Live from the International Fundraising Congress

By Erica Waasdorp

The International Fundraising Congress (IFC), hosted by The Resource Alliance, is taking place this week in the Netherlands. Erica Waasdorp, president of A Direct Solution, is U.S. ambassador for the IFC and will be reporting live for FundRaising Success from the conference.

Thursday, Oct. 17
Wow, just one more day ... hard to believe!

I started the day with Kay Sprinkel Grace's session, "Dare to Dream — Breaking Through Barriers to Engagement and Investment," where she discussed the importance of "finding the new idea," which is something we could all benefit from. She's such a great, inspiring speaker and so very interactive.

I followed that up with a tremendous session, "When Disaster Strikes — Fundraising's Greatest Failures," where Sean Triner from Australia and Damian O'Broin from Ireland shared their greatest fiascos and how some of those turned out really well!

Finally, I attended the "Magic. Mushrooms. Money — How to Organise Growth and Nurture Innovation in an International Organisation" session by Veronika Graf from Four Paws International in Austria and Bernhard Drumel of Austria, who spoke about how putting all hands on deck (in one direction) generated tremendous support for a new animal-welfare campaign they introduced.

I absolutely love case studies, as they truly tell the stories and can be examples to fundraisers, no matter where we are.

Kyla Shawyer, ‎chief operating officer at Stop Cleft — International Alliance (SCIA), will be next year's chair of the conference, and the Resource Alliance already has opened up the call for papers for 2014. So think about ideas for speakers, and if you have any questions about this all-inclusive conference, don't hesitate to contact me.

Till tomorrow …

~ Erica Waasdorp
President, A Direct Solution

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Erica Waasdorp Author's page

Erica Waasdorp is one of the leading experts on monthly giving. She is the president of A Direct Solution, a company serving nonprofit organizations with fundraising and direct marketing needs, with a focus on monthly giving and appeals. She authored "Monthly Giving: The Sleeping Giant" and "Monthly Giving Made Easy." She regularly blogs and presents on fundraising, appeals and monthly giving — in person and through webinars. She is happy to answer any questions you may have about this great way of improving retention rates for your donors.

Erica has over 30 years of experience in nonprofits and direct response. She helped the nonprofits she works with raise millions of dollars through monthly giving programs. She is also very actively supports organizations with annual fund planning and execution, ranging from copywriting, creative, lists, print and mail execution.

When she’s not working or writing, Erica can be found on the golf course (she’s a straight shooter) or quietly reading a book. And if there’s an event with a live band, she and her husband, Patrick, can be found on the dance floor. She also loves watching British drama on PBS. Erica and Patrick have two step sons and a cat, Mientje.

Live from the International Fundraising Congress — Day 4