Unstoppable: What Hamdan’s Story Teaches Us About Hope, Resilience, & Fundraising

Thoughts from Resource Alliance CEO Willeke van Rijn following a conversation with Hamdan Mohammed, Fundraising Director at SOS Children’s Villages Palestine.

When Hamdan Mohammed describes his working reality, I can’t help but be in awe of the leadership, resilience, and determination he shows every day; it should be an inspiration and motivation to all of us.

Hamdan is the Fundraising Director at SOS Children’s Villages Palestine. He lives in Ramallah and works in Bethlehem. A journey that should be straightforward has become increasingly unpredictable. Restrictions on movement, economic pressure, fuel shortages, and growing humanitarian needs have transformed everyday life.

Planning has become a constant exercise in uncertainty. Hamdan explained that his team no longer works with one scenario. They work with scenarios A, B, C and D because reality can change from one day to the next. But fundraising continues.

Hamdan’s experience reminded me of something fundamental about our profession: Fundraising isn’t just about resources; it’s about resilience, creativity, and the belief that communities deserve a better future, even when the path ahead is uncertain. One sentence from Hamdan captures this beautifully: “Every day you need to be resilient in something new.”

For many fundraisers around the world, these words will feel familiar. Resilience is no longer something we call upon only in moments of crisis. It has become part of our everyday work – finding new approaches, building new partnerships, and continuing to create impact despite circumstances that are often beyond our control.

What makes Hamdan’s reality so powerful is that, alongside the challenges, there is a deep sense of possibility. Five years ago, his team raised around half a million dollars. Today, despite working in circumstances that many of us can scarcely imagine, they raise between five and six million dollars annually.

For Hamdan, this is evidence that impact remains possible. It shows what can happen when communities, organisations, and supporters continue to believe in what is possible.

His story also reminds us that resilience is never created alone, it is collective. It grows through communities supporting one another, businesses finding new ways to contribute, entrepreneurs embedding social purpose into their work, and donors who remain focused on people and the future they want to help create.

One example he shared illustrates this perfectly: A business leader whose company had been forced to close many branches still wanted to support the community. Unable to make a large corporate donation, he invited customers to add a contribution to their invoices. A challenge became an opportunity for an entire community to participate in creating change.

It is a simple idea, but reflects something much bigger: When traditional ways of working become more difficult, generosity finds new ways to express itself.

Hamdan also challenged us to think differently. Perhaps we should not only ask what we need to learn, but also what we need to unlearn. How can we trust communities more? How can we create partnerships differently? How can we become more open to ideas that emerge from people working in extraordinary circumstances every day?

These are exactly the conversations that bring fundraisers, campaigners, changemakers, and leaders from the social impact sector together at the International Fundraising Congress (IFC) every year. They come together to share experiences, challenge assumptions, and learn from each other’s realities.

This is why we chose Unstoppable as the theme for IFC 2026. We want to create space for the stories, ideas, and experiences that show what resilience, leadership, and generosity look like in practice.

Hamdan’s story reminds us that being unstoppable is not about standing alone. It is about continuing to adapt, collaborate, and believe that change is possible – together.

If these are the kinds of conversations you want to be part of, I hope you’ll join us at IFC 2026. Come ready to share your own experiences, listen to voices from around the world, and help shape the future of fundraising and the wider social impact sector.