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Creative Day 2026: Ignite Your Creativity

May 12, 2026 9:30 AM - 4:35 PM (EDT)

Description


Creative Day 2026 is your opportunity to gain valuable insights, access bold ideas, and hear new perspectives.

The day will feature some of our industry's top experts in interactive sessions on the Dos and Don’ts of purposeful storytelling and the lessons we can draw from for-profit marketers. We’ll share concrete examples of what works and what doesn’t when creating digital ads. We’ll examine the importance of not settling for “meh” creative, what authentic messaging looks and feels like in an extraordinary climate, and more. 

The action-packed day will also feature roundtable discussions on a host of timely creative topics. This is your chance to connect, collaborate, and gain actionable guidance from some of the best in the field.

Who Should Attend Creative Day?
Creative Day 2026 is designed for fundraising professionals, creative strategists, and nonprofit leaders eager to engage their audiences with compelling messaging, engaging design work, and strategies that keep pace with a fast-moving landscape. The day-long program is ideal for copywriters, designers, marketing experts, and others directly involved in creative work. And it's just as informative for broader development professional and organizational leaders who manage, support, and evaluate creative work. 

Why You Should Attend.
When the going gets tough, the tough get creative. In today’s challenging landscape, it’s more important than ever to make your creative work engaging, persuasive, and response-generating. Creative Day 2026 is an invaluable opportunity to hear from top experts as well as networking and sharing ideas with your creative colleagues. You’re certain to come away with ideas, concepts and strategies that will elevate your organization’s creative work. 

Register now!

Agenda

9:00 am - 9:30 am Registration & Continental Breakfast
9:30 am - 9:45 am
Welcome & Opening Remarks
Speaker: Leigh Corrigan-Owens, Creative Director, Mal Warwick, Donordigital  
9:45 am - 10:45 am
Storytelling Dos and Don'ts
Speakers: Frank O’Brien, Author, O'Brien On Message llc; Madeleine Nance, Fundraising Messaging Strategist. Kind Word

We all know how important storytelling is in our creative work. But there’s a big difference between just telling good stories and engaging people with stories that are purposeful and persuasive in advancing your group’s message.

Join us in this session as, relying on concrete nonprofit examples, our presenters lay out a series of purposeful storytelling dos and don’ts followed by an interactive Q and A period.

  • Explore the vital role emotion and personal identity play in storytelling
  • Identify the pitfalls that can undermine the power of your stories.
  • Come away with concrete ways to make your storytelling more purposeful
10:45 am - 11:15 am
Creative Work in a Year Like No Other: How to Pivot Your Message
Speakers: Lisa Kagel, Senior Director, Digital-Advancement Team, TechnoServe; Matt McLaughlin, Vice President, Integrated Creative, Mission Wired

Last year was anything but business as usual for fundraising – demonstrating that direct response marketing programs must plan strategically for what can be planned and pivot just as strategically when unexpected crises arise. In this session, TechnoServe – a global nonprofit that helps people lift themselves out of poverty – and MissionWired will discuss how TechnoServe pivoted its messaging and creative strategy during multiple rapid response moments last year, specifically successive rounds of federal funding pauses and, ultimately, funding terminations.

The session will discuss how, in a highly sensitive moment, TechnoServe balanced organizational voice and priorities with direct response creative strategies to foster an unprecedented donor response in its digital fundraising program. We will also discuss how TechnoServe maintained the urgency of this moment well beyond the initial rapid response, how content strategy shifted across the rest of the program to maximize results, and how we balanced the need to pivot with historical messaging and creative strategies that yield results for the program.

11:15 am - 11:30 am
Refresh & Connect 
11:30 am - 12:55 pm
Roundtables | Barriers to Giving
Facilitator & Host: Gwen McGarry Senior Vice President, Creative, M+R; Gavin Caster, Account Executive, Client Outreach, Telefund

We've all been there: unclear feedback, a project that isn’t working, or a moment when you’re stuck and not sure who to ask. This interactive roundtable session tackles three of the hardest moments in the creative process and what overcoming might look like: successfully managing up and across, knowing when it’s time to start over, and asking for help when you’re stuck. Through structured conversations with peers, you'll leave with smarter approaches, practical takeaways, and the sigh of relief that comes from realizing it's not just you.

1:00 pm - 1:45 pm
Networking & Lunch
1:45 pm - 2:45 pm
Lessons from Beyond the Nonprofit World
Speakers: Ebonie Land, Creative Consultant; Talia Solomon, Fractional CMO & Brand Advisor, The Brand Economist; Esther Chang, Director, Video and Post Production, Planned Parenthood Federation of America

Moderator: Frank O’Brien, Author, OBrien On Message llc

Ever wonder how for profits make campaigns feel effortless – and why we can’t? This session breaks down commercial marketing strategies and shows how to translate them into the nonprofit world. Packed with practical examples, clever hacks, and plenty of inspiration, you’ll leave knowing how to borrow smart ideas, stretch your resources, and make a bigger impact without reinventing the wheel.

  • Understand what for profit campaigns do well, and how they make that magic happen
  • Leave with concrete ways to apply commercial marketing strategies to your own campaigns,  regardless of how big or small your team's resources may be
2:45 pm - 3:45 pm
Don't Settle for Meh Creative
Speaker: Will Valverde, Senior Vice President, Creative, M+R

Our supporters deserve messaging and creative that is engaging and informative, that helps them feel connected to the causes they care about. And when we deliver excellent creative, we see improved reach, more engaged audiences, and higher response rates. But good creative doesn’t always come easy. When you’re delivering dozens of emails, SMS and MMS messages, ad variants, and more… When timelines are tight and budgets are limited… When inspiration fails to strike… You can end up with messaging that is just kinda “meh.” Routine. Boring. Lifeless. Worst of all, you end up with creative content that fails to engage and motivate your audience.

  • How to spot mediocre creative before it reaches your audience
  • How to edit, refine, and transform creative to make it feel special
  • How to build a program that encourages creativity and routinely delivers exceptional creative
3:45 pm - 4:00 pm
Refresh & Connect Break
4:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Creative Tests Worth Stealing (or Not)
Speakers: Leigh Corrigan-Owens, Creative Director, Mal Warwick Donordigital; Rebekah Sasek, Senior Design Manager, Lautman Maska Neill & Co. 

Get ready for a fastpaced deep dive into realworld creative tests. We'll look at tests across digital, direct mail, ads, and texting. And we'll examine what actually moved the dial -- and what didn't.  Our session leaders will break down the concepts behind the results, show which formats and messages performed best, and explore how even small creative tweaks can lead to meaningful gains. We’ll highlight key trends shaping nonprofit direct response right now.

You’ll leave energized and inspired, with a stack of new testing ideas, creative approaches worth stealing, plus fresh motivation to run smarter, well-designed tests that make a real impact on your nonprofit’s program.

4:30 pm - 4:35 pm
Closing Remarks 

Full participation in this program is applicable for up to 6 Continuing Education Points in Category 1.B – Education of the CFRE International application for initial certification and/or recertification.


THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS



















Creative Day 2026 Rates
Corporate Member: $175
Corporate Nonmember: $225
Nonprofit Member: Free!
Nonprofit Nonmember: $200


Interested in becoming a member?
Click here to learn more!

Interested in partnering with DMAW on Creative Day?
Click here to learn more!




CONSENT TO USE IMAGES AND RECORDINGS

Media Release: By registering, you grant the Direct Marketing Association of Washington permission to photograph, video/audio record, and use your image and likeness in DMAW publications, promotions, and other media. You understand that DMAW has exclusive rights to these visual and audio recordings.

Photographs, videos, and recordings may be taken at the event for use on the DMAW website, print collateral, press, future marketing materials, and social media. By attending this event, you consent to DMAW photographing, taking video, and using your image and likeness.

If you prefer not to have your information shared, please opt out by submitting a written request to programs@dmaw.org.


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DMAW
Name: Direct Marketing Association of Washington (DMAW)
Phone: (703) 689-3629
Email: programs@dmaw.org
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