The Fabric of Fundraising - Episode 2

From its inception 25 years ago, the AFP Greater Toronto Chapter's Fundraising Day has offered delegates a top return on investment. Fundraising Day provides a one-day opportunity to network with the sectors most sought-after professionals and to learn from Canada's top educators about the unique challenges and opportunities within the realm of fundraising and development.

Though the fundraising profession has evolved considerably over the years, so many principles of fundraising remain the same. In 2019, on the conference's 25th anniversary, the Chapter celebrated "The Fabric of Fundraising" - a day of best practices, old ideas that have become new again, and the simplest approaches that drive the best donor experiences – and the best results.

Hosted by 2019 Fundraising Day Chair, Maeve Strathy, these special episodes were recorded live at Fundraising Day.

In this episode, Nicole Malcolm joins us for In the Moment: Improv Skills for Fundraising Professionals.

In this session, participants added new tools to their fundraising tool-belt by learning some tricks, techniques, and truths from the world of improvisation. In meetings with donors, fundraisers need to be active listeners who are agile and able to turn on a dime as needs change or when the meeting starts to go in a different direction. Participants practiced improv warm-up activities to get them and their teams in the collaborative mindset for a meeting. Together the group learned how to better “be in the moment” and keep their cool, even though some were sweating on the inside. Part of this presentation was interactive and “on your feet” - getting participants to think differently about the way they approach their work.