BIG TOPICS

In 2025, we introduced Big Topics to bring the IFC community together – in person and online – to shape the Manifesto for Change.

Together, we named what we refuse and what we choose, and mapped the direction of travel we want to see for our sector: moving from charity to solidarity, from dependency to agency, from isolation to shared purpose, and from maintaining systems to rewriting them together.

At IFC 2026, it’s time to write the next chapter.

What is already changing – and what role will we play in shaping what comes next?

Civil society and the wider social impact sector are operating in a period of profound transformation. Traditional funding models are being challenged. Communities are demanding greater agency and ownership. New approaches to financing, technology, and collaboration are emerging. And everywhere, people are organising, innovating, and challenging long-held assumptions about how change happens.

And all of this as we continue to navigate the complex realities of political polarisation, declining trust, leadership pressures, financial uncertainty, and rapid technological advances.

Building on the foundations laid in 2025, each Big Topic session this year will explore one defining question. Through research, real-world examples, and practical discussion, these conversations will challenge assumptions, showcase innovation, and equip you with ideas you can apply in your organisations and your communities.

Competing for Attention with the Radical Right

What can we learn from people who stand in opposition to our values?

Populist and radical-right movements are increasingly shaping public opinion through brazen narratives, savvy digital campaigning, and the cultivation of a powerful sense of identity and belonging.

This session explores why the right is winning the battle for attention, what civil society can learn from its success, and what we need to do differently to compete for influence in the attention economy to mobilise people around their values.

Supercharging Climate Justice

60 minutes to turn good intentions and a landmark climate ruling into action.

In July last year, the International Court of Justice delivered a landmark ruling on state obligations relating to climate change.

World’s Youth for Climate Justice is the driving force behind making this a global campaign. This highly interactive session will explore possibilities for collaboration to capitalise on what this ruling can achieve in the real world.

Can Civil Society Fund Itself?

If we were designing how social change is funded from scratch, would we build the system we have today?

This conversation will explore what a different funding system could look like: Would foundations move more capital? Would resources flow within communities? Would we organise around those communities instead of around individual organisation? Would alternative forms of capital play a meaningful role?

But the biggest question is: If we would change things, what can we start changing now?

Join the International Fundraising Congress to get clear on what matters now.

IFC brings together experiences from across regions, movements, causes, and from organisations of every type and size –  helping you see beyond your own context and learn from people tackling similar challenges in very different ways.

Join us this October 2026 and reaffirm your commitment to being part of a force that shapes the world, not just one that responds to disaster.