Chicago: AFP (Association of Fundraising Professionals)

“This was AFP’s 48th international conference on fundraising, and ex-prez Bill Clinton was there to talk in a general session about “”embracing our common humanity”" — and he should know about embracing people, after all…. AFP took advantage of everyone being at the show to conduct research on how the fund-raising game is doing in these straitened times of economic downturn and ‘donor fatigue’. A majority of the charities surveyed saw their fundraising revenue remaining stable or actually increasing last year, according to the Survey of the Nonprofit Research Collaborative (NRC), a coalition of six fundraising and philanthropic organizations. The survey also showed that strong fundraising results were more likely when organizations invested resources in fundraising staff and infrastructure, including volunteer management. (Now THERE’s a surprise!). Hey, buzz off, will’ya? I already gave at the office.