At a secluded private campus outside London, conservative leaders from 26 nations have gathered for a conference aimed at ensuring groups advancing free market economics and traditional values have the resources necessary for victory.
The Leadership Institute, the well-respected American organization that has educated and trained conservative leaders for over 30 years, is hosting the event at Wellington College in Crowthorne. The program, now in its fifth year, brings international fundraising experts together with center-right political and organizational leaders for several days of intensive training and preparation in both the science and art of raising funds to achieve center-right objectives.
This year’s program comes at a challenging time for the global economy as countries in the Eurozone continue to grapple with the repercussions of a financial crisis while growth in the United States continues to lag.
Participants in the International School of Fundraising will learn from an array of fundraising experts what it takes to earn voluntary financial support for efforts back in their home countries, which range from Spain and Germany to Nigeria and Kazakstan.
The program’s faculty is international and includes several Americans, including direct mail fundraising experts Richard Norman and Bruce Eberle, major donor fundraising specialist Stephen Clouse, Leadership Institute President Morton Blackwell, and ClearWord Communications Group’s Rick Hendrix, among others. As a member of the faculty, my focus will be on successful political party and candidate fundraising approaches.
Wellington College is an interesting venue for the program. The campus was home to the Duke of Wellington, best known for leading English forces to victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. The campus bar is aptly named, “Napoleon’s Retreat.”
Ron Nehring is a national and international consultant who served as Chairman of the California Republican Party from 2007 to 2011. He hosts a strategy and political technology site at RonNehringLabs.com.