LET’S BOUNCE: Play as the precursor to possibility | Donor Experience Summit 2026 - Brooklyn

Why should adults make time for play? Because play is where curiosity, experimentation, and real human connection come back to life. In "Let's Bounce," the opening session of Fundraise Up's Donor Experience Summit in New York City, play practitioner Carly Ciarrocchi breaks down the theory and practice of play for grown-ups, then hands the entire room a clown nose to prove it. Drawing on nearly a decade hosting children's television, her work with the LEGO Foundation, and the clown workshops she teaches in comedy theaters, Carly Ciarrocchi makes the case that play isn't a break from meaningful work. It's what makes meaningful work possible. For fundraisers and nonprofit leaders doing demanding, people-centered work, it's a reset in how to show up for colleagues, partners, and donors. In this session: → Why adults lose access to play, and how to get it back → The LEGO Foundation's 5 characteristics of play: joyful, iterative, socially interactive, engaging, and meaningful → How play helps counter burnout and primes us for deeper human connection → What contemporary clown teaches about presence, truth, and failure, and why the red nose is "the smallest mask" → How to find your "bounce," the personal rhythm of play you can feel on your own, in collaboration, and in the world around you "Play is the answer to how anything new comes about." — Carly Ciarrocchi ABOUT THE DONOR EXPERIENCE SUMMIT The Donor Experience Summit, hosted by Fundraise Up, brings nonprofit fundraising professionals together to rethink how organizations connect with donors. Fundraise Up is an AI-powered fundraising platform for nonprofits. Learn more: https://fundraiseup.com/ Subscribe for more on donor experience, fundraising strategy, and nonprofit leadership. #DonorExperience #PowerOfPlay #nonprofitleadership 0:00 Why Adults Need Play 0:58 Where a Theory of Play Begins 3:58 Guided Exercise: Remember How You Played 6:43 Kids' TV, LEGO & the 5 Characteristics of Play 11:28 Contemporary Clown & Finding Your Bounce 15:39 Clown Noses On: A Room-Wide Play Warm-Up 22:35 Four Volunteers Become Clowns Live 28:53 Play Is How Anything New Begins