Raising More, Smarter: AI and Decision Science for Fundraisers
Behavioural Science, AI and Human Decision-Making for Fundraising, Marketing & Advocacy
09:30 - 17:00
Learn how people really decide and how to design communications — from web pages to posters — that work with human behaviour, not against it.
If you work in fundraising, campaigning, marketing or advocacy, it’s no longer enough to have a powerful cause. Your supporters are making faster, more distracted decisions than ever. To succeed you need to understand the science behind how people notice, trust, feel, choose and act.
This practical one-day event bringing together a number of UK and European experts, will show how behavioural science, AI and philanthropic psychology can help charities, NGOs and purpose-led organisations create stronger messages, build more engaging supporter journeys ,and deliver more effective campaigns.
To ensure you’re getting the latest and best thinking we’ve brough together leading charity thinkers and senior experts from the commercial world with insights on how charities can learn from business. Prepare to be challenged!
By the end of the day, you’ll be able to:
- Spot the hidden psychological barriers that stop people giving, joining or acting.
- Use behavioural science to make fundraising and advocacy messages more persuasive.
- Understand where AI can genuinely improve supporter engagement and where it cannot.
- Redesign donor journeys using evidence rather than guesswork.
- Apply practical frameworks used by leading charities, NGOs and commercial brands.
- Return to your organisation with ideas you can test straight away.
What you'll explore
In one intensive day, you will explore how to:
- Increase responses and supporter action.
- Apply AI ethically to fundraising and campaigning.
- Build more persuasive messages and supporter journeys.
- Understand the hidden psychological drivers behind giving.
- Improve digital engagement and conversion.
- Create campaigns that cut through information overload.
- Use evidence, not intuition, when designing communications.
- Combine human creativity with AI capability.
Featured speakers
We’ve put together t a line-up of outstanding presenters, drawing expertise from leading business thinkers and experts in the not-for-profit world.
Phil Barden
What he brings: world-class behavioural marketing insight from the commercial sector, translated for purpose-led organisations.
Phil is one of the world’s best-known experts in behavioural marketing and author of the influential book Decoded: The Science Behind Why We Buy. He brings deep commercial insight into how people make choices and how organisations can ethically influence behaviour. His clients include leading brands like Unilever, Diageo and T-Mobile.
Phil’s work has already made a profound impact on the industry. Mark Ritson calls him “the expert in behaviour change and his work makes you a better marketer.” Sophie Devonshire, CEO of The Marketing Society, praised Decoded, saying, “I loved this book. Fascinating, useful, an absolute classic.”
What he’ll be sharing: Back to the Future
As marketers and communicators, we’re constantly adapting to new technologies, yet one thing remains timeless: the way our brains are wired. While AI and machine learning evolve, human behaviour is still driven by ancient instincts and decision-making patterns. This session explores what science and academia have uncovered about how people think, feel, and act and how these insights can transform the way we connect with audiences today.
Bernard Ross
What he brings: tried and tested fundraising applications of decision science, including major uplift examples from charities and cultural organisations.
Bernard is a director of =mc consulting and an internationally recognised expert in decision science for fundraising and campaigning. Bernard has worked on decision-science-informed campaigns with organisations including UNHCR, Greenpeace, Medecins Sans Frontieres, and major cultural institutions across Europe and North America.
In the UK, he has designed campaigns including helping poverty charity The Hygiene Bank raise £317,000 from 47 donors at a charity dinner and helping Edinburgh Zoo grow individual giving from £20,000 to £1.3M in 18 months.
What he’ll be sharing: The Donor Decision Lab
Bernard will engage your brains with a number of live interactive experiences and then practical experiments where he has been able to show the power of decision science in a range of practical fundraising settings, from encouraging 20% more museum visitors to to donate, applying messaging that encourages the DOSE neurochemicals to fire in supporters at an event and doubling the number of passersby by who stopped for a face-to-face solicitation.
Omar Mahmoud
What he brings: global insight from UNICEF and commercial brand-building experience from Proctor & Gamble.
Former Global Head of Knowledge at UNICEF International, where he pioneered work on applying market insights to fundraising. Omar joined UNICEF after working in senior positions at commercial giant Proctor & Gamble, where he designed campaigns for brands including Pringles and Oil of Olay.
Omar is internationally recognised for applying behavioural insight and innovation to social impact, public engagement and global change programmes. He is co-author of Change for Good, the best-selling book that introduced decision science to the not-for-profit world.
What he’ll be sharing: The Homosapien Donor
Today’s humans/donors live in a modern world with a brain shaped by 300,000 years of living in a hunter-gatherer environment. This results in behaviours that are not purely rational. Evolutionary psychology explains over-eating, our love for sweets, why we fear snakes more than high blood pressure, following the crowd, and why we see faces in clouds. Fundraisers need to be aware and use of this hunter-gatherer mindset to communicate effectively with their donors.
Alessia Calcabrini
What she brings: Ogilvy‘s applied behavioural science perspective on language, context, sustainability and behaviour change.
Alessia Calcabrini is a behavioural science specialist at Ogilvy Consulting UK, Europe’s leading behavioural science consultancy. As senior member of the team she helps organisations apply evidence-based insight to communications, brand strategy and behaviour change.
Her work explores how language, context and decision architecture shape public response, including sustainability communications and positive behaviour change. She has co-authored Ogilvy thinking on the “Action-Connection Dilemma”, helping brands connect big ambitions with people’s everyday choices and motivations.
What she’ll be sharing: Looking sideways for social impact: Finding behaviour change solutions in unexpected places
Because social impact work is inherently purpose-driven it’s natural to focus on building motivation and connecting people to the cause. Yet, the key to unlocking a tough behavioural challenge is often found when we “look sideways”: stepping beyond motivation, and borrowing mechanics from unexpected places. What do political engagement and reality TV have in common? What can factory safety learn from boxing? And what if we stopped speaking to our target audience directly?
Filipe Páscoa
What he brings: practical experience applying AI and decision science to fundraising and supporter engagement across international NGOs.
Filipe is an international AI strategist and innovation specialist working at the intersection of artificial intelligence, behaviour change and social impact communication. Filipe has held senior fundraising roles at Amnesty International and SOS Children’s Villages in Brazil.
Filipe has advised NGOs and global organisations from Greenpeace Mexico to Médecins Sans Frontières in Spain on applying decision-science-informed AI to supporter engagement and decision-making systems.
What he’ll be sharing: From Pilot to Practice — Deploying AI in INGOs Without Losing the Mission
Filipe Pascoa shares hard-won lessons from embedding AI and decision science into INGO operations from Greenpeace Mexico to Amnesty Brazil. Drawing on real deployments, he examines what actually works on the ground: where AI strengthens decision-making, where it stumbles against limited data and capacity, and how to balance innovation with accountability to communities served. This practical session offers fellow practitioners concrete guidance for adopting agentive AI responsibly, avoiding common pitfalls, and turning promising pilots into sustainable, mission-aligned tools.
Lynda Harwood-Compton
Lynda is a senior partner consultant at =mc consulting and CEO of Latch Fundraising.
Her track record includes leading high-performing fundraising teams at charities as diverse as Guide Dogs, St John Ambulance, and Animals Asia. She works internationally with a specialism NextGen fundraising.
Lynda is also a Director of SOFII (Showcase of Fundraising Innovation and Inspiration) and serves on the Chartered Institute of Fundraising convention board in the UK. Her book Corporate Fundraising and Partnerships, is in its 5th Edition and she contributed to the Researchers in Fundraising Handbook.
What she’ll be sharing: A Beginners Guide to Decision Science: EXTRA PRE-EVENT SESSION
Lynda will be offering a special introductory session to the seminar for anyone not familiar with the key ideas including the science underpinning decision science, the importance of heuristics, and the application to online fundraising This session will allow you to get up to speed and enjoy the main content. Lynda will also be offering insights on how NextGen supporters can be engaged using decision science. You’ll be able to access Lynda’s session in a prerecorded session in advance as well as meet her live on the day.
Who should attend?
This seminar is designed for people working in:
- Individual giving and supporter experience
- Campaigning and advocacy
- Marketing and communications
- Digital engagement
- NGO, charity and cultural leadership
- Arts, heritage and public engagement
Expect more than just presentations
In eight packed hours you’ll enjoy:
- Live behavioural experiments
- AI demonstrations
- Real-world case studies
- Ethical debate around influence and persuasion
- Key ideas from the commercial and charity sectors
- The chance to interact with other participants
Secure one of only 75 places
Places are limited to keep the day interactive, practical and discussion-based.
Book before Friday 26 June and pay the early bird rate of £149 + VAT instead of £199 + VAT.
That means you save £50 and secure your place before the seminar opens more widely.
Early bird places are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Extra value when you reserve your seat
You’ll enjoy extra value when you book. Every participant will receive:
A FREE copy of Bernard Ross‘s new book, The Case for Support Playbook. A practical guide to applying decision science to charity fundraising messages. The book sold out when first launched on Amazon and is now being reprinted. Value: £9.99.
Entry into a draw for a free Richard Shotton online training place. Richard is the author of The Choice Factory and The Illusion of Choice, and one of the UK’s best-known behavioural science practitioners. He has donated a place on one of his courses. Value £499.00.
Access to discounted decision science books and materials: a chance to build your own practical resource library for fundraising, marketing and advocacy. And have a special offer on access to the Donor Decision Deck and website. Value: up to £100.00.
Convenient Central London location
The event will take place at Framestore’s comfortable and modern venue: 28 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1LB.
In aid of Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders
The seminar is being held in aid of Médecins Sans Frontières, supporting its global humanitarian medical work in some of the world’s most challenging contexts.
So, while the day is designed to strengthen your own fundraising, campaigning and communication practice, it will also contribute to urgent humanitarian action.
Don’t miss out
If your work depends on people choosing to give, join, support, share or act, this intensive day will help you understand those choices more clearly – and design more effective ways to influence them ethically.
But there are only 75 places. Book before Friday 26 June to secure the £149.00 + VAT early bird rate.
Booking form
Raising More, Smarter: AI and Decision Science for Fundraisers
Behavioural Science, AI and Human Decision-Making for Fundraising, Marketing & Advocacy
London UK | Monday, 21st September 2026
