Today was a great day in Amsterdam at the IFC Conference.

I finished Day 2 of the Master Class on Major Giving and really enjoyed it. It’s just fascinating to meet and brainstorm with people from the other side of the world who are faced with the same challenges as those of us living in the Great White North.

This afternoon I sat in on a case study presented by a Finnish Director of Fundraising who works for Finn Church Aid. The challenges were many and the idea here was that after hearing those, the class would divide up into groups to provide the speaker with strategies to overcome those challenges. If I say so myself, we excelled, although many of the groups had the same recommendations. I enjoyed when one of the presenters reminded me of the inspiring question, “What would you say about your charity if you and Bill Gates were trapped in an elevator?”

After completing a little long distance client work, I attended the “Building Community” session conducted by the very entertaining, Stephen Pigeon of the U.K. The U.K. is extremely forward thinking and there’s a lot Canadians can learn from this market. When Stephen asked the audience whether anyone in the audience had considered using Purls (personal URLs), I was proud to be able to raise my hand. No client has bought into their use yet, but Taslim Somani (ST’s Director of Digital Marketing) and I have discussed them at length over the last year and look forward to having the opportunity to take advantage of their unique ability to produce customized messages for the right donor. I was very inspired by his entertaining session. I know Steve Thomas (who also attended) was inspired as well.

I particularly enjoyed the Plenary with Tony Elischer. He took us through the last 30 years of fundraising, starting with the Live Aid concert (so innovative and unique) and the dominance of direct mail in the 80′s, through the advent of the internet in the ’90′s and the shift of focus to disaster relief in the aughts (9/11, Katrina, Haiti, Pakistan, Oil Spill…to name a few). So thought-provoking.

I can’t believe I’ve been deep in conference mode for only two full days, yet I’ve learned so much. I retire this evening so proud to be part of an industry that has such a bright future and such a distinguished meaningful past. I can’t imagine what tomorrow will bring but I can’t wait.