McCrum

The Aim is to raise awareness and change mindsets towards funding and financial managements of small minority women ethnic-led organisations who deal with unpopular and sensitive subjects such violence and harmful traditions practices.  

The session will showcase the achievements and successes of African in diaspora and how they overcome barriers and navigate through a mine fields of struggles and challenges. The session will explore the dangers of single-story approaches, and of focusing on cultural and traditional aspects  instead of addressing the systematic and institutional  barriers that  perpetuate discrimination against women and girls. 

The session will involve power point presentation and story-telling through short videos. There will be an opportunity for Q&A at the end.

Participative Grant Making - Increasing access to funding for refugee communities by Flutura Shala and Jewels Lang

We would like to bring to the conference an example of collaboration with funders, exploring and encouraging participative grant making for funding and supporting  grassroots initiatives, community-based projects, and underrepresented groups. 

This is best done through a interactive workshop to explore replicability with other sectors supporting  underrepresented groups.We will do a short presentation, noting main evaluation points, followed by Q&A session. 

During 2023-24, we piloted this approach with The National Lottery Community Fund (TNLCF), distributing £1.5m to support 48 different projects led by refugee assisting organisations and groups.  The strength of the approach is threefold: i) negotiating with TNLCF a new  funding programme to address a specific need; ii) ensure that refugees (main beneficiaries) are part of the development, assessment process and monitoring of the programme ; iii) Wider range of organisations were supported, and increased levels of funding. 

Individual Giving Track 

The Joy of thanking- How to give your donors the joy they deserve after they make a gift by Sarah Goddard 

A thank you is so much more than an admin task. Something hopefully all fundraisers know and embrace. But in our busy day to day jobs...sometimes that's what they're reduced to. And this is not how to inspire and engage our supporters to want to take action again in the future. In this session we will look at why joy is so important, and how we can bring that into our thanking (and wider stewardship) We'll look at some live examples of thank you letters and take the best parts to give you a template thank you letter that brings joy. 

We'll round off the session by looking at some creative and innovative ways you can surprise and delight your donors. 

Be inspired to make your thank you letters joyful. And in turn they will inspire your supporters to want to do more for your charity. 

Maximize income from individual giving through the supporter journey, backed by data by Nuo Liu and Jamie Mclntosh 

In this presentation, I will demonstrate how I applied learning from my Masters in Data Science to support a small charity to improve its individual giving fundraising. Relying on a supporter database and Excel, with no external support, I will show that you don’t need fancy tools and software to make a difference. Hear how analysing donor behaviors informed personalised engagement at every stage of the supporter journey. You will learn how segmentation and targeted messaging in our appeals and fundraising activities based on donor preferences and behaviors contributed to response rate and boosted fundraising income. Through personalised interactions and tailored touch points, you too can increase engagement, encourage long term commitment, and drive sustainable growth for your charity. 

Immersive Fundraising :Creating a wrap around experience for supporters by Matt Smith 

A session to explore how charities can better create a wraparound experience that drives audiences to support an organisation outside of key campaign and event cycles. To develop a donor journey that starts from the very first touchpoint and builds a holistic journey that fosters a true sense of belonging for supporters.To do this charities must identify the “off” or “low” season moments and create different products, touchpoints and offerings to better fit audiences that do engage at “low” times. This in turn allows for more sustainable income generation and prevents hinging a charity's future on one season or event.In this immersive session, you'll hear from an expert panel of fundraisers from causes of all sizes about how they have developed their own approach to immersive fundraising.

Discover Payroll Giving by Mervi Slade

Payroll Giving is seeing more interest amongst charities due to it being relatively untapped. Payroll Giving income stayed stable throughout pandemic and the general benefit of regular, unrestricted income it brings should help more charities to pay attention to it.There can be a misconception that Payroll Giving only offers opportunity to larger, national charities, which we’d like to prove wrong. In this session we will have a quick 101 on what Payroll Giving is and it’s benefits to employees, employers and charities. We will talk through its potential for long term income and one-off donation opportunities.

We will cover how to get started and what first steps you might wish to take. We will cover Payroll Giving Month  and  opportunity it offers to highlight this form of giving.We will also give details on recent research done to Payroll Giving by Bayes Business School  and CAF.

Community and Events Track Sponsored by Conference Care

Successfully engaging with Primary and Secondary Schools by Andrew Flynn 

Session plan:

- Introduction to St Andrew's Hospice and how our School team came into existence

- Setting the scene by asking people to consider how they would approach a business that for the last 10 years raises £10,000 each year. Do they apply that same practice to engaging their local schools?

- Highlight that you must be willing to offer the school something, it is a two way street and can't just be a "one and done" interaction

- Introduction to the events we run for schools Teddy Bears Adventure

 - Nursery and Primary 1 (2500*)Wear Yellow Walk 

- Primary 7 (3500*)Tinto Hill Challenge 

- First Year (4000*)6K Fun Run 

- 4th, 5th & 6th Year (1750*)Ben Nevis Challenge 

- 6th year (750*)*estimate participants in event

- Conclusion to cover the benefits to the Hospice and to the school

How can charities attract support and raise money during an economic crisis? Digital Mobilisations is the Answer! by Paul Hayward and Lauren Buchanan 

The last few years have been a turbulent time for fundraisers. Right now, the future looks bleak, with almost a quarter of people saying that they will give less to charities this year.With income risks and depleted reserves, how can charities attract people to support them as we move forward? We believe Digital Mobilisation is the answer!Join OneKind and Engaging Networks as they share stories, results and insights showing the power of Digital Mobilisation; growing lists, attracting gifts and delivering campaigning success. Find out how charities are breaking down silos and collaborating to spend budget more effectively and drive broader impact.You'll come away with the kinds of evidence, insight and tips you'll need to launch a similar model - connecting your supporters with your vision and mission and growing your database to help support your fundraising, marketing and campaigning efforts as we move forward into uncertain times.

Creating Equity in Funding Access by Shaista Asghar     

This session is for funders who want to learn more about creating more equitable access to their funding.  Or funders who have a low application submission rate from EM organisations.

The session will look at the unconscious bias present within organisations and the need to address this (systems, staff, perceptions of organisation)etc

Case Study - TNLCF and CEMVO - How it formed, partnership, benefits for partners, outcomes for sector 

Strategies to help organisations to have a more inclusive approach to their funding offer Session will have interactive elements  - exercises for unconscious bias Presenter format - for case study and strategies section 

Group exercise - make your funding offer more inclusive - now and in the long term. Culminate in a call to action and take away.

Corporate and Trusts Track 

The Changing Trust and Foundation Landscape by Pam Judson, Thelma Okey-Adibe and Kevin Rowe 

This session of 3 panel members will shine a light on and consider some of the changes taking place with Trusts and Foundations and how these shifts effect raising funds.

 Dr Thelma Okey-Adibe will explore the increasing attention to decolonisation in relation to philanthropy. Her presentation  examines what this looks like in practice , how funders are incorporating the voices of marginalised communities.

In addition she will suggest ways to promote trust, shift the power, collaborate with communities. Best practices will be discussed as case studies.

Pam Judson and Kevin Rowe present current research findings on 

Application success rates with a range of funders and what factors are at play 

What the current ROI is for a range of Trust fundraisers and what success rates are they experiencing 

Trend or not? Trusts spending down, pausing and reorganizing

 The role of research in effective approaches – practical tips

Partnerships Worth paying for by Andy King 

Two of the hardest questions in corporate fundraising:

1. What do we offer to companies?

2. How much do we ask them for?

We’ve been in the room as trustees have told us that Lloyds Bank have a horse in their logo, so they basically owe our horse charity a million pounds. We’ve felt corporate fundraisers’ shoulders go up and refuse to come down.

But have no fear! This workshop is designed to answer both of these questions. We’ll then run you through three models you can use to price your partnerships, meaning you go into negotiations strong. You’ll feel these are partnerships worth paying for.

Mastering contactless donations for street collections and in the community by Vicky Hewlett, Georgia Jackson, Mairi Foster, Emma Rose

Are you looking for ideas and inspiration for collecting cashless donations at events and in the community? If so, look no further - our panel, hosted by Give A Little, which helps charities collect cashless donations, features two charities based in Scotland, Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity and Children 1st. Both are using Give A Little and the CollecTin More contactless donation box to collect cashless donations and they will give you insights on how they engaged the local community to raise funds.

The session will cover: 

• Tips for successful and affordable face to face fundraising with contactless donations 
• How to get the most out of data provided by Give A Little to test and learn
• How to work with corporate partners and/ or local venues
• How to train up and energise volunteers in using contactless donation boxes.
• Key trends, stats and innovations in cashless fundraising

Unlocking Corporate Cash Flow: The 5 Steps to Attract Corporate Sponsors Who Believe in Your Cause by Akpesiri Otobele

This workshop will unveil a proven 5-step system to secure reliable corporate sponsorships for charities.  It will guide participants through:

1. Strategic Planning: Learn to define goals, resources, and the unique value proposition for sponsors.

2. Board & Team Building: Gain board buy-in, leverage their networks, and build a dedicated fundraising team to execute your campaign.

3. Resource Development: Craft compelling sponsorship proposals, prospect lists, and marketing materials to win the heart of sponsors.

4. Campaign Launch: Train your team for confident outreach and schedule meetings with potential sponsors including equipping them with the tools they need for success.

5. Mastery of Follow-Up: Learn proven strategies to secure "yes" through effective communication and relationship building.

Live from the CIOF Conference: BTA Charity Voices on Collaborative Success by Mhairi Cameron and Anne Hughes

Join us for a unique session featuring a live BTA Charity Voices Podcast, hosted by Anne Hughes. This session will showcase the importance of collaboration in the charity sector, through engaging interviews with leading figures and contributions from conference attendees. We'll dive into real collaboration stories, highlighting challenges, strategies, and outcomes. Our goal is to emphasize collaborative efforts' value, share success stories, and involve the audience, making the session interactive and inclusive. The format includes a brief introduction, main interviews with charity leaders, a live audience Q&A, and closing remarks. Additionally, throughout the conference, we'll conduct short interviews with attendees, enriching the podcast with a wide range of collaborative insights. The recording will be shared with the CIOF and guests post conference. 

Across the Great Divide: Connecting  with Institutional Donors In A Changing Landscape by John Hicks

There is a sea change in the world of grants: increasing globalization of foundations and trusts, next-gen leadership, new and entrepreneurial approaches to grant making, and activist grant making driven by new wealth.  The impacts on grant seekers are and challenging:  new strategies, new language, changes in the granting process -- sometimes within foundations, trusts and corporations with which we have had long-standing relationships. 

We will take a deeper dive into understanding the "new normal" in grantmaking through a global lens (after all, many if not most of the world's largest grantors are OUTSIDE the UK and the US!) and some of the challenges/barriers we face due to differences in mission, approaches, culture and language.  We will also explore best practices in proposal writing, reporting, and communications that can enage, enlighten and excite funders.

The session will employ lecture, demonstration and dialogue to engage participants and encourage sharing and learning. 

Management and Strategy Track 

Fundraising Detectives by Dionne Denovan, Stephan Shirres and Morna Black 

This workshop, brought to you by the Scottish Fundraising Adjudication Panel, invites you to put your fundraising regulation nous to the test and use your detective skills on some real-life fundraising complaints. 

Fundraising Detectives invites you to decide whether Cats Rally Against Pop Music has breached the Code of Fundraising Practice and learn how to avoid your charity suffering the same fate! 

Whatever the result, you will leave this fun, interactive session with a better understanding of the rules and regulations of fundraising and how they are resolved by the Scottish Fundraising Adjudication Panel.

Ask the Regulator? Your chance to speak to a panel of Experts in Fundraising Regulation- Get insights into the evolution of Fundraising and Regulation by Dionne Denovan, Paul Winyard, Jamie Mclntosh and Gerald Oppenheim 

This session brings together panellists from the Fundraising Regulator and the Chartered Institute of Fundraising to discuss contemporary fundraising issues.Our session will begin with an update from Paul Winyard, Head of Policy at the Fundraising Regulator on the next stage of the Code of Fundraising Practice consultation. Followed by a panel discussion to explore fundraising topics such as:

• Fundraising regulation: the role of the Fundraising Regulator and SFAP.

• Fundraising Campaigns – what can we learn from them.

• Learnings from the Fundraising Regulator’s Market Inquiry into Face-to-Face and Door-to-Door Fundraising• How a Principles Based Code of Fundraising Practice will work. 

• Important policy guidance from the Chartered Institute of Fundraising and beyond

The panellists will share insights from their experience in fundraising and emerging considerations for charities in the Scottish fundraising landscape.Following the discussion, you are invited to put your fundraising questions to the panel.

GROWTH CULTURE FOR TEAM LEADERS by Anna Devine 

1. INTRODUCTION: An introduction to growth mindset and why it’s important for building resilience and creating a culture of growth within fundraising teams.

 2. RULES OF ENGAGEMENT: An ‘avatar’ presentation explaining how the workshop will run.3. WELCOME TO OUR CHARITY: Meet the charity who adopted a growth mindset culture. 

3. JOIN THE JOURNEY: An interactive journey with the charity as they embark on growth. Participants will assume roles of both donors and charity team leaders. 

4. NEWSFLASH: How will the team react to recent news headlines? Exploring donor reactions, leadership responses, donor choice and leadership actions and outcomes. 

5. GROUP FEEDBACK AND DISCUSSION. 

What IS strategy? Getting to the heart of shaping fundraising success by Emma Leiper- Finlayson 

Strategy is a buzz word that is used everywhere in business,  not least in the third sector.  But what exactly IS strategy? How does it differ from a plan? And how do we approach developing a fundraising strategy that helps achieve our goals and objectives?

This session is for anyone who has ever been confounded by strategy; for anyone who isn't sure where to start; for those keen to understand how others approach it; and for those keen to hear how one fundraising Director developed an integrated strategy that aligned with wider organisational ambitions.

Emma Leiper Finlayson will share how she overcame her difficult relationship with strategy to develop a 3-year fundraising and marcomms strategy for a local charity undertaking a capital appeal. Featuring an honest account of the approach she took to develop the strategy and seek buy-in, the session will provide practical advice and learning from the process.

Leadership trends for fundraising managers by Helena Sharpstone

If you are to continue leading motivated, engaged fundraising teams, it's worth being aware of trends in leadership, management and work in general.  This interactive masterclass will highlight key themes emerging from the way we work today and provide pointers on where to invest your energy and a leader and manager.  Topics we'll engage in  include the ongoing conversation about wellbeing at work, neurodiversity and how to support a range of team members, as well as the different generations entering work and ways to understand them, welcome them and enable their success.  Lots to talk about to stay ahead of the fundraising leadership curve!

Leading a Great Fundraising organisation by Colin Skehan and Howard Lake

How can charities’ boards, CEOs and senior leadership teams best support transformational fundraising growth? 

Colin Skehan and Howard Lake share inspiring examples of charities large and small from the UK and around the world who have tackled this challenge and succeeded. Growing charities are those in which boards and SLTs have faced up to, appreciated and worked through the three conflicts of money, purpose and culture.

Learn too from the academic research that reveals how boards can effectively support fundraisers achieve their best results, and also retain them! Fundraising growth is always going to be a challenge if boards don't understand what makes fundraisers tick, and don't sufficiently value, recognise or support career fundraisers.

If you're a board member, CEO, director of fundraising or senior leadership team member join us to learn what it feels like when the whole of an organisation is proud of fundraising and able to contribute.

The Dark Art of Dealing with Difficult People by Claire Warner

Whether as a Line Manager, a colleague, a Line Report, or when working with Volunteers or Supporters, there can't be many of us who have never come across someone we find "difficult" to deal with.

In reality, it's not actually people who are difficult to deal with, it's behaviours. Knowing about the more common different types of difficult behaviour; how and why they are difficult; what is predictable about them; and how to identify and manage those behaviours is a key learning, especially when it comes to the responsibilities of line managing others.

In this session we will look at six of the more frequent difficult types of behaviours, and how to identify and deal with them successfully, and how, with a wellbeing-led approach, this type of interaction can be comfortable for both the line manager AND the line report as well as the Fundraiser AND the Supporter / Volunteer.

Personal Development Track 

Changing the Conversation- Communicating to Mange Change Management by Ishbel Smith

The third sector is facing a time of seismic change.  Change can cause uncertainty, instability and emotional exhaustion.  Yet it can also unlock potential, opportunities and new horizons for causes, people and communities.

Change management is often treated as a process to be managed.  But how might considering it as an evolution to be communicated well about change your perspective?  How do you communicate effectively in times of change with supporters, donors, colleagues and boards?

Good communication enables effective conversations, genuine ideas exchanges and considered management of relationships.  It can help you and your team feel under control and able to face the future calmly, boldly and creatively.

The session allows you an opportunity to reflect on your communication style at times of change; equips you with some tools to improve communications during change and a chance to connect and learn with colleagues who face the same challenges as you.

Networking- an Introverts Guide by David Page 

Networking is essential to both fundraising and professional development, but it is too often the domain of the extrovert. But that should not be the case. 

In this session we take a gentle and good-humored look at ourselves as introverts, understand what networking really is, and equip you to make contacts while being true to yourself. 

Oh and don’t worry, we are not going to force you to talk with strangers, as this session is run by introverts for introverts. Extroverts are welcome, but just sit quietly in the corner please, you are entering our world.