UNSTOPPABLE: OUR THEME FOR IFC 2026

Across every region of the world and within every movement, leaders are rising to challenge extractive systems, reshape power dynamics, and build networks of solidarity rooted in trust, dignity, and agency.

Our sector is not standing still. Momentum is building. People are coming together in ways they never have before. We are unstoppable.

Building Collective Agency

Unstoppable does not reflect blind optimism or grinding resilience, but collective agency. The power that emerges when we choose collaboration over competition, courage over caution, and imagination over inherited norms is limitless.

IFC 2026 will equip you with the knowledge and tools to do better, more equitable, and more effective work, and with a new global network of leadership peers who believe in change as strongly as you do.

Pillars of Change

IFC 2026 is a call to reimagine, reclaim, and rebuild. To continue to drive transformation within our sector and across the world.

• The power to reimagine allows to envision a world that does not yet exist; it is radical, creative, and looks to the future. It gives us the strength to challenge inherited systems, mindsets, and dependencies, and to create new pathways for justice and change.
• When we reclaim things that are rightfully ours, we demand an end to the systems and powers that have tried to take them from us. Our communities, our voices, and our agency are the foundation to create lasting change.
• The commitment to rebuild systems and relationships that nurture equity and shared power is an acceptance of our responsibility not just to demand better, but to make better a reality.

Across the world, we see signs of change: youth movements bringing down leaders who have not served their people, grassroots organisations leading response and resilience, citizens who have never protested making their voices heard as they stand against injustice.

When we reimagine, reclaim, and rebuild, we can move beyond resilience into revolution; one that is rooted in heart, driven by purpose, and powered by us all. We are, and always will be, unstoppable.

What This Means for You

At IFC 2026, your learning will be rooted in these pillars of change. Unstoppable isn’t about growth at all costs, top-down leadership, or pretending our sector isn’t under pressure. It’s about challenging narratives that limit fundraising and leadership, refusing to accept systems that no longer serve communities, and rebuilding ways of working that are ethical, resilient, and fit for the future.

You will experience:

• Sessions that are grounded in real-world practice and success
• Clearer priorities on what matters for your work right now
• Expert training with a global perspective you won’t find anywhere else
• True collaboration with a network of CEOs and senior sector leaders in marketing, operations, communications, innovation, and more

IFC 2026 celebrates the people and movements who refuse to stand still – and is a must-attend event for senior social impact leaders.

The Longest-Running Fundraising Conference

The International Fundraising Congress began as a small gathering of fundraisers in Noordwijk in the Netherlands in 1981 and has been held there there ever since. Our hybrid model now welcomes thousands of fundraisers, campaigners, activists, and changemakers virtually in addition to the thousand or so in-person attendees.

At the 2025 event, one thing was unmistakably clear: the social impact sector is not standing still. There has been a perceptible shift from charity to solidarity, from dependency to agency, and from fragmentation to collective purpose. The IFC Manifesto for Change, created in collaboration with attendees and the wider community, captured that shift. You can read it here.