AFP Conference Kickoff: The Living Fundraising Legends

On Sunday, the Association of Fundraising Professionals kicked off its 50th International Conference on Fundraising, and it kicked things off in style.

How? With fundraising legend after fundraising legend … as well as Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter John Legend.

The opening general session Sunday afternoon began with Jana Eggers from Blackbaud, who talked about how giving grew less than 2 percent in 2012 … but that that 2 percent is not insignificant; it represents about $6 billion. Nothing to sneeze at.

Next up were Bob Carter and Andrew Watt from the AFP. Carter, the chairman of the AFP, and President and CEO Andrew Watt thanked the 4,000 fundraisers who registered for the conference and discussed the sector.

Then came the main attraction, John Legend himself, who passionately shared his philanthropic work for Teach for America and is advocacy for equal access to education from all children. Oh, he also sang a few song to get a different kind of buzz around the conference.

It was a fitting beginning to celebrate the 50th year of the AFP Conference, and the energy kept going from there, with the fundraising legends of tomorrow learning from the legends, and Legend, in the sector.