What Is Elevate Conference 2027?

Elevate is a two-day, hybrid nonprofit fundraising conference designed for leaders and professionals who are rethinking how they showcase their missions, connect with donors, and deepen relationships through events.

It's a collaborative learning experience built around four core faculty experts, additional specialist sessions, and a room full of people like you, all committed to better fundraising events.

Elevate 2027 is for you if:

• You manage a fundraising event

• You’re an event planner

• You volunteer on an event committee

• You’re on a fundraising team

• You’re a fundraiser

• You’re a nonprofit board member

• You’re an executive director

• You’re an auctioneer

• You’re responsible for designing nonprofit events and raising money

And we're hosting you the way we want you to host your donors: with intention, generosity, and real connection.

The Shift: How Fundraising Events Have Changed

The nonprofit landscape has transformed. Today's highest-impact fundraising events are:

• Relationship-Centered, Not Transaction-Focused: Built to enhance donor loyalty and create genuine connection, not just extract revenue.

• Mission-Driven at Every Touchpoint: Purpose anchors every decision, from design to storytelling to hospitality.

• Built for Belonging: Donors feel known and seen so they understand that their support genuinely matters.

• Intentionally Immersive: Every detail, from the welcome to the closing, is designed with care and attention.

• Strategic and Smaller: Raising more money with a more focused, aligned community.

• Movement-Building: Creating momentum that extends beyond one night, enhancing relationships over time.

At Elevate, you'll learn exactly how to implement these concepts in your own community.

Fundraising Events Have Changed. So Have We.

If you’ve attended Elevate in the past, you experienced an abundance of speakers, sessions, and content over the course of two very full days. 

This year will be fundamentally different: We're going deeper, not wider. 

Shifts in the fundraising event space have inspired us to evolve the design of Elevate 2027.

How Elevate 2027 is Different: A Collaborative Model Led by Faculty Experts

At the heart of Elevate is a small, intentional ensemble of four faculty experts who will explore best practices, teach signature content, and facilitate in-person workshops. They're not just speakers—they're collaborators, consultants, and fellow problem-solvers committed to helping you design your next event strategy.

Samantha Swaim | Revenue Strategy + Event Economics

How do you build sustainable fundraising growth that aligns with mission and capacity? Samantha brings clarity to the revenue question: not just how much to raise, but how to think differently about the role events play in your overall strategy.

Kristin Steele | Storytelling + Donor Connection

The best nonprofit events move people through story. Kristin teaches the frameworks that transform storytelling from nice-to-have into the engine of your event and your longest-lasting donor relationships.

Kendall Clawson | Nonprofit Leadership + Board Engagement

How do leaders show up differently when their community gathers? Kendall dives into decision-making, board alignment, team capacity, and the conversations that create confident, joyful leadership around your events.

T. Clay Buck | Major Donor Relationships + Engagement

Relationships are everything. Clay brings expertise in how events build major donor loyalty, create belonging, and move donors to give more and stay longer.

Plus Additional Specialist Sessions

The hybrid learning experience includes sessions from other experts addressing the nonprofit fundraising challenges your organizations face right now: team capacity, donor engagement, fundraising, marketing, and more.

How Elevate Works: Virtual vs. In-Person

For All Attendees: Shared Hybrid Education (4 hours/day, March 2-3)

Every virtual and in-person attendee gets access to:

• Big-Idea Talks: Faculty experts share their signature frameworks for fundraising event strategy, storytelling, leadership, and donor relationships through the lens of what's changing in nonprofit events.

• Teaching Sessions: Practical learning focused on applying new fundraising concepts right away.

• Live Clinic: The Elevate faculty team solves real attendee event challenges live on stage.

• Themes Panel: Faculty address common topics from day one, creating a conversation that evolves in real time.

• Specialist Workshops: Sector experts and practitioners tackling your nonprofit’s most pressing questions.

Virtual attendees join via livestream and participate in chat and Q+A.

For In-Person Attendees Only: The Deep Dive (2 hours/day of workshops + networking + facilitation)

When you attend Elevate in person, you get everything above plus the following to bring your nonprofit's next event plan to life.

Collaborative Workshops + Consulting (2 hours each day)

You work directly with the four core faculty members in small, facilitated workshop groups. Bring your real questions. Test your ideas. Learn what's working for nonprofits like yours. Dream together. Troubleshoot the actual obstacles you're facing. You'll leave with a strategy you've designed, not downloaded.

It's ensemble facilitation: sometimes on the stage, sometimes at the table, always learning and growing alongside fundraisers like you.

Peer-to-Peer Learning + Brainstorming

Coffee and lunch breaks become extended brainstorms where you can connect with nonprofit leaders from similar-sized organizations wrestling with the same questions. This is where the real learning happens: human-to-human, organization-to-organization, peer-to-peer. You'll swap effective tactics, troubleshoot challenges, and build genuine relationships with people who get it.

Event Structure Coaching

Blueprint your real next event. Bring your questions. Work through your specific situation. Get expert guidance on the strategy you're building.

Evening Gathering: Exploring Auctions (In-Person Bonus)

Event night is here. After the conference on day 1, gather with other in-person attendees for an evening exploring alternatives to the traditional gala format and diving into auction science: when auctions work, which formats move the needle, and how to decide if an auction belongs in your event.

Elevate Takeaways: Fundraising Event Concepts You Can Use Right Away

After Elevate, You'll Have:

• Clarity on your nonprofit's event strategy that is aligned with your mission, sustainable for your team, and designed for the donors you serve.

• Ethical frameworks for storytelling that actually move people and deepen relationships.

• Leadership tools for getting your board aligned, energizing your team, and exciting your donors.

• Specific strategies for strengthening major donor relationships through events and ongoing connection.

• A concrete plan for your next event (in-person attendees) that is tested, troubleshot, and ready to implement.

• A peer community of nonprofit leaders you'll stay connected to long after Elevate ends.

• A renewed sense of purpose that only comes from an experience that is intentional, joyful, and centered on belonging.