Soapbox Engage Blog

Conferences are a great opportunity for nonprofit professionals to hone their skills, network with their peers, and learn innovative new strategies to help their organizations thrive. They cover a very wide range of topics, like fundraising, marketing, nonprofit tech, and leadership. If you think your team could benefit from attending a conference or two, keep reading to find out about some happening in the last quarter of 2023 and through 2024!

Top Nonprofit Conferences for 2024

1. The Nonprofit Social Media Summit
2. Nonprofit Technology Conference
3. AFP ICON
4. Engage for Good
5. Good Tech Fest
6. Bridge Conference

1. The Nonprofit Social Media Summit

November 1-2, 2023
Virtual

We are in the last quarter of 2023, but you still have a chance to attend a conference this year! The Nonprofit Social Media Summit is a two-day virtual conference for nonprofit professionals looking to exchange ideas, experiences, and knowledge with a hyper focus on social media. Julia Campbell, author of Storytelling in the Digital Age: A Guide for Nonprofits and How to Build and Mobilize a Social Media Community for Your Nonprofit in 90 Days, is curating sessions around the topics of Content Creation, Influencer Marketing, Volunteer Recruitment, GivingTuesday, as well as platform specific sessions for different social media platforms… and much more!

The keynote speakers for this conference are Dana Snyder from Positive Equation and Kia Croom from Kia Croom Consulting.

General admission for this conference is completely free. If you need help utilizing social media at your nonprofit (and let’s be honest, with these ever changing platforms, who doesn’t?), there’s no reason you shouldn’t be there!

2. Nonprofit Technology Conference

March 13-15, 2024
Portland, Oregon and Virtual

The annual Nonprofit Technology Conference (NTC), hosted by the Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network (NTEN), is one of the premier nonprofit technology events in the industry. The conference features the latest nonprofit technology best practices as well as networking opportunities. The NTC has something for people in all roles in nonprofit technology, from those brand new to their job to expert practitioners. Attendees include nonprofit staff, volunteers, board members, funders, consultants, and tech vendors.

The conference takes place in Portland, Oregon in March of 2024. If traveling to the conference doesn’t fit in your budget, there is also a virtual component.

3. AFP ICON

April 7-9, 2024
Toronto, Canada

The AFP ICON conference is the world’s number one fundraising conference. More than 3,000 fundraising professionals attend each year. If you want your team to improve on fundraising, this is the conference for you. Over three days, there are more than 100 education sessions to choose from, as well as endless networking opportunities.

This year’s keynote speaker is Pulitzer Prize-Winning Creator of The 1619 Project and Staff Writer at The New York Times, Nikole Hannah-Jones.

You can view all sessions on their website. Register before October 13th and you can book their preview rates, which is a big discount from the final price.

4. Engage for Good

May 14-16, 2024
Minneapolis, MN

Engage for Good is an annual multi-day conference where leaders in the nonprofit and corporate social impact sectors can meet, network, and learn about the latest strategies, best practices, and trends in the social impact space. In addition to expert speakers and interactive breakouts, attendees will also gain access to important data and benchmarking to help them guide their organizations into the future. Registration will open in Winter 2023.

5. Good Tech Fest

Dates TBA
Washington D.C., and virtual

Good Tech Fest is a series of virtual and in-person gatherings happening every year around the world. This conference brings together technologists, product leaders, philanthropists and more to learn from one another, build capacities for using technology for impact, and wrestle with the challenges and limitations of technology in the social sector.

The dates for the 2024 Good Tech Fest have not yet been announced.

If conferences unfortunately aren’t in your budget, make sure you stay tuned to their website, because they sometimes offer free virtual events that can be useful for your team.

6. Bridge Conference

Dates TBA
Location TBA, likely Washington DC Metro Area

“Bridge Conference” is short for “the Bridge to Integrated Marketing & Fundraising Conference.” It’s a co-production between the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Washington, DC Metro Area Chapter (AFP DC) and the Direct Marketing Association of Washington (DMAW). The purpose of this three-day conference is to bridge the gap between marketing and fundraising and help nonprofit organizations thrive.

Details for the 2024 conference have yet to be released. You can visit the website for the 2023 conference to get a sense of what you might expect. The conference featured over 90 breakout sessions with expert speakers designed to give attendees the top cutting-edge strategies in marketing and fundraising, with plenty of opportunities for attendees to meet, network, and share their own successes and lessons learned.

If you are looking to upgrade your organization’s tech, this is a conference for you. Suppliers and vendors are in attendance who can work with nonprofits to improve their fundraising and marketing efforts.

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Conferences are a great way to learn strategies to improve your organization, network with other nonprofit professionals, and offer professional development opportunities to your team. Hopefully you can make it to at least one conference in 2024, even if you are attending virtually.

In the meantime, here are some more resources to help you on your fundraising journey

• Sustainable Nonprofit Fundraising: Creating a Greener World: Has the recent weather put climate change on your mind? You’re definitely not alone. Nonprofit organizations should be a part of the solution instead of the problem, which is why sustainable fundraising is currently top-of-mind. This blog post covers four sustainable nonprofit fundraising strategies for you to implement.


• How to Write Product Descriptions for Your E-commerce Store: Product descriptions are one of the most important pieces of your e-commerce store. This blog post offers seven tips to help you write the strongest descriptions that are sure to help you meet your goals.


• 6 Ways to Make Your End-of-Year Fundraising Appeal Stand Out: Need more help to reach your 2023 fundraising goals? As you prepare to write your year-end appeal, check out this blog post that offers 6 ways to help your appeal stand out.