Host: Iva Šulentić
Daryl Upsall
President, Upsall International
Traditional fundraising is changing fast. New generations of donors expect new ways to engage, give and connect, while trust, rising costs, regulation, cuts in development funding and the competition for talent and attention create new challenges for fundraisers.
What are the political, social, environmental, technological and legal trends that are impacting fundraising today? How can fundraisers adapt, innovate, and invest today to build stronger, more resilient fundraising for the future, and what does it take to be a truly great fundraiser?
Filipa Morais
Global Fundraising Senior Advisor, SOS Children’s Villages International
Face-to-face fundraising remains one of the most powerful channels for acquiring long-term committed supporters. This session will explore the role of F2F in driving Individual Giving growth, the key ingredients behind high-performing programmes, and ways to maximise both acquisition results and long-term donor value.
Katalin Kovácsné Beres
Head of Global Market & Corporate Partnership Development, SOS Children’s Villages International
Rahela Evtimova
Global Senior Advisor Corporate Partnerships & Philanthropy, SOS Children’s Villages International
How do you start corporate fundraising when the structure, experience and pipeline are not there yet? This practical session will walk participants through the essential building blocks of a successful corporate fundraising programme, from understanding the market and defining a strategy to identifying prospects, building a pipeline and preparing the right approach. Drawing on the international experience and real examples, the session will provide participants with practical tools and a clear roadmap for turning corporate fundraising ambitions into action.
Lucia Brinzanik
Communications and Philanthropy Lead, RSJ Foundation
Michaela Kreuterová
Senior Philanthropy Consultant, Via Clarita
This session explores how nonprofit leaders and fundraisers can move beyond transactional fundraising to truly activate the philanthropic ecosystem – including donors, foundations, and intermediaries – to build long-term, strategic partnerships that align with their mission and amplify impact. Through insights from both a founder and a strategic philanthropy advisor, participants will learn what motivates modern philanthropists, how to position their organisations as partners in change, and co-create value with funders for deeper, more sustainable support.
Both speakers will draw on their professional experience to share concrete examples and best practices rooted in close, trust-based collaboration, with a shared ambition to drive systemic change across the philanthropic ecosystem.
Ines McCormick
Regional Fundraising Director, Greenpeace Central and Eastern Europe
As international NGOs scramble for new income under funding pressure, market development has become the word on everyone’s lips, often pursued without the structure or alignment it needs to actually work.
Drawing on 13 years of experience across Central and Eastern Europe, where several markets moved from “emerging” to top performers in locally generated income, Ines will analyse the most common mistakes, clarify what readiness actually looks like, and why, when done right, market development can be one of the most strategic decisions an organisation can make.
Eduard Marček
Executive Director, Fundraiser & Consultant, European Fundraising Association, Slovak Fundraising Centre
How do you persuade people to donate to something as abstract and politically sensitive as fighting corruption? Drawing on more than twelve years of individual fundraising development at Transparency International Slovakia, this case study traces experiments with individual giving, crowdfunding, recurring donations and issue-based campaigns.
Rather than presenting a collection of best practices or success stories, the session focuses largely on what did not work (and most of it did not!), underperformed or failed to scale – and what was learned from those attempts. Through campaigns on election campaign financing, whistleblowers, the rule of law and public accountability, it explores the recurring challenge of turning complex anti-corruption work into a compelling reason for ordinary people to give.
Theresa Hirsch
Lead Video & Social Media, SOS-Kinderdörfer weltweit
By showing some examples of CVW campaigns, this session will show how integrating organic communication content on social media within your fundraising funnel can drive deeper engagement, retention, and complement your paid advertising efforts.
The participants will explore actionable ways to connect with supporters more authentically, leveraging content, community, and storytelling for a holistic fundraising approach that moves beyond traditional ad tactics.
Alina Florescu
Education, Animals & Nature Advocate | Fundraising, Campaigns and Advocacy Expert
Practical workshop focusing on digital monthly donations acquisition and retention, as a long-term investment strategy. Based on three different case studies, the session presents practices that build a sustainable system for capacity growth and development through individual fundraising optimization and performance. The first part will focus on relevant testing in paid ads, building a complete funnel for the entire donor lifecycle and challenges along the way. The second part will be a practical exercise where participants are invited to sketch their own tests, based on the first session’s principles, then receive feedback on their ideas.
Katerina Ilievska
Regional Editor, SOS Children’s Villages International
Telling other people’s stories is an honour and a privilege. Telling other people’s stories for the purpose of helping them is an honour, a privilege, and a great responsibility. This session will focus on how to tell the stories of people you help while preserving their authenticity, highlighting the emotional elements that relate to donors and protecting the dignity and privacy of the people whose stories you tell. Real, authentic, ethical stories that stand out and impress – in words and pictures.
Cornelis van den Hoeven
Deputy International Director of Fund Development & Global Head of Digital Fundraising, SOS Children’s Villages International
How to build and grow digital fundraising that actually delivers, from getting the basics right to scaling what works. The session will also explore how emotions drive donor action, how to turn engagement into income, and how to optimise and expand digital programmes for sustainable growth.
Jan Kroupa, Ph.D.
Founder & Senior Counsel, Czech Fundraising Center
Engaging major donors with your organization is a challenging and lengthy process. While it is true that fundraising is the art of asking, it is not asking for money that makes the most important difference. There are at least five key questions you need to ask and get a YES to win a major donor campaign. In this practical, case-based session, Jan will share with you step by step what needs to happen and be in place to launch and to succeed with your major donor campaign and program. You will discover the value of the fundraising feasibility study and learn how to engage and influence decision-makers at all levels, i.e. how to “lead up” inside your organization. Drawing on nearly two decades of experience with nearly two dozen major donor campaigns globally, Jan will guide you through the five most important asks in the world of major donor fundraising, demonstrating how to get an informed and reliable answer from all relevant parties. You will be leaving this session with solid information and clarity where you and organization stand in terms of major giving and what the next steps for you might be.
Katerina Ilievska
Regional Editor, SOS Children’s Villages International
Say more with less – this session will explore how to find the strong emotional points of stories that capture attention and evoke empathy. Bring your examples and questions.
Vuk Vuković
Doctoral Researcher in Nonprofit Marketing
At a time when fundraisers are increasingly exposed to claims presented as “research-based,” it is becoming more difficult to distinguish robust findings from weak evidence, fashionable ideas, and fundraising myths. In this session, Vuk Vuković, a doctoral researcher in nonprofit marketing at KU Leuven, will use some of fundraising’s most common questions to separate what we know from what we think we know about donor behaviour: when does the foot-in-the-door technique work, and when does it fail? Why are people often more moved by one person than by thousands in need? How can fundraisers raise support for less popular causes (e.g., ex-offenders, sex workers, or people with addiction)? Which fundraising practices do donors consider unethical, and where are the boundaries of persuasion? In times of information abundance, attention is your most valuable resource. Expect to leave the session with a better understanding of how to use it when exposed to a number of fundraising tips and tricks.
Theresa Hirsch
Lead Video & Social Media, SOS-Kinderdörfer weltweit
Explore best practices and key insights from Children’s Villages Worldwide LinkedIn campaigns, run jointly by the Corporate Partnership & Social Media team.
Also, we have an interactive talk and workshop: we will highlight the importance of being active and authentic as a co-worker and fundraiser on your personal LinkedIn profile – and provide practical tips on how to do it.
Katalin Kovácsné Beres
Head of Global Market & Corporate Partnership Development, SOS Children’s Villages International
Rahela Evtimova
Global Senior Advisor Corporate Partnerships & Philanthropy, SOS Children’s Villages International
What makes the difference between approaching companies and actually building successful corporate partnerships? This interactive session will focus on the most critical moments in the corporate fundraising journey: choosing the right prospects, preparing the approach, understanding company interests, creating a strong value proposition, managing meetings and negotiations, and developing partnerships beyond the first donation. Participants will explore practical must-dos, common mistakes and real-life examples that can help turn corporate prospects into sustainable, mutually valuable partnerships.
Daryl Upsall
President, Upsall International
Fundraising is driven by a strong desire to achieve more for our missions, but at what cost? Burnout, stress, and attrition are increasingly affecting fundraisers and fundraising leaders. This session explores the causes and warning signs of burnout, how we can recognize them in ourselves and our colleagues, and what we can do to build a healthier, more supportive fundraising culture.
Moderator: Boris Trupčević, director, Croatian Music Institute
Filipa Morais
Global Fundraising Senior Advisor, SOS Children’s Villages International
Many organisations see legacy giving as something for the future. In reality, it starts today through meaningful donor relationships. This introductory session will explore the potential of legacy giving, challenge common misconceptions, and show why legacy fundraising is ultimately about people, not wills. The participants will gain insight into how to foster trust, build lasting relationships with donors, and lay the groundwork for support that can outlast a donor’s lifetime.
Moderator: Daryl Upsall
A lively, open discussion in which the international panel will be asked to respond to questions on what is impacting fundraising today and what their solutions are to make fundraising stronger and more effective. The audience will also be invited to both ask questions and provide feedback to the panel.
Mark Carrigan
Managing Director, Carrigan Consulting & Institute of Fundraising, UK
In this session, we will explore why successful fundraising does not begin with money, but with people, their values, and the relationships we build. Understanding what motivates donors – as well as colleagues within our organisations – is essential for creating shared value, trust, and belief. The session will reveal why listening is one of the most important skills a fundraiser can develop, how to build a shared understanding of fundraising across an organisation, and why sustainable fundraising is never the responsibility of one department alone, but a collective effort. Because behind every donation is a person – and behind successful fundraising are people who share common values and believe in creating change together.
Marinka Šenjug, Mladenka Majerić, Neža Šiptar