IFC 2020: Accelerating Change
The world around us is changing, and the nature of change itself is changing: accelerating technological developments; new power eroding old power; south challenging north as emerging markets; for-profits moving into the social impact space; the rise of nationalism.
So, how do we make sense of all this and are we at a tipping point?
IFC 2020: Accelerating Change
Looking to the past, we’ve helped change the world for better: the environment; economic equality; racial equality; gender equality; marriage equality – the list goes on.
Looking at now, many social movements igniting are driven by people compelled to take action themselves. People who have agency; people who refuse to be seen as objects of charity; people who are connecting and collaborating; people increasingly doing it without us.
Looking to the future, it’s undeniable the world still needs force for good, but it’s not good enough to stick to what we’ve always done. Our role has to change. We need to be clearer on our relevance and our value, willing to question whether charity as we know it should even still exist!
In this changing world, suddenly the impossible seems possible, the immovable moveable. These are exciting times; a time to be galvanizing and accelerating change.
We need to face up to uncertainty, ready to maximise emerging opportunities and deal with threats. We must reignite our passion, to bust bureaucracy stifling creativity. We need to work out what to keep hold of, mutate, and radically change. Our focus has to be on mission, moving from transactional to engagement, putting impact over brand.
For the past 40 years the IFC has been a world leading forum for sparking change, sharing knowledge and challenging the norm. In 2020, IFC’s 40th year, we will come together to accelerate change – powered by a global community of the brave, compelled by the urgency of our causes to question perceived wisdom, share learnings and real evidence, explore new sustainable ways to deliver impact, new leadership approaches, new collaborations – new ways to be ACCELERATING CHANGE.
To help us understand the changing world better and accelerate change, sessions this year will include elements of the following:
- Digital revolution: How does AI, ro(bots), automation and an emerging crypto-economy change engagement and fundraising
- People power: Thinking beyond the label of ‘donor’, what is the role an activist community can play in driving our missions financially and non-financially?
- New business models: How can we use social enterprise, hybrid models and other-ways-not-yet-invented, to grow the base of financial support for the sector?
- New forms of storytelling: How do we use social media, augmented reality, virtual reality, gaming and a host of other alternative ways to activate movements and drive financial support?
- Leadership for the new ecosystem: How do we develop a more distributed model of leadership/ownership to better resource our organisations?
- Decision Science: How do we utilise a new wave of quantitative techniques to more effectively building a base of support for our causes, while at the same time maintaining the highest ethical framework for our NGOs?
