In the passing of Per Stenbeck this week the fundraising and nonprofit world has lost of its greatest, its most inspirational, kindest, warmest and most loved across all continents and cultures. The world is a better place because of him.

Per’s wife Ann-Kathrine sent me a message today informing me that he had passed away this weekend after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease and that “His passing leaves behind an immeasurable emptiness, but we in the family take comfort in knowing that he’s now at peace from his illness and that he lived a beautiful life.”

I cried, I smiled and my mind floated back to 1987 and meeting this crazy Swedish fundraising leader in what was the International Fund Raising Workshop (IFRW) in Noordwijkerhout, Netherlands. He and his co-founders were the international evangelists for this strange profession of fundraising that we found ourselves in.

Per was a true believer and his warm and welcoming smile made me and many others to be lifelong members of this wonderful cult.

As Per described himself on LinkedIn he had “40 years of international experience in nonprofit leadership, fundraising and advocacy”, but it did not start there. The whole decade of the 1970s in advertising before joining Save the Children Sweden as Director of Public Affairs and Fundraising, where he stayed for 12 years and in which time he co-founded the IFRW until I persuaded him to become the CEO of the Resource Alliance and the IFRW now the International Fundraising Congress (IFC) during which time he transformed and grew the event and took it to the next level internationally, inspiring the next generation of fundraising leaders.

Our lives were inextricably intertwined as I persuaded Per to become Executive Director of Greenpeace Sweden where his national and international leadership helped shape a modern Greenpeace, and then years later to the role of International Fundraising Director at UNICEF, where he led UNICEF to achieve over $1 billion USD in global private sector income. His final formal organisational role was to create WaterAid Sweden.

In reality, what I describe above is not what Per’s friends, colleagues and heartfelt admirers will remember Per for. It is Per the loving, kind, supportive, inspirational, generous, encouraging, gentle, funny, fun, challenging, inquisitive human being that touched all of us that had the honour of knowing him and loving him in return. Per was special, he was unique he affected and changed everyone that encountered him; we came away richer in spirit, stronger, energised and passionate to do our very best to raise fund, raise awareness, change minds and behaviours …all to make the world a better place.

Thank you Per Stenbeck.

It must be in the words of others that I wish my friend, colleague and comrade in alms to be remembered.

Memories of Per

“Per was a constant and inspirational presence through my several decades as a fundraiser and of course to thousands of others all around the world who, like me, benefitted from his wisdom, warmth, energy and friendship. Per did indeed live a beautiful life. We are all grateful for that, and for his immense contribution to the lives of countless others who now carry on his great work.”
Ken Burnett

“Thank you for sharing the news of the sad loss of Per, a beloved pioneer in our community. My
deepest condolences to his family. May they take comfort in knowing that his legacy lives on in
the many thousands and thousands of change makers that have flourished due to his heartfelt
generosity and vision”
Kyla Shawyer

“I’ll never forget his contagious optimism, always looking forward and ahead. He surely was a
pioneer in many senses in the fundraising world.”
Mario Fetz

“In my view there has never been a time that more urgently requires the passion of Per’s
commitment and the integrity of his life and actions.  I will use the moment to mourn his loss and
then recommit to the work that so urgently lies before us in this hurting world”
Jennie Thompson

“Others have already said it, but his smile, his enthusiasm, his boundless humanity! What a
great life force he was. I was so privileged to meet him, and many of you, very early in my
career. It was he and the rest of you that helped me realise I had a vocation and not just a job.”
Derek Humphries

“Per and I had worked so much alongside one and other for IFC. He was an inspiration for us.”
Pierre-Bernard Le Bas (IFC co-founder)

“Talk about standing on the shoulders of those who came before. Per was a key builder of our
movement. And boy wasn’t he fussy about our all presentation slides. But he wanted our
conference to be the best. It was and is. Thank you Per.”
Steve​​​​ Thomas

“So many powerful and happy memories of Per flooding back… At my first IFC hearing his 1 st Moses-style Commandment- ‘People give to People” and ripping up my spreadsheets…… riding- fast!- in his speedboat to his special quiet island in Sweden to plot and plan for UNICEF to break the $1B private ceiling… drinking in Acapulco at the first Latin American Fundraising Congress he had supported though RA… and hearing about his crazy vision to create a global network of congresses… a quiet dinner in Copenhagen discovering how he was spending his ‘retirement’ still relentlessly doing good. A life well lived. An inspiration.”
Bernard Ross

“He will be greatly missed. Talk about standing on the shoulders of those who came before. Per was a key builder of our movement. And boy wasn’t he fussy about our all presentation slides. But he wanted our conference to be the best. It was and is.”
Steve Thomas (Author of To Build a Better World, the IFC Story)

“He was incredible and unforgettable. His smile is what I will always remember.”
Richard Radcliffe

“Per was not only my friend, but my supervisor at UNICEF as well. I had many supervisors during my 33 years at UNICEF, but not one of them could match up to Per in terms of inspiration, encouragement, guidance and generosity of spirit. He was one of the greatest influences of my life.”
Richard Pordes

Daryl Upsall
20 February 2025