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💡 International Conference | 5 June 2025 | Sofia Balkan Palace Hotel, Bulgaria

FUNDRAISING in challenging times

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Organizations and partners

The event is initiated by the Fundraising Club Bulgaria* and organized by the Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law in partnership with the European Fundraising Association-EFA and with the financial support of the European Union for BIRDS in BG Project within the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) Programme and the America for Bulgaria Foundation for the Advance CSO Sustainable Growth Project.

Why Attend?

Reimagining Fundraising for Democracy

The International Conference will inspire and enrich the knowledge of all fundraising professionals and grassroot organizations from Bulgaria and the region on the modern European trends in fundraising for democratic values in challenging times.

be the first

For the first time in Bulgaria!

Experience the philanthropy and impact of giving of a new generation.
Join the event to discover contemporary practices, innovations and approaches for

  • crowdfunding and public mobilization for difficult causes
  • transformation of watchdog activities intо FUNDRAISABLE CAUSES
  • Engagement of Major Donors in Protecting Democratic CAUSES

Become a part of the large community of fundraising professionals from across Europe

What to Expect.

Exclusive networking opportunities

The contemporary strategies of donor foundations to support the CSO community 

Practical workshops and inspiring talks

Contemporary digital platforms, models and innovations supporting CSOs in crowdfunding, networking and capacity building  

Renowned international and local speakers

Inspiring approaches to raise funds for difficult causes and overcome the challenges 

Full-day event | 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Program

The full-day event program will combine general panel presentations and parallel discussions focusing on:

Time slot
Session topic
Guest Speakers
Moderator
Hall

Time slot

8:30 – 9:30

Session topic

Registration – Serdika, Ground Floor

Hall

Panel 1: Opportunities and Threats for Fundraising Now 

Time slot

9:30 – 9:50

Session topic

Welcome & Introduction 
(English translated)

Philanthropy and the social and environmental impact of giving – The power of the personal motivation to donate 

Guest speaker

Neli Kocheva  

(Head of Development and Fundraising at Teach For Bulgaria Foundation, Fundraising Club Bulgaria member) 

 

Aleksander Aleksiev  

(Actor and Producer, Philanthropist, Bulgaria) 

Hall

Royal 3 First floor

Time slot

09:50 – 10:20  

Session topic

Philanthropy and Civic Engagement 
(English translated)

Public mobilization and crowdfunding for democracy in Germany – How it is currently evolving and how it’s being endangered 

Guest speaker

Nadia Shabani  

(Director of Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law, Fundraising Club Bulgaria member)  

Rupert Graf Strachwitz
(Executive Director of Maecenata Foundation, Germany) 

Moderator

Eduard Marček  

(CEO of European Fundraising Association, Slovakia

Hall

Royal 3 First floor

Time slot

10:20 – 11:00

Session topic

How to raise funds for difficult causes – and other lessons from UK fundraising  
(English translated)

5 key lessons from fundraising in the UK – from how to raise funds for difficult causes through to how to get the basics right – that will help recruit more supporters and maximize their value in CCE countries 

Guest speaker

Richard Docwra  

(Director of the ChangeStar, UK)   

Moderator

Andrzej Pietrucha   

(Fundraising Consultant at Academy of Civic Organizations Foundation, Poland)  

Hall

Royal 3 First floor

Time slot

11:00 – 11:30 

Coffee break – Serdika, Ground floor 
 
Panel 2: Crowdfunding for Democracy 

Time slot

11:30 – 12:30 

Session topic

Digital Mobilization for Democracy   
(English translated)

Digital platforms, models and innovations supporting CSOs in crowdfunding, networking and capacity building   

Creating and running successful crowdfunding campaigns 

Guest speaker

Bjorn Lampe  

(Executive Director of betterplace.org, Germany)  

Zuzana Suchová  

(Fund manager at Donio, Slovakia)   

Moderator

Eduard Marček  

(CEO of European Fundraising Association, Slovakia) 

Hall

Royal 3 First floor

Time slot

12:30 – 13:30 

Lunch – Serdika, Ground floor 
Panel 3: Parallel sessions

Time slot

13:30 – 14:30 

Session topic

Session 1: Fundraising Starts with People   
(English translated)

Building your fundraising team     

The importance of personal examples for philanthropy 

Guest speaker

Giedrė Šopaitė-Šilinskienė
(Founder and CEO of the Baltic Fundraising Hub, Lithuania) 

 

Dilyana Maneva  

(Deputy Executive Director at For Our Children Foundation, Fundraising Club Bulgaria member)  

 

Latinka Ducheva  

(Head of Marketing and Engagement at WWF Bulgaria) 

Moderator: TBC

Hall

Royal 3 First floor

Time slot

13:30 – 14:30 

Session topic

Session 2: Individual Fundraising for Difficult Causes in CEE   
(English only)

Making a watchdog organization fundraisable   

Fundraising for minority rights amid political tensions   

Attracting donors to a data-driven watchdog organization 

Guest speaker

Katarzyna Batko  

(Co-founder of the Civic Network Watchdog Poland)    

 

Andrzej Pietrucha   

(Fundraising Consultant at Academy of Civic Organizations Foundation, Poland)

Eduard Marček  

(Chair of the Slovak Fundraising Centre, fundraiser at Transparency International, Slovakia) 

Moderator

Luben Panov

(Program Director “Business Enabling Environment” at America for Bulgaria Foundation, Fundraising Club Bulgaria member)

Hall

Royal 2 First floor

Time slot

13:30 – 14:30 

Session topic

Session 3: What does corporate giving in Bulgaria look like today?  
(Bulgarian translated)

Transition to more strategic and long-term forms of corporate engagement in civic causes 

Measuring the impact of corporate giving 

The role of partnerships with CSOs 

Guest speaker

Petar Torneff 

(Managing Director ATC Accenture Bulgaria)  

Diana Dimova-Yordanova 

(Corporate Communications and Public Relations Manager at Fantastico Group, Bulgaria) 

Svetoslav Dragiev 

(Manager of Lead by Example Foundation of SiteGround, Bulgaria)  

Adelina Peeva

Sponsorships and Еvents Мanager, UniCredit Bulbank, Bulgaria

Moderator

Gabriela Marinova  

(Deputy Director of the Bulgarian Business Leaders Forum, Bulgaria) 

Hall

Royal 1 

First floor 

Time slot

14:30 – 15:00

Coffee break – Serdika, Ground floor 

Time slot

15:00 – 16:00 

Session topic

Session 4: Strategic Campaigning and Storytelling for Difficult Causes   
(English translated)

How to run inspiring communication campaigns for difficult causes in support of vulnerable groups  

Retention of the donor network 

Guest speaker

Simeon Vasilev  

(Chairman of GLAS Foundation, Equality Campaigner, Bulgaria)  

 

Catalin Dinu  

(Co-founder of 2doGood, President of Centre for Communication Resources, Romania) 

Moderator

Andrzej Pietrucha   

(Fundraising Consultant at Academy of Civic Organizations Foundation, Poland)  

Hall

Royal 3
First floor

Time slot

15:00 – 16:00 

Session topic

Session 5: Engaging Major Donors in Protecting Democracy 
(English only)

How to run a winning major donor campaign 

Guest speaker

Jan Kroupa  

(Founder of the Czech Fundraising Center, Czech Republic) 

Hall

Royal 2, 
First floor 

Time slot

15:00 – 16:00 

Session topic

Session 6: Inspiring examples from Bulgaria about the power of philanthropy and fundraising  
(Bulgarian translated)

Transformation of individual giving to social, educational, and health causes 

The power of philanthropy to solve socially significant problems 

Inspiration for regular giving 

Guest speaker

Milena Ivanova  

(Fundraiser for INSEAD, Fundraising Strategist and Philanthropy Leader, Bulgaria) 

 

Neli Kocheva  

(Head of Development and Fundraising at Teach For Bulgaria Foundation, Fundraising Club Bulgaria member)  

 

Svetla Parmakova  

(Co-founder of One Percent Change, Fundraising Club Bulgaria member)  

 

Nadezhda Rangelova-Boyadzhieva  

(Co-founder and Chair For the Good Foundation, Bulgaria)  

Moderator

Aylin Yumerova-Petrova 

(Program Director at Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law, Fundraising Club Bulgaria member) 

Hall

Royal 1, 
First floor 

Time slot

16:00 – 16:15 

Short break and gathering all groups – Royal 3, First floor 
Panel 4: Donors ` perspective 

Time slot

16:15 – 17:00 

Session topic

The contemporary role of donor foundations   
(English translated)

A conversation with donor foundations about their contemporary strategies to support the CSO community in Bulgaria through grant funding together with developing fundraising capacity in challenging times 

Moderator

Nadia Shabani  

(Director of Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law, Fundraising Club Bulgaria member) 

Hall

Royal 3, 
First floor 

Time slot

17:00 – 17:15 

Closing the conference 

Hall

Royal 3, First Floor

* If necessary, the organizers may change the schedule of the sessions without affecting the content of the agenda. The final version of the agenda will be sent to registered participants together with the information package by June 4, 2025. 

 

Our Speakers

Meet the International speakers

Explore our handsome international speakers

Summit Tickets.

Single ticket

Last day for registration – June 2, 2025.

€50 1 Ticket
Single ticket for a person from organization
 
Reserve your spot
Double attend ticket

Last day for registration – June 2, 2025.

€80 2 Tickets issued by one organization
You must register 2 people together to access the group discount
Reserve your 2 spots
Fundraising Club

Last day for registration – June 2, 2025.

€40 1 Ticket
Single ticket for a person from organization
 
Reserve your spot
Fundraising Club double

Last day for registration – June 2, 2025.

€60 2 Tickets issued by one organization
You must register 2 people together to access the group discount
Reserve your 2 spots
The organization of the conference of this magnitude costs us a lot of effort and resources. Your participation fee will cover 0.2% of the cost of the entire forum and will be used for the administration of the event.

The rest, which covers the costs of speakers, venue, catering, coffee breaks, translation, materials and coordination, is provided by projects of the Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law with the financial support of the European Union within the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) Programme within the BIRDS in BG Project and the America for Bulgaria Foundation

See the conditions below

We’d love to have you—grab your ticket now and let’s make it awesome together!

If you are part of a grassroot organization which is registered in Registry Agency in Bulgaria as a Bulgarian non-profit legal entity carrying out activities in public benefit and fulfills at least 3 of the following criteria:

reasons

Many reasons to join but the most essential …

The event is an ideal opportunity for networking between

Fundraising professionals and charity CSOs from Bulgaria, Central and Eastern Europe

Creating a higher spacing and how people move through a unique and impactful campaign.

CSR and ESG managers and team members 

Experts involved in fundraising for civic causes in Bulgarian grassroots CSOs

working at local level for social change, protection, promotion and awareness raising on human rights, democracy, rule of law and European values

Representatives of donor organizations supporting socially engaged causes 

Making an email campaings to achieve a real impact.

Sofia, Bulgaria
Location: Sofia Balkan Palace Hotel – Royal Halls

Conference Venue

Monday – Friday
6 am to 8 pm EST (toll free)

Who are we?

Fundraising club Bulgaria

The Fundraising Club Bulgaria is an informal network of experts committed to raising donations for civic causes. The Club’s mission is to unite the community of fundraising professionals in Bulgaria, to positively influence the philanthropic environment by sharing best practices in philanthropy and volunteerism, and to promote high ethical behavior.

Collaboration

You have questions? Write us

If ou have questions about the event space, tickets or free access, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are here to be of service.

The event is initiated by the Fundraising Club Bulgaria* and organized by the Bulgarian Center for Not-for-Profit Law in partnership with the European Fundraising Association-EFA and with the financial support of the European Union for BIRDS in BG Project within the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) Programme and the America for Bulgaria Foundation for the Advance CSO Sustainable Growth Project.
*The Fundraising Club Bulgaria is an informal network of experts committed to raising donations for civic causes. The Club’s mission is to unite the community of fundraising professionals in Bulgaria, to positively influence the philanthropic environment by sharing best practices in philanthropy and volunteerism, and to promote high ethical behavior.

The views and opinions expressed on this website are solely those of the author(s) and the partners implementing the BIRDS in BG Project and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor the providing body can be held responsible for them. The statements and opinions expressed on this website are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the America for Bulgaria Foundation. 

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