Each year our Greater Giving team travels to numerous conferences, seminars and trade shows all over the country.
In fact, last year we participated in or organized 43 different events! You can always check out where we’re going next, or where we’ve been on our Event Calendar.
As a nonprofit professional or professional fundraiser, what can you gain by attending a large national, regional, or local conference? And why should you take the time out of your already busy schedule to pay to listen to someone speak?
Despite all the roadblocks you may see when first thinking of attending a conference, let’s take a step back and focus in on the positive outcomes of conference participation.
A conference is in person, meaning it forces you to be in the moment! You can access blogs, sign up for email newsletters or register for webinars, but do you actually take the time to read or watch? And because you’re organization has invested in your attendance, you are accountable to participate and make the most of every moment you have.
Conference participation brings fresh perspective from speakers, breakout sessions, and the other attendees. Networking with other like-minded professionals builds your personal reach into the field and can facilitate relationship building that will last long after the conference is over.
One additional outcome of conference participation is meeting with vendors that provide goods or services for your specific needs as a nonprofit professional. Greater Giving views meeting with fundraisers all over the country as a cornerstone of our motto to help you raise more and stress less!
This April two of the largest conferences we participate in are back-to-back in New Orleans (Nonprofit Technology Conference and AFP International Fundraising Conference), so we’re getting ready to “Laissez les bons temps rouler” (let the good times roll)!
Here are a few annual events to help get you started:
Nonprofit Hub: Cause Camp – Cause Camp is dedicated to showing nonprofits how to be more remarkable in the areas of marketing, fundraising, leadership, innovation and more.
Elevate Fundraising Conference – This two-day conference is a chance to hit the pause button on your event cycle and look at how you can create a bigger impact with your fundraising events.
Annual Conference for Grant Professionals – The conference features excellent speakers, more than 70 workshops taught by industry professionals as well as opportunities to network.
Nonprofit Storytelling Conference – This conference focuses on strategies to find more donors, strengthen existing donor relationships, raise more from your current donors and more.
Nonprofit Learning Lab – Works with individuals to sharpen their skills in fundraising, board development, organizational leadership and capacity building.
Social Innovation Summit – The Social Innovation Summit is an annual event taking place in Silicon Valley which represents a global convening of black swans and wayward thinkers.
