Schedule and Sessions

Step into the role of fundraising detective in “The Disappearing Donor: Solving the Mystery of Donor Retention!” Join Susan Madon, CFRE, for an interactive, mystery-themed workshop where you’ll analyze real-world donor cases, uncover hidden clues, and collaborate with peers to crack the code on donor attrition. Through hands-on activities and engaging storytelling, you’ll discover actionable strategies to boost retention and build lasting donor relationships. Leave equipped with a customizable roadmap and practical tactics to implement right away. Don’t miss this dynamic session designed to make donor retention both memorable and achievable!

For many fundraisers, marketing and communications are squeezed in between appeals and thank-you notes. This session is designed for those doing it all who want to stop scrambling and start building a flexible communications plan without adding stress. Through bite-sized strategy and realistic planning, attendees will learn how to slowly build a sustainable annual communications rhythm that supports their fundraising goals.

Current and prospective AFP members will learn about the key benefits of membership. From professional development and leadership training to local events, mentorship, volunteer opportunities, and publications. Learn how to get the most from your AFP membership while building meaningful connections with peers across the profession.

Grant funding is becoming more competitive, complex, and fast-moving. This session breaks down what’s changing across government and foundation funding and shares practical, data-backed strategies nonprofits can use today to strengthen grant readiness, apply more strategically, and win more funding.

Discover how intimate, story-centered gatherings can re-engage disengaged donors, activate prospective donors, and recover lapsed donors. This session offers actionable strategies to strengthen stewardship and transform small, curated events into powerful drivers of long-term donor relationships.

Uncover how AI is reshaping donor engagement. This session blends insights on using interest data with an introduction to agentic AI, highlighting its role in boosting productivity, improving relationship management, and creating content. Attendees will gain strategies to leverage AI as a force multiplier in donor relationships and fundraising outcomes

Make your next golf event the best one yet! GolfStatus is the leading platform for charity golf tournaments and fundraisers. Discover how the intuitive platform makes organizing and executing a successful golf fundraiser easier than ever, with solutions that save time and raise thousands more dollars for your mission.

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood with a community foundation as your neighbor. Hop on the little red trolley as we explore how community foundations operate, fund vital initiatives, and empower donors to drive meaningful change. From Donor Advised Funds to bifurcation of gifts, you'll understand how community foundations catalyze community growth and resilience.

According to research, securing support from board members for fundraising is one of the top challenges that nonprofit leaders must navigate. There are several challenges contributing to this, including unclear role definitions, inadequate training, fear, unclear cases for support, ineffective governance systems, exclusive cultures, and inequities. Join this workshop and learn from a diverse group of practitioners and consultants about everyday board fundraising struggles, effective strategies that have worked, and resources to support your efforts. Whether you are a new fundraiser, executive director, or consultant, you can walk away with ideas and strategies to activate volunteer board members in fundraising.

In the last year we have seen the impact that political actions can have on our organizations and their bottom lines. If we are going to deliver on our missions, we can't do it alone. Advocacy is often treated as a bad word in nonprofit organizations, but it shouldn't be. This session will guide fundraisers, helping them build a plan to mobilize their volunteers and supporters, equipping them to advocate for policies and funding aligned with your organization's goals, raise more money, and address root causes of inequity.

Sustainable fundraising begins with strong internal partnerships. This session will help you build a collaborative relationship between development and finance by aligning strategies, clarifying roles, and improving forecasting. Walk away with tools and insights to foster trust, improve communication, and drive more strategic, mission-aligned financial decisions.

Creating, nurturing, and sustaining a robust culture of philanthropy involves more than getting everyone on the bus, it requires getting everyone rowing in the same direction – enthusiastically. This session will integrate sector research findings with practical, hands-on tools a development director/manager can immediately use to assess the current organization culture. Participants will experience and practice activities designed to be used with non-development staff and volunteers. Each activity will focus on reducing apprehension and develop confidence to inspire, teach, and coach non-development colleagues and volunteers to embrace their roles and be part of the cultivation, stewardship and solicitation team.

This seminar will provide participants with the tools, templates, and best practices that will enable them to create, manage, and grow an endowment. Participants will determine their organization's readiness to establish an endowment, create a Case for Support, understand and create essential endowment policies, and explore how planned giving can contribute to the establishment and growth of endowment funds. Additionally, participants will determine what organizational resources are required to build endowment programs and discuss key performance indicators of assessing fundraising effectiveness. Attendees will study proven strategies and tools for promoting endowment campaigns, including messaging and donor engagement tactics.

LGBTQ+ donors and nonprofits are navigating funding cuts, political pressure, and shifting expectations. This session explores how nonprofits are adapting and shifting strategies and how LGBTQ+ donors are responding. Walk away with insights, data, and strategies to fundraise effectively and inclusively in today’s uncertain philanthropic landscape.

As trust in institutions declines, one thing remains powerful: people helping people. Learn how nonprofits can activate supporters as fundraisers to expand reach, deepen trust, and inspire giving. GoFundMe’s Steve Froehlich shares a practical four-step framework to turn everyday advocates into powerful drivers of generosity.