Join EFA at November’s Skillshare in Edinburgh – registration open

EFA’s 2025 Skillshare – Fundraising for a Changing World: Power, Purpose and Possibility – takes place in less than a month – with fundraisers and others working in the civil society sector welcome to attend.

This year’s Skillshare and Annual General Assembly/Member Workshop will be in Edinburgh, Scotland on 20 and 21 November, and is hosted by EFA member the Chartered Institute of Fundraising. The AGA and Member Workshop is open to EFA member representatives only.

About the programme

The Skillshare starts with a walking tour of Edinburgh on the evening of 20 November, followed by dinner at the Amber Restaurant – an expert in Scottish cuisine.

The next day sees the Skillshare programme kick off at 8.45am, concluding at 3.45pm. The first session of the day will see Alan Clayton, chair of Revolutionise International and author of Great Fundraising Organizations, and Annemarie Devlin, consulting director, Revolutionise International, discussing Great Fundraising and the link between having a precise and powerful purpose, a fundraising new ambition and achieving transformational growth in fundraising.

Other sessions include:

• The future of civil societies with Katerina Hadzi-Miceva Evans, European Center for Not-For-Profit Law Stichting (ECNL)
• Reclaiming power & purpose: Global lessons for resource mobilisation in a changing world, with Willeke van Rijn, CEO, Resource Alliance
• Mapping philanthropy in Europe: What do we really know about who gives what? with Barry Hoolwerf, executive director, ERNOP
• Banned and blocked? How to make Meta keep working for your digital fundraising, with Joshua Leigh, digital marketing and fundraising specialist, Hynt
• Shaping the future of philanthropy with AI, with Dr Marta Herrero, Director, Centre of Digital Innovation in Philanthropy and Fundraising
• New ways of giving & fundraising, with Malcolm Fleming, president, Association of Charity Lotteries in Europe (ACLEU), Emily Grint, in-memory strategist, Legacy Futures, and Zuzana Suchová, Fund Manager, Donio

In her session, Katerina Hadzi-Miceva Evans will tackle the important questions of what the new global order look like; how can civil society lead change rather than just respond; and what resources are needed to ensure its strength and sustainability. The session will also highlight current responses by the sector, and aims to inspire the fundraising community to seize the opportunity to help shape a more ambitious, resilient, and hopeful future.

Hoolwerf will present the first final conclusions of ERNOP’s Mapping Philanthropy in Europe initiative, and compare them with findings from the earlier study published in 2017. His session will also invite participants to reflect on how improved knowledge of philanthropy can inform fundraising practice and strengthen Europe’s philanthropic ecosystem.

The day also provides networking breaks and lunch.

How to book

The programme, as well as more information on the speakers and how to book, can be found here.

Once again, EFA is offering a reduced rate for additional registrations from the same organisation.

This will be the 16^th annual EFA Skillshare and AGA. Last year’s event took place in Zurich, hosted by Swissfundraising. More on that here.

Photo by Arno Senoner on Unsplash