Conference season attracts big names including Pallotta and Branson

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 10 Sep 2009

High profile speakers have been drafted in for conference season this year, as organisations strive to make their main events valuable for fundraisers.

Controversial American author Dan Pallotta (pictured) is making his conference debut at Charity Finance Live on Monday 19 October.

The provocative fundraiser’s explosive book, Uncharitable, charts the demise of his highly successful fundraising business and challenges why charities are denied the opportunity to use the tools that make for-profit businesses successful.

At the event, sponsored by CCLA, haysmacintyre and Zurich, he will go head- to-head with former Shelter chief executive Adam Sampson in a debate over whether charities should embrace or resist the drive to commercialise.

Other panelists will include NAVCA chief executive Kevin Curley, Clore Social Leadership Programme director Dame Mary Marsh, Charity Commission CEO Andrew Hind, and Stephen Alambritis, public affairs chief at the Federation of Small Businesses.

Five days earlier, Sir Richard Branson will address guests at Action Planning’s ‘Raising funds from the rich’ conference, on the back of the launch of the Virgin Money Giving website. Branson, whose availability is understood to have dictated the date of the event, will be joined by lastminute.com founder Martha Lane Fox and The Big Give’s Sir Alec Reed.

Software and services supplier Blackbaud has turned to the London Olympics for a keynote speaker at their Relationship Management conference on 12 and 13 October. Head of ticketing Paul Williamson, who is ultimately responsible for selling 10 million seats at the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, will speak of his experience in dealing with multiple markets and organisational messages.

And for smaller charities who can’t afford to send staff to conferences, the Foundation for Social Improvement has secured international fundraising consultant Kay Sprinkel Grace for their ‘Sharing the best’ forum on 1 October, which is free for up to two employees at charities with annual voluntary income under £1.5m.

For more details on Dan Pallotta’s debut visit www.charityfinancelive.co.uk

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.