Fundraising Under Pressure: When Every Decision Comes at a Cost
About the session
Fundraising has always involved difficult choices. In today’s environment, those choices are sharper, faster, and harder to navigate.
Funding is tighter. Donor expectations are shifting. Organisations are under pressure to show results quickly while protecting relationships and staying true to their mission. Leaders are making high-stakes decisions with incomplete information. Which funders to pursue. How far to adapt their narrative. When to compromise, and when to hold the line.
There are no clean answers. Over time, these decisions shape not just funding outcomes, but the integrity and direction of the organisation itself.
This session creates space to step back from day-to-day fundraising and examine how these decisions are actually being made. Through brief framing, real-world scenarios, and structured peer discussion, participants will work through the tensions they are facing, surface what is driving their choices, and test approaches that can hold up under pressure.
The focus is practical and grounded. This session is designed for people actively making these decisions, not observing them.
Who this is for
Nonprofit leaders, fundraisers, and social entrepreneurs navigating complex funding environments and carrying responsibility for high-stakes decisions.
What you will get out of it
A clearer way to navigate difficult fundraising decisions in real time
Insight into how peers are handling similar pressures and constraints
Structured space to think through a live challenge or decision
Practical approaches to making choices that align with long-term mission and integrity
Facilitators
Kelsi Kriitmaa
Emily Acland Michael
Location & access
Accessibility matters deeply to us, and we do our best to choose spaces that reflect that. That said, some of our Oxford venues are in historic buildings without lifts. This room is unfortunately not accessible for wheelchair users, those with mobility challenges, or anyone needing step-free access.