Summer School Lineup Announced: Which rebels will help your Cause?

It’s been a busy few months planning for a bigger, brighter and brainier Summer School this year. We’ve managed to keep the details under wraps and all a bit hush, hush… until now!  

Drum roll please…

Finally, we can reveal the programme lineup of rebels with a Cause who will be speaking at this year’s conference in July. Seasoned veterans, renegade fundraisers and even one or two fundraising revolutionaries  - all here to help you become a better fundraiser for your Cause.  

See which sessions tickle your fancy. Start planning the questions, challenges, and solutions you want to pose to help further your Cause.

Meet our band of rebels

You can look forward to two days at Trinity College, Dublin packed with fascinating speakers and leading thinkers on fundraising theory and practice. Get ready for a passionate exploration and discussion of pertinent fundraising challenges, in this informal and intimate setting.

Meet rebel-rouser Stephen George who will be making his Summer School debut on the Thursday afternoon. He’ll talk about how creative leadership can help you become a better fundraising leader. While renegade Jeff Brooks returns with a look at how we can learn from the worst, as he puts stupid non-profit ads in the spotlight.

We’re delighted to welcome Summer School first-timer and RNLI Fundraising Director Leesa Harwood, who’ll encourage you to push the boundaries with your fundraising. Explore powerful storytelling in practice with copywriter Aline Reed who’ll be talking alongside journalists and novelists.

And that’s just some of the highlights from day one!

Skip forward to Friday and Blackbaud’s VP of data and analytics Steve MacLaughlin will ask what it takes to be successful in the age of big data. Bluefrog’s Wainani Dombrowski and James Waring will explore whether boring creative is interesting to donors and what delivers results.

And to challenge perspectives and stimulate discussion, there are a number “wildcard” sessions from related worlds.

With so many fascinating sessions on the programme, this promises to be a very special Summer School. See for yourself.

More speakers, more questions, more answers — and more value for money 

If you’re thinking of attending, Summer School is one of the best value fundraising conferences around at €350 (even better when there are more than four of you attending — you get a 10% discount!). But just because we cost less, that doesn’t mean we offer less.

Over two days in the heart of beautiful Dublin, you get great talks, intimate gatherings, plenty of networking opportunities and a real commitment to bringing people together.

After all, isn’t that what great fundraising is so often about?

Join the rebels and challenge the status quo

Fundraising isn’t having an easy time of it. At Summer School, we don’t shy away from that. We bring together the best and brightest brains in our sector to tackle the challenges head-on, so we can do better for our supporters and our beneficiaries.

That means asking difficult questions. Proposing boundary-pushing and practical solutions. Shaking off our complacency and shaking up our industry.

The joy of Summer School is we can do all of that together. Speakers and delegates, fundraising directors, managers and executives, copywriters and art directors, and you – all working together, talking together, and taking action together.

Whether you’re an old hand in the industry or building your fundraising career, this is your chance to join colleagues and friends to learn, to share, and to improve your Cause, and our wider sector for the better.

Not booked yet? Be a rebel for your Cause. Buy your tickets now!

Damian O'Broin     @damianobroin