As the nonprofit sector continues to grow and change, providing your team with learning opportunities is a way to quickly get new team members up to speed with the latest trends, allowing your team to discover new insights for your fundraising plan for the year. Now more than ever, the time focused on learning together and from others is helping us to break out of Zoom calls and be inspired and motivated by experts.
Here are our top 10 conferences every fundraising team should have on their calendar:
- Elevate: A Conference for Fundraising Events
- Nonprofit Storytelling Conference
- Raise
- Transform
- Cause Camp
- NTEN’s Nonprofit Technology Conference
- AFP Icon
- Nonprofit Marketing Summit
- The Welcome Conference
- Create Good
If you’re planning your first major donor campaign or putting together a charity event, the experts are gathering with other professionals to share what’s changing, best practices, and insights to get you going in your plan for the year. We recommend that every team carve out 2-3 conferences a year to focus on together. This dedicated planning time allows for group cohesion, inspiration, and ideation. Plus, it can result in innovative new solutions for your development department that increase giving.
We go to a lot of conferences and we produce a few ourselves. So we have picked our favorites based on their consistency of experts and content, the opportunity to connect deeply with other professionals in the sector, and our positive experiences in maximizing your investment.
1. Elevate: A Conference for Fundraising Events
Location: Hybrid / Online and in Portland, Oregon
Website: https://elevatenonprofit.com/the-conference/
We know that sometimes planning a fundraising event isn’t easy, but we also know that done well, events have the power to connect more donors to your work. That’s why we created the Elevate Conference, to bring our community together and take the guesswork out of planning a successful fundraising event.
The Elevate Conference is a masterclass in fundraising events. We bring nonprofit and fundraising professionals together from all over the country to network, share resources, participate in demos, and get hands-on experience with our team of experts. And because we are event people producing this conference, we like to focus on the fun and create an interactive hands-on learning experience.
Here are a few more reasons why you should attend this nonprofit conference:
- Charity Event Case Studies
- Raise More Money
- Increase Corporate Sponsorship
- Budget Tools
- Event Design Ideas
- Storytelling at Your Event
- Planning Guidelines
- Meet Fundraising Event Experts
- Find Vendor Resources
Join us for Elevate 2025 on March 12 + 13. This hybrid fundraising conference will be hosted at AVENUE in Portland, Oregon and broadcast online for virtual attendance. We’ll share practical tools you can implement right now to elevate your storytelling, fundraising strategy, and donor experience.
This conference is sponsored by: Swaim Strategies, The AV Department, AVENUE, DC Auctions, Artisan Auctions, Greater Giving, OneCause, Bloomerang, LIFE Event Staffing, The Cause Catalyst and ClickBid.
2. Nonprofit Storytelling Conference
Date: November
Location: This conference moves locations year to year.
- 2024 – Santa Ana Pueblo, NM
- 2025 – San Diego, CA
Website: https://nonprofitstorytellingconference.com/
We love this conference for both the community and the knowledge. The Nonprofit Storytelling Conference has curated a deep bench of faculty facilitators who return each year with new tools, best practices, and evaluation sessions so that you leave with a plan and new tools in place.
If you plan charity events, manage an annual giving campaign, are in development or communications, or have a legacy giving plan (or need to create one), this nonprofit conference is for you. This three-day event has a wonderful mix of social time, expert sessions, and work time intensives. Every session focuses on storytelling and how it can move donors. Our favorite sessions are about storytelling at your event.
This is the place to bring your plan, your appeal, and your next campaign to have it worked, evaluated, and overhauled by the experts. We guarantee you’ll leave with a full notebook and a full heart from the resources and connections you make while you’re there.
3. Raise
Date: September
Location: Nashville, TN
Website: https://www.onecause.com/raise/
This gathering is another deep dive into charity fundraising and brings dozens of practitioners to the stage to share their case studies and fundraising event expertise. Produced by OneCause, the focus is on having fun while tackling fearless fundraising.
This nonprofit conference is a nice mix of case studies and platform tools to help you gain insights from others in the field. It has three tracks and is a great opportunity to learn from fundraising experts, interact with amazing speakers, network with peers, and receive CFRE credits.
This event is best for the event planner on your team and will spend as much time on technology as it does on design and decor. It’s a great mix of inspiration and practical tools. And, as an in-person-only event, it focuses a lot on experience.
4. Transform
Date: January
Location: Virtual
Website: https://tammyzonker.mykajabi.com/transform24-get-notified
The best parts about this nonprofit conference are the accessibility and the expertise. Tammy Zonker is the host and she brings together thought leaders in both the fundraising world and the for-profit world to bring the best new ideas, inspirations, and insights to the sector. It’s two days of online content that is both inspirational and educational.
Tammy’s focus is on transformational ideas that make an impact in nonprofit work. Some of her past speakers have included Floyd Jones, Seth Godin, Paul Zak, and Cherian Koshy.
This conference is best for executive directors, board members, development professionals, and executive leadership all looking to grow and transform the impact of their organization. While fundraising is the key focus, there is a lot to be discovered about leadership, organizational development, storytelling, and mission building.
5. Cause Camp
Date: October
Location: Omaha, NE
Website: https://cause.camp/
Cause Camp is all about collaboration. This is a conference designed to connect you to other professionals to share ideas and resources to get stronger together. It is a two-day conference for nonprofit leadership designed to solve real issues and tackle some of the biggest nonprofit challenges. It brings together industry experts and leaders to support you with big ideas and easy solutions.
While normally located in Omaha, Nebraska at the home of Nonprofit Hub, this nonprofit conference occasionally travels to other areas of the Midwest. They have all sorts of incentives for attendee engagement and provide toolkits for you to apply immediately upon your return home.
6. NTEN’s Nonprofit Technology Conference
Date: April
Location: Portland, OR
Website: https://www.nten.org/gather/ntc
This conference focuses on using technology to grow. It includes formal educational content and informal opportunities to share ideas and resources with other attendees. It also focuses on equity, as NTEN is an advocate for the nonprofit sector to have equal access to technology as a way to move missions forward.
The three-day nonprofit conference includes a robust expo with tons of great vendors offering software and platform solutions for nonprofit management, data, event planning, record keeping, and client services. It’s designed for those working in securities, IT, and client services in the nonprofit sector. It also offers many classes and tools for donor management and fundraising.
If you’re looking to leverage technology in your next event, at Swaim Strategies we recommend hybrid fundraising events that allow you to use your tech tools to facilitate greater reach and much bigger impact.
7. AFP Icon
Date: April
Location: Moves around the US and Canada
Website: https://afpicon.com/
This conference is the largest fundraising conference every year. With thousands of people in attendance, it is designed to meet all needs around fundraising. They have a mainstage that includes thought leaders, industry updates, and opportunities for advocacy, and there is a ton of opportunity for networking and connection within the nonprofit space. But the real gem here is the number of breakout sessions and experts sharing case studies, best practices, and real-life solutions. You are sure to find something useful here to meet your needs.
Historically, the focus has been on the history and tradition of fundraising. But in the past few years, AFP has been working to include community-centric fundraising, DEI in the sector, and systemic evolution.
8. Nonprofit Marketing Summit
Date: March
Location: Virtual
Website: https://www.nonprofitmarketingsummit.org/
Sponsored by our friends at GiveButter, this completely free three-day nonprofit conference is 100% virtual and promises no fluff. Their goal is to support you in messaging, marketing, promotion, and fundraising. With 75+ sessions and over 25,000 nonprofits in attendance, there is a lot of opportunity to learn and connect, even in a virtual setting.
Every year has a theme focused on big bold ideas that dare attendees to dream differently, think out of the box, and activate new ideas. If you’re looking for a free creative learning environment, this is the place for you, especially if you are in communications or fundraising.
9. The Welcome Conference
Date: September
Location: New York City, NY
Website: https://www.thewelcomeconference.com/
Bring together leaders in hospitality, artisan chefs, entrepreneurs, and community builders, and you have a conference designed to inspire new thinking. The Welcome Conference gives the stage to restaurant and food executives to teach others the art of hosting—and we can think of no better focus for development professionals. This is both an in-person gathering and a series of webinars focused on the art of gathering.
If you host house parties, charity fundraising events, auctions, galas, rallies, conferences, board meetings, or event staff meetings and are looking for new ways to gather and inspire support, this nonprofit conference is for you. It’s targeted towards nonprofit leaders and communicators, centering on collaborative conversations. While the conference is not ongoing, they also offer webinars so nonprofit professionals can continue to learn with them.
10. Create Good
Date: April
Location: Durham, NC
Website: https://www.creategoodconference.com/
Designed originally for communications professionals, this nonprofit conference brings people together for two days to empower and create advocates. It is about celebrating the voices within the sector and looking to communication as a tool for change. It is hosted in an arts space to inspire thought leadership and provides communications teams with a chance to network and dream outside the box.
The event centers on collaborative conversations and also offers webinars that are free to access all year long.
Additional Resources
When we experience learning together, we often discover the solutions are within us. So be sure to take some time to walk away from your daily responsibilities and immerse yourself in a learning environment. We hope these conferences provide you with the inspiration and content to fuel your big ideas all year.
When you’re unable to take time out to travel, take a few minutes every week to focus on learning. Here are some additional resources to jumpstart your education:
- 9 Must-Read Fundraising Books for Nonprofit Professionals. If you don’t want to wait until a nonprofit conference to learn more about fundraising, this list of books will help you get started!
- Elevate’s Free Trainings + Webinars. We offer free training and webinars on a variety of nonprofit topics. Check out this page for our offerings to enhance your understanding of nonprofit best practices.
- Elevate Shop. Interested in purchasing tools for your fundraising needs? Check out our shop for classes, tools, and other resources.
