Canada’s largest fundraising Congress is only two weeks away! It has been a long journey and an exciting year Chairing the incredibly talented group of fundraising professionals on the Association of Fundraising Professionals Toronto Congress 2015 Management Committee. As the year comes to a close and I take some time to reflect, I think about all we have accomplished as a combined team of volunteers and a small staff team at the AFP, and I am excited for the future. I am excited for this year’s Congress and for the ground-work that has been laid for Congress’ in the future. Here is my top five list of the things I am most excited about for this 2015 AFP Toronto Congress:
1. The Networking
As a typical fundraiser I am very social; I love seeing the many great friends I have made over my past years at Congress and I also love to make new friends, so the opportunity to network always excites me. It was a key desire that came out of the feedback from past year’s Congress evaluations, so this year we have increased the networking opportunities with pre-Congress receptions, and made it easier to connect with other delegates through our congress app. Reconnecting with friends and making new friends has never been so easy.
2. New Technology
Which brings me to number 2 on my list - the new Congress app. I have been attending Congress for about a decade now and each year, despite meticulous planning, I always find myself scrambling, looking for room numbers of sessions I want to attend. Well now all of that handy information will be in an online application, which if you’ve downloaded it to your smart phone, will all be at your fingertips! All of the session descriptions and room details, along with speaker bios, all in the palm of your hand. It even makes networking easier as you can send messages to other members if you join the Congress Community. So you can easily connect with the new friends you’ve made.
3. Congress Ambassadors
We know that at Congress everyone is always friendly, but sometimes it helps, if you don’t know anyone attending, to be able to connect with someone in advance. This is often the case for many of our more than 200 delegates that attend Congress from outside of the GTA, so this year we are piloting a Congress Ambassador Program. We have seven regional ambassadors from Vancouver, Thunder Bay, Ottawa, London, Halifax and Montreal, that are reaching out to delegates in advance and in some cases setting up a pre conference networking opportunity in their home city, so that delegates come to congress already knowing a few people. Great Friend-Raising!
4. Education
Congress is such an amazing opportunity to learn from the incredible group of speakers we have presenting from around the globe. However, sessions are not the only learning opportunity, spending time with other delegates and sharing what you are doing in your fundraising program with another fellow fundraiser can provide for some of the best learning opportunities.
5. Celebrating
The 5th and perhaps the thing that I am most looking forward to is celebrating fundraising. It’s been a difficult year for fundraisers around the globe and I hope that Congress can be a time to celebrate! There have been so many incredible accomplishments by fundraisers this year so let’s celebrate the successes of the past year and opportunities we will all have in the coming year. We are all so fortunate to be a part of this great sector, let’s not forget to celebrate that!
This year’s Congress theme is Invest; invest on the opportunity, invest in the sector, invest in yourself! The dedicated volunteers on the Congress management committee, along with the amazing staff at the AFP Greater Toronto office have invested a ton of time and effort in making this year’s Congress a success, I hope all of you joining us take advantage of all of the great learning and networking opportunities and I encourage anyone interested in volunteering with Congress to get involved it’s a great volunteer opportunity!
