Fundraising Now 2026 - Speakers

George joined DSC at the beginning of 2017 and, having previously led the sales and customer service teams, moved into training at the start of 2020.

He trains in Management & Leadership, Fundraising, Personal Development, Project Management and Wellbeing. He has extensive experience in helping organisations make positive changes to how they approach social change.

He is also qualified as a Mental Health First Aider, with additional time spent studying Psychosis.

The favourite part of his role is knowing that the work DSC performs has a major impact on both the charities and individuals that we are able to serve.

Michelle Stein teaches fundraisers the practical skills that transform donor relationships. Her experience landing multi-million pound gifts at The British Museum, WaterAid, and Zeitz MOCAA taught her what actually works - and what doesn't. Through Handmade Fundraising, she provides training and consultancy to organisations like The END Fund, British Red Cross, and WWF South Africa, helping teams build stronger donor relationships and secure bigger gifts. She's trained over 4,000 fundraisers globally. Find her in Cape Town's tidal pools between sessions.

Gill is an expert trainer and consultant with over 30 years of charity sector experience. She has been a fundraiser, manager, director, and before setting up her own consultancy, headed up the fundraising for one of the top 10 income generating charities in the UK.

A psychology graduate, Gill is passionate about helping others to achieve their full potential. She works with regional, national and international charities and past clients include Interpol, WWF, Redwings Horse Sanctuary, Build Africa, various adult and children’s hospices, Cambridge University Colleges, numerous Wildlife Trusts and Sue Ryder Care.

Gill is a regular speaker at conferences and has contributed to a number of books. In 2012, in recognition of her contribution to fundraising, Gill was made a Fellow of the Institute of Fundraising.

Isabelle Bryan is the Head of Fundraising at Kids Club Kampala, leading the organisation’s global strategy to grow income across grants, corporate partnerships, major donors, and individual giving. With over 10 years of experience, she specialises in building sustainable funding pipelines that have driven long-term impact for programmes across Africa, Asia, the UK and the US.

Previously, Isabelle spent eight years at Hope for Justice, most recently as Senior Trusts and Foundations Manager, overseeing a £1M+ annual portfolio and shaping global fundraising plans for anti-trafficking work. Her career also includes award-winning CSR and community investment roles at The Co-operative Group, and she has held several Non-Executive Director positions supporting children and vulnerable communities in the UK and overseas. Her current Non-Executive role is with The Congo Children's Trust.

A multilingual communicator (French, Lingala, and Spanish), Isabelle is also the author of the fantasy novel Sakola, with its sequel currently underway.

Gaby Attwood is Partnership Development Lead at Action for Children, forging strategic partnerships with UK businesses to deliver meaningful change for children and young people.

Gaby has built partnerships with leading brands including Nationwide Building Society, Virgin Media O2, and Starling Bank.

In her six years in corporate fundraising, Gaby’s developed a deep understanding of partnerships and how they can unlock not only income but huge business and charity benefits.

Rob (www.brightspotfundraising.co.uk) is an award-winning trainer and the author of several books, including The Fundraiser Who Wanted More. His podcast, Fundraising Bright Spots has been listened to more than 200,000 times. As a fundraising trainer for 20 years, he has helped more than 60,000 fundraisers and directors. His clients include Ashgate Hospice, Oxfam, TATE and UNICEF.

Michelle Benson helps nonprofits find, reach and engage funders on LinkedIn.
By teaching Fundraisers, CEO’s, Comms Teams, Trustees and Fundraising Consultants how to use LinkedIn strategically – she helps charities get in front of the most difficult to reach prospects (companies, trust funds, philanthropists and their advisors). So, you can reach your fundraising target.
The offline world is designed to keep charities from connecting with funders – but the online world is designed to connect you without barriers. If you know what you’re doing.

Michelle has designed a simple and very effective strategy for charities to tap into the massive funding network LinkedIn has already gathered, without sending cold messages or posting hours of content.

Michelle has 30 years of fundraising experience, including working as a fundraiser and a funder. Today she focuses on teaching charities from all over the world, how to use LinkedIn effectively.

Experienced Event Manager and Esports Tournament Operator, with a demonstrated history of running remote and in person events at a national scale. My experience within the gaming and digital communities, along with a strong background in Project Management and leading specialized teams, is allowing me to help CALM activate authentically in this area, and break new ground in the online space for charitable organisations.

Charlotte McMenamin-Walshe is Senior Partnerships Officer at Green Alliance, a UK environmental think tank and charity driving forward ambitious political leadership to tackle the climate and nature crises and improve peoples’ lives. Charlotte supports Green Alliance’s funder and partner relationships, including with trusts and foundations, individuals and businesses. She collaborates closely with the senior management team and project managers to develop opportunities to deliver greater environmental and social impact. Previously, she worked at Quakers in Britain, developing funder support for their climate justice advocacy and peacebuilding programmes.

Joy has extensive experience in building impactful partnerships over the last 2 years at Help for Heroes leading our partnerships with Tesco, BAE, Goldman Sachs, Ambassador Cruise Line and others; previously she has built strong partnerships at The Dogs Trust, British Heart Foundation and Young Lives vs. Cancer. She has delivered award winning brand partnerships, lead the South West CIOF Committee and created transformational impact through partnerships across communities.