A Retelling Of 2022's IFC

Noordwijkerhout.

Is this a pickled fish in Denmark? Is this person? A place?

It is the place, for the last 40 years, where fundraisers and nonprofit leadership and innovators have gathered to share, learn, and help one another be more successful in a challenging world.

Noordwijkerhout is a small, unassuming town near the North Sea in Holland. And near that town is a conference center that was once a seminary and then a Shell Oil training center. Now it’s transformed once a year every October into the beating heart of impact/learning/change for over 1,000 nonprofit staff and volunteers from over 80 countries.?

The chances are you’ve never heard of the place but I truly believe you should get an inside look at what was debated, discussed and presented for your day-to-day work. It will make a difference.? I know - I’ve been going for 27 years and it’s made a huge impact on how I look at fundraising and nonprofit challenges and helps me find new, innovative, and effective ways to make an impact.

For the last 40 years, this is where fundraising change makers have come together to share/learn and in these challenging times, so I wanted to grab a few of the most seasoned, global veterans of fundraising to give us a look at what they saw, felt, and heard this year:

Usha Menon. Based in Singapore, Usha is a 30+ year veteran fundraiser and change-maker who has helped explain and influence both Asian and the global movement on corporate and individual giving.

FIRST QUESTION: What were your first impressions of the IFC?

For many people, it was their first time travelling to a (physical) conference. That in itself was energizing and the people who didn’t attend missed out on that energy. IFC is the spiritual home for fundraisers, no matter the size of your organization, maturity, or fundraiser journey, the main commonality is that we’re all fundraisers. When it comes to fundraisers, we don’t really belong to a community with common credentials, but the IFC provides a community spirit across all borders.?

SECOND QUESTION: What conversations surprised you?

I heard an honest need for deeper conversations and explanations on how ESG connects to CSR and what is its relevance to fundraising. People were brave enough to say they weren’t sure what it all meant and I was pleasantly surprised by people’s passion yet openness about not knowing or understanding where corporate giving and engagement were going.

Daryl Upsall. Based in Spain, Daryl is a global leader in fundraising innovation, beautiful-trouble-making, and best practices for over 30 years. No one connects the dots better than Daryl.

QUESTION ONE: What were your first impressions/what stood out to you?

I was emotionally struck by the emotional and professional depth of intergenerational connection and conversation in change-making. In one case, I was lucky enough to listen to the very personal story of 2 younger men from Jordan who had uncovered (sorting through his belongings on his passing) that their father had come to the IFC for many years and they had decided to come for the first time this year.

?QUESTION TWO: What conversation surprised you?

I was just blown away by a technology presentation from a Portuguese fundraiser, based in Brazil, about Oxfam Australia and how they leveraged artificial intelligence to turbocharge the ability of social listening to uncover that the main social conversation around climate change was the effect it had on breastmilk. Oxfam then geared its mission around how breastmilk is being affected. Just stunning!

Willeke Van Rijn. A Dutch fundraiser based in Scotland, Willeke has helped social impact organizations for 20+ years prepare for the future and better execute in the present. She’s currently the CEO of the Resource Alliance, the organization which curates and runs the IFC every year.?

QUESTION ONE: What were your first impressions?

IFC 2022 was in a hybrid form (in-person & online) and there were passionate and deep conversations about new and innovative ideas. I was amazed at how this conference isn’t just about presenters but about facilitators who expertly stimulate co-creation; open dialogues and respectful arguments about the most important conversations of our time.

Usually, the IFC is about high-quality workshops, this year it was about high-quality co-creator workshops which allowed attendees to create tools together and take them back home and start implementing them.

?There were over 700 delegates in person, and 500 online, and they were from over 80 countries. The perspectives, conversations and arguments parallel the complex beautiful social impact sector we live in.?

?QUESTION TWO: What conversations surprised you?

I was impressed by how delegates directly addressed many tough topics, whether that was about the geopolitical instability around the Ukraine War, Climate Change, a Post-COVID world and much much more.??

And delegates dug into deep conversations that fundraisers don’t just need to find new ways to raise more money, but we need to have conversations about impact, collaboration, and more.? It’s as if the practitioners had decided to layer on more nuanced layers to who they are as fundraisers to have more influence in making the world a better place.?

Finally, I’d like people to see first hand on what I’m talking about and that’s why I’m including the link to Vanessa Chisakula's powerful spoken word piece: https://bit.ly/3DJdLNP

Take a listen - think about challenging how you look at the world - and then contemplate making a pilgrimage to Noordwijkerhout.?

You don’t need to spell it properly or pronounce it properly to get there. Come and join the conversations next year. We need all voices.

If you would like to receive more news and information from Resource Alliance, including information from IFC2022 and 2023, please sign up here: eepurl.com/gbMw9f

Tickets for IFC2023 are open: https://bit.ly/IFC2023 .