IFC Online 2020 Speakers

Peter Pomerantsev (UK)

Visiting Senior Fellow, Institute of Global Affairs, London School of Economics

Biography:

How many of us, just a few short years ago, would have thought about propaganda and media bias is any sort of serious way? Fast forward to 2020 and fake news, the “plandemic”, and Cambridge Analytica are part of everyone’s vocabulary. Visiting Senior Fellow at the Institute of Global Affairs at the London School of Economics, Peter Pomerantsev, a propaganda and media development specialist, is the first plenary speaker at IFC Online.

An award-winning author and television producer, Peter has testified on the challenges of the information war to the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the UK Parliament Defence Select Committee. The award-winning author of Nothing is True and Everything is Possible and This is Not Propaganda: Adventures in the War Against Reality, he also has bylines in the Financial Times, London Review of Books, Politico, Atlantic and many more.

Born in Ukraine and having lived in Russia, Peter has written that he sees the same confusion now in the British public that he saw a decade ago on the streets of Moscow or Vladivostock. His mission is to help us understand how and why these societal shifts are happening, and what we can do about it.

Jayne George (UK)

Director of Fundraising, Marketing and Media, RNLI

Biography:

As we weather this unprecedented storm, we turn to experience. From RNLI and Guide Dogs to Save the Children, The Children’s Society, and more, Jayne has experience in spades. Now back with RNLI, she brings her experience as a passionate fundraiser, campaigner, and volunteer to the table.

As well as working within individual charities and NGOs, Jayne has worked as a consultant, helping causes to achieve transformational and sustainable growth and using the wealth of her experience to advise on fundraising, marketing, and campaign strategies.

Her most recent passion project has been to collaborate with senior fundraisers across the globe to design an international leadership programme to grow the number of senior fundraisers, and their capabilities, all over the world. Supporting causes close to her heart, Jayne has put her money where her mouth is, completing a number of challenges to both raise funds and inspire others to do the same. Now, it’s our turn to be inspired.

Click here to read more about Jayne’s IFC Online plenary “Crisis and change: weathering the storm”

Janaya “Future” Khan (USA)

Storyteller, Futurist, Activist

Biography:

Black. Queer. Gender non-conforming. Activist.

Lecturer. Author. Academic. Ambassador.

All of these things and more, Janaya “Future” Khan has become a leading voice in the global crusade demanding social transformation, justice, and equality. With a mission to produce work that is a clarifying force, they hope to encourage people to use their words as tools and as a lens through which they can orient themselves.

As the International Ambassador for Black Lives Matter, co-founder of Black Lives Matter Toronto, and the former Campaign Director at Color of Change, the reach of Janaya’s work is truly global. As an accomplished lecturer and author, their dedication and bold approach to storytelling has created opportunities to contribute to academic and frontline community dialogue, engaging audiences on the global impacts of the Black Lives Matter movement. They understand, better than most, the true power of the people.

Click here to read more about Janaya’s IFC Online plenary “The possibilities of people power”

Muhammad Yunus (Bangladesh)

Founder, The Grameen Bank & Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

Biography:

Few people have successfully melded capitalism with social responsibility, but Nobel Peace Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus is one of them. He created the Grameen Bank, a microcredit institution committed to providing small amounts of working capital to the poor for self-employment. Since its inception in 1976, Grameen Bank has provide collateral-free loans to 7.5 million people, 97% of whom are women. Muhammad’s innovative approach to the alleviation of poverty has inspired a global microcredit movement that has impacted millions of women in poverty, from rural South Africa to Chicago’s inner city.

Now a member of the board of the United Nations Foundation, has served on the Global Commission of Women’s Health, the Advisory Council for Sustainable Economic Development and the UN Expert Group on Women and Finance. Not content with only winning the Nobel Peace Prize, he has also won awards like the Franklin D. Roosevelt Freedom Award, the Humanitarian Award, and the Seoul Peace Prize, among many others. He’ll be talking to us at IFC online about what he does best: building better futures.

Click here to read more about Muhammad’s IFC Online plenary “The possibilities of people power”

Abhishek Sharma (UAE)

Partner, Oliver Wyman

Biography:

Abhishek Sharma is a Partner at Oliver Wyman, one of the world’s largest strategy consulting firms, based out of their Dubai offices covering the Middle East, Africa and India markets. He has spent the last 15 years of his career working with corporates and governments across the world, advising on economic development, business strategy, investment and innovation topics. He often writes and speaks on topics of economy, employment and related innovations. In current times he has directed his attention to the impact of COVID-19 on economies and workplaces, how this would evolve in the post COVID-19 world and what can companies and governments do in response. He is originally from India, married, with two children. His background prior to his consulting career is as a VLSI design engineer followed by an MBA in Finance and Strategy.

Click here to find out more about Abhishek’s session: “Shaping the new normal”

Adwoa Aboah (UK)

Activist, Model and Founder of Gurls Talk podcast

Biography:

Alain McKinlay Tilgner (Canada)

Fundraising Coordinator, Ottawa Food Bank

Biography:

Alain McKinlay Tilgner, CFRE, was always told from an early age, “IALAC” – I am lovable and capable. With that voice, Alain has tackled everything thrown her way. From the many years as a woman in an infantry unit to sharing the joys of the outdoors with youth in both the Girl Guides of Canada and Scouts Canada, she has proven that optimism helps in the ups and downs of life. With over 25 years’ experience in non-profit organizations she has worked as a volunteer youth leader, trainer, volunteer manager, database administrator, writer and editor. She now focusses on direct mail and integrating the messages across all donor channels at the Ottawa Food Bank. Now it is her time to say ‘you are lovable and capable’ of helping others. 

Click here to read more about Alain’s IFC Online workshop “Innovation in a pandemic”

Alex Lloyd Hunter (UK)

Co-Executive Director, Forward Action

Biography:

Alex is Co-Executive Director at Forward Action, a UK-based digital mobilisation agency for progressive causes. He works with NGOs to rapidly grow their email lists, mobilise supporters to take campaigning and fundraising actions at scale, and use movement-building approaches to keep supporters engaged long-term.

Forward Action has worked with over 70 NGOs over the last five years, building online fundraising and campaigning programmes. Alex and his team are behind some of the most successful digital innovations of the last few years, including the ONE Campaign’s viral 9 Countries quiz that attracted 2.5 million users and grew ONE’s email list by 450,000 people.

Before founding Forward Action, Alex led the UK Labour party’s email team during the 2015 election campaign, helping the party raise a record-breaking £3.1 million online. Prior to this, he launched and ran the team behind 38 Degrees’ “Campaigns by You” petition platform. The platform has so far been used to run thousands of campaigns involving millions of people from across the UK.

Click here to find out more about Alex’s session: “Raising money online through supporter mobilisation”

Alfredo Carlo (Italy)

Designer, Housatonic

Biography:

Alfredo, born in 1975 in Bruxelles, is a designer of collaborative processes and a graphic facilitator. He has translated his interest in design and interaction between human beings into his profession. He’s the founding partner of Housatonic and, since 2011, a partner of Matter Group. Together these networks deliver graphic facilitation and collaborative sessions to navigate complexity. Alfredo is a member of The Value Web, a not-for-profit organisation made of an international facilitators and designers network, which helps large and medium-scale institutions all over the world in their processes of research for systemic and complex problem-solving. Alfredo currently lives with his family in Bologna, Italy.

Click here to find out more about Alfredo’s session: “The cube: influencing systems for change”

Allison Fine (USA)

Founder/CEO, Network of Elected Women

Biography:

Allison Fine is an entrepreneur, innovator and author. She is among the nation’s pre-eminent thinkers and strategists for using technology for social good. She is the author of Matterness: Fearless Leadership for a Social World, the award-winning Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age, and co-author of the bestselling The Networked Nonprofit. For the last two years, she has been working with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on the use of Artificial Intelligence for philanthropy. She was the chair of the national board of NARAL Pro-Choice America Foundation, the founder of the Network of Elected Women and founding board member of Civic Hall Labs. In 2020, Allison ran for Congress in New York’s 17th Congressional district.

Click here to find out more about Allison’s session: “The future of giving”

Ambika Satkunanathan (Sri Lanka)

Chairperson, Neelan Tiruchelvam Trust

Biography:

Ambika Satkunanathan is a human rights lawyer and advocate based in Sri Lanka. She is the Chairperson of the Neelan Tiruchelvam Trust, the only indigenous grant-making organisation in Sri Lanka. As Chairperson she has mobilized resources to support and strengthen community organisations that work with vulnerable populations, and led the Trust’s efforts to be ‘more than just a donor’. She is also the Vice Chairperson of Urgent Action Fund Asia & Pacific, a regional feminist grant making organisation. She is currently an Open Society Fellow (2020-2021) studying how reform initiatives, particularly those that seek to strengthen protections for human rights through institutional reform, often focus on formal and legal structures and processes, to the exclusion of informal elements, such as patronage, that can thwart even the best-designed interventions, particularly in post-war contexts plagued by ethno-nationalist politics. From Oct 2015 to March 2020, she was a Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka.

Prior to that, for eight years, she functioned as the Legal Consultant to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Sri Lanka advising OHCHR during critical periods, both during and post-war. Her research and advocacy have focused on transitional justice, custodial violence, prison reform, militarization, gender and Tamil nationalism. Her publications include contributions to the Oxford Handbook of Gender & Conflict, the Routledge Handbook on Human Rights in South Asia, and Contemporary South Asia. Ambika holds a Master of Laws (Human Rights) degree from the University of Nottingham, where she was a Chevening Scholar, and has earned bachelor’s degrees (LL.B / B.A) from Monash University, Australia.

Click here for more information on Ambika’s Big Conversation panel: “#ShiftThePower”

Anita Gallagher (Mexico)

Training Lead, HIPGive, Hispanics in Philanthropy

Biography:

Anita leads the training program at HIPGive.org, Hispanics in Philanthropy’s international crowdfunding platform. Working with hundreds of non-profits from the Latino community, in the USA and across Latin America to help them position their cause and reach their goal, her expertise in crowdfunding and digital fundraising is firmly based in real-life practice in organisations of all shapes and sizes. A respected consultant, trainer and mentor, Anita transitioned from the Executive Director role of a large regional non-profit to set up her own consultancy in 2012, specialising in innovative approaches in impact and communications. She regularly speaks at non-profit conferences throughout Mexico and the USA and is a passionate advocate for opening up philanthropy. It’s not by chance, then, that she is also the leader of #undíaparadar México, strengthening the culture of giving in Mexico, and was recently asked to serve as a board member for Giving Tuesday worldwide. Originally from Northern Ireland, and with a Masters in International Development from the London School of Economics, Anita has been based in southeast Mexico for the last 15 years where she is a proud founding member of the local symphony orchestra.

Click here to read more about Anita’s IFC Online workshop “Fulfil your crowdfunding potential”

Barbara Nöst (Zambia)

CEO, Zambian Governance Foundation for Civil Society

Biography:

Barbara Nöst is the CEO of the Zambian Governance Foundation for Civil Society (ZGF). Prior to coming to Zambia, Barbara worked in various long-and short-term assignments broadly related to governance, institution building and civil society development in both Europe and Africa. Having worked in the formal aid sector in various capacities – as a desk officer, as a consultant, as a programme coordinator and as the CEO of a local organisation in the Global South – she experienced the power imbalances that come into play in the interaction between actors in the Global North and the Global South. She believes that local communities have the power and resourcefulness to shape their own development without relying on external aid. Her current main interest is to transform ZGF, a largely donor funded organisation, into a local community foundation which can sustain itself with resources available within Zambia.

Click here for more information on Barbara’s Big Conversation panel: “#ShiftThePower”

Beth Kanter (USA)

Speaker, Author, Virtual Facilitator, and Trainer ,bethkanter.org

Biography:

Beth is an author, virtual facilitator and trainer and is internationally recognised thought leader in digital transformation and wellbeing in the workplace with over 35 years of providing capacity building for nonprofits and foundations. She named one of the most influential women in technology by Fast Company and one of the BusinessWeek’s “Voices of Innovation,” Beth is the co-author of the award winning Network Nonprofit books and The Happy Healthy Nonprofit: Strategies for Impact without Burnout (http://bit.ly/happyhealthynpbook). Her clients include Packard Foundation Resilience Initiative, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Save the Children, Counterpart International, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and others.

Click here to find out more about Beth’s session: “The future of giving”

Bruno Da Silva Machado (Norway)

Head of Fundraising Mexico (interim) & Sponsor of International F2F Working Group, Medecins Sans Frontieres

Biography:

Bruno has more than 11 years of experience in fundraising, and for the last 5 years has steered the International F2F Working Group in MSF. He currently manages the MSF Fundraising department in Mexico, and has experience in supporting the launch and development of F2F projects around the world.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, his focus has been on the topic of Common Guidelines and Best Practices in F2F. Bruno has a multi-disciplinary background from several fields, including the Norwegian Business School. with master thesis on “Micro-finance and Empowerment”, plus research work in Tanzania and Angola.

He also has field experience in MSF, with missions in Central African Republic and Sierra Leone.

Click here to find out more about Bruno’s session: “The future of F2F”

Bruno Farias Benjamim (Brazil)

Individual Giving Lead, ActionAid

Biography:

Bruno is an economist, a father of two and an experienced fundraiser. He leads ActionAid’ Individual Giving international fundraising unit. He has experience in strategic planning and innovation, and over the past 10 years, he has been supporting social organisations in the pursuit of financial and programmatic sustainability and to unleash innovation. He has also worked in the marketing industry of large companies, such as OI Telecom and Ipiranga oil company.

Carys Afoko (UK)

Co-Founder, Level-Up

Biography:

Carys co-founded feminist campaign group Level Up in 2016 with four other women from the digital campaigning world.

Prior to that she was Communications Director at global consumer group SumOfUs.org. She is a former Head of Communications at the New Economics Foundation and a former adviser to Labour MP Lisa Nandy.

Carys co-founded istreetwatch.co.uk to track the rise racist and xenophobic street harassment in the wake of the EU referendum and was recently named one of InStyle magazine’s Future 15.

Click here to read more about Carys’s IFC Online Big Conversation: “Can NGOs and social movements be authentic allies?”

Catherine Deakin (UK)

Director of Fundraising & Communications at Changing Faces

Biography:

Catherine Deakin is Director of Fundraising and Communications at Changing Faces. She has over 14 years’ experience in the not for profit sector, including leadership roles at Tommy’s, Girlguiding and Hospice UK. She was also a trustee for the inspirational not for profit charity Childs i Foundation. She has an excellent track record of securing long-term, major corporate partnerships. This includes winning the Poundland partnership for Tommy’s worth over three million pounds and securing The Telegraph newspaper partnership, who described her pitch as the best they had ever seen. Catherine is an ambitious, thoughtful and collaborative leader who is achieving transformational growth to deliver the mission for Changing Faces. She was recently recognised in Fundraising Magazine’s 25 Under 35 list of outstanding young fundraisers, for her efforts supporting fundraisers in these troubled times.

Click here to find out more about Catherine’s session: “Partnership opportunities in the pandemic”

Christoffer Holm (Denmark)

Global Director Fundraising Support, Amnesty International

Biography:

Chris is leading a team devoted to supporting and enabling Amnesty sections around the world to grow in donors, and individual giving and legacy income. The team has two support dimensions – the regional dimension with regional fundraising managers in Asia, Europe and the Americas; and channel specialists in face-to-face, telemarketing and legacies. Chris is based in Copenhagen and used to work at the Danish section as fundraising director and section deputy director. He has been with Amnesty International since 2005. Chris is half-Swedish, so in other words has quite a capacity when it comes to assembling IKEA furniture.

Click here to find out more about Chris’s session: “How to become a one-to-one storytelling organisation through video”

Clare Farrell (UK)

Media Coordinator / Co-founder, Extinction Rebellion

Biography:

Clare Farrell is an active citizen, devoting her creativity, her energy, and occasionally her personal liberty, to fight against climate collapse and the wider environmental crisis.

As one of the founders of Extinction Rebellion she helps coordinate a mass movement of people using non-violent civil disobedience.

Her work to date has included building and coordinating the creative team that delivered the name, identity, and messaging that the movement set out with in 2018. Since then working across actions teams, some internal governance roles, trainings and now coordinating the media and messaging teams and acting as a spokesperson.

Clare has a background in the UK fashion industry, working across the high street, luxury and ethical sectors. She has been educating on fashion, ethics and sustainability for over a decade and has lectured at Central Saint Martins, the Royal College of Art, London College of Communications, and Goldsmiths, among other institutions.

Click here to read more about Clare’s’ IFC Online Big Conversation: “Is our sector facing an existential crisis?”

Colette St-Onge (UK)

Head of Campaigns and Digital, Reprieve

Biography:

Colette is the Head of Campaigns and Digital at Reprieve, a UK-based charity of investigators, lawyers and campaigners working against the death penalty and other state-sponsored human rights abuses worldwide.

Since its founding in 1999, Reprieve has saved the lives of over 550 people facing death sentences around the world. It also secured the freedom of over 80 men illegally detained without charge or trial in Guantánamo – more than any other law firm or NGO. Colette joined Reprieve at the beginning of 2019 to lead the Campaigns Team of three and doubled online donations over three years. The team increased individual donations by £138,000 (27%) and regular donations by £108,000 (46%) in her first year.

Before joining Reprieve, Colette managed ShareAction’s digital campaigns which put UK savers at the heart of the pensions industry and helped hold FTSE 100 companies to account.

Click here to find out more about Colette’s session: “Raising money online through supporter mobilisation”

Dana Segal (UK)

Senior Partner Consultant, =mc

Biography:

Dana Segal is a strategist, fundraiser, decision scientist, and management consultant supporting people and projects that make the world a better place. With =mc, Dana delivers training, strategy, and consultation to the world’s biggest and boldest charities, NGOs, & INGOs such as UNICEF, World Animal Protection, and Afrobarometer. In her work with the Decision Science unit at =mc, Dana designs, develops, and delivers projects that change public behaviour in a pro-social way for organisations including MSF, Oxford University, and Royal Opera House. Dana is an award-winning trustee of Emergency Exit Arts, a Top 100 Charity Influencer, a writer for the national press, and a regular speaker at international conferences. Dana holds postgraduate philanthropy and business management qualifications from London School of Economics and Leeds University.

Dr Dhananjayan (Danny) Sriskandarajah (UK)

CEO, Oxfam GB

Biography:

Dr Dhananjayan (Danny) Sriskandarajah has been Chief Executive Officer of Oxfam Great Britain since January 2019. Prior to that he spent six years as Secretary General of CIVICUS, the global civil society alliance. He has previously been Director General of the Royal Commonwealth Society, Interim Director of the Commonwealth Foundation and held various posts at the Institute for Public Policy Research. He is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Global Public Goods in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. From 2018 to 2019 he was a member of the UN Secretary General’s High Level Panel on Digital Cooperation, co-chaired by Jack Ma and Melinda Gates, and from 2015 to 2016 a member of the High Level Panel on Humanitarian Finance. He has been a Trustee of the Baring Foundation, Comic Relief, and International Alert, and a member of the Lead Group of Scaling Up Nutrition.

Elena Mejía (Peru)

Activist, Foro Juvenil de Izquierda

Biography:

Elena Mejía Julca is a young social movement leader from Peru. She’s part of several activist collectives, including the leadership group of Foro Juvenil de Izquierda (Left Youth Forum) – a youth collective on issues of inequality and human rights in Peru. She is one of the directors of Búho Teatro Hip Hop, a young independent theatre company. Elena is a feminist, rapper, mobiliser and facilitator, involved in creating art, music and political proposals for change in Peru.

Click here to find out more about Elena’s session: “How can NGOs effectively support youth-led groups and movements?”

Liz Ngonzi (USA)

Founder/CEO, The International Social Impact Institute

Biography:

Elsa Stathopoulou (Greece)

Communication & Fundraising Director, SOS Children’s Villages

Biography:

Elsbeth de Ridder (Spain)

Global F2F Specialist, Save the Children International

Biography:

Following her move from her home country Holland to Australia, Elsbeth had a 10-year-long successful career in commerce before she started working in international development and in particular in child focused organisations. Starting out by volunteering in South Africa, she then returned to Australia where she utilised her sales skills and knowledge to run a successful F2F in-house program for World Vision Australia. She then transferred to the UK and set up and led a successful F2F In-house and agency-led program for World Vision UK, and later ran a F2F agency program for Save the Children UK. From June 2016, she is the Global F2F Fundraising Specialist for Save the Children International, utilising her now over 10 years’ experience in the fundraising industry to support and advice 25 markets where Save the Children run F2F programs.

Click here to find out more about Elsbeth’s session: “The future of F2F”

Fiona (Fi) McPhee (New Zealand)

Director, Fiona McPhee Ltd

Biography:

Fi (Fiona) McPhee loves fundraising. She’s been at it for 20 years and is still smiling. Fi is a coach, consultant & trainer to fundraisers and not-for-profit leaders. She works with fundraisers to help them drive sustainable fundraising programs and with bosses and boards to seek the right insight to best manage and govern fundraising within their organisations. Fi brings to the party her love of data. Having lead Australia & New Zealand’s largest fundraising benchmarking and analytics program for over a decade, Fi’s insight into fundraising performance and how donors behave is unparalleled. As a speaker and trainer Fi draws on best practice methodologies as well as her experience and insights from her time working with hundreds of charities from across New Zealand, Australia, South East Asia and North America. In addition to her day job, Fi is a Mum, average skier, amateur hiker, serves on two not-for-profit boards and is the Resource Alliance Australia & New Zealand ambassador.

Click here to find out more about Fiona’s session: “Five key learnings from fundraising through a crisis”

Giancarla Pancione (Italy)

Fundraising and Marketing Director, Save the Children Italy

Biography:

Giancarla has over 20 years’ experience in fundraising. During that time she has worked as a fundraising expert with organisations such as Amnesty International UK, Amnesty International Italian Section and UNHCR. In 2006, she joined Save The Children, where she has led a very successful fundraising strategy, going from 10 million to 100 million supporters in about 14 years. For three years, she was the Chair of the Fundraising Director Steering Group of Save the Children, loving the international environment and learning as much as possible from the other markets. She is a member of the Board at Save the Children Indonesia. Giancarla lectures at various fundraising courses such as University of Bologna. She holds a degree in Political Science from the University Orientale of Naples and a Master in European Politics from Birkbeck College University of London. She is very interested in Human Rights with a special focus on Women’s’ Rights. She loves her job and is very passionate about fundraising. When Giancarla doesn’t work she spends her time travelling with her family. She is a cat lover.

Click here to find out more about Giancarla’s session: “Diversifying your future income”

Gill Marshall (UK)

Global F2F Fundraising Specialist, Amnesty International

Biography:

Gill Marshall is Amnesty’s F2F fundraising specialist. For the past 4 years she has worked to support Amnesty’s 33 F2F programmes across the globe – looking for ways to grow, optimise and innovate within Amnesty’s largest acquisition channel. Gill started as a street fundraiser herself in London 13 years ago, and since then has managed agency teams as well as in-house F2F operations for British Red Cross and Amnesty International UK. 

Click here to find out more about Gill’s session: “The future of F2F”

Grant Leboff (UK)

CEO, Sticky Marketing Club

Biography:

Grant Leboff is one of the U.K’s leading Sales and Marketing experts. His fourth book, ‘Digital Selling’, debuted at #1 on the Amazon charts prior to being published in September 2016. This follows the success of Leboff’s previous titles. ‘Stickier Marketing’ (2014) went straight to #1 in the Amazon Sales & Marketing Chart, and was in the top 10 overall Business Chart, on publication. ‘Sales Therapy’ (2007) and ‘Sticky Marketing’ (2011) were both in Amazon’s top 10 Business Books, and #1 in the Sales & Marketing bestsellers chart. Grant Leboff’s fifth book, ‘Myths of Marketing’ was published in January of this year. A thought leader in his field, Leboff’s main focus is to address the massive changes that are taking place in a world that is constantly being introduced to new technologies and an evolving World Wide Web. He continually challenges Sales & Marketing conventions that become accepted wisdom, but don’t necessarily deliver results. Having built a successful direct marketing company, which he started in 2002, Leboff sold it in 2008. As well as undertaking work as a Non Executive Director, he now has a number of other business interests. Sticky Marketing Club® Ltd., is a sales and marketing consultancy providing companies with the strategies to thrive in an increasingly competitive world. Leboff’s Sales and Marketing portal, stickymarketing.com produces a wealth of resources and information on effective Sales and Marketing for organisations in an ever-changing business environment. He is a highly sought-after consultant, mentor and speaker, and constantly makes presentations at conferences and events all over the world. Leboff is a regular contributor to many business magazines and newspapers. Amongst others, he has been featured in the Daily Telegraph, The Independent, The Financial Times, The Daily Mirror and The Sun. He has appeared on BBC Radio on numerous occasions as well as being featured on a significant number of US radio networks.

Click here to find out more about Grant’s session: “The next normal”

Hanna Henshall (UK)

Director & Co-Founder, If Not Now

Biography:

Hanna is the Co-founder and Director of If Not Now, a digital activism agency that works exclusively for environmental, social and creative projects and campaigns. Hanna loves the challenge of creatively communicating complex issues to re-engage the disengaged, having led multiple political and social change projects that specialise in open source grassroots campaigning. For over 6 years Hanna has been using her digital skills to fight the good fight. She has led and been part of some of the most innovative examples of art activism campaigns from #SHEvotes to encourage young women to vote in the General Election, to #ArtOfChange with WaterAid to urge world leaders to double their financial investment in clean water and hygiene in response to COVID-19. All of her most successful campaigns have one thing in common: they harness the power of art to help reimagine the world we live in to make space for all people and the living planet around us.

Click here to find out more about Hanna’s session: “The power of art in digital activism”

Jenny Hodgson (South Africa)

Executive Director, Global Fund for Community Foundations

Biography:

Jenny Hodgson has been the executive director of the Global Fund for Community Foundations (GFCF) since 2006 when it was first established as a pilot project. Over the course of the past twelve years, she has overseen the emergence of the GFCF as the leading global voice on community philanthropy as a core strategy for people-led development and shifting power closer to the ground. The GFCF is a champion of this largely overlooked but rapidly emerging global field, using grants, research and convenings to support thought leadership and the emergence of a global community philanthropy (#ShiftThePower) movement.

Jenny moved to Uganda in 1992 and never returned to her native UK, setting up home – with cats, dogs and family – in Russia, Kenya, Singapore, Thailand and South Africa, where she has been based for the past decade. Jenny has a BA (Hons) in English from Emmanuel College, Cambridge and an MA in International Relations from Johns Hopkins School Advanced International Studies (SAIS). She is on the board of the African Philanthropy Network.

Click here for more information on Jenny’s Big Conversation panel: “#ShiftThePower”

Jessica Sotelo (USA)

Senior Director of Integrated Marketing & Membership, World Wildlife Fund

Biography:

Jindy Pal (UK)

Senior Consultant, THINK Consulting Solutions

Biography:

Jindy Pal has 20 years of significant fundraising and direct marketing experience, both not-for-profit and agency side. Having cut his teeth working for Concern Worldwide; his personal passion for working with organisations whose mission is to alleviate poverty, social injustice and in equality, has led him to work for a broad range of UK and global NGOs, working within a market context or across multiple countries and also within specific regions.

Working in small teams as well as multi-regional and matrix-managed, global organisations Jindy has combined individual giving expertise with strategic leadership, to design, influence, support and guide robust and innovative fundraising programmes across mature, emerging and new markets. Jindy has a hands-on understanding of organisational development and the enablers required to successfully generate income within complex organisations. He has galvanised global fundraisers within organisations to maximise humanitarian fundraising and to align under one, global fundraising proposition.

Having worked across diverse and global organisations, Jindy has exceptional experience in successfully operating across different cultures, from an organisational and geographical perspective, bringing wisdom and good humour in equal measure.

Click here to find out more about Jindy’s session: “Diversifying your future income”

Jonathan Andrews (UK)

Managing Director, Remarkable Partnerships

Biography:

Jonathan is a corporate partnerships specialist with 20 years’ experience who has led successful fundraising teams at Alzheimer’s Society, Age Concern, and Action for Children.

At Alzheimer’s Society, his team’s fundraising income grew from £4m to £16m in four years. He secured major corporate partnerships including BT, Bupa, Credit Suisse, Intel, and Santander. He is the cofounder of Byte Night, which has raised over £10 million for Action for Children. In 2013, Jonathan created Remarkable Partnerships to help charities and companies create transformational partnerships. He has published a number of industry reports and was the project lead on corporate partnerships for the Commission on the Donor Experience. Jonathan leaves people feeling inspired and motivated to be more ambitious.

Junueth Mejía (Mexico)

HIPGive Manager, Hispanics in Philanthropy

Biography:

Junueth is responsible for the strategy and operation of the HIPGive crowdfunding platform, focusing solely on leveraging the work of non-profits working with the Latino community across the Americas, as well as the development of HIPGive’s fundraising and platform model. She also oversees partnership development to offer new philanthropic technology solutions for non-profits, with the goal of growing the platform into the biggest digital community for champions of Latino social good. In previous roles at World Vision and Habitat for Humanity, Junueth developed a knack for corporate fundraising both nationally and internationally. She also has experience with major donor strategies and executing grantmaking. Born and raised in Mexico City, with a B.A in International Relations from Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education and currently studying a Masters in Social Entrepreneurship and Administration at ORT University, she is passionate about how to leverage the amazing work that nonprofits are developing in their focus areas, connecting them locally and across countries.

Click here to read more about Junueth’s IFC Online workshop “Fulfil your crowdfunding potential”

Kelley Jarrett (USA)

Head of Marketing, Blackbaud

Biography:

Kerren Morris (Australia)

Strategy Director, IVE Group

Biography:

As Strategy Director at IVE Group Australia, Kerren heads up a team of passionate fundraising specialists within the Customer Experience Division. Kerren joined IVE (previously known as Pareto) in 2018 with a personal mission to help fundraising teams get better results in the short term, while mapping out sustainable growth plans over the long term. Previously Head of Fundraising at Australian Red Cross and Cancer Council, Kerren has managed large fundraising teams and budgets within complex organisations for over 8 years. This followed many years of senior marketing leadership roles across publishing, Pay TV, retail and ecommerce. Using a proven “Agile Fundraising Strategy”, Kerren helps bring teams together on the immersive journey of discovery, to unearth opportunities and build solutions upon the foundations of data and evidence, with the flexibility to adapt to changing circumstances. “A real strategy is one that guides your everyday work and motivates you to keep striving for those long-term goals. A strategy not only survives change but thrives on it.”

Click here to find out more about Kerren’s session: “Agile fundraising strategy – how to thrive in changing times”

Khaled Khalifa (Saudi Arabia)

Senior Advisor & Representative to the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries, UNHCR

Biography:

Khaled Khalifa has served as the Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to the States of the Gulf Cooperation Council since 2016 and serves as a senior advisor to the High Commissioner for Refugees on Islamic philanthropy. He is a professional international expert with 20 years of experience in relief and development and has led humanitarian operations in various settings of natural disasters, complex emergencies and armed conflicts. Khaled has held several senior managerial positions with major international organizations including United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Danish International Development Agency, United States Agency

for International Development, and Islamic Relief Worldwide, in a number of countries including Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Indonesia, Malaysia, Libya, Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, and KSA. Khaled holds an MSc in Sustainable Development from the University of London, an MA degree in English Literature & Humanities from Egypt, and a Project Management Diploma from Aalborg Technical School, Denmark. He is a well-known international trainer in disaster management, and a member of the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination team (UNDAC).

Kirsty McNeill (UK)

Executive Director for Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns, Save The Children

Biography:

Kirsty McNeill has spent her career at the intersection of public pressure and public policy. She is Save the Children’s Executive Director for Policy, Advocacy and Campaigns, leading teams to galvanise the public and influence policymakers on humanitarian action, global development and help for children here in the UK.

Previously, she founded a consultancy advising some of the world’s leading charities and spent three years as a Special Adviser in Number 10. She came to Downing Street having led the policy and influencing work of DATA (now the ONE campaign) in Britain, Germany, France, Italy and the EU institutions. Before joining DATA she was on the board of Make Poverty History and managed the Stop AIDS Campaign, successfully negotiating a commitment to universal access to AIDS treatment from the 2005 G8. She is on the boards of the Coalition for Global Prosperity, Holocaust Educational Trust and the Centre for Countering Digital Hate.

You can read her writing on power and policy at www.kirstymcneill.com.

Click here to read more about Kirsty’s IFC Online Big Conversation: “Can NGOs and social movements be authentic allies?”

Kumi Naidoo (South Africa)

Global Ambassador, Africans Rising for Justice, Peace and Dignity

Biography:

Kumi Naidoo is a life-long social justice campaigner hailing from South Africa. Kumi’s first taste of activism came at age 15 when he organised and took part in an anti-apartheid protest that saw him expelled from his school. From there he became deeply embedded in activism in his local community and organising mass mobilisations against the apartheid regime. Kumi was arrested numerous times and charged for violating provisions against mass mobilisation and civil disobedience. He was eventually forced into exile in 1987, enrolled at Oxford as a Rhodes scholar and earned a doctorate in political sociology (in 2000).

On returning to South Africa, Kumi worked on the legalisation of the African National Congress. He was founding executive director of the South African National NGO Coalition (SANGOCO), whose mandate is to ensure that the traditions of civil society continue to serve the people of South Africa.

Kumi has held multiple senior leadership roles, as Executive Director of Greenpeace International, Secretary General of Amnesty International and Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer of Johannesburg-based Civicus: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, which is dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society throughout the world.

Kumi was Founding Chair and interim Director of the pan-African organisation, Africans Rising for Justice, Peace and Dignity, where he now serves as first Global Ambassador. The group, which has forged partnerships across trade unions, religion and civil society, aims to change the fact that while the Africa as a continent has benefitted from increased economic growth, Africans themselves have not shared in that increasing wealth and power. He also currently serves as Professor of Practice at the Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University and is a Visiting Fellow at University of Oxford and an Honorary Fellow at Magdalen College.

Click here to read more about Kumi’s IFC Online Big Conversation: “Is our sector facing an existential crisis?”

Madhuresh Kumar (India)

National Convener, National Alliance of People's Movements

Biography:

Madhuresh Kumar is National Convener of National Alliance of People’s Movements and Resistance Studies Fellow at University at Massachusetts Amherst.

Currently on a sabbatical in Paris, he has been engaged in campaigns and policy advocacy around communities’ control over land, water, forest and minerals; issues of displacement, energy projects, industrial corridors; resource mobilisation and other related issues. He writes regularly on these issues and has been published extensively in newspapers and journals. His last book as co-editor was with Elina F and Juergen W titled, “Social Movements and Resistance in India” published in German by Assoziation A, Berlin.

Click here to read more about Madhuresh’s IFC Online Big Conversation: “Can NGOs and social movements be authentic allies?”

Maeve Strathy (Canada)

Senior Fundraising Strategist, Blakely Inc.

Biography:

Maeve Strathy is a passionate and driven Senior Fundraising Strategist at Blakely Inc. Every day, she works with her clients on meeting and exceeding their fundraising goals through digitally-led, insights-driven integrated fundraising strategy. Maeve is proud to lead a team and is motivated to work closely with teammates to bring out their strengths and make the time they spend working fun and purposeful. Prior to joining the Blakely team in 2015, Maeve spent nearly a decade in educational fundraising, gaining experience primarily in telemarketing and one-on-one solicitation at the mid- and major gift level. In her previous role at Wilfrid Laurier University, Maeve grew the mid-level program by 70%. Outside of her day-to-day work, Maeve is passionate about the fundraising profession – speaking internationally, and volunteering.

Click here to read more about Maeve’s IFC Online workshop “Innovation in a pandemic”

Marco Corona (USA)

Chief Development Officer, One80 Place

Biography:

Marta Lobo (UK)

Global Supporter Engagement Specialist, Amnesty International

Biography:

Masana Ndinga-Kanga (South Africa)

Crisis Response Fund Lead, CIVICUS

Biography:

Masana Ndinga-Kanga is Crisis Response Fund Lead at CIVICUS World Alliance for Citizen Participation. She works to ensure that civic liberties are respected for groups advancing human rights around the world, with a specific focus on the MENA region and Women Human Rights Defenders.

Masana is also lead country researcher on UNDP report (and journal article) “Forging a Resilient Social Contract in South Africa: States and Societies Sustaining Peace in the Post-Apartheid Era.”

Previously, she was Research Programme Manager at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation where she served on the Steering Committee of the Integrated Social Crime Prevention Strategy of the Department of Social Development, and she is currently a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equality at the London School of Economics.

In 2018, she was identified as one of the London School of Economics’ Leading Women in their #LSEWomen campaign. She has an MSc in Political Economy of Late Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science, which she received while a Chevening Scholar. She is fiercely passionate about feminist parenting, queer and economic justice in Africa through the transformation of the international political economy.

Learn more about Masana’s #FRO2021 Keynote:

Campaigning and mobilising for racial justice: The role of technology and digital tools

Michael Johnston (Canada)

Founder and CEO, hjc

Biography:

Mike Johnston has been a fundraiser for over 30 years who has spoken in over 20 countries at fundraising conferences all over the world. Hhelping to raise over $5 billion dollars, he has worked with 100s of social impact and charitable organisations in Canada, the US, Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific. Mike is an expert in fundraising innovation, change management, and integrated fundraising.

He is the author of four books: The Fund Raiser’s Guide to the Internet, The Nonprofit Guide to the Internet, Internet Strategies: Best Practices for Marketing, and Direct Response Fund Raising: Mastering New Trends for Results. Mike is also a contributor to many research papers, books, and magazines.

Michael Silberman (USA)

Global Director, Mobilisation Lab

Biography:

Michael Silberman has been guiding social change organisations to achieve greater impact through the creative use of participatory strategies and technologies for more than a decade.

He’s the founder and Global Director of the Mobilisation Lab, which trains and coaches advocacy campaigners and their organisations to break through and win in the networked age through people-centred strategy and creative, people-powered tactics.

Silberman is recognised as one of the U.S.’s 50 most influential leaders by The NonProfit Times and his writing has been featured in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Chronicle of Philanthropy, and openDemocracy.

He teaches digital-era advocacy and campaigning to graduate students at George Washington University and serves on the boards of several non-profits, including Oxfam America and The Story of Stuff Project.

Silberman got his start on Governor Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign where he mobilised 200,000 grassroots volunteers through “Meetups” and built one of the first successful digital organising programs in U.S. politics.

Prior to launching the MobLab, Silberman was a partner and co-founder at Echo & Co, an award-winning digital strategy firm.

Click here to read more about Michael’s IFC Online Big Conversation: “Can NGOs and social movements be authentic allies?”

Michelle Chambers (UK)

Managing Director, THINK Consulting Solutions

Biography:

Michelle has worked in the not for profit sector for 27 years, working in and with a range of charity and heritage organisations, including the British Red Cross and the Museum of London. Before joining the charity sector, she worked for a UK fashion retailer. She has been responsible for most of the major fundraising activity streams throughout her career and is adept at developing fundraising strategy at both overall and stream specific level. Michelle has worked as a consultant since 2005 and has been Managing Director of THINK Consulting Solutions since 2015, working with a range of clients around the world. She played a lead role in the establishment of THINK Canada in 2018 and was voted the Eighth Most Influential Fundraiser in the UK in 2018. She has presented at conferences across Europe. Michelle combines strategic thinking skills with operational delivery, applying practical implementation to the creative idea. She is passionate about the importance of creating long lasting relationships between charities and their supporters and keeping the donor at the heart of fundraising thinking and practice.

Click here to find out more about Michelle’s session: “Diversifying your future income”

Millicent Ayaba (Ghana)

Assistant Project Officer, Youth Harvest Foundation

Biography:

Millicent Ayaba Nyandiba serves as an Assistant Project Officer with the Youth Harvest Foundation Ghana. She has five years of working experience in the community development sector where she focuses on initiating, designing, and implementing youth-centered activities such as comprehensive sexuality education and child marriage with in and out-of-school youth in rural communities in the Upper East Region of Ghana. Millicent is driven by her focus on social injustices faced by the youth and especially young girls. Her passion is geared towards empowering and mentoring young people to make informed choices regarding their sexuality and to stand out for their rights in society. Millicent is a Mandela Washington Fellow and a YALI RLC fellow.

Click here to find out more about Millicent’s session: “How can NGOs effectively support youth-led groups and movements?”

Nana Asantewa Afadzinu (Ghana)

Executive Director, West Africa Civil Society Institute

Biography:

Nana Asantewa Afadzinu, Executive Director of the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI), has worked with and within the civil society sector for the past 19 years and is a passionate advocate for an effective, efficient, influential and sustainable civil society in West Africa.

She is a lawyer by profession and has worked extensively on governance, human rights, philanthropy and capacity building with national, international, continental and regional organisations. Nana obtained an LLB and BL, from the University of Ghana and the Ghana School of Law in 1994 and 1996 respectively.

After practicing with a Commercial Law Firm, Hesse and Larsey, Nana worked as Legal Officer with the Secretariat of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Banjul, the Gambia; and the African Society of International and Comparative Law in Accra. Nana spearheaded the establishment of a legal division for the Women’s Initiative for Self-Empowerment (WISE) and volunteered as WISE legal counsel.

She was the Coordinator of the National Coalition on Domestic Violence Legislation in Ghana and is a member of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA). Nana, previously a visiting scholar at Columbia University’s Human Rights Advocate Training Programme, completed her Masters in Law at New York University and has worked with Media Foundation for West Africa and the Center for the Study of Human Rights, Columbia University, in establishing a West and Central Africa Human Rights Institute.

She joined the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) as Governance Program Officer in 2005 and was OSIWA’s Country Coordinator in Nigeria from 2006 to 2008.

From September 2008 to 2009, Nana was the Regional Policy Advisor for IBIS West Africa before joining the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) in 2010 as the Executive Director. She has served and continues to serve on several public service and non-profit boards, including the Resource Alliance.

Natasha Alexander (Brazil)

National Head of Fundraising (Associate Private Sector Partnerships Associate), UNHCR

Biography:

Natasha Alexander currently leads UNHCR’s Private Sector Partnerships program in Brazil. With 15 years international experience in the USA, Germany, France and Brazil, Natasha has supported brands such as Adidas, Unilever and PepsiCo in their digital Marketing strategies, and non-profit organizations such as the UN Agency for Refugees, WWF and Médecins du Monde in their fundraising programs. A passionate fundraiser, Natasha has had the opportunity to share her experience at the National Brazilian Fundraising Conference (Festival ABCR), holding workshops about “Starting a Major Donor program”, “Forging collaborative relationships between Communications and Fundraising units in a non-profit”, and “Promoting innovation through the use of Chatbots”. Natasha is a huge fan of the IFC, having had the privilege to attend as a participant previously. She is particularly excited for her first opportunity to share her experience with fellow fundraisers from around the globe as a speaker this year, showcasing success cases from the Brazilian fundraising market.

Natasha Chaudhary (India)

Co-Director, Haiyya

Biography:

Click here to find out more about Natasha’s session: “How can NGOs effectively support youth-led groups and movements?”

Neil Spivack (Canada)

President, Up Fundraising

Biography:

Neil launched Up Fundraising in 2015 with the aim to help charities increase their monthly donor base through face to face experiential style programs. In a very short time Up has become one of the fastest-growing businesses of its kind and has launched successful teams across North America. As the agency has grown, Up Fundraising has now become a full-service integrated fundraising agency. Neil has been driving innovation in marketing for clients for 18 years and is also an investor in digital fundraising solutions. Neil has been an active member of a number of different industry associations. These include: Canadian Marketing Association, Entrepreneurs Organization & Young Presidents Organizations (YPO) and supports many causes that include Mount Sinai, Heart and Stroke & Sick Kids.

Click here to find out more about Neil’s session: “How to become a one-to-one storytelling organisation through video”

Niduk D’Souza (Canada)

Vice President Strategy & Marketing, Up Fundraising

Biography:

Niduk heads the Strategy and Marketing division of Up Fundraising, leading initiatives for clients in strategic communications, marketing and integrated fundraising. She has been helping charities and NGOs think more meaningfully about how they build their communication strategies and Niduk leads the Strategy and Marketing division of Up Fundraising, leading initiatives for clients in strategic communications, marketing, digital innovation and integrated fundraising. She has been helping charities and NGOs think more meaningfully about how they build their communication strategies and narratives with stakeholders, focused on utilizing and testing innovative tactics from the private sector in the charitable sector. She has led international multi-channel global campaigns in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe and North America. With over 18 years in leadership positions in the NGO sector from the Global South to the Global North, she is also a regular contributor to The Nonprofit Quarterly and teaches regularly on International Development and Reporting at The University of Toronto.

Learn more about Niduk’s #FRO2021 session:

Integrating justice, inclusivity, community and equity into your fundraising

Nzinga Koné Miller (USA)

Senior Vice President, M+R

Biography:

Nzinga Koné-Miller is a Senior Vice President at consulting firm M+R, creators of the annual M+R Benchmarks Study. Nzinga has been working at the intersection of nonprofits and technology for over sixteen years, but started out in the for-profit e-commerce space during the first dot.com boom. Following the dot.com bust, she honed her technology production skills as part of the web team of the “green”-ish division of a utility behemoth before making the jump to the trailblazing nonprofit consulting and technology firm Carol/Trevelyan Strategy Group (CTSG). During her time at CTSG and in her subsequent role at Kintera, Nzinga managed eCRM and CMS implementations for organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Since making the jump to the consulting firm Watershed, which merged with M+R in 2012, she has spent the last thirteen years developing digital direct response strategy for organizations including Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Mercy Corps, the National Museum of Natural History, Boston Children’s Hospital, The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force (now the National LGBTQ Task Force), and others. Nzinga holds a BA in History and Studio Art from Williams College.

Paul Boag (UK)

Conversion Rate Specialist, Boagworks Ltd

Biography:

Paul Boag is a leader in conversion optimisation, digital strategy and user experience design. He has been working with diverse organisations such as The European Commission, PUMA and Oxford University for over 25 years. However, he specialises primarily in the charity sector working with clients such as UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders and the International Rescue Committee. Through consultancy, coaching and training, he helps organisations better connect with today’s digital consumers. Paul is also a well-respected figure in the digital sector. Author of six books, including Click, Digital Adaptation and User Experience Revolution. Finally, he is a prolific writer for numerous publications, including his blog, and regularly speaks internationally.

Click here to find out more about Paul’s session: “Taking digital fundraising to the next level”

Rachael Mayo (UK)

Global Digital Campaigner, Amnesty International

Biography:

Roatchana (Nui) Sungthong (Thailand)

Country Director, World Animal Protection

Biography:

Nui joined the ranks of non-profit organisations in 2006 after a brief stint with private enterprise. She began in ActionAid International, first as Fundraising and Communications Manager and later Country Director. After that, she joined CSR Asia as Head of Programs. Before leading World Animal Protection Thailand as Country Director, she was Vice President with the DT Families Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the DTGO Group of Companies. Nui has wide-ranging experience in strategy, marketing, fundraising, human capital management, and corporate social responsibility in both private and non-profit sectors. Although mostly based in Bangkok for the last fourteen years, she has worked intermittently in China, India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, gaining vast experience in the area of rights-based approaches to poverty eradication, through extensive field visits and workshops. Nui holds a Bachelor of Economics degree from Ramkhamheang University in Bangkok, Thailand; a Master of Business degree from Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia; and a Master of Science degree in Contemporary Asian Studies from University of Amsterdam, Netherlands. Her current position involves World Animal Protection’s activities in Thailand as part of building a global movement for sustainable animal protection. 

Click here to find out more about Nui’s session: “Diversifying your future income”

Rob Shaw (Spain)

Fundraising & Management Consultant, =mc consulting

Biography:

Rob is a specialist arts, culture and heritage sector fundraiser, with over 20 years experience in his field. He began his career in London in the late 90s as part of the small team that launched Face to Face Fundraising in the UK. Since then, Rob has worked in senior roles for some of the UK’s leading cultural institutions, including Eureka! The National Children’s Museum, Manchester Camerata Chamber Orchestra and the Science Museum Group. After a year’s sabbatical in 2015 spent circumnavigating the Mediterranean in a campervan with his young family, he settled in Spain and began working as a consultant, and now works independently, as an Associate Consultant with Bernard Ross’ =mc consulting, and as a Programme Leader on the renowned National Arts Fundraising School. His specialisms are: Decision Science, corporate giving, and fundraising strategy development. Rob’s current and recent clients include theatre companies 20 Stories High and Red Ladder, Central Saint Martins School of Art & Design, The Bluecoat arts centre in Liverpool and Hull City of Culture 2017 legacy company Absolutely Cultured.

Click here to find out more about Rob’s session: “The case for support playbook”

Rory Stamp (UK)

Strategic Content Manager, RNLI

Biography:

Saleem Tejani (UK)

Head of Digital, DTV Group

Biography:

Saleem has spent more than 18 years working in the UK’s leading fundraising agencies, firstly at Bluefrog, then at Open and now at DTV. He has helped many charities build highly effective acquisition, retention and legacy programmes integrating both on and off line channels. Saleem joined DTV to develop and implement their digital offering, including web optimisation for DRTV, digital donor journeys and using direct response video effectively for recruiting donors. He is a passionate fundraiser and loves creative development and digital integration.

Click here to find out more about Saleem’s session: “How video can recruit donors to accelerate your fundraising”

Sebastian Grodd (New Zealand)

Marketing and Fundraising Manager, Life Flight

Biography:

Click here to find out more about Sebastian’s session: “Agile fundraising strategy – how to thrive in changing times”

Thanos Belalidis (Greece)

Director Sustainability Implementation & Communication, Sympraxis Team

Biography:

Thanos Belalidis is a founding member of Sympraxis Team, an agency with 17 years’ experience in planning, fundraising, implementing and communicating Sustainability and social contribution projects. Sympraxis has supported more than 400 initiatives, worth more than €40m for about 100 businesses, 30 NGOs, foundations, the EU and other institutions.

Thanos is particularly proud of his contributions to projects such as: The “school that you want” initiative, renovating schools, on behalf of Coca Cola 3Ε. The installation of a recycling program for OTE/ Deutsche Telecom Group used by 10,000 employees. The “Some forests have their own aura” campaign, reforestation with the support of the “AVRA” spring water in collaboration with the Hellenic Wildlife Association “ARCTUROS”. The “1againstracism.gr” campaign for the UNHCR. As a public speaker, Thanos has presented to more than 10,000 people in events such as TEDx and Sustainable Brands and corporations such as Mondelez, MERCK and TUI. He has also presented to Institutions such as the Universities of Copenhagen and Villabajo. Thanos has provided services for projects in 13 countries. He has also served national and international NGOs such as Amnesty International and GREENPEACE.

Click here to find out more about Thanos’s session: “From cause marketing to making good partnerships in the COVID-era“

Valeriia Voshchevska (UK)

Acting Global Head of Digital Engagement, Amnesty International

Biography:

Val Voshchevska is a multi-lingual digital strategist, originally from Ukraine, with extensive experience in media, social media and digital marketing, bringing audience-focused communications to the world’s largest human rights organisation. She is currently leading the Global Digital Team at Amnesty International, as the Acting Global Head of Digital Engagement. She’s a strong believer in the power that digital has in shaping narratives and mobilizing people all around the world. She regularly runs workshops for independent activists and external organizations, including Transparency International, Oxfam, OSF and Red Cross, on effective digital and media strategy.

Click here to find out more about Val’s session: “Activism, people power and digital innovation”

William Van Gordon (UK)

Associate Professor of Contemplative Psychology, University of Derby

Biography:

William Van Gordon, PhD, is a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Professor of Contemplative Psychology at the University of Derby, UK. In the last 5 years, in addition to three books, he has published 120+ full-text academic papers, including in some of the world’s leading psychology and medical journals. William writes a regular blog on Contemplative Psychology for Psychology Today and sits on the editorial board for the journal Mindfulness. William’s research has been described as “groundbreaking” by Grazia UK, and during the past 24 months, his work or opinion has been featured by national or major news outlets on more than 140 occasions in 18 different countries, including by the national BBC TV News Channel, BBC Inside Out, ITV, The Times, The Telegraph, The Independent, The Sun, Daily Express, Metro, talkRadio, BBC Radio 4, and BBC World Service. Prior to joining academia, William was a Buddhist monk for ten years and previously worked in senior management roles for Marconi Plc, PepsiCo International and Aldi Stores Ltd. In the case of this latter position, he had operational responsibility for a £28 million portfolio of six supermarkets with 60+ employees. William regularly gives keynote speeches, lectures and workshops on contemplative practice.

Click here to find out more about William’s session: “Mindfulness: A path to health and mental wellbeing”

Wolfgang Jamann (Germany)

Executive Director, International Civil Society Centre

Biography:

Dr. Wolfgang Jamann is Executive Director of the International Civil Society Centre in Berlin. The development sociologist has over 25 years of experience in development cooperation and humanitarian assistance. Until January 2018 he was Secretary General and CEO of CARE International in Geneva, one of the largest aid organisations of the world. Before that he headed the German NGO Deutsche Welthungerhilfe and the Alliance 2015, a strategic partnership of seven European aid organisations. From 2004-2009 he was CEO and Board member of CARE Deutschland and President of the CARE Foundation.

Previously he worked for World Vision International as regional representative in East Africa (Kenya) and Head of Humanitarian Assistance at WV Germany. As a researcher and academic he spent significant time on East and Southeast Asia in the late ninetees. After his Ph.D. dissertation in 1990 he started his career in practical development work at the German Foundation for International Development and later for the UNDP in Zambia. Dr. Jamann has published several books and article on East- and Southeast Asia and has contributed to international studies on complex humanitarian emergencies and conflict management.

Click here for more information on Wolfgang’s Big Conversation panel: “#ShiftThePower”

Wrikdev Sarkar (Malaysia)

Fundraising Director, Greenpeace Southeast Asia

Biography:

Wrikdev has worked in not-for-profit fundraising since 2013, after having spent about 10 years in the corporate sector working with global telecom and insurance organisations. During his stint in the charity sector, Wrikdev has been lending strategic leadership to fundraising operations across India, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines for organisations like Save The Children, Plan International and, currently, Greenpeace Southeast Asia. Having often worked with large and multicultural teams across a wide range of markets, he brings hands-on expertise in geographic and channel diversification, people management and change management strategies. Wrikdev cares deeply about humanitarian and environmental causes and has built several successful and high impact strategies to support programmes in both matured and emerging markets. Within his team, he nurtures a culture focused on building an agile, insight-driven and supporter-centric approach to individual fundraising. Wrikdev holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts, India. Outside of work, he loves to travel, is an avid reader and a photographer.

Click here to find out more about Wrikdev’s session: “Diversifying your future income”