Speakers

Telling the Impossible Story

Telling the Impossible Story challenges the myth that every powerful fundraising story needs a single hero or a neatly resolved ending. When impact is collective, preventative, or unfolds over time, fundraisers are often left wondering how to communicate meaning without oversimplifying the work. This session offers a fresh, ethical approach to storytelling—one that invites donors into shared purpose, sustained impact, and the deeper truth of how change really happens.

Stories for the Long Horizon: Fundraising Beyond the Urgent

In a world shaped by constant urgency, fundraising stories are often built around the crisis of the moment: the immediate need, the near-term win, the fast result. But generosity is rarely driven by short timelines. Donors give because they believe in futures they may never fully witness and communities they may never personally benefit from. Donors may give because of the mission, but they stay for the shared vision of the world we are trying to create together. This closing session explores how fundraisers can tell stories that inspire hope, sustain commitment, and invite people into something meant to last. Together, we’ll consider how future-facing storytelling can motivate generosity not just for today’s needs, but for the world we are intentionally building.

T. Clay Buck, CFRE, is Founder and Principal of Next River Fundraising Strategies, where he helps nonprofits build data-informed, strategically sound, and deeply human fundraising programs. With more than 30 years of experience—from Development Assistant to Chief Development Officer—he brings a practitioner’s insight to strategy, systems, and storytelling that drive lasting donor relationships. A Certified Fund Raising Executive and Certificate holder in Philanthropic Psychology, Clay also teaches fundraising at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

The Power of Presence: Audaciously Own Your Message & Lead with Visible Authority

Presence—not polish—is what makes people lean in.

Whether you’re addressing funders, donors, staff or your broader community, your ability to lead is inseparable from how you show up. In this interactive session, Dayna Del Val helps nonprofit leaders move beyond performance and into grounded, visible authority.

You’ll be on your feet, reflecting and practicing as you explore what it truly takes to feel at ease in your body, clear in your message, and intentional about how you enter a room—whether that room is a board meeting, a stage or a Zoom screen.

This talk focuses not just on what happens while you’re speaking, but the often-overlooked inner work that allows your message to land with confidence, credibility and impact—so your audience doesn’t just listen, they act.

Dayna Del Val, MA, ACC is a coach, speaker, writer and retreat leader who empowers individuals to unlock their creativity, confidence and communication for meaningful impact.

Through her Audaciously Visible coaching program, Brave Middle Ground podcast and
Uninterrupted retreats & (re)Discover Your Spark travel experiences and keynotes, she helps people craft compelling messages, foster understanding and reconnect with their passions. Her work centers on bold transformation, guiding others to find clarity, embracing authenticity and sharing ideas that inspire change.

Narratives That Move Boards: How Story-Driven Governance Educates, Empowers, & Inspires Action

Boards make decisions every day. But when those decisions are shaped only by reports and spreadsheets, something important can get lost — the people and stories behind the work.

In this interactive session, we’ll explore how storytelling can strengthen board leadership by grounding governance in lived experience and community voice. You’ll learn how stories help board members better understand impact, stay connected to mission, and make decisions that are thoughtful, inclusive, and aligned.

Whether you’re a longtime board leader or newer to governance, you’ll walk away with practical tools (and a few laughs) to move beyond bullet points and bring more meaning into the boardroom.

Christal M. Cherry is the Beyoncé of board leadership.

Founder of The Board Pro, Christal is a nationally recognized nonprofit consultant, speaker, and coach who brings courage, curiosity, and care to every boardroom. With over two decades of experience in fundraising, board governance, leadership development, and DEI strategy, she helps nonprofit leaders and boards move from stuck to soaring. Known for her humor, wisdom, and truth-telling, Christal turns board retreats into transformational experiences and trains CEOs to lead with intention and inclusion.

She’s also a published author, adoptive mom, and breakfast lover who never shies away from the tough conversations—or the opportunity to make your board braver, bolder, and more effective.

Learn more at www.theboardpro.com

Seasons of Story: How to Turn Mission Moments into Movements

Most organizations skip straight to the ask. They meet someone new and immediately request a donation, enrollment, or volunteer commitment. Then they wonder why people don’t stick around.

Real relationships follow predictable patterns. Curiosity leads to familiarity. Familiarity builds trust. Trust enables commitment. Commitment deepens through recognition.
In this session, Max will introduce the Seasons of Story framework, a cyclical approach to storytelling that honors the natural pace of human connection. You’ll learn when to educate (Spring), when to engage (Summer), when to invite action (Fall), and when to reflect with gratitude (Winter).

Through real examples from Tellwell’s work with nonprofits and universities, you’ll discover how to create psychological safety before asking for support, build trust through consistency rather than performance, and transform passive audiences into active partners who carry your mission forward.

Stop treating storytelling like a funnel. Start treating it like a fire that keeps burning because you keep tending it.

Max Kringen is the Founder and Chief Storyteller of Tellwell Story Co., a creative studio based in Fargo, North Dakota, that helps mission-driven organizations tell stories that build trust and create belonging.

Growing up in small-town North Dakota, Max learned early that real connection demands safety. That insight now shapes everything he creates. Over the past fifteen years, Max and his team have partnered with hundreds of nonprofits, colleges, and purpose-driven businesses, developing the Seasons of Story framework: a cyclical approach to storytelling that mirrors natural relationship rhythms.

As founder of WellTold, the nonprofit storytelling conference, Max creates spaces where communicators and fundraisers can learn to tell stories that matter. His work stems from a deeply personal belief that everyone’s story deserves to be shared, especially those who’ve spent years afraid to tell it.

Max believes the best storytelling doesn’t manipulate or perform. It shows up consistently, creates safety, and invites people into something worth joining. When organizations learn to tell stories this way, strangers become curious, the curious become committed, and the committed become evangelists who carry the story further than any marketing campaign ever could.

Noah Barnett is the Chief Strategy Officer at DonorDock, a nonprofit CRM and fundraising platform built specifically for lean teams that need clarity, focus, and momentum—not more complexity. In his role, Noah works closely with nonprofit leaders and fundraising teams to help them simplify their technology, strengthen donor relationships, and build systems that actually support the way their teams work.

With more than a decade of experience across nonprofit technology, fundraising strategy, and go-to-market leadership, Noah has partnered with organizations ranging from grassroots nonprofits to national brands. He brings a practical, operator’s perspective shaped by time spent inside fast-growing software companies, alongside deep empathy for the realities nonprofit teams face every day: limited time, limited staff, and big expectations.

Noah’s work sits at the intersection of strategy, operations, and human-centered design. He is particularly focused on helping organizations move from “doing more” to doing what matters most—using better systems, clearer priorities, and smarter tools (including AI) to lighten the load on fundraising teams without losing the heart of the work.

He lives in Arizona with his family and is passionate about building organizations that are both effective and deeply human.

The Truth About What’s Missing in Nonprofit Storytelling…

I don’t need to tell you storytelling is critical in nonprofit fundraising. But too many leave millions of dollars on the table because they’re only telling half the story. Yes, millions. Yes, half the story!

Worst yet, fundraisers often use decades-old, transactional approaches to storytelling when it comes to our major donors. We’re going to talk about how your team can scale revenue by moving beyond the mission-story and into the investment-level-story of your organization.

I’ll share the most powerful fundraising steps my clients take to attract and secure larger, general-operating dollars from investment-level donors. And, that’s what I call financial sustainability.

Sherry Quam Taylor works with business-minded Nonprofit CEOs whose Strategic Plans require expansive budgets, larger amounts of unrestricted revenue for infrastructure, and a plan for long-term stability.

As a result of learning her methodology, Sherry’s clients become sustainable, diversify revenue, and know how to add significant amounts gen-ops revenue to their budgets. But mostly, their development departments and boards transform into high-ROI revenue generators – aligning their hours with relational dollars and are set free from time-consuming transactional activities like events, appeals, and campaigns.

Sherry is frequently featured in publications like Forbes Nonprofit Council and Philanthropy.com, and is a co-host of The Nonprofit Show, ranked #1 on Feedspot’s 100 Best Nonprofit Podcasts list.

Virtual Host

As the host for the virtual attendees, Anika will be inviting people into conversation and connection throughout the day. She will offer spaces to share what folks are learning, answer questions about applying the frameworks, and helping attendees commit to putting their new knowledge into practice.

Anika Horn supports ecosystem builders in doing their work well, with impact and without burning out.

She believes that a rising tide lifts all boats and that community wins over competition every time. Anchored in these beliefs, she teaches champions and advocates of mission-driven work how to take a systems approach to supporting the doers, dreamers, tinkerers and makers in their communities.

Anika pours her passion for ecosystem building into advancing networks with training and consulting, thought leadership and her podcast Ecosystems for Change. She works with clients to tell meaningful stories about their ecosystems and the people who help make everything happen. She also lovingly curates a newsletter for ecosystem builders every two weeks and cares deeply about hosting meaningful convenings for changemakers.

Throughout her career, Anika has launched several support programs for entrepreneurs and helped convene purpose-driven communities such as CreativeMornings Shenandoah Valley, Zebras Unite, ESHIP Champions and Rebelle Con.

Nonprofit Therapy: Helping Unstick Your Fundraising Through Storytelling

Patrick Kirby is what happens when you mix equal parts fundraising expertise, caffeinated enthusiasm, and an unshakable belief that nonprofits deserve better than burnout and budget gaps. As the Founder of Do Good Better Consulting, Patrick has made it his life’s mission to help nonprofits fundraise smarter, build stronger donor relationships, and actually enjoy asking for money (yes, really).

He’s the author of the Amazon bestseller Fundraise Awesomer! A Practical Guide to Staying Sane While Doing Good, host of The Official Do Good Better Podcast, and loather of the phrase “we’ve always done it that way.”

Patrick’s fundraising street cred comes from nearly two decades in the trenches, including his time as Senior Director of Development at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and Chief Development Officer at the Anne Carlsen Center. He’s worked with organizations of every shape and size, helping them raise millions without losing their minds in the process.

Creative Thinking for Nonprofits: Better Questions Lead to Better Solutions

Janese Evans is a strategic planning, marketing research, and creativity expert. As principal of Strategic Toolbox, she has worked in 63 countries and 26 languages, helping clients across industries tackle complex challenges. Since founding the firm in 2000, she has facilitated planning sessions, conducted research, and delivered insights that drive decision-making.

A dedicated volunteer leader, Janese has served on multiple boards, including Destination Imagination, SCSU Foundation Board, and the Military History Society of Minnesota. She has also provided strategic planning support to nonprofits pro bono.

Janese speaks at national conferences and coaches marketers and educators on creative problem-solving. Her BrainNoodling™ decks help teams generate fresh ideas. She holds degrees from St. Cloud State and Buffalo State University, completed the Executive Leadership Program at Babson College, and is a trained civil mediator for the State of Minnesota.

The Impact Arc: Turning Stories into Movements

Your story deserves more than a one-time post. It deserves to move, inspire + spark action long after launch day. The Impact Arc is a proven framework from We Are For Good designed to help changemakers like you transform storytelling into an activated movement.

In this hands-on workshop loaded with real world organizational case studies from the We Are For Good Podcast, we’ll break down the four essential steps – Stage, Storytell, Syndicate, and Stoke – so your message doesn’t just reach people, it activates them.

You’ll learn:

How to set the stage for storytelling that sticks
How to syndicate content smarter, not harder +maximizing every touchpoint
How to fuel engagement that lasts beyond the first wave of excitement
You’ll walk away with a syndication playbook + a fresh mindset on how to amplify your message without doubling your workload. Let’s go beyond storytelling—and activate a movement.

Jon McCoy is the co-founder and CEO of We Are For Good, a global movement of changemakers committed to building an Impact Uprising. Before launching, he spent 15+ years in nonprofit marketing and fundraising—though he still calls himself a marketer disguised as a fundraiser. He believes philanthropy isn’t just about dollars; it’s about mobilizing movements through the superpower of community.
As co-host of the top-ranked We Are For Good Podcast (600K+ downloads), Jon has interviewed 500+ social impact leaders worldwide. In 2024, We Are For Good launched ImpactUp, a quarterly gathering uniting thousands of changemakers—virtually by day around a central topic, then in local meetups worldwide to keep the conversations growing. The movement has now reached 50+ cities across seven countries.
This year, Jon, his wife Candice, and their two sets of twins embarked on a 500-day journey to all 50 states and 50 national parks in their vintage Airstream—building community every step of the way.

Reframing the Narrative: Ethical Storytelling Through Asset Framing

Lisa Nelson-Haynes is the Chief Program Officer at StoryCorps, where she spearheads transformative programs and initiatives that amplify the voices of every day people. As a key member of the Executive Leadership Team, Lisa is instrumental in shaping the organization’s impact and extending its reach. She joined StoryCorps in 2023, bringing a wealth of experience and passion for storytelling to the role.
She is an award-winning storyteller and educator who has facilitated digital storytelling workshops for more than 18 years, collaborating with leading institutions such as Drexel University, the Pennsylvania Humanities Council and Pennsylvania’s Community Foundations, and other prominent organizations.
Before joining StoryCorps, Lisa served as the Executive Director of Philadelphia Young Playwrights, where she dedicated herself to empowering young people to unlock their full potential through the art of playwriting. Under her leadership, the organization flourished as a vital resource for youth, fostering creativity, confidence, and a profound sense of agency.
A fierce advocate for the transformative power of personal narratives, Lisa’s career has been defined by her commitment to empowering individuals to claim ownership of their stories. Through her work, she emphasizes reframing experiences using an asset-based approach, ensuring that every voice is honored and celebrated.

How Creative Storytelling can Transform You and Your Fundraising

John Lepp, affectionally referred to as the Ted Lasso of fundraising, is the author of Creative Deviations, and a direct response, marketing and graphic design expert with over 25 years of experience working with charities around the world to help them tell better stories and to inspire donors to give, both online and offline. He is a respected and coveted international speaker who has traveled the world helping fundraisers be more “human” and “vulnerable” to these other amazing humans we call donors.