McCormick Place was teeming with fundraisers last week as development professionals from around the world came together in Chicago for the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) International Conference.  

The lineup was impressive – and inspiring.  Blake Mycoskie of Tom’s Shoes opened the conference on Sunday, Queen Latifah kicked off Monday, and President Bill Clinton closed out the conference on Tuesday.  

Clinton emphasized that “the one most important thing we can do” is to make our work sustainable.  He urged all of us who are serious about solving social problems to work together; the government, nonprofit, and private sectors all play a part.  He provided the following example:  To come out of the economic recovery we must create jobs.  To create jobs efficiently, research suggests we should invest in clean energy.  To spur investment in clean energy, we must fix the financial industry so that environmental entrepreneurs can get loans.  All three sectors are required.

In between the keynote speakers, there were dozens of sessions designed to build conference-goers’ capacity.  Session highlights include:

• Tom Ahern urged organizations to be donor-centric in their communications.  He recommended using these three questions to frame the conversation – Why us?  Why now?  Why you? – and warned us to avoid jargon, calling it a “flame retardant.”  We encourage our clients to apply this concept to their fundraising strategy, as well.  As Jason’s book, The End of Fundraising suggests:  It’s about them, not you!  
• Grizzard presented a 5-R framework for story-telling:  Reason – what is the need?  Response – what are you doing about it?  Request – what can the donor do?  Rapid – why is this urgent?  Retell – what happens without the donor?
• Craig Wortmann emphasized that while data is important, story-telling is what makes the messages stick.  Telling stories in each of the four categories – success, failure, fun, and legend – would resonate with donors more than traditional communications.