At IFC Pop-Ups Nairobi

Every year, The Resource Alliance runs the International Fundraising Congress in Noordwijk, Netherlands, gathering of fundraisers from around the world that has been running for over 40 years. To extend that experience beyond the Netherlands, they work with partner organisations in cities like Cape Town, Singapore, Nairobi, India and Zambia to bring the same speakers, conversations and ideas closer to home.

KAFP is that partner in Kenya, and on Thursday 28th August 2025, we brought the IFC Pop-Up to PrideInn Azure, Westlands to Kenyan fundraisers that direct access to global scale fundraising thinking without needing to travel.

In attendance we had representation from Strathmore University, Amnesty International Kenya, Born Free Foundation, UNHCR, UHAI EASHRI, KenGen Foundation, APHRC, Ipas, The Jomo Kenyatta Foundation and more, who majority of them were Directors, Fundraising Managers, business development officers, Country directors a mix of people who work in and around resource mobilisation, like you, every day.

The theme for the day was Humanity + Tech: Bold Strategies for Fundraising and Influence in Uncertain Times, covered in Four sessions, for A full day.

Below is a brief snip of the conversations that were brought forth by the select speakers with expertise drawn form various parts of the globe.

Creator-Led Campaigns for Good

By Raefah Makki, Head of Campaigns and Individual Giving, UNHCR MENA

"What if your next major donor does not come from your usual base, but from the audience of a 23-year-old YouTuber?"

Raefah took us through UNHCR MENA's partnership with AboFlah, a creator whose winter campaign activation reached over 15 million people, generated more than 18,200 news pieces and editorial mentions, and eventually led to a single livestream where he raised $10 million in 268 hours from individuals, corporates and small foundations.

But what we noticed aswell, besides the  numbers was the timeline. It took two years to build the relationship before any campaign launched. Two years of sharing impact stories, field visits, and letting the partnership develop at the creator's pace rather than the organisation's urgency. The campaign results were a product of that patience.

The session closed with Raefah showing us how to select the right influencers, how to measure success beyond reach, and where to start when you have no existing creator relationships and a limited budget.

Digital Tools for Donor Retention in Tough Times

By Ambar Chacín Rondón, Amnesty International Argentina

Email open rates have dropped significantly from 35% to 16% , Organic social reach continues to decline, and the channels that used to hold donor relationships together promise less for return.

At Amnesty International Argentina, their response was to stop trying to cover every platform and instead focus on the ones that were actually working: using email alongside social media, direct messaging and targeted advertising as a multi-touchpoint system rather than relying on any single channel. Referral marketing still outperforms paid acquisition, but it requires deliberate design to work.

She shared the specific tools and engagement ladders they have built, the results they have seen, and the low-investment retention approaches available to organisations that do not have large digital budgets. The practical tools section was one of the most engaged parts of the afternoon.

Harnessing AI and Agents for Impact

AI Leadership: The Brave, the Bold, and the Blindfolded by Kaz McGrath PLAI 

The day closed with two sessions that ran together as one extended conversation about where the sector actually is with AI interms of Leadership.

Kaz McGrath named the four gaps she sees most often in leadership when it comes to AI;

• Cognitive gaps, where people do not know what they do not know.
• Cultural friction, where conditions for change are never actually created.
• Lack of accountability, where leaders talk about AI without modelling it.
• Personal avoidance, where leaders unconsciously opt out of engaging with it at all.

The organisations moving well with AI, she said, are ones where leadership started with small, focused pilots, used AI to strengthen relationships rather than replace them, and made learning about it everyone's responsibility including their own.

The session ended with a simple instruction from Kaz: schedule a conversation with your team. Listen. Ask them what their hopes, fears and concerns are about AI. Start there.

The day closed with networking that ran long, which by that point felt appropriate.

The Pop-Up recieved a 4.56 out of 5 stars average rating from participants present that day.

IFC Pop-Up Nairobi 2026 is Coming Up on 8th October 2026.

This year's Theme is Unstoppable: Exploring what it means to keep moving forward as technology, funding models and the global context for civil society all shift at the same time. The programme is focused on practical examples and actions, not just analysis of problems.

We will tackle;

• How civil society rebuilds trust and influence.
• What the future of fundraising looks like as AI and new models reshape the sector.
• How to move from talking about collaboration to actually doing it.
• What financial resilience for organisations looks like in practice.

CHARGES : KAFP Members: KES 12,500 | Non-Members: KES 15,500