Heaps Good is a celebration of the campaigns that made South Australians stop scrolling, start talking and genuinely feel something. Featuring Zoos SA, Lutheran Care and Cancer Council SA, this fast-paced session shines a light on bold ideas, powerful storytelling and community-driven campaigns that captured hearts and drove real impact. From elephants arriving at Monarto to reframing foster care through “Be The Village”, hear the stories behind the work, the thinking that made it cut through, and the fundraising lessons we can all take from campaigns that were, quite simply… heaps good.

Big, Bold & Unforgettable: The Campaign That Brought the Elephants to SA

Presented by: Stephanie Engelaar MFIA

Bringing Asian elephants to South Australia wasn’t just a conservation milestone — it was a once-in-a-generation fundraising campaign that captured hearts across the state. This session unpacks how Zoos SA turned a bold vision into a movement, rallying community support, securing major gifts, and building momentum at scale. From powerful storytelling and public engagement to navigating complexity behind the scenes, this campaign shows what happens when ambition meets strategy. Steph shares the real insights — what worked, what surprised us, and what we’d do differently — in a case study that proves when you go big (and bring people with you), the impact can be extraordinary.

Connection, Not Perfection

Using joy to tell serious stories - and getting people to act.

Presented by Katrina Ranford   

When Lutheran Care set out to recruit more foster carers, it faced growing need, dwindling interest, a crowded market and a big personal ask of prospective carers.

Lutheran Care’s Be the Village foster care recruitment campaign took a different approach. Rather than relying on traditionally serious or sombre foster care advertising, the campaign used humour, joy, everyday family chaos, authentic stories and distinctly South Australian experiences to make fostering feel more human and achievable. It didn’t trivialise a serious issue to be funny. It used joy to make a serious issue approachable.

This session shares the thinking behind the campaign, the creative risks, what worked, what the results taught us and what we’d do differently. And it asks: does a serious cause always need serious advertising, or have need, sadness and crisis become our default creative language?