IoF South West holds Internet fundraising and social media conference

The Institute of Fundraising South West regional group today held a conference on online fundraising and social media. Inspired by the Institute of Fundraising North's conference on the subject in February, this event featured some of the same speakers (including myself) plus some new faces.

The event was sold out, with over 75 delegates present.

Photo: The Southville Centre, Bristol, venue for the conference

Sue Fidler gave two presentations on The Five Pillars of Online Fundraising and an afternoon session on using email.

Photo: Sue Fidler at IoF South West conference

Chris Ward, Creative Communications Director at Comic Relief, explained how the charity had used digital and social media to raise £20 million for this year's campaign.

Photo: Chris Ward, Comic Relief, at IoF South West Conference

Jonathan Waddingham of Justgiving.com presented on "What charities really think of online giving and how to make the most of it":

I covered the event live on Twitter as did Jonathan Waddingham (Justgiving), Charlotte Harris (Justgiving), Alex Goldstein (Dogs Trust), Jacqui Darlow (Dogs Trust), Chris Davis (Weldmar Hospicecare Trust). Indeed, according to What the Hashtag:

http://wthashtag.com/Iofsw

17 people contributed to the event coverage and discussion on Twitter, with at least 109 messages on the subject.

Bryan Sergeant of dinner4good.com was invited to fill a short gap in the event by introducing his new service:

Jo Barnett of Virgin Money Giving presented the new service, discussing 21st century donors:

and answered questions at the end:

I once again presented on the subject of how charities can get the most out of their existing investment in a website and email communications. As such, I avoided covering social media and its opportunities, since that was to be covered well by the other speakers.