Section 1: Background on Heather Nelson’s fundraising career

• A background on Heather Nelson’s early years in fundraising and key lessons learnt
• Reflecting on a successful campaign in Heather’s role as the Director of Fundraising and Communications at Street Kids International
• Moving into a role with Food Banks Canada and how this led Heather to starting her own corporate partnerships consultancy, BridgeRaise

Section 2: Approaching corporate partnerships strategically

• Why corporate partnerships are important to the overall fundraising strategy
• The process of creating a corporate partnerships strategy
• Acquiring new corporate partners
• How corporate partnerships can vary across different sectors and charity sizes
• Some tips for creating corporate sponsorship proposals

Section 3: Corporate relationships

• Common problems when it comes to fundraising teams managing relationships with corporate partners
• Advice to better managing these relationships
• To what extend should nonprofits be promoting their corporate partners
• The role of the CEO and board when it comes to corporate relationships
• Advice for fundraisers managing a corporate relationship when it starts to deteriorate

Section 4: Professional development for fundraisers and BridgeRaise

• A success story from a time when BridgeRaise innovated to get a good result
• Recalling a time when a tactic didn’t go to plan and lessons learnt
• Serving on nonprofit boards and how aspiring fundraising leaders can serve on their first board
• Planning for a successful fundraising career

Section 5: Summary

• Plans for Heather and BridgeRaise in the next 5 – 10 years
• Heather’s final advice to inspire and fulfil fundraisers