Event
Event Details
Where:
Virtual
Virtual
When:
June 12, 2025
June 12, 2025
Sterrin Bird of Attain Partners and Jane Trenaman of Fundraising Leadership Assembly invite senior-level fundraising leaders to
Fundraising Resilience in Adversity
Sustaining & Scaling The Money & The Mission
June 12, 2025 • 07:30a PDT / 10:30a EDT / 03:30p BST • 90 minutes
Please note: This event is designed for senior-level fundraising professionals. Register above to express interest in attending this event.
Sterrin Bird of Attain Partners and Jane Trenaman of Fundraising Leadership Assembly invite senior-level fundraising leaders from around the world to join the 2025 Global CDO Council virtual session on June 12. We will be joined by Alan Clayton, author of Great Fundraising Organisations, and Colin Skehan, CEO of Revolutionise. Together, we’ll explore behaviors of successful fundraising organizations through research, insights, case studies, and a summary of the skills, thought patterns, and behaviors.
Join us for a thought-provoking discussion around the “truth bombs” emerging from decades of research and explore how to drive a growth mindset by turning our emotional focus outward in this time of uncertainty.
Meet the Speakers
Alan Clayton
Author, Great Fundraising Organizations
Chair, Revolutionise International Ltd
Alan Clayton is the author of the foundational book Great Fundraising Organizations, published globally by Wiley in January 2025. This book lays out how a non-profit can transform its fundraising revenue. The source for the content is a more than ten-year project involving academic research, action research, and detailed casework with clients in multiple countries.
The same project provides the framework for accelerator projects delivered worldwide by Revolutionise International, of which Alan is chair.
Alan has been a fundraiser since the late ‘80s. He worked in-house at two different national charities before founding his own agency in London in 1998. After selling the agency in 2007, he worked for the merged agency for two years before founding Revolutionise International.
Revolutionise is the accelerator for fundraising organisations worldwide. Alan and his team have worked in over thirty countries, with over one hundred clients. The compounded revenue growth of the client base is billions of US$.
Alan is also pursuing his own ‘big purpose’ with the launch of a new business after two years of research and testing: EmPower: mental fitness, resilience, and wellbeing. He also runs the Inch, Loch Ness, Scotland—a residential seminar centre.
Colin Skehan
CEO, Revolutionise
Based in Dublin, Colin is well known in Irish fundraising, winning fundraiser of the year in 2018. Most recently, he’s helped drive great fundraising at Ireland’s best-known INGO, Trócaire. With Colin’s help, Trócaire has achieved many milestones. Six-fold growth in direct marketing income and four-fold growth in annual donor recruitment are two highlights. The team also won Ireland’s ‘fundraising team of the year’ award (twice) since he joined.
Colin has a deep desire to understand the creative and psychological forces that move us to action. A seasoned fundraising leader, copywriter, trainer, and coach with some of the highest-performing teams in his market, he’s driven to help teams grow financially, professionally, and personally.
He’s excited to bring his experience of purpose-driven strategies and what it takes to execute them to help Revolutionise’s clients in any way he can.
Jane Trenaman
Managing Director, The HX Consultancy
Fundraising Leadership Assembly Founder
Jane has led a varied career with over two decades of experience spanning the commercial and non-profit sectors. Prior to joining the non-profit sector, she spent a decade working in the automotive, design, and telecoms industries, and then brought this experience to a range of public engagement & fundraising leadership roles. Over the past 13 years, she has developed a wide breadth of fundraising experience and has a strong understanding of income generation across the sector internationally in capacities as senior management, trustee, and consultant.
Jane moderates a number of fundraising and nonprofit leadership networks in the UK, Ireland & Northern Ireland and has held board and advisory committee roles with Christian Aid Ireland, Samaritans Ireland, and the National Opera House. She is currently a Non-Executive Director with Common Purpose Ireland and a passionate advocate for income’s role in fuelling social impact.
Sterrin Bird
Nonprofit Executive in Residence, Attain Partners
CDO Council Founder
Sterrin Bird is a global fundraising leader and transformative figure in the nonprofit community, universally recognized for her nearly three decades of exceptional dedication to philanthropy. Her expertise spans the future of fundraising, building robust teams, and mastering the art of relational fundraising. With a keen focus on breaking down silos and fostering human-centered change, Sterrin excels in leveraging technology in support of mission outcomes and is an advocate for utilizing AI for fundraising innovation.
Prior to her tenure as a development officer, Sterrin catalyzed growth as a development consultant for three notable international consulting firms, where she blossomed into a cross-functional leader. In 2010, she founded her own consulting practice, orienting her approach around uncommon coaching and leadership mentoring. Throughout her multifaceted career, Sterrin has orchestrated over three dozen capital campaigns across the globe, cumulatively raising more than $5.5 billion, securing her reputation as a global fundraising leader.
In her professional journey, she has held pivotal leadership roles at prestigious nonprofit giants such as Duke Medicine, the University of California, the American Red Cross, the March of Dimes, and United Way. Sterrin also spent four years as the in-house nonprofit expert with the global team at Salesforce.
Sterrin holds an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Management and Leadership from the Harvard Kennedy School. She is also a True North Leadership Fellow and was named to the Advisory Council of Rogare, a fundraising think tank in the UK at the University of Plymouth.
Her extensive experience with C-suite executives, nonprofit directors, and leadership across complex organizations speaks to her ability to exceed funding objectives while leading teams and managing the ever-changing nonprofit industry. A distinguished cross-functional leader, Sterrin navigates the intersection of fundraising, marketing, brand positioning, and program advancement with ease.
Originally from Short Hills, New Jersey, Sterrin now calls the Bay Area home, living with her two children, Thomas and Mary. She is a prolific public speaker and is also deeply invested in her community. Sterrin sits on the board of Maimoni Valley Preserve, One Life Counseling, and the Young Men’s Service League, embodying the spirit of engaged and impactful citizenship.
