Reflections on Fundraising Institute of New Zealand Conference 2022

I just attended the Fundraising Institute of New Zealand (FINZ) conference for three days in Wellington with around 400 others.  The theme was “Changemakers” and I thought I would share some of my highlights so you could get a sense of what it is was like:

• Sometimes we end up talking with people who are similar to us and not getting out of our silos.  A highlight for me was getting to know people who are so passionate about fundraising and working to increase the amount the purpose driven organisations they are part of bring in so that they can in turn have greater impact.   

• There were around 60 speakers across dozens of events over three days.  That meant there were lots and lots of topics that were covered with a range from “Walking Beside Māori Communities: A Case Study”, “Engaging and Attracting More Diverse Donors”, “Getting Ready for Corporate Partnerships” and “Great Fundraising is Hard but Sometimes you Win”.  I enjoyed a session that Rachel Jeffries led looking at lessons in fundraising from the movies – lots of clips shared, a great way to convey information. There is lots of info still up here in case you are curious.

• Sharing as part of a “fireside chat” with a great line-up of other panellists on the first evening was fun: we covered a lot of key topics on leadership of the future, the role of business and impact investing, proposed reforms for charities and more.  I really enjoyed hearing the perspectives offered by Michelle Berriman who hosted this, along with Kaye-Maree Dunn, Faumuina Felolini Maria Tafuna’I, Liz Gibbs and Sue Barker.  You will be able to listen to our conversation as upcoming episode 322 of seeds soon.   

• One event had people sharing about great ideas they had seen in: “I Wish I’d Thought of That”, which had some examples of fundraising initiatives which have been very successful.  This included a discussion of the original “charity single” from 1971 by George Harrison (which spawned later ones) and the UNICEF Paddington Bear fundraising initiative (an interesting point there is that getting children activated early will likely lead to them donating in later life to the cause too).

• There are a lot of resources and technology available to help out in this field – ranging from creating sites, database systems, printing, innovative giving solutions, campaign advisors, payment platforms – ways to improve that are worth checking out (to help with that, have pasted below photos of the pages of sponsors and that says what each does).

• The key point shared in a “masterclass” that Aislinn Molloy and I took was that different legal structures are like different tools – don’t get too enraptured with your current structure or way of organising because it is possible another legal tool (such as a for profit entity or impact investment project) might lead to more good things being done.  If anyone wants the slides we used for the 90 minute session let me know and can share them with you.

• Having had an absence of events due to Covid it was nice to see people greeting others and connecting again in person.  It is hard to argue with the efficiency of zoom but there is a human element which is stripped away if you are just looking at a screen.  I also liked meeting many people who I know but had never met in person including a bunch of charities I’ve supported but over zoom and email. We need each other and in person provides the chance to be there and learn from each other well.

• It was great to see some fun involved in the event with storm troopers welcoming us to the awards evening, bingo get to know you cards, entertaining speakers with challenging messages and good food throughout as well. 

• I’ve helped set up lots and lots of charities but realised how much I still have to learn about many aspects – life is a learning journey. So this was really good to upskill myself on the challenges and resources that face you when you fundraise for a charity.  The point is it is helpful if we each know where the resources are and who to connect people with and my initial email out to charities when I tell them they are now registered is going to have a lot more resources and thoughts added in future. 

• It was great to see a lot of sessions talking about subjects like burnout and stress – it seems like this is something we are more willing to consider than even a few years ago.

• I thought this comment was helpful by Rachel Jeffries in a session: “People give because you meet needs, not because you have needs” – tell your story by reference to the Donor and what their support will mean. Be donor centric.

• A conference like this is like a fire hose of content – you cannot absorb it all – for example, choosing to attend one topic can mean you miss out on 4 (or more) other compelling ones that are on at the same time. For any conference (not just this one) an option to consider is recycling the content by recording the presentations and making some of the audio accessible after. The balance here is that people pay to attend, so you want them to come back, but making even some content available could actually enhance the desire to return and give more value. A presentation to 30 later on could be listened to by 300. Flowing from that point, making some content available after could empower smaller groups who couldn’t attend but would benefit from the lessons being taught.

• A lot of work goes on to put these sort of events on so great job Michelle Berriman, Esha Blade, Minnie Finlayson, Nicole Paterson as well as the Board: Gwen Green, Jim Datson, Ellie Gray, Sarah Berman, Katherine Richards (thanks for taking the photos of our session!), Earle Wilkes, Craig Pollard and Zebedee Stone.

I hope that gives a good overview of what it was like for all who were not able to attend and recommend you get on the FINZ email list (site here: https://www.finz.org.nz) and keep an eye out on what they are doing in this area – I will be watching out to see what comes next. 

Some photos: