Meet the Chairs
Kurstin Finch Gnehm
Kurstin Finch Gnehm is a senior fundraiser with experience leading across major gifts, individual giving, legacies, and advancement services. She currently works as the deputy director of philanthropy at the Royal Academy of Music, the U.K.’s top conservatoire, where she looks after individual giving, stewardship, legacies and events. Previously, Kurstin served as regular giving manager for Imperial College London, where her team recently won a CASE Award and the 2016 London Marathon award for most money raised per charity runner. She has also worked in the fundraising team for two of the U.K.’s ancient universities, the University of Aberdeen and the University of St Andrews, where she served as part of the 600th anniversary campaign team. Kurstin started her fundraising career at Linfield University in the United States and holds degrees from Linfield, Oregon State University, and the University of Iowa, where she has also taught communication and gender studies classes. She has a seat on the Learning and Development Committee at the Institute of Fundraising and co-chairs the fundraising track of the CASE Europe Annual Conference. Areas of expertise include data-driven fundraising, regulatory change, and stakeholder management, and Kurstin regularly writes and speaks about fundraising for the IDPE and CASE Europe.
Geoff Savage
Geoff Savage has worked in fundraising since 2001. Since 2007 he has specialised in university regular giving, managing over 50 telephone campaigns as an agency consultant for a wide range of institutions. In 2014, he was appointed Head of Individual Giving at Aston University, where he oversees in-house Telephone, Direct Mail and Crowdfunding campaigns.