Nonprofit Leadership Conference: The event for nonprofit leaders

NONPROFIT LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

Being the change that changes everything takes more than one of us.

More than some of us.

More than a lot of us.

It takes all of us. Only together is the future we wish to see possible.

Come together with nonprofit and business leaders at the 2023 Nonprofit Leadership Conference on October 19 in downtown Tampa and/or virtually on October 20, presented by Bank of America. Together as one sector and one community that shares the same passion, purpose and potential, we will unleash the power of collaboration and innovation to strengthen our organizations and communities.

You belong here, because you are essential to build the future we want to see.

Together we will.

Day 1: Oct. 19, 2023
9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. EST
Hilton Tampa Downtown
Day 2: Oct. 20, 2023
9 a.m. to noon EST
Virtual (LIVE!)

Day 1 tickets are sold out, but virtual Day 2 tickets are still available!

overview

Get ready for two dynamic days of world-class speakers, inspiring breakout sessions, engaging networking and a few surprises — all focused on unleashing the power of “we.” You’ll walk away with ideas, tools and strategies you and your team can immediately implement.

DAY 1: OCT. 19, 2023

In person at the Hilton Tampa Downtown 8-9 a.m.Check in, Light Breakfast, Networking, Exhibit Hall 9:05–9:30 a.m.Welcome & Conference Opening 9:30-10:30 a.m.Morning Session: Manage Your Energy to Lead with Impact & Resilience, a Workplace Well-being Conversation with Stephanie Gularte, MFA, CPC, CPT, ELI-MP 10:30-11:15 a.m. Networking Break & Exhibit Hall 11:20-11:50 a.m. Lunch 11:50-12:55 p.m. Shola Richards Keynote Presentation: The Courage to Go Together: Three Questions to Change How You Work, Live and Lead 12:55-1:30 p.m. Day 1 Closing, Book Signing & Continued Networking DAY 2: OCT. 20, 2023 Virtual 9-10:15 a.m. Breakout Sessions:
Leading from Any Seat to Meet Tomorrow’s Challenges
Understanding Your Changing Workforce: How to Increase Employee Engagement Across Generations
Make Your Workplace a Community of Belonging
Panel: Driving Social Impact: Engaging Nonprofit Funders for Lasting Change
10:15-10:30 a.m. Break 10:30-11:45 a.m. Breakout Sessions:
If Onboarding Is So Critical, Why Don’t We Do It Well
How to Involve the Community in Identifying and Solving its Own Problems
10 Trends Fueling Thriving Nonprofits
Aligning Personal Brand & Organizational Brand for Social Impact Conference participants will have access to all breakout session recordings for 60 days after the conference.

The theme for this year’s Nonprofit Leadership Conference is Together We Will. In a time where what divides us often gets more attention than what unites us, you will come together with nonprofit and business leaders at the 2023 Nonprofit Leadership Conference as one sector and one community that shares the same passion, purpose and potential. Together, we will unleash the power of collaboration and innovation to strengthen our organizations and communities. Equal parts motivation, conversation and education, nonprofit leaders will come together as champions for change to move our sector and communities forward.

When is the conference?

The 2023 Nonprofit Leadership Conference is hosted by the Nonprofit Leadership Center and presented by Bank of America. This year’s event will be two days, in-person at the Hilton Tampa Downtown on October 19, 2023, and virtual from anywhere you live or work on October 20, 2023. The event start at 9 a.m. Eastern both days. Participants can choose to participate in day one, day two or both days.

Where is this year’s conference located?

The 2023 Nonprofit Leadership Conference is a hybrid event, taking place both in-person and online.

Day one will be in-person at the Hilton Tampa Downtown hotel on October 19, 2023. The address is 211 N. Tampa Street, Tampa, FL 33602. The program, starting promptly at 9 a.m. Eastern, will include light breakfast bites, a morning ballroom session, networking, lunch and an inspiring keynote address by Shola Richardson. Day one will conclude by 1:30 p.m. Eastern, with continued networking open.

Day two will be completely virtual, so you can join from anywhere you live and work and have Internet access. The event will start at 9 a.m. and will include two breakout sessions of your choice. The virtual day will conclude by noon. You’ll have access to all of the breakout sessions for 60 days following the conference.

What time should I arrive?

The conference will begin promptly at 9 a.m. Eastern on both days. For the in-person session on October 19, registration will open at 8 a.m. We recommend you arrive at least 15 to 30 minutes prior to the event start time to park, check in, network with peers and grab a light bite to eat.

On October 20, we recommend you log in 5 to 10 minutes before the virtual event starts at 9 a.m. Eastern. Registrants will receive log-in information prior to the event.

What is the attire?

The attire for the in-person conference is business or business casual attire. We want you to feel comfortable and come as your authentic self. We recommend bringing a light sweater or jacket because it can get chilly in the hotel ballroom.

What should I bring?

The most important thing to bring to the conference is an open mind and eagerness to learn. We recommend bringing lots of business cards to the in-person session because you will meet and network with many peers and potential partners. Although all attendees who join us on October 19 will receive a notebook/notepad during the conference, we encourage you to bring any materials that allow you to capture notes and takeaways from the sessions based on your preferred learning style.

Are there social media hashtags or handles for this event?

We encourage you to share about your conference experience before, during and after the event. Please follow and tag the Nonprofit Leadership using @nlctb and use the hashtag #TogetherWeWill. We love to reshare and elevate your posts!

Who are the conference sponsors?

This year’s event is only possible because of the generous support of our passionate partners that believe in the nonprofit community’s importance and impact. We’d like to extend a special thank-you to our presenting sponsor, Bank of America, our lead conference sponsor since 2011. Scroll down to see all the 2023 conference sponsors.

Who should I contact if I have questions or need more information?

Contact Team NLC at info@nlctb.org or at 813-287-8779.

What is the Nonprofit Leadership Center?

The Nonprofit Leadership Center develops and connects nonprofit leaders to strengthen organizations and our communities. As a nonprofit organization that exists to support other nonprofits, we offer professional development classes, certificate programs, an annual conference and customized learning experiences for nonprofit leaders at all experience levels. Learn more about us here.

Keynote Speaker

Shola Richards is a global expert on workplace happiness and engagement. He is the CEO and founder of Go Together Global™ and the best-selling author of “Making Work Work” and “Go Together.” His articles and extremely popular “Go Together Movement” email series have been read in more than 160 countries, and his work has been featured on the Today Show, CBS This Morning, Forbes, Black Enterprise, and numerous other outlets worldwide.

As a speaker, Shola shares his transformative message with organizations, companies and industries of all sizes. He has brought his expert recommendations to the TEDx stage and even to Capitol Hill where he has shared how to bring more civility to Congress.

Shola is a father, husband, identical twin, and a self-professed “kindness extremist” who will not rest until bullying and incivility are extinct from the American workplace.

Meet

Shola

Watch as Shola Richards shares more about his keynote talk and personally invites you to join him at the 2023 Nonprofit Leadership Conference.

MORNING SESSION: DAy 1

During this powerful wellbeing conversation that kicks off the first day of the conference, Stephanie Gularte, MFA, CPC, CPT, ELI-MP, nonprofit CEO and certified wellness coach, will show you how to Manage Your Energy to Lead with Impact & Resilience. She’ll invite you to look inward and discover powerful tools to cultivate and manage your personal energy resources. These tools will empower you to navigate an ever-changing nonprofit landscape while prioritizing your own wellness.

Breakout Sessions: DAY 2

Make Your Workplace a Community of Belonging

How to Involve the Community in Solving Its Own Problems

Increase Employee Engagement Across Generations

If Onboarding is So Critical, Why Don’t We Do It Well?

10 Trends Fueling Thriving Nonprofits

Panel: Engaging Nonprofit Funders for Lasting Change

Leading from Any Seat to Meet Tomorrow’s Challenges

Aligning Your Personal & Nonprofit Brands for Impact

Your Conference EMCEE

Renowned storyteller and nonprofit leader, Ernest Hooper, believes that nonprofit work thrives on collaboration and shared knowledge. That’s why he is thrilled to be your emcee for the 2023 Nonprofit Leadership Conference, guiding you through all the great content, networking opportunities and surprises throughout this powerful two-day event.

After a nearly 30-year career with the Tampa Bay Times, Ernest now serves as the senior vice president of communications for United Way Suncoast. He’s the chief storyteller for the organization’s impactful work, using his journalistic experience as a veteran columnist to promote early learning, youth services and financial stability to adults and families across a five-county region.

Ernest also writes a column for St. Pete Life Magazine and co-leads The Poynter Institute’s Write Field program for middle school and high school boys. He’s married to his University of Florida sweetheart and is a dad to three children.

REcharge with

Ernest

See why conference emcee Ernest Hooper says the Nonprofit Leadership Conference is like a recharging station for nonprofits.

REGISTER

Register now to join hundreds of nonprofit and business leaders at the 2023 Nonprofit Leadership Conference. Day 1 tickets are sold out, but Day 2 virtual tickets are still available!

Registration will open in April for the 2023 Nonprofit Leadership Conference. Sign up for our email list to be the first to hear when event registration is live.

Become a sponsor

The Nonprofit Leadership Conference would not be possible without the generous support of passionate partners who believe in the importance and impact of our nonprofit community. If you’d like to reach and connect with hundreds of nonprofit and business leaders, we offer many strategic partnership opportunities.

Thank you seems inadequate for what I experienced at the Nonprofit Leadership Conference. It was absolutely life-changing. Every year, I think this is the best one yet and then each year is even better than the previous one.

Jacquelyn,

Nonprofit Executive Director

Thank you to our presenting sponsor

The Nonprofit Leadership Conference would not be possible without the generous support of passionate sponsors who believe in the importance and impact of our nonprofit community. We’d like to extend a special thank-you to our presenting sponsor, Bank of America, our lead conference sponsor since 2011.

Technology & Innovation Sponsor

Lunch Sponsor

Networking Sponsor

Notebook Sponsor

Stage Sponsor

Light Breakfast Sponsor

Mug Sponsor

Opening Video Sponsor

Breakout Sponsors

Year of Training Sponsors

Nonprofit CEO Breakout Sponsor

Coming Soon

Dates for the 2023 leadership conference have not been released yet. To stay up-to-date on the latest conference announcements, sign up for our newsletter.

Become a sponsor

THE COURAGE TO GO TOGETHER™ Three Questions to Change How You Work, Live and Lead

In his highly-inspiring keynote at the 2023 Nonprofit Leadership Conference, Shola Richards will introduce the transformative concept of Ubuntu (pronounced, “oo-BOON-too”) which translates to “I am, because we are.”

The Ubuntu philosophy, along with three powerful questions, will provide you with actionable strategies to transform your work culture, amplify team civility, and inspire yourself and others to consistently bring your best to your work.

You will leave with:

Three key questions to ask yourself to increase the likelihood of a civil, engaged and productive work culture
The answers to the most common objections to beginning the important (and challenging) work of positively transforming your work culture
The self-awareness to become mindful of how your words, actions and behaviors affect others

Manage Your Energy to Lead with Impact & Resilience

Workplace well-being is a leadership imperative. But when leaders are overworked and overwhelmed, there is little energy left for personal wellness — making it difficult to model this value to our teams. For professionals who consistently serve others, understanding our physical and emotional energy is critical to achieve greater impact and enhanced fulfillment.

In this wellbeing conversation, you’ll be invited to look inward and discover powerful tools to cultivate and manage your personal energy resources. These tools will empower you to navigate an ever-changing nonprofit landscape while prioritizing your own wellness.

Stephanie Gularte, MFA, CPC, CPT , ELI-MP, is an experienced nonprofit CEO who is passionate about the integration of leadership, well-being and team-building to inspire leaders and nonprofits to thrive. With programs that integrate workplace well-being practices, energy-management techniques, functional workplace well-being approaches, and action-centered strategic planning, Stephanie offers a dimensional approach to transform the way nonprofit leaders live, work and engage in the world.

Make Your Workplace a Community of Belonging

Research shows the importance of feeling embraced and supported within our communities. Yet, the workplace can be a space where some feel relegated to the margins. How can we create workplaces that are true communities of belonging? In this session, you’ll learn what it takes to build welcoming professional environments and explore what individuals and nonprofit organizations can do to create a genuine sense of belonging for all.

Meriel Martínez is the program director at the Nonprofit Leadership Center. She focuses on training and development in diversity, equity and inclusion and manages the organization’s small-group leadership programs.

How to Involve the Community in Identifying and Solving Its Own Problems

To achieve lasting community change, nonprofits and the public must start viewing constituents as creators of community change — not recipients of community services. During this engaging session, you’ll work in large and small groups to discuss challenges and solutions to empowering communities to impact their own positive trajectory and how your nonprofit and its stakeholders can contribute to successful outcomes. You’ll walk away understanding how to build a plan for community change that begins with the community at the center.

Nestor Ortiz is the president and CEO of 16 Point Compass, a consulting firm that focuses on the people, process, programs, and policy of various institutions and corporations. He has been involved in youth and community development for more than 25 years and is committed to the holistic impact that youth and community programs can have on larger communities. He is an advocate on behalf of numerous historically vulnerable communities and is the founder of #WorkingintheGrey, a grassroots movement, challenging people to see past the political lines that encourage division in our communities and the host of Duality of Sorts, a video series that explores various topics in social justice, politics and culture.

Understanding Your Changing Workforce: How to Increase Employee Engagement Across Generations

For the first time in our nation’s history, America has seven living generations — with five generations in the workplace. People are living and working longer than in previous generations, and new technology allows for younger workers to assume more responsibility at a faster rate. During this session, you’ll learn the distinctive perspectives, motivations and expectations of each generation to improve communication, collaboration and engagement at your nonprofit.

Margarita Sarmiento is an award-winning international trainer and speaker, certified leadership coach and author. Three major career shifts due to reorganizations and layoffs gave rise to her more than 30 years of management and training experience in both the corporate and nonprofit sectors. Through her company ITK Consultants, Margarita designs and delivers customized programs in leadership, organizational and team development, communication, and DEI to influence positive change and improve results.

If Onboarding is So Critical, Why Don’t We Do It Well?

Although finding the right talent is more challenging than ever today, many new employees have less-than-successful onboarding experiences once hired. During this session, you will explore how to create an effective onboarding process for new hires, managers, and your entire organization. Participate in an interactive activity to share your insights and learn from fellow attendees. You’ll receive an Onboarding Process Template you can immediately use at your organization.

Missy McNabb, J.D., is the founder and CEO of Sandpiper Solutions, LLC, a professional services firm that specializes in executive coaching, leadership and organizational development, facilitation, and learning and development consulting. She has more than 35 years of experience in designing and implementing internal coaching programs and conducting leadership and executive coaching for groups and individuals.

10 Trends Fueling Thriving Nonprofits

Changing demographics, decreasing donors and economic concerns are just a few of the challenges impacting nonprofits right now. With nearly a third of all nonprofits at risk of survival, join us to learn the 10 research-backed trends necessary for your nonprofit to thrive and how to integrate them into your organization’s strategy.

Mandelyn (Mandy) Cloninger, CFRE, is a nonprofit leader, charismatic spokesperson and a results-driven executive. With 20 years of experience raising hundreds of millions of dollars, Mandy has cultivated transformational relationships with diverse constituencies. She has built capacity, scale, and scope in higher education, health care, and community-based nonprofits.

Driving Social Impact: Engaging Nonprofit Funders for Lasting Change

During this panel discussion, we will explore the critical role of nonprofit funders in driving social impact and creating lasting change. We will delve into strategies and best practices for engaging funders who prioritize social impact at the center of their philanthropic efforts. The panel will feature experts from the nonprofit sector, philanthropic organizations and impact investors who will share their insights and experiences.

Meet the Panelists

Josh Dunn, Vice President of Investments and Partnership Strategies, United Way Suncoast
Demmeri Gallon, Community Relations Manager, Bank of America Tampa Bay
Brittney Frazier, Grants Officer & Strategic Initiative Manager, Allegany Franciscan Ministries

Moderated by Abby Mackness, M.S., J.D., CEO of Mackness and Poore Consulting, LLC, who has more than 35 years of experience in nonprofit grant and for-profit proposal preparation and program management

Leading from Any Seat to Meet Tomorrow’s Challenges

Our world and workplace are in a constant state of change. To thrive in the future, every nonprofit employee needs critical skills to navigate leadership transitions, manager changes and challenges that don’t even exist yet. During this highly interactive conversation, you’ll dig deep to discover how to focus on your personal and professional readiness, career goals and growth mindset to unearth answers to tomorrow’s challenges.

John Loblack, Ed. D., is an accomplished and change-oriented human development expert who draws upon his diverse background, training and experiences to encourage, motivate and inspire nonprofit leaders to drastically increase their individual and organizational value. As a graduate from the school of “Hard Knocks,” John learned to appreciate the value of hard work and perseverance.

Aligning Your Personal & Organizational Brand for Greater Impact

Building an iconic brand that changes the world for the better requires intentionality, consistency, creativity and courage. During this breakout session, you will deepen your relationship with the unique frequency of your brand while harnessing powerful practices to support you in bringing the highest vision of your brand to life. We will explore social media, messaging and other creative engagement strategies to elevate your brand’s authentic voice, grow your community and create positive impact.

Emily Ghosh Harris, MBA, is an entrepreneur, podcast host and speaker. She is the founder and CEO of Soul Media, a company focused on elevating conscious companies and entrepreneurs through intuitive marketing, brand strategy, public relations and communications consulting. Soul Media supports clients across arts and entertainment, health and wellness, environmental and nonprofit arenas.