As Philanthropy Australia marked its 50th anniversary, more than 1,200 delegates gathered in Brisbane under the theme Mobilising Generosity. Shaping the Future. to explore how giving, collaboration and collective action can help shape a better future.
The Content Division partnered with Philanthropy Australia to capture the milestone and build a content and activation program that would carry the conference’s ideas, voices and momentum into the year ahead.
The Challenge
Philanthropy Australia wanted a partner who could treat the four-day conference as the foundation for 12+ months of thought leadership. The theme reflected the organisation’s new Strategy 2033, which commits the peak body to convening the sector and amplifying knowledge exchange. The brief called for content capture, storytelling and audience engagement at that scale — and a lasting asset library for member engagement, practice and marketing.
Our Approach
We supported the conference with four services, each designed to feed the others.
Live photography ran from MasterClass Monday through all three conference days, with an experienced event photographer covering keynotes, panel discussions, concurrent sessions and the conference dinner. Instant-upload software made branded galleries available to our team and delegates in real time, so images could be shared as the event unfolded.
Live social media planning started well before day one, with a full content calendar spanning the event and the following month. Once the conference began, our social team delivered six to eight posts a day across Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram, mixing session takeaways, delegate reflections, vox pops and behind-the-scenes stories. Content and captions moved through approval in real time. The week after the conference, we delivered a scrollytelling article that paired the event’s top insights with professional photography.
Video captured the conference experience, including key speakers and sessions, delegate engagement, Brisbane’s atmosphere, activations and performers. We graded and delivered the full raw footage, followed by a hero conference film the week after the event.
The same crew filmed member testimonials for renewal and acquisition campaigns across social, email and membership materials, and recorded podcast-ready interviews between select speakers and a Philanthropy Australia host for future release.
Activations gave delegates a physical way into the story. The Story Stackers installation combined a fixed hero-message wall with 32 boxes delegates could pick up and reorder to write their own story. A large-scale interactive map invited delegates to mark where they work and the kind of support they provide, using custom branded stickers.
Both activations became content in their own right, feeding directly back into the social and video program.
The Results
The four-day conference produced a content engine built to run all year. The real-time galleries kept delegates engaged throughout, and live social coverage kept Philanthropy Australia visible across Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram from start to finish.
Social results*
Across the three channels combined, posting volume increased 141%, and engagement rose 380%.
Engagement growth by platform:
- LinkedIn: 13,544 engagements (+776%)
- Instagram: 690 engagements (+2,660%)
- Facebook: 247 engagements (+3,429%)
*Compared with the equivalent period before the conference.
LinkedIn showed the strongest results, with an 18.9% engagement rate, 1,150 new followers and 138,330 impressions (117% growth).
The hero film and full raw-footage library give Philanthropy Australia flexible assets for future marketing, and the member testimonials are ready to drop into renewal and acquisition campaigns.
The conference asked delegates to mobilise generosity and shape the future. The content program gives Philanthropy Australia the material to keep doing both, with a year’s worth of stories, voices and footage to draw on.
