Raising Change Conference

by Gene Weinbeck

I recently attended the Raising Change social justice fundraising conference in Berkeley, California. I returned to Missouri energized and enthusiastic about the work that social change organizations are engaged in right now. The Social Justice movement and organizations are even more vibrant than I think most of us realized. I was thrilled to see so much strength and eagerness to take on the issues, in spite of the many difficulties we all see.

The conference as a whole was a huge success. Registrations came in so quickly that there was a waiting list even before early-bird registration was over. The conference organizers, Grassroots Fundraising Journal, were forced to turn away 50% of the people who called, simply because there wasn’t room.

The conference itself was a wonderful experience for me from start to finish, with the chance to meet new and old friends, listen to a rousing keynote address, hear heart-lifting stories of struggle and accomplishment, and attend stimulating workshops.

Again and again, I met with people who had started the conference exhausted and on the edge of burn-out as a fundraiser and ended up raring to get back and at their mission! One image that will stay with me as catching the spirit of this conference was a fellow I sat next to at the keynote address. At the beginning of the talk, he was sitting tired and slumped in his chair. I think we might have been mirror images. When it was done he was bouncing up and down in his chair, and I was right with him!

One of the most important messages I heard at the conference is to set goals that are BIG and that embrace our whole vision. Don’t go for the ‘reasonable and doable’ which makes you short-change yourself and your constituency. It isn’t necessary to get there in your lifetime – what is important is to start the journey with a clear vision of your destination.

The fact that Social Change has seen a lot of progress in the lifetime of the attending fundraisers was great to hear. In the area of development professionals, the gender gap has been crossed. There are now as many women in the field as there are men. The challenge now is to cross racial barriers. That goal got a great boost at this conference which was made up of 70% people of color. The diversity was so refreshing to me personally.

At the end of the conference I was graciously invited to join the organizers of the conference at dinner where we all tried to re-gather ourselves after the high of the conference. Then, before leaving the Bay area, I wandered around San Francisco looking at the sites, still bathed in the glow of a wonderful connection with so many fine people working at a job worth doing.

Resources

Grassroots Fundraising Journal

Webinars on the Nuts and Bolts of Fundraising taught by Kim Klein

Gene Weinbeck is founder and CEO of FundRaiserSoftware. In his free time he enjoys drumming and geocaching.

FundRaiser Software offers non-profit organizations intuitive donor management software that is easy to learn and easy to use. Three programs, ranging from simple to sophisticated, let you choose the features you need now, while guaranteeing a built-in growth path for the future. Software flexibility, budget options, and superb technical support make FundRaiser Software uniquely adaptable to the needs of non-profit organizations whatever their mission.