Plenary Sessions
09:40 - 10:10
Leading for the Long Term
Sustaining Impact in an Uncertain World
Cancer research requires patience, public trust and sustained investment. This keynote will reflect on what it means to lead a mission measured in decades while navigating short-term pressure on funding, policy and public confidence. A perspective on stewardship, resilience and building organisations that endure.
Content Streams Begin
10:10 - 11:30
10:10 - 11:00
Workshop: Trust, Power and Conflict
Managing the Board–CEO Relationship
When trust breaks down between trustees and executive leadership, the impact can be immediate and destabilising. In today’s high-pressure environment, strong governance relationships are essential.
This highly practical workshop will use real-world scenarios and structured group exercises to explore what causes board–CEO conflict, how to spot early warning signs, and what to do if tensions escalate. Together, we’ll map decision boundaries, identify common governance failure points, and work through a step-by-step framework for containing fallout and rebuilding trust.
You will leave with practical tools you can implement immediately, including a board–CEO health check, a crisis response structure, and a clearer model for maintaining alignment under pressure.
10:10 - 11:00
Volunteering at a Crossroads
What still works, what needs to change, and what charities are doing next
Volunteering models are under pressure. Availability is falling, support costs are rising and some roles no longer deliver the value they once did.
This session looks at how charities are reassessing volunteering in practice. Where does it still strengthen delivery and fundraising? When does it create hidden cost or risk? And how are organisations redesigning roles, expectations and corporate volunteering to make volunteering sustainable again?
A practical discussion focused on real decisions, trade-offs and examples leaders can apply immediately.
10:10 - 11:00
Facilitated Roundtable: Regulated to the Limit
How CFOs manage rising compliance and regulatory pressure
This is a practical, peer-led conversation about judgement, risk and leadership in an increasingly regulated environment.
Charity CFOs are navigating growing compliance demands at the same time as capacity shrinks. Updated SORP requirements, increased Charity Commission scrutiny, higher audit expectations and expanding reporting obligations are layering onto already stretched teams.
This facilitated CFO roundtable will focus on how finance leaders are making real-world decisions. Where regulation genuinely protects organisations and where it creates disproportionate burden. How CFOs prioritise when full compliance across every front is no longer realistic. And how they frame risk, reserves and trade-offs clearly with boards and CEOs.
11:00 - 11:30
Keynote: The Charity Commission and Regulatory Pressure
Governing with confidence in a time of scrutiny
Regulatory expectations are rising and trustees are increasingly expected to demonstrate rigorous oversight, timely reporting and clear accountability. The Charity Commission’s focus is sharpening, and boards must be prepared.
This keynote will examine the Commission’s current priorities, where charities are most exposed and the governance failings that most commonly lead to intervention. It will clarify trustees’ reporting duties, and outline what proactive regulatory engagement looks like in practice.
We will explore how boards can build a culture of informed compliance and how trustees can lead with confidence under increasing scrutiny.
11:00 - 11:30
Fireside Chat: New Funding Models in Practice
Pooled Pots, Shared Reporting and the End of Business as Usual
Open programmes are closing. Invite-only funding is increasing. More money is being distributed through pooled funds with shared reporting and aligned priorities. For many charities, the rules have changed without warning.
This fireside brings funders into the room to explain what is happening and how decisions are now being made. Why are funds closing? How are invite lists formed? What makes an organisation stand out in a pooled fund? And is reporting really becoming simpler?
This will be a practical conversation on how to position your organisation, protect your pipeline and adapt your fundraising strategy when funding models shift.
11:00 - 11:30
AI, Cybersecurity and Control
A CFO peer discussion on risk, resilience and oversight
This peer discussion brings CFOs together to share how they are managing rising cyber, fraud and data risks as AI and automation accelerate across charities.
The conversation will focus on what CFOs are seeing in practice and how they are deciding what controls really matter. It will explore what “good enough” cybersecurity looks like at different scales, how expectations from insurers, auditors and regulators are shifting, and how CFOs are challenging both underinvestment and overconfidence at board level.
CFOs will leave with clearer judgement and a practical checklist they can take straight into audit and board conversations.
Morning Break
11:30 - 12:00
Content Streams Continue
12:00 - 13:15
12:00 - 12:45
Workshop: Rethinking the Charity Board
What Should Governance Look Like in 2026?
Traditional trustee boards were designed for a different era with slower media cycles, lower regulatory intensity, more stable funding environments and more hierarchical leadership models.
But with today’s charities are operating in permanent change are our governance structures keeping up?
This interactive workshop will examine what progressive, future-fit boards look like and challenge long-held assumptions about trustee diversity, unpaid models, power-sharing and representation.
Through case examples and structured discussion, we will explore:
- Whether unpaid trusteeship is limiting diversity and access
- How boards can move beyond “pale, male and stale”
- What meaningful service-user representation looks like in governance
- Whether traditional hierarchical board structures are outdated
- Emerging models such as co-leadership, distributed power and hybrid governance
12:00 - 12:45
Workshop: Fundraising Innovation in Practice
Building the mindset that drives stronger income
Income pressure is not temporary. Acquisition is harder. Unrestricted funding is tighter. Corporate confidence is uneven. In this environment, incremental tweaks are not enough.
The fundraising teams seeing stronger results are those that have normalised disciplined experimentation. They test early. They adapt quickly. They stop what is not working.
This session explores how to embed that mindset inside a fundraising function.
Through live sector challenges and guided discussion, we will examine how organisations are:
- Diversifying income without destabilising core revenue
- Testing new propositions before committing significant resource
- Responding when flagship products plateau
- Building confidence at board level for controlled risk
You will leave with a clearer structure for testing ideas, sharper thinking around risk, and a more confident approach to change.
12:00 - 12:45
Facilitated discussion: When the CFO Knows - and the Organisation Doesn’t Listen
Influence, authority and managing upward
This facilitated discussion explores one of the most common and least openly addressed challenges for charity CFOs: knowing what the organisation needs but struggling to get traction at the top.
CFOs are often clear on risks around reserves, controls, skills or sustainability, yet find themselves facing pressure to approve growth, recruitment or innovation without full understanding of the financial implications. This session focuses on how finance leaders influence decisions without becoming the blocker.
The conversation will examine how CFOs frame financial reality, so boards actually hear it, how to distinguish strategic challenge from operational interference, and how to hold the line on risk while maintaining trust with CEOs and trustees.
12:45 - 13:15
When Law and Values Collide
Governing in an Age of Legal Change
Trustees carry ultimate legal responsibility for their charities. Compliance is non-negotiable, yet today’s legal landscape is increasingly complex and often contentious.
New rulings and regulatory shifts can expose tensions between legal duty, organisational values and public expectation. In these moments, boards are required to make difficult decisions that may carry significant reputational and regulatory consequences.
This keynote will examine trustees’ legal obligations and potential personal liability and explore how boards can approach complex legislation in sensitive areas. It will set out practical frameworks for decision-making under pressure and consider when external legal advice is essential. It will address how trustees can uphold the law while remaining true to their organisation’s purpose.
12:45 - 13:15
Case Study: Born From Constraint
How Digital-First Charities Are Reimagining Fundraising and Partnerships
This case study explores a new wave of digital-first charities that have built income and impact by designing their organisations around technology from the outset.
Rather than retrofitting digital into traditional models, these organisations have embedded it into their fundraising strategies, partnership development and supporter engagement. From platform-based income streams to innovative corporate collaborations, they are approaching growth differently.
This session will examine how these models were structured, how partnerships were secured, and how digital infrastructure enabled scale with limited resources. It will also consider what established charities can adapt, without having to rebuild from scratch.
12:45 - 13:15
Finance Systems That Actually Work
Making infrastructure decisions that support scale, control and resilience
Many charity CFOs are constrained by finance systems that no longer fit their organisation, but replacing them feels risky, expensive or politically difficult.
This practical session focuses on how CFOs make sound infrastructure decisions in imperfect conditions. It will explore what “good enough” finance systems look like at different stages, when to adapt rather than replace, and how to manage procurement, migration and internal resistance.
Drawing on real examples from peers, the discussion will centre on risk reduction, resilience and long-term value.
Closing Plenary Session
13:15 - 13:45
13:15 - 13:45
Keynote Panel: Rewriting the Rules
Ambitious Leadership Models for a Changing Sector
This closing panel asks a direct question: are our structures fit for what comes next?
From devolving power and rethinking traditional fundraising narratives, to experimenting with co-leadership and shared executive models, some organisations are actively redesigning how authority, accountability and decision-making work. These shifts change how strategy is set, how money flows and how risk is carried.
Panellists will explore what it really takes to move beyond hierarchical leadership, the advantages and tensions of co-chief models, and the practical implications of shifting power closer to the communities that charities exist to serve.