A couple of weeks ago, I attended the The Bridge to Integrated Marketing & Fundraising Conference for the fourth time, marking my third time as a speaker. It's one of my favorite conferences to attend because each visit strengthens my connections within the fundraising industry, offers fresh insights into its ever-evolving landscape, and allows me to enjoy the company of some of the best people in the field.
Here are some highlights:
- Shoutout to my co-speakers Russ Willey, Catherine Mansfield, and Dennis Schroader. Together, we discussed an interesting strategy combining distributed computing and video gaming communities for fundraising. Russ and Catherine have developed MyGivmo, an app that runs in the background of a computer to validate blockchain transactions, which then generates revenue. Essentially, the strategy is for organizations to engage their gaming fundraisers to use their powerful PCs to run the app and raise funds for an organization without needing to be live on stream. Pretty low lift for orgs who want to get into the gaming fundraising space, so feel free to reach out to Russ and Catherine for more details if you're interested!
- There were at least 7 sessions on AI. Impressive! Glad that the industry has learned to stop worrying and love the bots. 🤖
- I attended Yoonhyung Lee and Anita Yankova's session on Twitch, TikTok, Tiltify & Influencers to Raise Money and Engage Supporters. As someone who was brought on to support the International Fund for Animal Welfare's first ever streaming activation on Tiltify, it was a proud moment for me to see the results of our work presented to an audience. I appreciated that the presentation didn't just show off the fundraising results, but also gave a great behind the scenes look at the challenges of producing such an event: recruiting streamers, developing a toolkit that streamers would use, and figuring out how to react when your best fundraiser dances around in a koala costume to celebrate shattering their fundraising goal 🐨 (OK, that last one wasn't really a challenge, but it made for a great slide on the presentation! 😀 )
- The Solutions Showcase had a lot of great booths, but to me, the most eye-catching one was Moore's. Their VR setup puts the user in a simulated (albeit highly simplified) experience that showcases the Arcus program at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Aimed at inspiring donors by showing the impact of their generosity, I thought it was a neat way to tell a story and engage donors. I'd love to see this at next year's Games for Change Festival.
- Finally, it was great to meet so many industry colleagues. Some I met for the first time, and some I hadn't seen in almost a decade! Looking forward to next year's conference!
But first, I have to get through TwitchCon San Diego next month. Then in October, I'll be speaking at DMAW's Multi-Channel Mini-Con. So stay tuned for more of my adventures in those events!
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