Isla Campbell Lupton and Gary Kernahan talk about highlights from the conference in 2022 and what to expect this year

We’ve both been on the Scottish Fundraising Conference Committee for 10 years, ever since the event had its own committee and have had just about every conference volunteer role there is at some point! It is fair to say that we are both passionate about enabling professional development in the sector. 

After more date changes than we care to remember, the Scottish Fundraising Conference was finally back in June 2022. We really had no idea how the first event would be after so long apart but following some anxious moments feedback was really positive with people delighted to see colleagues and friends in person again. 

We were both especially proud of the number of first-time attendees last year with nearly a third of attendees joining us for the first time. We also had a really high number of new speakers at the event. 

We want to continue this trend in 2023 and are doing all we can to encourage new people to the event with free bursary places, sponsored by justrunning.com, volunteer roles which includes access to sessions, reduced rates for small charities, networking for first timers and speaker training available to ensure the event is open to as many as possible. None of this is possible without the financial support from our sponsors.

We are also really excited about the Scottish Fundraising Awards this year. We have made some changes to the categories and have three new award categories including one for supporter experience. We hope that lots of you will take a serious look at nominating a colleague or campaign this year.

You can nominate a colleague or campaign here.  

As we face another uncertain year, peer support and professional development is more important than ever. 

We can’t wait to see lots of you at the conference this September!

Isla Campbell Lupton and Gary Kernahan are co-chairs of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising Scottish Fundraising Conference.