Strategic Grants x Homemade x Giving Architects – Fundraising Fix & Fundraising Strategy Seminar
Hear the latest trends in grant-seeking, major gifts, digital acquisition, peer-to-peer, IG/RG and AI from the experts at Homemade Digital, Strategic Grants and Giving Architects.
Not sure if you are getting the most out of grants opportunities? Do you need some help with your digital acquisition and supporter journeys? Struggling to understand and develop your pipeline of major donors? Are you waking up at night wondering how to raise 10% more from your donation form? Pondering what Gen AI might impact next year? If this sounds like you, join us for a day of energetic and immersive learning and networking at the Aotea Centre.
No matter what area of fundraising you specialise in, we have every angle covered in this comprehensive day of professional learning, so make sure your whole team can make it!
Whether you’re a seasoned fundraiser seeking to learn the latest techniques, or newer to the topics, there will be actionable tips and tools for you to take away.
Discover how to:
- Create giving days that generate the results your organisation needs
- Secure and maximise grant funding opportunities with proven grants strategies
- Identify high-value prospects, build relationships, make confident asks and grow long-term support
- Power up your peer-to-peer campaigns
- Diversify and strengthen your funding mix
- Optimise the impact of your digital campaigns
- Create a more resilient funding programme
Our comprehensive seminar is a must-attend to provide you with the tools, knowledge and confidence to fund your mission well into the future.
We’d love you to join us to engage with our speakers, pick up new ideas and network with like-minded fantastic fundraisers. Tickets are limited, so leap in NOW!
See you there!
Strategic Grants + Giving Architects + Homemade Digital = your equation for fundraising success!
Where: Aotea Centre, 50 Mayoral Drive, Tāmaki Makaurau
When: Wednesday 11 November 2026, 8:30am – 4:30pm
Cost: $200
Early-bird: 50% off with code H-A-L-F (ends 19 October)
Session Details
Plenary: The Big Picture
9:10am – 10:30am | Katherine Raskob – FIA
Global and local fundraising trends plus benchmarks to steer your strategy.
Stream 1 – Fundraising Fix with Homemade
Beyond the Lead: What Matters in Two-Step Now
Kat Piper
Cheap leads mean little if they don’t turn into committed givers. This session looks at the factors that have made the biggest difference to two-step results this year, including proposition and audience choice, connection to cause and digital advertising tactics.
Giving Days: 24 Hours, Months in the Making
Dan Lalor
A great Giving Day isn’t built in a day. This session walks through the game plan from idea to launch, and all the work that happens long before the clock starts ticking. We’ll cover strategy, major gifts, internal buy-in, volunteer recruitment and building early momentum, before getting into the campaign itself: digital, email, landing pages, conversion and more. A practical start-to-finish guide to building a Giving Day that’s ready to perform when the big day finally arrives.
5 Exceptional Digital Ad Tactics
Rachel Walker and Seren Ozdemir
The digital acquisition landscape is changing fast. We’ll show you the new techniques for Meta and Google to keep you at the front of the pack. These fresh tactics could even lift your year-end appeal! Find out what’s changed in 2026 and what you need to prepare for in 2027.
If Your Email Lands in a Forest – Does Anyone Read It?
Meredith Dwyer
If you thought the digital advertising landscape was moving fast, changes in email this year have had a dramatic impact on fundraising appeals and events. New Gmail and Google Workspace rules have seen some charities’ open rates crash, with up to 40% of their email sends sinking in the spam folder. Find out how to rise to the top of the inbox, and what critical changes you need to make to adapt to new AI-driven email previews and more.
Concurrent Session A: Powering Up Peer-to-Peer
Meredith Dwyer
It’s been a wild ride for peer-to-peer events across Australia and New Zealand this year. Find out the latest tactics that drove Starlight Children’s Foundation’s Super Swim to a $1m growth in revenue this year, and the 5 key metrics you need to watch to optimise your campaign’s performance. Plus the opportunities to transform your event performance and supporter journeys with AI-driven hyper-personalisation.
Concurrent Session B: Five Campaigns, One Question – Does Digital Work for Gifts in Wills?
Kat Piper and Maggie Guy
We reviewed five digital gifts in wills campaigns from the past year to find out what makes the difference. This session shares the patterns we found across audiences, offers, creative and follow-up, and what they mean for your next campaign. You’ll leave with a clear picture of what good looks like and practical steps for building a digital bequest pipeline.
Stream 2 – Grants Strategy with Strategic Grants
Grant-seeking Workshop – Part 1
Natalie Edwards
Over two in-depth sessions you will self-score your organisation’s performance against our seven critical success factors, learn best practice processes and funder expectations, and leave with a clear plan for where your organisation needs to focus its attention to improve grants success.
In Part 1 we will cover:
- An overview of the current grants landscape
- Getting your organisation ‘grant ready’
- Self-scoring against our Grants Best Practice Tracker
- Guide to packaging projects
- Feedback from funders on why applications do or don’t succeed
Grant-seeking Workshop – Part 2
Natalie Edwards
In Part 2 we will cover:
- Self-scoring against our Grants Best Practice Tracker
- Funder relationships and stewardship
- Grant writing overview, including how to use AI
- Evaluation, reporting and creative ways to engage and appreciate your donors
- Templates and checklists to help build your organisation’s capacity
Best Practice AI for Funders and High-Value Relationships
Clive Pedley & Natalie Edwards
How can AI enhance, rather than erode, the relationships that matter most? This 45-minute session explores best-practice use of AI for funders, major donors and strategic partners, offering practical guidance on using AI to undertake deep research and improve project planning and decision-making. It is possible to ethically gain efficiencies while maintaining trust, as long as you understand the landscape and have guardrails in place. Doing so means you can focus on authentic human connection, strengthening relationships and funder engagement.
Stream 3 – High-Value Gifts with Giving Architects
Unlocking High-Value Giving
Clive Pedley & Anna Baird
How can your organisation unlock greater philanthropic support? Drawing on their fundraising experience across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, Clive Pedley and Anna Baird will explore what it takes to attract, engage and retain high-value donors. This practical professional development session will cover a compelling case for support, leadership involvement and purposeful donor relationships, helping you identify opportunities and take clear next steps towards sustainable high-value giving.
Beyond the Target: Capital Campaigns That Build Lasting Philanthropy
Clive Pedley & Robert Brooke
A capital campaign can fund a significant project while strengthening an organisation’s future fundraising. This session explores how to use a campaign to deepen donor relationships, build internal capability and establish a lasting culture of philanthropy. Clive Pedley and Robert Brooke will share practical approaches to connecting campaign success with sustained high-value giving.
Plenary: The Future – What’s Hot? What’s Not?
3:45pm – 4:30pm | Dan Lalor
Future opportunities and challenges, including the shift from AI to agentic-driven strategies.
Your Speakers
Natalie Edwards
Natalie has extensive experience across all fundraising streams and a strong understanding of Aotearoa New Zealand’s funding landscape. Having worked with both small grassroots organisations and one of the country’s largest GLAM institutions, Natalie knows what it takes to build a sustainable platform for charitable growth. She has managed trust and grant portfolios, major donor relationships, corporate partnerships and more, developing high-performing teams and strategies that deliver results. Natalie brings a dual focus to fundraising, combining strategic, big-picture thinking with a data-driven approach that generates insights and drives informed funding decisions.
Clive Pedley
“Direct personal experience from harnessing incredible acts of generosity, many millions of dollars over the years, has given insights and experience for me to advise social purpose organisations in New Zealand every day.”
Clive has been advising, coaching and training for growth in the social purpose sector in New Zealand and Australia since 2000. During that time he has been responsible for raising tens of millions for many of New Zealand’s leading charities. He is well regarded as a thought leader, an informed, enthusiastic practitioner and practical presenter. Clive is a former President of the Fundraising Institute of New Zealand (FINZ) from 2011 to 2013, was a member of the FINZ National Council from 2009 to 2015 and was named a Fellow of the Fundraising Institute of New Zealand in May 2014.
He was the first New Zealander appointed to the Board of CFRE International in 2014, a global accreditation organisation for senior fundraisers worldwide. In December 2015 Clive was appointed to the International Advisory Panel of the Rogare Think Tank on international fundraising ethics, part of the Centre for Sustainable Philanthropy at Plymouth University in the UK.
In 2017 Clive was appointed to the Responsible Investment Association of Australia Impact Investment Forum committee and has been directly involved in establishing New Zealand’s inaugural Impact Investment Advisory Board. This level of international engagement has led to a sound understanding of traditional philanthropy and emerging international best practice in areas such as social impact investment.
About Giving Architects, Strategic Grants and Homemade
Giving Architects x Strategic Grants x Homemade is one of our ongoing series of educational seminars, collaborating with other leading agencies in the sector.
Giving Architects
Giving Architects is an Australasian fundraising consultancy specialising in high-value giving, major gifts, capital campaigns and sustainable fundraising growth. We help for-purpose organisations build the strategy, capability and donor relationships required to secure significant philanthropic support. Our trans-Tasman team brings together specialist fundraising expertise across Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia, combining deep sector experience with strong local market knowledge. This breadth of capability means clients benefit from the right mix of strategic, technical and practical expertise at every stage of their fundraising journey. We work alongside our clients as trusted partners, providing both strategic direction and hands-on support. With decades of experience and a proven track record of helping organisations raise millions of dollars for transformational projects, we help build stronger donor relationships, sustainable revenue and greater long-term impact.
Strategic Grants
Strategic Grants is the provider of the Grants Expertise Management System, GEMS, the largest database of all grant funding available to for-purpose organisations across Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia. Our trans-Tasman team is Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia’s most trusted team of grants specialists. We empower nonprofits to win more grants by leveraging deep sector expertise, targeted research, funding data insights, powerful writing, and streamlined processes. Our training and support build your capacity to secure the funding you need.
Bridging the divide between grant-makers and grant-seekers, we use our extensive network of relationships with funding bodies and industry associations to gather knowledge and deliver insights. Our services help nonprofits drive program success, track and deliver impactful outcomes, and build lasting relationships with key funders.
Homemade
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