Interview with Kirsty Thomson
Howard Lake | 10 February 2010 | Blogs
Kirsty Thomson, Head of Events at the Institute of Fundraising, is moving on after six years. Penny Stephens spoke to her about how the Institute’s programme of events, including its flagship annual Convention, have developed.
When Kirsty Thomson joined the Institute of Fundraising in 2004 as events co-ordinator there were just two people in the events department, running the National Convention. And that was it. No other events, awards, nothing.
Today, as Thomson moves on to pastures new, the Institute now has 34 staff compared to 15 in 2004, the events department has expanded to five people and still runs the National Convention, but has added the National Awards and 10 one-day events. So there’s lots for her to reflect on and be proud of as she moves to a rather bigger job leading the logistics team for Worldskills London 2011 – the biggest skills competition in the world with over 50 countries competing and an expected audience in October 2011 of 250,000.
But back to the present and Thomson is still bubbling with enthusiasm about the programme for this year’s National Convention (5-7 July). It takes place in London for the fifth year, although there were murmurings about possibly taking it elsewhere in the country, but over 75 per cent of delegates said London was the right place. Around 900 delegates used to attend Convention when it was held in Birmingham, and in 2008 around 1900 came through the doors in London.
“The content is taking a different direction this year. We wanted to try to change the perception of the event, so we have overhauled the branding and looked in-depth at the sessions,” she says.
There is more detail in the initial programme (out now or available at http://www.nationalconvention.org.uk/) so that potential delegates have a much better idea of what they’re signing up to. In an effort to concentrate on quality rather than quantity the number of sessions has been reduced this year so planning which ones you’re going to go to in advance will be even more important to make sure the rooms hold all the delegates who want to go to popular sessions.
Senior fundraisers will be better catered for within the programme and there will be a number of debates that could ultimately affect policy making within the Institute and that Thomson hopes will be welcomed by higher level practitioners.
Plenaries have been moved back to first thing in the morning to get a cracking start to the day. There is also a breakfast briefing session each day.
Digital fundraising, including social networking, now has a track to itself, major donors and trusts and statutory now have their own tracks and events have been moved in with community and volunteers. Each track now has its own debate and networking section.
The National Awards will be presented at the gala dinner on the Monday night. Thomson says she is proud that the awards have become so successful and are the biggest awards for fundraisers in the sector. “We need and want to keep building on them year on year. Last year there were 800 people at the ceremony and I’m really proud of that,” she says.
Nominations for this year’s awards need to be in by 1 March, so visit
http://www.nationalawards.org.uk/nominate.php
for the entry form.
Over the last few years the one-day events have concentrated on specific techniques, and there have been legal seminars, partnership events (with AFP and NCVO, for example) and this year saw the introduction of the first live online seminar (social media made simple).
The recession has taken its toll on numbers, but Thomson says that is now picking up again. “We were really chuffed with the high attendance at Convention in 2009 and I feel I’m leaving a good legacy with this year’s changes,” she says. The number of one-day events will be reduced to six and will focus on key techniques rather than issues. The Institute has a conference researcher who spends a lot of her time talking to members to find out what they really want to hear and learn from so content is relevant and market-led.
Thomson says it has been a privilege to work with some of the best fundraisers in the business. She has worked with three different chairs of the Convention Board – Julius Wolff-Ingham of the Salvation Army, Gill Raikes from the National Trust and now Russell Thompson of the Royal British Legion. “It was great to see that Gill was recognised with a Lifetime Contribution Award in 2008,” says Thomson. “It meant a lot to us that someone working with us got the recognition they deserve.”
And as for Thomson’s proudest achievement since she’s been at the Institute? It has to be the Institute’s netball team, she says which looks like it will finish at or near the top of the league this year. What will they do without her!
www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.