ENCC 2026 Toronto: See What You Missed at Our First Community Conference of the Year
On April 14, more than 100 Engaging Networks clients, partners, staff, and friends gathered at Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto for our first Engaging Networks Community Conference (ENCC) of 2026. We shared good food, great conversations, and inspiring ideas on what the future may hold for nonprofits in Canada.
“Times are changing rapidly. Canadian nonprofits are squeezed between donor fatigue, economic uncertainty, and a quickly shifting political landscape. Our mission is to provide you with a sense of stability and the means to innovate as you navigate these challenges,” said Leah Meers, Vice President of Client Success at Engaging Networks. “I stand here proud to partner with all of you in your work.”
Amidst that changing landscape, one central message emerged: Engaging with your donors is more important than ever, and there are no shortcuts to building a meaningful relationship with them.
Are You Engaging Authentically?
How can nonprofits break through the noise to reach their supporters and help their causes? According to several ENCC Toronto speakers, by building authentic connections directly with their communities.
Tasha Van Flack, Founder, Co-Director of Marketing and Community at the Nonprofit Hive, advocated for a relational marketing approach that’s centered on building a robust community of supporters. She noted that it’s crucial for the organization to nurture community growth by showing up fully and consistently at every touchpoint. That could look like a warm thank-you message to a first-time donor or an invitation to a follow-up talk with a peer after an event. As Tasha suggests: “The best way to drive more engagement is to be engaging.”
Ryan McGuire, Associate Account Director at the Harrington Agency, suggested asking supporters questions — about their preferences, thoughts, or important concerns — and then taking action on those and showing them that you heard them: “They don’t want more messages; they do want to feel more understood.”
Claire Kerr, Director, Canada at Care2, encouraged using interactive content like surveys, quizzes, and contests to engage with supporters and offer them a richer, more entertaining experience. Mike Duerksen, CEO of BuildGood, shared his findings that focusing on building connections is the best path to increase revenue and retention.
Living Your Why as a Fundraiser
Nonprofits traditionally follow a donor-centric fundraising approach, keeping their donors at the forefront of each message and campaign. Maria Rio, CEO and Founder of Further Together and our keynote speaker, is advocating for a different path: community-centric fundraising that puts the needs of the community first, above all others’ (even donors’). Without that focus on the community first, nonprofits run the risk of raising money to treat symptoms, instead of addressing the real problem your community is facing.
“Your ‘why’ is your reason for being here. It’s your answer to ‘why did you become a fundraiser?’ What drove you to this work? What change do you want to see in the world?”
– Maria Rio, CEO and Founder of Further Together
Realigning your fundraising work to focus on your community or cause first can help you get back to your “why,” Maria explained.
Next Up From Engaging Networks
Engaging Networks’ own Hani Abughazaleh, Product Manager, and Noelle Butler, Associate Product Manager, ended the conference with an update on all of the exciting changes ahead for Engaging Networks — starting with Smart Pages, which launched April 9.
“Smart Pages is a very exciting product that we recently released. With it, we are offering a completely new page-building experience that will live alongside our main flagship product, Page Builder,” said Hani. “As we continue to innovate, we want to provide clients with a simplified option to launch a donation page that will meet their needs and will not require any complex development knowledge.”
Read more about Smart Pages here.
Hani and Noelle discussed several other upcoming changes on our product roadmap:
- Event Waitlist: Collect and notify interested attendees and includes an admin panel to manage your waitlist.
- SMS Inbox Manager: Get full insight and control over SMS messages from supporters.
- Advocacy and Engagement Improvements: Look out for lookup pages, improvements to target selection, and quiz pages.
- Page Builder Upgrades: We’re creating a consistent UX and workflow, as well as adding support for new designs.
- Salesforce Connector: We’ll be supporting a new Salesforce integration with Kindsight Ascend — a fundraising CRM built for nonprofits.
- Peer-to-Peer Changes: Look out for bulk fundraiser creation improvements, multiple fundraising page support, improved reporting, and other updates.
Cheers to a Successful ENCC ’26, Toronto!
We greatly appreciate getting the chance to meet with our Canadian community in Toronto, and we hope our attendees had as great a time as we did! If you missed the event, you have a chance to catch us in London, May 19 – 20! Get more event info and register for tickets.
We’ll also host ENCC in Washington, D.C., this fall — more information on that event to come!
