We invite you to submit a proposal to lead a 75-minute Breakout Session at the upcoming Faith & Fundraising: Chicago 2026 conference.

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For more information about the conference and to register, click here. For details about presenting a breakout session at the conference, continue reading below.​​

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Proposal Submission Form and Deadline

Please submit your proposal via the Proposal Submission Form no later than Friday, August 15, 2025.

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This form, hosted by conference app Whova, is much easier and faster to submit than in past years. We've heard it takes less than five minutes to complete!

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About the Conference - Education. Inspiration. Fellowship.

The Faith & Fundraising Conference is designed around three themes:

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Education: Attendees will gain new skills and learn tactics to take back and immediately apply to their work.

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Inspiration: Participants will leave with a vision of what is possible and inspired to pursue their goals with confidence, enthusiasm, and support. 

 

Fellowship: Attendees will develop valuable relationships that support, nurture, and mentor them into the future. 

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About Conference Attendees

This conference connects faith and vocation for development professionals serving in fundraising, nonprofit leadership, marketing, and communication roles. Attendees hold such titles as: Chief Development Officer, Major Gifts Officer, Principal, Pastor, CEO, Board Member, Consultant, Annual Fund Director, Planned Giving Officer, Special Events Coordinator, Director of Marketing, and many more. 

 

Attendees come from a wide variety of experience levels and backgrounds. Some are just beginning in the field, while others have decades of experience. We are looking for presenters able to speak to various levels of proficiency – both for sessions that are targeted at all attendees, and to specific experience levels.

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About the Breakout Sessions (75 minutes total)

The goal is for participants to not only “consume” information, but to also offer their own experiences, share expertise, and apply what they are learning to their own situations. 

The breakout sessions will be broken into five tracks. Please select the track that best matches your session.

 

1. Leadership & Professional Development: Showcase your best tips for improving leadership and developing staff and board relationships within an organization. Sessions may also address team building and as self-improvement to help with creating stronger faith in fundraising leaders.

2. Annual Fund: These sessions will assist in developing your “everyday” giving plans. Provide best practices for appeals, crowdfunding, giving days, monthly giving plans, and more.

3. Data & AI: ChatGPT and generative AI is here and quickly becoming a necessity in any development team. Provide strategies for AI, creating data to drive decisions, ethics as it relates to AI, and basic and advanced tips.

4. Major & Planned Giving: These sessions take the appeals and “regular” asks to an advanced level as speakers will provide best practices for receiving large gifts as well as working with donors through estate planning and other non-typical donations to your organization.  

5. Marketing & Communications: These sessions will cover a wide variety of ways to communicate your brand as well as reach your donors. Sessions can range from video to grant proposal writing to event planning and more.

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The Details for Your Breakout Session Proposal

Sessions are expected to be a combination of presentation and interaction.

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We strongly recommend including a nonprofit representative in your proposed list of presenters, if you are from a for-profit company.

 

Topic and materials must be relevant to Faith and Fundraising. This is a broad spectrum of topics and we will select sessions based on variety and creativity. 

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Prepare the following items to complete your session proposal and then submit it via this form.

• For each presenter: 

  • Contact info (name, organization, phone, email, etc.)

  • A short bio – 100 words or less

  • Headshot photo

• Session title and description (100 words or less)

• Proposed structure for interactivity (100 words or less)

• 3-5 Learning Objectives (Attendees will leave with…) 

• Information about whether you have made the presentation before, including where and when

 

We look forward to reading your proposal! If you have additional questions, please reach out to Shasta Foy at shasta@acfundraising.org.

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Proposal Submission Form and Deadline

Please submit your proposal via the Proposal Submission Form no later than Friday, August 15, 2025.