This month’s Let’s Talk Fundraising found host Tim Beynon on the ground at Fundraising Convention 2026, held at the QE2 Centre in London.
It was a milestone event for more than one reason: this was the final Fundraising Convention, and the sessions and conversations captured across the episode covered everything from sector-wide data to the inner lives of early career fundraisers.
Here’s a full round-up of what was discussed...
Tim opened proceedings with Katie Docherty, Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, to talk through why Fundraising Convention is ending. “Fundraising is changing and so we are changing with it,” Katie explained. “We’ve done a lot of listening really hard, listening to our members and other fundraisers to really understand what it is that they need.”
From next summer, CIOF’s existing regional, national and special interest conference programme will be joined by two new flagship events in London: one focused on practical fundraising, the other a strategic summit.
The aim, Katie said, is “to provide a much more tailored conference experience to fundraisers that is going to be more affordable and more accessible,” while still preserving “that in-person community networking experience.”
Katie was candid about the mixed emotions surrounding the final Convention. “I hope that we’ll be able to carry those feelings forwards, and I hope that we’ll be able to create events that will inspire that same fondness and that same excitement and passion. We don’t need to lose that. We’re just going to do it in a slightly different way.”
Highlights from this year’s event, she said, included a plenary from speaker Jez Rose and a session from Blackbaud on AI, plus an emotional National Fundraising Awards evening: “I certainly didn’t have a dry eye. I went through several packets of hankies.”
Next, Tim caught up with Tobin Aldrich, principal partner at AAW, and Sophie Carre, Director of Public Engagement at Trussell, fresh from presenting the findings of this year’s Fundraising Benchmarks Survey - now in its third year and its biggest yet, drawing on data from over 100 charities representing nearly 10% of the sector’s voluntary income.
“In fundraising we don’t have enough data,” Tobin said. “The data we have isn’t good enough.” The survey exists to close that gap, helping charities understand their performance “in the context of the wider sector.” This year’s headline finding: the sector is “broadly stable,” with income still largely driven by individual donations, including legacies. But Tobin was careful to flag that stability raises its own questions: “I think it does raise questions about whether investments are necessarily going in the right places.”
Sophie, speaking from Trussell’s perspective, stressed that data has to be read with context, not instead of it. “It is really important to use good judgement, to use context, but make sure that you don’t over-rationalise something. The data is solid data… layer that with good judgement and context in a balanced, measured way.”
Her advice to charities considering taking part for the first time was simple: “Embrace it, it’s something to be excited about… you get back what you put in.”
2026 also marks a decade since the Fundraising Regulator was established, prompting a wide-ranging conversation between Tim and Chief Executive Gerald Oppenheim. Set up in 2016 in response to damaging revelations about fundraising practice, the Regulator faced early scepticism: “It was untried, untested, nobody knew how harsh we were going to be… so we had to win trust and confidence.”
Gerald pointed to the sector’s handling of GDPR in 2018 as a genuine success story, and highlighted growing public recognition of the Fundraising Regulator badge as a trusted mark - “more likely to donate to a charity displaying the badge than one that doesn’t,” according to forthcoming research.
Challenges have included a market enquiry into agency subcontracting that revealed “shades of 2015” in some charities’ oversight of their contracts, and the rise of Community Interest Companies, which the public struggles to distinguish from registered charities despite far lighter regulation.
Looking ahead, Gerald flagged outdated fundraising legislation and, inevitably, AI as the big issues for the regulator’s next strategic plan. His advice to charities was to get the fundamentals right first: “You are still going to need to have relationships with the people who donate money to you… I don’t think anything beats a personal relationship.”
On AI specifically: “The dangers are self-evident, the obvious - that you need to control it and not let it control you. Be careful out there.”
With small charities making up 96% of the sector, Tim spoke to Matt Smith, Managing Director of THINK, and Becky Bednall, Head of Fundraising at Mayhew Dog and Cat Home, about the advantages, and challenges, of fundraising at a smaller scale.
Both were clear that agility and focus are real competitive advantages. “You can literally jump on those opportunities that come through the inbox,” Becky said, while Matt praised the “proximity to the work” that smaller organisations retain.
Becky spoke candidly about inheriting a fundraising programme that was “a Jack of all trades, master of none,” and the courage it took to say no to underperforming income streams.
“Not being afraid to say no to stuff that might be something the board might love.” Matt warned against “copycatting” fundraising trends without checking they’re the right cultural or strategic fit, citing the ice bucket challenge era as a cautionary example.
Asked how small charities can compete with bigger players for the same donor pound, Matt reached for a sporting analogy: “If you’re trying to compete with a big brand, they’re the twenty-stone heavyweight boxer… don’t fight fire with fire. Think about what makes you special.”
For a practical Monday morning shift, Becky recommended handwritten thank you cards for mid- and high value donors, while Matt suggested a quick health check on board engagement.
The episode’s final feature explored a live coaching session run by transformative coach Matt Middler with Caitlin Scott, who is currently looking for her first fundraising role. Matt’s central idea: professional development has traditionally focused on the “outer game” - skills and knowledge - while neglecting the “inner game” of self-awareness and resilience.
“It’s really important for early career fundraisers to think about giving equal weight to the inner game and the outer game from the outset of their career,” Matt said, reflecting that he wished he’d done more of this work himself earlier on.
Caitlin, a former actor, said the framing resonated instantly, describing a shift from “I’m looking for work” to “I’m looking for a role that’s going to suit me in the long term.”
Asked what he’d change if he could go back, Matt didn’t hesitate: “I would invite young Matt to work on his self esteem… I recognise that a lot of my unhelpful patterns of behaviour, which led to cycles of burnout through people pleasing and not being able to say no, was actually driven by a sort of lack of self esteem.”
Two early career fundraisers who attended the live session, Elizabeth Foskett and Ben Johnston, both described it as validating, with each committing to their own small shift: managing what they say yes to and setting aside dedicated time to plan their career development.
Across all five conversations, some common threads emerged: a sector reckoning with the value of good data, wrestling with how AI fits into fundraising practice, and increasingly recognising that resilience and self-awareness matter just as much as technical skill.
As Katie Docherty put it, reflecting on Fundraising Convention’s ending, “fundraising is changing and so we are changing with it” - a sentiment that ran through every conversation in this episode.
This article was created using the support of AI, based on the transcript from the podcast. It has been reviewed, edited and approved by a member of CIOF staff.
