Sir Lenny Henry opens the first virtual IoF Fundraising Convention
Howard Lake | 6 July 2020 | News
Sir Lenny Henry today presented the opening plenary of the Institute of Fundraising’s 2020 Fundraising Convention.
Introduced by Convention chair-elect Claire Rowney, Sir Lenny spoke live from home to many of the 3,000 delegates who have registered for this year’s Convention.
He talked about Comic Relief’s early days and its track record, of people’s instinctive willingness to give under even the hardest of circumstances, of the need to present peoples’ stories from their point of view, and the requirement for organisations like charities to reflect the people they work with and not just a sub-set of them.
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Sir Lenny answered questions from delegates and delivered an inspiring start to the three-day event.
Appropriately enough, Claire Rowney began the opening plenary session announcing two special awards (which would normally have been presented as part of the National Fundraising Awards). The Outstanding Contribution to Fundraising went to Richard Taylor, and, a one-off award, the Special Recognition Award, went to… Sir Lenny Henry!
Highlights of Lenny Henry’s opening plenary
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.