Schedule and Sessions

Confidence isn’t a personality trait—it’s a discipline. In this high-impact session, participants will explore how self-esteem shapes leadership presence, decision-making, communication, and performance under pressure. Through practical tools and real-world insight, attendees will learn how to silence internal doubt, rebuild identity after setbacks, and lead with grounded self-respect rather than ego. This workshop delivers a clear framework for strengthening confidence intentionally and sustainably. Participants will leave with actionable strategies they can implement immediately to elevate their leadership, influence, and results—without pretending, posturing, or shrinking in critical moments.

An important and often overlooked driver of fundraising success is the relationship between the CEO and the Director of Development. When aligned, organizations raise more money, engage boards effectively, and build stronger relationships. When it isn’t, even the most skilled fundraisers face unnecessary barriers.

In this candid session, a CEO and Director of Development will share how they built a leadership partnership that strengthens fundraising, clarifies roles, and creates shared accountability for philanthropy. Through real examples and practical tools, participants will learn how CEOs and development leaders can align expectations, communicate effectively, and work to advance a culture of philanthropy.

Say What Matters: Effective Communication for Leaders equips leaders with tools to communicate clearly, confidently, and authentically in environments shaped by power and bias. This interactive workshop addresses the unspoken rules BIPOC leaders navigate daily and offers strategies for setting boundaries, giving feedback, and speaking with authority without self-censorship. Grounded in lived experience, reflection, and practical application, the session supports leaders in strengthening their voice while building trust, alignment, and impact.

What if the key to stronger fundraising teams is not choosing between experience and innovation, but learning to lead together? In this energizing session, two fundraising leaders at different career stages model cross-generational leadership in real time. You will explore the tensions shaping today’s nonprofit workplaces, including control versus autonomy and stability versus speed, and learn a practical framework for shared authority, ethical decision-making, and mutual influence. Walk away with concrete tools to strengthen culture, boost retention, and build a future-ready team grounded in trust and accountability.

While the "Glass Ceiling" remains a hurdle, many women in the nonprofit sector are facing an even more treacherous phenomenon: the Glass Cliff. This session explores the documented trend where women, particularly women of color, are recruited for executive roles only when an organization is in financial turmoil or facing a reputational crisis—essentially being "set up to fail" from day one. Join us for a candid conversation on identifying the signs of a Glass Cliff appointment, strategies for institutional accountability, and how we can move toward a leadership model that prioritizes sustainable success over sacrificial leadership.

You're crushing it as a fundraiser. So when the management opportunity comes, you should take it — right? Not so fast. In this session, a fundraising consultant and a successful fundraiser, coached through a real management transition, pull back the curtain on what nobody tells you about leading a team. You'll discover why the skills that made you successful as a fundraiser can actually work against you as a manager, complete a live assessment of your readiness to make the leap, and walk away with a framework for managing up, down, across, and — most importantly — yourself.

You didn’t become a fundraising leader because you were bad at donor relationships. You got there because you were exceptional. But what happens when your strength becomes the organization’s ceiling? In this provocative leadership session, three-time world champion quarterback and relationship strategist Sami Grisafe explores why many senior leaders unintentionally create donor dependency cultures around themselves and what it takes to build teams capable of carrying relational trust beyond one individual. If your team still looks to you before every major donor decision, this session is for you.

Strong fundraising teams don’t emerge by accident—they are intentionally designed to align strengths, strategy, and sustainability. Yet many fundraising roles expand over time in response to urgent needs and growing revenue expectations. This session helps fundraising leaders step back and intentionally redesign their teams. Participants will explore the PAUSE framework, a practical tool to assess roles, map team strengths, identify capability gaps, and rethink staffing structures. Leaders will also consider when additional capacity requires a full-time hire—or when fractional, contract, or part-time support may be the smarter starting point. Leave with actionable strategies to build sustainable fundraising teams.

Artificial intelligence is changing how nonprofit organizations operate—but what does it mean for leadership?

This session explores how nonprofit leaders can use AI as a strategic thinking partner rather than simply a productivity tool. Participants will learn practical ways AI can support decision-making, strategic planning, communication, and team leadership.

Through interactive exercises and real-world examples, attendees will also examine the ethical responsibilities leaders face when guiding AI adoption.

If you want to move beyond AI hype and learn how to become an AI-augmented leader, this session will provide practical frameworks and tools you can immediately apply.

Nonprofit leaders who care deeply about their mission and teams often carry enormous pressure internally. That pressure can show up as perfectionism, self-criticism, and mental overload that make leadership challenges even harder to navigate. In this interactive session, participants will explore practical reflection tools and research-based practices that help leaders respond to difficult moments with greater clarity, resilience, and curiosity. By shifting how they relate to internal pressure, leaders can free cognitive space for clearer thinking and create the psychological safety teams need to share ideas, take risks, and solve complex problems together.

Stop settling for "rubber-stamp" governance. This hands-on workshop addresses the real-world friction between nonprofit leaders and their boards, exploring why 40% of organizations struggle with disengagement and how a lack of community representation blocks success.

We move from "fixing people" to fixing systems, shifting boards from procedural bodies to action-oriented leaders. By valuing time, talent, and ties alongside financial gifts, we will dismantle barriers to community-rooted participation. You will audit your leadership using our updated board matrix and draft new governance charters, leaving with a blueprint for a representative, high-impact board.

Donors aren't pulling back. Bloomerang's 2026 Giving Signal Report—a Harris Poll study of 1,003 donors and 405 fundraisers—shows 97% of donors give because they care about their communities, and 77% say government funding gaps are motivating them to give. The data reveals where the real gap is: organizational readiness. In this session, Bloomerang CMO Ann Fellman breaks down the report's most actionable findings into leadership decisions executives can act on immediately—trust, transparency, technology, and the generational shift already reshaping giving.

LinkedIn mentions of fractional leadership skyrocketed from 2,000 to 110,000 in just two years. Meanwhile, nonprofits are struggling to fill critical roles, battling burnout, and watching institutional knowledge walk out the door. This isn't a coincidence — it's a sector-wide talent crisis demanding new solutions. In this session, you'll cut through the hype to understand what's actually driving this shift, when fractional leadership is the right fit (and when it isn't), and how to make smarter talent decisions for your organization. Leave with a practical framework for navigating the biggest workforce transformation the nonprofit sector has seen in decades.

Growth does not happen when fundraising, marketing, data, and communications operate in silos. In this practical, interactive session, nonprofit leaders will use a simple Growth Maturity Map to assess what their organizations need to build, optimize,  or advance next. Participants will explore how connected strategy, ethical data use, inclusive audience insight, and cross-functional leadership can improve fundraising and marketing performance. Attendees will leave with a clear framework, a self-assessment tool, and actionable next steps for leading more integrated, measurable, and mission-centered growth.

Nonprofit leaders often operate between communities, donors, boards, and institutions that see the world differently. Cultural, political, and generational differences can create barriers to trust, understanding, and alignment. In this session, longtime nonprofit practitioner and fundraising leader Naquana Borrero introduces a practical framework for translating mission-driven work across these divides. Drawing on more than fifteen years of leadership and fundraising experience, participants will learn how to translate community needs into narratives that resonate with diverse stakeholders while maintaining integrity and equity. Attendees will leave with tools to strengthen communication, build trust across difference, and align stakeholders around shared mission