Howard Lake

I've just created a list of people attending the 29th IFC or following it from afar who are using Twitter.

http://tweepml.org/29th-IFC/

If you'd like to keep up to date with the Congress using Twitter, this would be a good place to start. The list includes tickboxes and buttons making it very easy for you to start following all or some of those listed.

Expect the list to grow as I spot more people using Twitter to discuss and share the lessons of the Congress.

Having featured the good news that the Gill Astarita Memorial Fund has raised nearly £24,000 in its first year:

http://www.fundraising.co.uk/news/2009/10/15/gill-astarita-memorial-fund-raises-nearly-£24000

I was pleased to spot an appeal for the Fund on JustGiving:

http://www.justgiving.com/Gill-Astarita-Memorial-Fund/

If you are new to the International Fundraising Congress, expect to hear a good deal about Gill and the fund established in her memory. And do consider supporting it. I have done so with a monthly direct debit since last year's IFC.

It's my birthday tomorrow (26 March). Birthdays are useful times, it seems, and not for the obvious acquisition of yet more stuff.

I've been impressed and inspired by the many individuals who are using social media to persuade their friends and colleagues to donate to a charity to mark their birthday.

So, I'm going to try it too.

And what better cause than the Fundraisers' Fund? I'm a fundraiser, it's the only sector I've known, and I'm proud of what fundraisers around the world help make happen. I spend every day thinking, writing, learning about and sharing fundraising.

So, I'll try directing alot of my colleagues and contacts to this website and encourage them to make a donation to help ensure fundraisers make an even bigger impact in the years to come.

And because you can't ask others if you're not prepared to give yourself, I have of course been giving monthly to the Fundraisers Fund (and tax-efficiently through Gift Aid) for the past few months.

So, if you have arrived at this site after following one of my messages, please join me in supporting the Fundraisers Fund. Thank you.

I'm running a new half-day training course on using Twitter for fundraising. It'll take place first in London on 16 March in the afternoon at the Hub, King's Cross, but I do plan to take it to other towns around the UK.

Although there have been presentations on Twitter at conferences, I don't think anyone else in the UK has offered a practical how-to training course yet on how to use Twitter as a fundraising tool.

Details at:

http://fundraisingwithtwitter.eventbrite.com

I Twittered throughout the IFC this year (the first time anyone had Twittered from an IFC?), with excellent collaboration from Jon from Justgiving.com.

We even 'trended' the #ifc08 hashtag that I set up some months ago for this conference. In plain English that means we sent so many Twitter updates about the Congress that the tag was featured on the front page of the Twitter search page. Rather like appearing on the front page of Google, but just many levels of magnitude smaller...

Yes, I probably should get out more...