We’re hiring for an exciting events role!

Our new Events Coordinator will work with our Head of Global Engagement and Events to provide support for the International Fundraising Congress and Fundraising Online as well as our other online and in-person events.

You can download the full job description, along with details of how to apply, here.

We’re hiring for an exciting new role!

Our new Director of Partnerships will work across the Resource Alliance to build successful long-term partnerships with a wide range of organisations from foundations to private sector partners, strengthening our mission and vision. The successful candidate will work closely with the CEO as we look to grow our engagement and income.

You can download the full job description, along with details of how to apply, here.

Eugenia Mazurenko, CEO of Zaguriy Foundation in Ukraine, has issued an urgent appeal to the international NGO community.

Last week, prompted by the attrocities being perpetrated in Ukraine, we hosted humanitarian, global leader, and changemaker Amanda Seller for a session on fundraising for humanitarian crises.

During the session, Eugenia Mazurenko asked to speak. Eugenia is the CEO of the Zagoriy Foundation, a nonprofit in Ukraine that “acts as a role model for implementing sustainable charitable activities in Ukraine.”

Eugenia’s message was clear: Grassroots organisations in Ukraine are running out of money, and donations from international organisations have been too slow to come in.

These are her words.

“Before the war, Zagoriy Foundation aimed to develop a culture of giving. We conducted research on giving, developed institutional philanthropy and trust in foundations, and provided them with grants to improve efficiency. With the advent of war, the priorities of each of us changed, and most of our projects had to be cancelled. But we kept loyalty to our mission and decided to stick to it in the new conditions.

Every nonprofit organisation in Ukraine has now faced the new realities of war. Most will continue to work despite all the difficulties, help their wards, or solve current wartime problems. Therefore, we strive to support Ukrainian organisations, identify current needs, and promote coordination and partnership within the sector.

In the early days of the war, organisations could quickly cover rapidly growing needs in the wake of a general increase in requests and a desire to help. However, after a while, including due to frequent fraud cases, there was a request to check the transparency of foundations and initiatives. Thus, our team took part in the reporting check and verification of bona fide funds.

However, accountability is not all it takes to make the sector work effectively in times of war. Civil society should work in advance and strengthen their positions in fundraising and relationships with donors to build connections and keep the workflow stable.

Zagoriy Foundation has more than 498 grassroots organizations in the CRM system and 556 organisations on the map of good on Giving Tuesday’s website in Ukraine.

We would be thankful to international community help us to continue supporting civil society in Ukraine.“

We believe this moment in time has the potential to be a tangible step forward in the move toward localisation of support, to advance the #ShiftThePower and decolonisation debates, and to change humanitarian support models for the better.

If your organisation can support Eugenia’s appeal please reach out to us and we will connect you, or contact Zagoriy Foundation directly.

A message from Bill Toliver, Chair of the Resource Alliance.

Community Members, Colleagues, and Partners,

I am writing to announce an important leadership transition at the Resource Alliance. Prior to taking on the leadership of the Resource Alliance, Brian Higgins was well known across Ireland as a thought leader in the field of mental health. Brian has been offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reconceive the delivery of mental health and disability services in Ireland, and has stepped down from his role as our CEO.

While we are sad to see him go, it is impossible to think of a circumstance in which we would try to talk him out of such an opportunity to make a profound difference in people’s lives. We not only support him in this important new role, we have agreed to waive the termination clause of his employment contract so he can begin his new work with the urgency it requires. His last “official” day with Resource Alliance will be 04 April 2022 — though he will continue working with us on a pro bono basis over the next few months and, of course, be with us at IFC 2022! Please join us in thanking Brian for his service to our community and wishing him the very best in this important new role.

Please also join us in welcoming Willeke van Rijn as she steps into Brian’s role, effective immediately! Willeke is a superbly talented leader, well known and respected by the global fundraising community. She has held senior positions with SOS Children’s Villages, Oxfam, and FUNDES — working across Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa. For those of you who do not know her, you will soon find Willeke to be a passionate advocate for RA, IFC, and the fundraising community at large. She also happens to be a truly genuine human being — who, believe it or not, grew up just a few kilometers from Noordwijk in the Netherlands (the home of IFC). She has been intimately involved in RA operations for some time and began the handover process with Brian in mid-February, so the transition is straightforward and already underway.

Finally, we are living through incredibly challenging times, and the social impact community is bearing much of the burden of helping humankind find a “better way”. It is a source of inspiration and hope that the people and organisations we serve continue to build solidarity and strengthen community while so many are creating factions and driving polarisation. It is a true gift that good people like Brian and Willeke are willing to step into the fray and lead during these unprecedented times.

With respect, gratitude, and a heartfelt prayer for peace in our fragile world,

Bill Toliver, Resource Alliance Chair

P.S. Please feel free to connect with Willeke (willeke@resource-alliance.org) or me (bill@resource-alliance.org) and you can continue to reach Brian through the Resource Alliance as well (brian@resource-alliance.org).

Presented by the Resource Alliance in partnership with Salesforce.org and hosted by Think Consulting Solutions, this free webinar outlines the key trends to have on your radar.

The challenges created by COVID-19 are still largely with us and globally the nonprofit sector continues to demonstrate great resilience and adaptability. Change is the only constant and organisations must remain open and flexible to navigate the unknown and take advantage of new opportunities.

To support you in your work, we’re kicking off the new year with a panel discussion on the four key trends that all nonprofits and fundraisers need to keep top of mind as we enter 2022.

Find out more and register here.

Triumphant IFC Online marks turning point for Resource Alliance as it successfully pivots to year-round global community model 

The Resource Alliance defied the obstacles created by a global pandemic to deliver the biggest, most- ethnically, intellectually, gender and culturally diverse IFC programme ever — fully virtual for 1200 fundraisers and changemakers from 80+ countries from 13 – 16 October 2020.   

With the plenary and big conversation speakers reading like a ‘Who’s Who’ of social change accelerators, the IFC Online 2020 programme was designed to challenge and question, while at the same time provide practical advice for a global audience responsible for resourcing social impact.  

Author of the award–winning book “This is Not Propaganda” Peter Pomerantsev kicked off the IFC Online programme with a thought-provoking presentation on the rise of misinformation and populism.  He challenged NGOs to transform their communications from a narrow theme to being bigger and more holistic. “The other side are thinking very big and we need to be thinking bigger… We need to look at how we communicate facts and foster a factual discourse around our issues,” he said. 

In the Big Conversation which followed, Marcus Missen (Director of Fundraising and Communications, WaterAid UK) facilitated a robust and headline grabbing discussion between Dr Danny Sriskandarajah (CEO, Oxfam GB), Clare Farrell (Co-Founder, Extinction Rebellion) and Kumi Naidoo (Global Ambassador, Africans Rising) on the topic “Is our sector facing an existential crisis?”.   

 On Wednesday, the audience was treated to a first-hand account of how the fundraising team at the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI), led by Jayne George, weathered the COVID storm to transform their fundraising during lockdown, by putting their donors front and centre as ‘one of their crew’. 

The virtual stage was then given over to a special COVID-response inspired IWITOT (I Wish I’d Thought of That) delivered by SOFII and Open, featuring creative and innovative fundraising campaigns presented by speakers from the Americas, UK, Europe, East Asia, South Africa and Canada. 

On Thursday, delegates were challenged — both personally and organisationally —by a ‘riveting’ presentation from Black Lives Matter International Ambassador, Janaya ‘Future’ Khan, who invited the IFC audience of fundraisers and changemakers to “be the disruptors of truth and diviners of change” as they reimagine a society free of racial injustice. 

Delegates were then invited into a critical debate on the Big Conversation topic: “Can NGOs and social movements be authentic allies” led by Michael Silberman (Global Director Mobilisation Lab) with Madhuresh Kumar (National Convenor, National Alliance of People’s Movements, India); Carys Afoko (Co-founder, Level-Up UK); Masana Ndinga-Kanga (Crisis Response Fund Lead at CIVICUS, South Africa) and Kirsty McNeill (Executive Director for Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns at Save the Children).   

The day ended with a celebration of fundraising and change-making excellence and innovation at the Global Fundraising Awards, with finalists representing 13 countries and a cross-section of causes.    

IFC culminated on Friday with Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Muhammad Yunus, who delivered an inspired session on the theme “Building a Better Tomorrow” — with a call for all to support “creating a world of three zeros: zero net carbon emissions; zero wealth concentration; and zero unemployment”.  This was followed by a robust debate in the Big Conversation of how to #ShiftThePower from top-heavy, top down systems of international development towards a flatter and more equitable paradigm of people-based development.  The discussion was led by Jenny Hodgson (Executive Director of the Global Fund for Community Philanthropy), with Nana Afadzinu (Executive Director of the West Africa Civil Society Institute), Ambika Satkunanathan (Chairperson of the Neelan Tiruchelvam Trust), Barbara Nöst (CEO of the Zambian Governance Foundation for Civil Society) and Wolfgang Jamann (Executive Director of the of the International Centre for Civil Society). 

IFC Online represents a turning point in the Resource Alliance’s history, which through COVID has transformed itself to a global community model, reinvigorated the IFC and made it accessible to hundreds more through a new equitable membership model.  

Through the Global Community, the Resource Alliance will provide year-round, continuous learning and engagement on the most powerful ways to resource social change – not just financial but also human, technical and intellectual.   

“Our commitment is to democratize access to information. At the same time to ensure that information is provoking the right questions and challenging people in the right ways to deal with this incredible transformative shift that is underway,” said Bill Toliver, Chair of the Resource Alliance Board of Directors.  

In his closing remarks to bring IFC Online 2020 to an end, incoming CEO, Brian Higgins reaffirmed the Resource Alliance’s commitment to lead the social impact community in thought and in action by sharing knowledge and best practice and by bringing people together digitally and in person. 

“The Resource Alliance is embracing innovation to provide you with the resources and tools to help you get from where you are now to where you want to be and then beyond that visible horizon into a new future that may not even seem possible now. Innovation is not optional, it is something we must do.  It is built on experience, our successes and our mistakes. Driven by the needs of you, our community, Resource Alliance is committed to this innovation journey.” 

The full IFC Online programme of recorded video sessions is available through the Global Community for members.  To find out more visit www.resource-alliance.org/global-community/ 

Change Accelerator: Zuzana Suchová

Our Change Accelerator for October is Zuzana Suchová, Fundraising, marketing and PR Consultant in Slovakia.

Please briefly describe what your organisation does 

Kto pomôže Slovensku (Who Helps Slovakia) is grassroot project of activist and friends. We were helping Slovakia’s hospitals, clinics, health-care and social-care system facilities cope with the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

#WhoHelpsSlovakia collected donations from individuals, businesses and organisations through an on-line platform. These funds were used to purchase, transport and distribute protective gear across the country where most needed. Anyone could join us.

How did you get into social impact sector? 

I always enjoyed marketing. I had worked as an account, brand marketing and product manager in a number of international companies and of my 17 years spent in marketing, I had been working with non-profit organisations for almost 11. My work with NGOs dates back to my time as an account manager for a direct marketing full-service agency.

Now I am a fundraising, marketing and PR consultant. I specialize in individual online donations, integrated fundraising and their development in organizations, campains. Sometimes I lecture on these topics. I administer the Facebook group Inspirations from Fundraising. I led the campaign, consulted or collaborated on projects of Divé maky, dakujeme.sk, OZ SAVIO, Nadace Cvernovka, OZ Vagus, OZ Za nasu voda, for the documentaries White Crows and the Hero Among Us, Nota Bene. I was responsible for the fundraising part of Zuzana Čaputová’s presidential campaign, the campaign of the PS / SPOLU coalition to the EU elections and the elections to the National Council of the Slovak Republic. Together with others, I initiated or organized the challenges Long live farmers, we will not survive without them !, Coming home does not have to be a matter of course, 50dni.sk, Postavmesaspolocne.sk

What is your driving force for accelerating change? 

I do what I love and I love what I do. If there is something I can change I am always trying in my personal or work life. I am able to see beyond the things and situations and pick what is important and useful.

What one piece of advance would you give to future change accelerators who want to make a big impact in their work?

Do not be afraid to even start change things others will follow you if is good purpose.

Change Accelerator: Sofia Breitholtz

Our Change Accelerator for August is Sofia Breitholtz, CEO for Reach for Change, an international non-profit founded in Sweden.

Please briefly describe what your organisation does 

Reach for Change is an international non-profit founded in Sweden. Our vision is a world where all children and youth reach their full potential. We’re working towards this vision by finding local social entrepreneurs and empowering them to develop and scale innovative solutions that help children to better lives. We were co-founded by successful entrepreneurs in the non-profit and the business sectors in 2010, and since then we have supported more than 1,000 social entrepreneurs in 18 countries across three continents.

How did you get into social impact sector? 

After studies in international development and politics and economics, with field work done in Peru on international human rights, and with a number of internships at the UN and the EU under my belt, I started working in the private sector in 2006.

Although I loved the results oriented and fast paced outcomes, I was frustrated at the lack of investments made in sustainability, and especially in social impact. This prompted my move to Southern Africa working with development cooperation. I was still convinced of the need to engage the private sector in social change, and became interested in the possibilities of social entrepreneurship.

I moved over to work as Deputy CEO of a Swedish social enterprise working on clean water solutions for the bottom of the pyramid. After that, I worked for Ben & Jerry’s formulating their social mission strategy for the Nordics before I was recruited to Reach for Change. As CEO of Reach for Change, I live my values and purpose every day, and as a team, we have an ambition to grow our impact by 10x to help reach the Sustainable Development Goals.

What is your driving force for accelerating change? 

My passion is seeing the potential in people and supporting them to grow. I love connecting people and ideas and I have seen first hand what a powerful catalyst for change it is just believing in people. I also believe in the power of social innovation, and think we can accelerate change through innovative partnerships.

What one piece of advance would you give to future change accelerators who want to make a big impact in their work?

To be true to their own inner compass and stick with it.

Change Accelerator: Michelle Berriman

Our Change Accelerator for July is Michelle Berriman, Executive Director for Fundraising Institute of New Zealand, the professional body that represents fundraising in New Zealand.

Please briefly describe what your organisation does 

The Fundraising Institute of New Zealand (FINZ) is the professional body that represents fundraising in New Zealand. In delivering its mission, FINZ is concerned with: Providing the best educational events to lead and educate fundraisers; Developing standards of practice to enhance the integrity and professionalism of fundraisers and the fundraising sector; Advocating the value of fundraising to society and government in order to empower fundraisers in their work in and with communities.

How did you get into social impact sector? 

Michelle joined FINZ after 20 years working in a variety of roles within the charity sector – the last ten in fundraising and development. Prior to joining the sector’s commercial side, she was a youth/community development worker supporting children looked after by the state, running community-based youth projects and working in juvenile lock-down. Michelle is motivated by creating change and making a difference to those facing adversity and wants everyone to be given the chance to be the very best version of themselves. Originally from the far North of Scotland, she is proud to call NZ her home. Read more about her journey here.

What is your driving force for accelerating change? 

Michelle is motivated by creating change and making a difference to those facing adversity and wants everyone to be given the chance to be the very best version of themselves.

“I want people to be the very best versions of themselves – what they want to be, to have dreams, and to want and achieve success, whatever success looks like to them. I suffer hugely from imposter syndrome, I feel every day that I’m not worthy of the role I’m in today, like I’ll be found out at any minute and that I don’t know what the hell I am doing.

However, there is one thing I do know that I am doing and that is doing my very best to make a difference. It can be so easy to get distracted and bogged down in budgets, ROI, live auction items, silent auctions items, street appeals, acquisition, retention, direct mail, getting that one big gift or bequest … sometimes we forget the bigger picture. What I know to be true is that everyone of us has a story, a reason, a cause close to their heart.”

What one piece of advance would you give to future change accelerators who want to make a big impact in their work?

“I’d tell them that they can. We’re doing it. It happens one person at a time. If you can change even one person’s life, that has a knock-on effect. I’ve been so inspired by so many people along the way and I think it’s really nice to want to aspire to be like someone you admire. Look to the people who are changing the world and try to emulate them. Be Bold. Be Brave. Be authentically you.”

Change Accelerator: Hannah Sayers

Our Change Accelerator for September is Hannah Sayers. Head of Fundraising and Innovation for Enable Leisure and Culture, and Founder and Director of Small Change in the UK.

Please briefly describe what your organisation does 

Enable Leisure and Culture is a charity that strives to enrich lives and strengthen communities. Small Change is a social enterprise that gives free fundraising support for small non-profits.

How did you get into social impact sector? 

I’ve always been a strong believer in giving back. It’s something I feel passionately about and have a strong desire to make a change.

I first started working with communities in 2005 when I went to Leeds Beckett University to complete a child development degree. During that time I worked with many charities who support children and young people in some of West Yorkshire’s most deprived areas and lived in Africa for just under 3 months volunteering at a school in a remote village in Ghana. Here is where I discovered my love of fundraising when I secured a £400,000 grant for one of my charities.

After university I continued my work with children and young people and became a business development manager for an outdoor children’s charity in London. I then moved on to a parks and open spaces department where I was successful with a £1.9 million pound funding bid to the Heritage Fund, for a 5 year Project.

After that I became the senior trust fundraising officer at The National Deaf Children’s Society, before finally moving on as Head of Fundraising and Innovation at a South London Charity where I am now. Alongside this I co-founded a community action group in my home town and have been successful with numerous grants to improve the local area.

During the Pandemic I founded Small Change Makers CIC and established a volunteer fundraising team to help small non-profits such as food banks, community centres, peer support groups etc access funding. We want to make funding opportunities accessible to everyone and want to make change in the fundraising sector.

What is your driving force for accelerating change? 

I strongly believe that anyone can change the world and I want to champion small change makers. It doesn’t have to be someone who makes a grand gesture or donates a huge amount of money.

We live in a world now where our lives are lived online and where people feel like they need to compete to get likes. Why is a huge donation or money raised quickly the only measure of success? We are increasingly seeing stories of people making massive contributions or doing things that an average person may not be able to achieve, and this can be demoralising for those who are making a big difference every day in someone’s life, but on a smaller scale.

During my time at Enable LC and since founding Small Change I have seen the huge impact people can make to their communities just by making small changes. However, feedback and research that states only 3% of UK voluntary sector income (e.g. from grants, trusts and foundations) goes to organisations with annual incomes of under 100,000 (NCVO Almanac 2020) – is alarming. How is this right? There is an economic inequality in the charitable sector, and we need to act. Large funders all over the world are often not challenged, as they are the lifeline for many organisations. But if this isn’t challenged, where is the accountability, innovation/drive for change? So, I want to tackle this, be brave and make the fundraising world accessible for everyone.

What one piece of advance would you give to future change accelerators who want to make a big impact in their work?

Don’t wait for the right time, you can make change by just starting small and being your own champion. You’ll be surprised at what you can do, when you believe that you can.

To our global community of Fundraisers, Changemakers and Advocates,

For the past 40 years the Resource Alliance has been driven by one goal: to bring the global community of fundraisers and changemakers together to unleash new ideas, new models and new thinking to accelerate progress in the world. Whenever we come together as a community to debate and share our best thinking, the connections and relationships we form are meaningful and enduring — and they make a difference.

Today, a global pandemic, economic uncertainty and social unrest have created an urgent call-to-action for all of us in the social impact community. There has never been a more important time in our 40-year history to accelerate change — to question conventional wisdom, to move past incremental progress, to explore new ways to make a difference. It is time to come together and help each other do what we have been called to do. Better than we have ever done before.

At the same time, the very issues that are driving us to act with urgency have made it impossible to contemplate a gathering of 1,000 people from around the world at IFC this October.

So, for the past several months — guided by the principles of our manifesto, the wise counsel of our Advisory Panel, Ambassadors, Partners, and many members of our community around the world — the Resource Alliance team has been reconceptualising how we can best serve the social impact community at this critically important time, and beyond. Better than we have ever done before.

We must create possibility from what once seemed impossible, we must move the immovable. These are incredibly challenging times, but they are also exciting. We have the opportunity and obligation to do more than just ‘go online’. We must create a new, truly inclusive and engaging way for fundraisers and changemakers to help one another — not just once a year, but every day.

We must create a place where people can get more than ever, because they are able to give more than ever. A place where people can grow through learning from their peers globally and grow even more by sharing their own knowledge, experience, time and talent. A place where each of us can make the greatest possible difference by helping all of us thrive. Because when we do, we will have the greatest hope of building a more just, equitable and healthy world — for everyone.

We are humbled to offer an entirely new concept in accelerating change:

The Resource Alliance Global Community

The Resource Alliance Global Community is a social movement of, by and for fundraisers and changemakers. It’s all about people power. It is a portal of possibility. A network for new ideas. A place where people from around the world come together to help each other do our best work, because our best work is what the world requires of us.

Members of the Resource Alliance Community will receive more than 120 online and face-to-face opportunities to learn, collaborate, create, problem solve and explore new thinking over the course of each year. Each designed to improve our members effectiveness in resourcing the critical work of the organisations and causes they serve.

Membership also includes access to IFC 2020: virtual experience_. Although a global pandemic makes it impossible to bring together 1,000 people from around the world this October, we are committed to providing a unique and groundbreaking virtual experience that will inspire, inform and energize. We have no delusions that a virtual IFC will ever replace the power of our face-to-face interactions, and we WILL always commit to having face-to-face events as soon as possible. But, together, guided by what makes an IFC so important, we can create something that revolutionises what is possible in a virtual format.  IFC 2020: virtual experience will be a true laboratory of great ideas for people who resource social impact organisations.

We are committed to providing the most equitable access to the best content, collaboration and experiences available anywhere — for everyone. Never has the world been more in need of a sense of community. While we aren’t all in the same boat, we’re certainly navigating the same storm. Our focus is on growing a global community to accelerate change, and we can’t do that without you.

It’s a new world. And a new alliance.

#JoinTheAlliance