Wednesday, July 29 – Friday, July 31, 2026
Gaylord National Hotel | National Harbor, MD
Your registration includes 3 days of education and community. We start on Wednesday with the full-day Faith & Fundraising Forum focused on the perspective and concerns of faith-based fundraisers. On Thursday and Friday, we continue into the Bridge to Integrated Marketing and Fundraising Conference (aka Bridge), well-known as the ultimate learning environment for fundraisers with 100 sessions across 14 tracks covering fundraising, marketing, leadership, technology, strategy, and more — creating a personalized, multi-day learning experience.
Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions:
Dominika Brice (dbrice@tnpa.org), Programs Manager for TNPA and CDC
Interested in Sponsorship? Opportunities to showcase your company are available.
Why Attend the Faith & Fundraising Forum?
This Forum is organized by Christian Development Council of The Nonprofit Alliance. While organized with particular attention to challenges and opportunities for the Catholic and Christian community, we welcome faith-based fundraisers from all denominations and faiths.
- A day designed to support faith-based fundraisers as they grow their programs, reach supporters, and advance mission-driven work
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A keynote address focused on the trends and challenges shaping faith-based fundraising today
- Breakout sessions and roundtable discussions that allow you to focus on the issues most relevant to your organization
- Opportunities for both structured and informal conversations with peers facing similar challenges
- A welcoming environment to strengthen connections within the faith-based fundraising community
- Takeaways you can apply immediately, along with renewed energy and clarity when you return to your work
Keynote | Stay the Course: Defying Disruption with Data and Resilience
Laura MacDonald, CFRE
Principal & Founder | Benefactor Group
Laura MacDonald has worked professionally in fundraising and philanthropy for more than 40 years, although her interest in serving the common good may be traced to childhood experiences in church, clubs, and a large active family. When she joined a fundraising consulting firm in the early 1980s, she drew on skills learned in television production and corporate communications to tell the stories of hundreds of nonprofit clients.
Her fundraising acumen was sharpened in the late 1990s when she served alongside a remarkable corps of dedicated professionals during The Ohio State University’s first billion-dollar fundraising campaign.
Building on these experiences, she established Benefactor Group in 2000; a firm that has applied its founding principle of “serving those who serve the common good” by helping hundreds of organizations fuel their cause with powerful fundraising, people, and systems. As founder and principal of the firm, her counsel is sought by leaders in arts and culture, higher education, healthcare, human services, and other nonprofit causes.
Laura is constantly curious about trends in fundraising and philanthropy and an astute storyteller. She is a frequent speaker at local, regional, and national conferences (AFP, AAM, AMDA, Charitable Giving Coalition, etc.) and has addressed hundreds of nonprofit boards. Her articles related to advancement and philanthropy have appeared in Advancing Philanthropy, Nonprofit Quarterly, Forbes.com, and other professional publications, and is consulted widely by publications such as The New York Times, Ms. Magazine, Penta Barron’s, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy. She is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and was named her chapter’s “Fundraising Professional of the Year” in 2007. Laura is the author of The Endowment Handbook (Wiley, 2024).
She has served the sector through involvement in the Association of Fundraising Professionals, American Alliance of Museums, The Generosity Commission, and especially her service on the boards of the Giving Institute and the Giving USA Foundation. She chaired the latter from 2020 to 2022, helping to steer the organization through a period of extraordinary disruption, while advancing the understanding of philanthropy’s role in society. She is frequently called upon as a strategist, speaker, writer, panelist, commentator, and facilitator.
Who Should Attend the Faith & Fundraising Forum?
Who? Fundraising Professionals, Nonprofit Leadership, as well as consultants, agencies, and professionals who work within the faith sector, including… Faith-Based Direct Response Fundraisers, Major Gift Officers, Annual Giving-Development Directors & Staff, Planned Giving Officers, Membership Staff, and those who are the only fundraiser on staff and wear ALL of those hats at once.
From what organizations? All Faith-based fundraisers and marketers are welcome. Attendees will come from Religious Orders, Churches, Archdioceses, and nonprofit organizations working in the name of faith. Attendees will come from across the spectrum of size: some from large, international organizations and others from smaller (but still mighty!) teams.
We look forward to seeing you at National Harbor and connecting in-person as a community.
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The Nonprofit Alliance and The Nonprofit Alliance Foundation (collectively, TNPA) are committed to fostering effective networking, professional development, and advocacy among its members through conferences and other events. To view our site selection policy click here.
