Multi-Channel Mini-Con 2025
Multi-Channel Mini-Con 2025
Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Description
Join us for DMAW's third annual Multi-Channel Mini-Con (MC2) – the first and only professional development event dedicated exclusively to multi-channel fundraising education and featuring an amazing line up of speakers.
This year we're focusing on Generosity. Understanding and honoring all forms of generosity leads to stronger communities. Nonprofits need to move beyond traditional thinking. Focusing only on donations misses the full picture of how people contribute.
This single-day event will bring to life strategies and tactics to help you foster generosity and giving across channels against key tracks:
- Acquisition
- Retention & Lapsed Reactivation
- Innovation
- Measurement
Cross-channel training has never been more important, and MC2 will provide a balance of highly strategic content and actionable tactical deep-dives. You'll walk away with new ideas to foster generosity and build relationships with your audience and integrated approaches that are working today in fundraising.
New this year: The one-day, one-track event will include a mix of big picture thought leadership, fast-paced lightning sessions, case studies, and interactive sessions.
Central to the success of MC2 is YOUR INVOLVEMENT. Past attendees have raved about the intimate setting, allowing for great networking at previous Mini-Con events.
We don't want you to attend simply to consume – this event has been designed so that attendees co-create the experience during lightning bolt rounds share learnings and ideas with panels and moderators.
Integrated professional development!
Integrated strategic learnings!
You'll find it at the industry's best integrated event, the Multi-Channel Mini-Con.
AGENDA (* subject to change)
| 8:15 - 9:00 am | Continental Breakfast & Registration |
| 9:00 - 9:15 am | Opening Announcements & Welcome Remarks |
| 9:15 - 10:00 am | MC2 Opening Keynote |
| The Generosity Report 2025: What the Data Tells Us and Where We Go Next Speaker: Abby Jarvis, Head of Research, Neon One You've seen the headlines: Individual giving is declining. Retention rates are low. And nonprofits face uncertainty about everything from federal funding to inflation and economic uncertainty. How can nonprofits weather these trends? The key is in understanding the overlapping ways people support their favorite causes and using those insights to build resilient fundraising programs. In this keynote, you'll learn how nearly 100,000 people supported nonprofits over five years, how their generosity multiplied and grew, and what that means for the nonprofit sector as a whole. Learning Objectives
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| 10:00 - 10:15 am | Carrying It Forward: Group Discussion on Keynote Takeaways |
| 10:15 - 10:30 am | Refresh & Connect Break |
| 10:30 - 11:00 am | Acquisition |
| Speaker: Tabitha Glenn, Vice President, Direct Response, USO How does an organization effectively balance driving new donor volume while ensuring value to grow a predictable and repeatable revenue pipeline. Learning Objectives
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| 11:00 - 11:10 am | Lightning Round 1 | Clicks to Connections: Digital Strategies for Nonprofit Acquisition |
| Speakers: Maeve Strathy, Vice President, Blakely; Lili O'Toole, Senior Director, Direct Response Marketing & Digital Fundraising, Children's National Hospital Foundation In this Lightning Round, Lili O'Toole (Children's National Hospital Foundation) and Maeve Strathy (Blakely) will share how nonprofits can harness email, SMS, and other channels to drive donor acquisition in a rapidly evolving landscape. Drawing on research and real campaign results, they'll explore how these channels can engage emerging donor audiences, support upper-funnel marketing, and convert leads – and retain them! You'll walk away with actionable insights on segmentation, lead generation, digital platforms, and content strategies that turn clicks into meaningful connections. | |
| 11:10 - 11:20 am | Lightning Round 2 | How Nonprofits Can Leverage Co-Op Data for Stronger Partnerships |
| Speaker: John Wilburn, Director, Account Management, Epsilon Explore how nonprofits can tap into co-op data to build stronger, more strategic partnerships. In just 10 minutes, learn why co-ops should be included alongside agencies and data providers in planning conversations, what free insights you can request to fuel smarter decisions, and hear quick industry perspectives to guide your next collaboration. | |
| 11:20 - 11:30 am | Lightning Round 3 | Lights, Camera, Convert: Video & Influencer Onboarding |
| Speaker: Maan Sacdalan, Director, Digital Production & Database Management, National Trust for Historic Preservation | |
| 11:45 am - 12:15 pm | Retention Evolution at The Nature Conservancy |
| Speaker: Elizabeth Palmisano, Associate Director, Audience Strategies, The Nature Conservancy TNC's approach to donor retention has changed over the years. This session will share details on the shift to a donor-first approach and what was learned along the way. Whether you're just beginning your multi-channel journey, want to go deep into a specific channel or tactic, or need to hear a strong success story to make the case for channel integration, there's something for you. Learning Objectives
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| 12:15 - 12:25 pm | Lightning Round 1 |
| Speaker: Sattie Persaud, World Heritage Cultural Center | |
| 12:25 - 12:35 pm | Lightning Round 2 |
| Speaker: Kacey Crawford, Director, Digital Fundraising, WETA | |
| 12:35 - 12:45 pm | Lightning Round 3 |
| Speaker: Nosa Adetiba, Director, Nationwide Donor Development, ACLU | |
| 12:55 - 2:00 pm | Lunch |
| 2:00 - 2:45 pm | ROAS Is Broken: Stop Rewarding Credit Stealers and Start Growing Giving |
| Speakers: Kevin Schulman, Founder, DonorVoice; Jen Boland, Senior Director, DonorVoice Our obsession with ROAS punishes the very spend that creates future demand. Every channel report claims the same $100 gift – direct mail, paid search, programmatic, email, Facebook – all taking credit. Bottom-of-funnel tactics look unbeatable on paper, but they siphon credit instead of driving growth. This session shows you how to measure what real matters – reach, unaided awareness, donor commitment, and incremental ROAS – so you can stop rewarding credit-stealers and start building lasting revenue. | |
| 2:45 - 3:00 pm | Messaging That Resonates – Using Agile Research Fuels Your Growth |
| Speaker: Lori Collins, EVP, Marketing Services, RKD Group Is your audience-first approach truly based on what donors think, feel, and value? Too often, messaging and campaign strategy are built on internal assumptions rather than real donor insights. In this session, we'll explore how donor sentiment uncovered via agile market research can identify what truly motivates generosity – and how you can use that knowledge to shape communications that connect more deeply, perform more effectively, and build stronger long-term relationships across channels and segments.
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| 3:00 - 3:15 pm | Refresh & Connect Break |
| 3:15 - 3:25 pm | Lightning Round 1 | Authenticity Affected: How We Taught AI to Write Like Us |
| Speaker: Bryan Casler, Vice President, Digital Strategy, 4Site Studios AI tools are reshaping how organizations communicate, but what happens when they learn to mimic our own voices? In this session, Bryan Casler, Vice President of Digital Strategy at 4Site Studios, will share how his team trained AI to write in a way that feels authentic, human, and aligned with organizational culture. He will explore both the opportunities and risks of this approach, from scaling content creation to maintaining trust with supporters. Attendees will leave with a clear sense of how authenticity can be preserved and even amplified when working with AI. | |
| 3:25 - 3:35 pm | Lightning Round 2 |
| 3:35 - 3:45 pm | Lightning Round 3 |
| 3:45 - 4:30 pm | Innovation that Matters: Aligning KPIs with Audience Engagement | A Panel of Perspectives Across the Nonprofit Sector |
| Speakers: Sattie Persaud, World Heritage Center; Mann Sacdalan, Director, Digital Production & Database Management, National Trust for Historic Prevention; Nosa Adetiba, Director, Nationwide Donor Development, ACLU; Moderator: Roger Hiyama, Delve Deeper | |
| 4:30 - 4:45 pm | Collective Takeaways: Applying What We've Learned |
| 4:45 - 4:50 pm | Closing Remarks |
| 4:50 - 6:30 pm | MC2 Happy Hour |
THANK YOU TO OUR PARTNERS
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Multi-Channel Mini-Con Registration
Member - Early Bird $175
Nonprofit Member - Early Bird $150
Group Rate - Early Bird - 3 or more Members $150
EARLY BIRD RATES END SEPTEMBER 30TH
CONSENT TO USE IMAGES AND RECORDINGS
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If you prefer not to have your information shared, please opt out by submitting a written request to programs@dmaw.org.
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Education - Seminars, Workshops, Tutorials
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