Mike’s Monday Message: AFP LEAD is Right Around the Corner

AFP LEAD, AFP’s annual leadership conference, is just over a week away! October 16-18, more than 400 fundraisers will gather in St. Louis, MO for three days of education, networking, and inspiring leadership development. If you haven’t registered yet, don’t worry, there’s still time, but you won’t want to wait much longer. I don’t want you to miss what is shaping up to be another amazing AFP event. 

Here’s what you can expect when you join us next week!

Opening Keynote
AFP’s Global Board Chair, Birgit Smith Burton, and I, are going to be the opening keynote this year, which would be an honor at any time, but this will be especially meaningful for me, as it will be my last event as president & CEO. Birgit and I will be having a conversation about the importance of the relationship between the Board Chair and the CEO, in the success of nonprofit organizations. We will be drawing on our experiences, working together these last few years, as well as industry best practices for nonprofit governance. We’ll be talking about the importance of open and honest dialogue, defining clear roles and responsibilities, and how to motivate participation of your board and other volunteer leaders, and much more. 

Social Opportunities
While you’re not attending sessions, there will be plenty of opportunities to relax and get to know your fellow attendees. Our social events kick off with our opening reception, Wednesday night, October 16, at 5 p.m. at the Marriott St. Louis Grand. We will have drinks and hors d'oeuvres, so make sure you stop by to say hello to old friends and make new connections. 

On Thursday evening, October 17, U.S. attendees can join us for our PAC (political action committee) reception at 5 p.m. Learn more about AFP’s advocacy efforts, while enjoying drinks and food, and the company of your fellow fundraisers. 

Closing Keynote
Our closing keynote is the incredible Tanya M. Odom, Ed.M., global consultant, writer, coach, diversity, equity, and inclusion Civil Rights thought leader, and mindfulness practitioner.  She has over 20 years of global experience, working in more than 40 countries as a consultant, coach, storyteller, and facilitator. She has expertise across a variety of areas, including wellbeing, mindfulness, diversity, equity, and inclusion, leadership coaching, educational equity, and philanthropy. 

Tanya is the co-author of "Evaluation in the Field of Education for Democracy, Human Rights and Tolerance". Her work and commentary have also appeared in several publications including Diversity Woman Magazine, CNN.com, Bloomberg News, Fortune, the Huffington Post, and theGrio, among others.

We’re looking forward to learning from her expertise! 

I hope to see everyone in St. Louis next week! 

In the meantime, as always, please feel free to email me at mike.geiger@afpglobal.org or connect with me directly on X at @AFPMikeGeiger. I’d love to hear from you.