AAW Focus on Fundraising In 2023: The Power of People (in Person!)

27th January by Penny Walters

Last week we heard from Ali Kurn, Managing Consultant of Executive Search at AAW on how to refresh your recruitment processes in 2023. In keeping with the ‘People’ theme, Penny Walters, Project Lead for Strategy and Culture at RNIB, reflects on the excitement (and trepidation) of organising the charity’s first face to face fundraising conference in three years and her top tips for making it a success.

Everyone can feel it – that buzz in the room. He’s taller than I imagined, she’s chattier than I realised – they are real people, not just pictures on Microsoft Teams. It’s been three long years behind our screens, but today, 130 people are gathered in one place and ready for two days in each other’s company. The fundraising conference is back.

I had a dream – or was it a nightmare – a couple of nights earlier. There was deadly hush in the conference room. A stony silence. No one would speak to one another, no one would look their neighbour in the eye. In the cold light of day, I knew things wouldn’t be that bad. But we really needed our conference to go well. We couldn’t afford for a damp squib.

We’ve been through some change – who hasn’t? Within the last 12 months - a newly formed department, new senior leadership, a new income and engagement strategy launched just a few days earlier. The changes have without question been overwhelmingly positive – but change is hard. People move along the change curve at different rates and change in a remote and virtual world is even tougher. Our conference wasn’t just a chance for people to meet, to share ideas and takeaway important messages. It was a pivotal moment to change how people were feeling, how people were behaving – the culture of our big team. And ultimately, what we can achieve in the next 12 months. Because we all know, culture eats strategy for breakfast.

So how did it go? A resounding success. When nearly the only negative feedback you get is someone’s room being a little cold, you know you’ve done something right. But what have we learnt?

Point one - Timing is everything

With a little careful choreography, the stars aligned for us. We didn’t recognise until after the event just how important this was. The conference marked our new Chief Officer’s one-year anniversary. It took place just one week after sharing our new five-year income and engagement strategy with the team. And we internally launched our new organisational Purpose the week before – a game-changer in bridging our mission and money. The timing couldn’t have been better. It symbolised the start of a new era. But it also gave the conference crystal-clear clarity of purpose, so every session and every table exercise resonated with every individual in the room.

Point two – Every moment, both in and outside the conference room, was valuable

Returning to that cold-sweat dream of stony silence and awkward interactions, undeniably, we all know that connecting with other people is the greatest value of any conference. So, what worked for us?

• The thought behind our tables – It sounds like a minor detail, but who you’re sat with matters! We got the mix of facilitating staff to make new connections and bond with their teammates just right. During the day, tables were carefully mixed with people from different teams, but with no focus on roles or seniority. Everyone was equal in that room, and that led to an environment where even the shyest and most junior around the table grew comfortable to fully contribute. The role of the table host was also an important one. We identified authentic informal leaders - the sorts of people not currently recognised as such, often overlooked and underused, but whose soft influence makes them powerful allies in changing our culture. Socialising in the evening however was all about spending time with your closest colleagues. You only see that level of competition for a gold chocolate medal and the title of Quiz-Champion between fundraising teams!

• Networking outside of sessions – We all know networking can be daunting. I’ve been there – hovering at the side of the room, checking my phone, making myself look busy. That’s why we set up The Three Chats Challenge – three fun questions to ask each other during the breaks. It was one of those gimmicks I thought may quietly dissipate. But I was completely wrong! It took off – in a big way. Bonds were made between people who wanted to be astronauts and even ‘bin-men’ when they grew up. I’ve since joined meetings where people are still asking one another that very same question. It’s helped build a small but more human bond in our virtual world.    

Point three - Keeping that buzz alive

So, we’re now a couple of weeks post-event. We’re drip-feeding staff videos captured at the conference; we’ve got photo albums ready to go live next week. Anything to keep that conference buzz alive. We’re obviously making plans too. Aside from our 12-month collaborative work-planning kicking off, we’ve mapped out our next steps to change behaviours and create the culture we all want to see – and since the conference, more than a third of the team want to actively play a role to make it happen. Keeping that momentum going now is vital. We’ve built a new level of trust, a sense of excitement for the future, and a belief that perhaps we can do this together.  

Now don’t get me wrong. The blood, sweat and hours (no there weren’t any tears) put into these two days should not be understated. You need to deliver. Expectations are high. But the reward? Greater than I could have imagined. To move from a place where less than 25 per cent of staff engaged to tell us how they were even feeling, to nearly three quarters of staff responding to tell you they get it, they’re on board, and they’re excited about the future – that’s a shift in mindset and behaviour – that’s a changing culture. And after just two days.

Now that’s the power of people in person.

Over the past few months, AAW have been supporting the RNIB with their new income and engagement strategy. If you would like to find out more about our approach of working with teams to co create a strategy and plan that really delivers results, please contact imogen@aawpartnership.com