Conference Overview
The nonprofit sector has weathered many challenges; but nothing matches the scope and speed of the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had. Within a short period of time a health crisis in China turned into a global pandemic and economic shutdown. While some parts of the world are seeing a levelling-off of infections and deaths, others are still experiencing an increase in the number of new cases and hospitalizations.
Even as the medical and public health aspects of the pandemic become more manageable, the economic impact will continue for some time. Many small- and medium-size businesses will never return. Tens of millions of people have lost their jobs and are not able to pay their mortgage or rent, let alone their credit card bills and student loans.
Nonprofit organizations have been similarly devastated. For many, revenues have dried up and donations declined. Every nonprofit leader has had to respond to the pandemic and take steps to help their organization survive. Some have had to lay people off and cut salaries, and others have had to cut programs. In the process, however, many leaders have discovered new ways to operate their organization, offer programs, and provide services to constituents. Some have made small adjustments, and others large ones.
Beyond the obvious efforts like encouraging remote work and moving to online offerings, what are some of the innovative solutions that have arisen from this crisis and that have the potential to dramatically change how we as social sector leaders operate? What can we learn from this experience, and how can we come out stronger as a sector?
Like many of you in the sector, we at SSIR are adapting our approaches and operations in response to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In that spirit, we are pleased to announce that, this year, the 15th Annual Nonprofit Management Institute will be an entirely virtual convening.
Although virtual experiences are radically different from those presented in-person, we are committed to delivering a program that is just as informative, insightful, and engaging as that of any prior NMI. Over the next several weeks, we will be busy confirming our speakers and sessions, and developing other elements – including ways to network with your fellow social innovators – in order to provide you with an experience on par with what you have come to expect from SSIR convenings.
Join Stanford Social Innovation Review for our 15th annual Nonprofit Management Institute, “COVID-19: Reshaping Social Innovation.”
Sessions
“An Event or an Era? Key Tools to More Effectively Manage the COVID-19 Future”
The COVID-19 pandemic has created an environment of hyper-uncertainty for social sector organizations, as the economic crisis has weakened nonprofits at the very time when demand for their services is skyrocketing. Many nonprofits have emerged from the initial stage of crisis response but are still struggling to identify what they should do next. Joanna Burleson, managing director of the Monitor Institute by Deloitte, will discuss how The Monitor Institute is using the tools of scenario planning to help both operating nonprofits and funders prepare for the landscape beyond the current COVID-19 crisis. This session will provide nonprofit organizations with the tools to help them understand the critical “certainties” and “uncertainties” emerging from the pandemic and think about how their current strategies may or may not fit the different possible futures that lay in the months and years ahead.
“Building Nonprofit Resiliency: How to create a “playbook” for the future”
In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, nonprofits are navigating unprecedented levels of disruption and uncertainty. Senior leaders are facing an onslaught of critical decisions as they seek ways to maintain service continuity, support staff, and adapt to meet the changing needs of their communities. At a time when the vulnerable populations served by these nonprofits are hardest-hit, the cost of this disruption is significant. At the same time, there is an opportunity in this moment – the opportunity for nonprofits to shift, innovate, and be bold within this disruption, charting a path towards a more just, hopeful and equitable future. In this session, we’ll share how a set of 50 equity and justice-focused nonprofit organizations, supported by the Emerson Collective and The Bridgespan Group, are leading their teams through a process of creating a “playbook” for the future, accounting for the risks, uncertainties, and barriers ahead. Building that playbook has required each team to assess their vision for the future, to name the major boosts and barriers on the horizon, and to identify the highest-priority action steps. In this session, which will be in a panel format, we will ask two participating CEOs to share that experience, the challenges it surfaced for their teams, and the tools they would recommend for others who are navigating the rough seas of this moment. We will also ask Ms. Burgoyne to share what she as a funder has learned through this process and the implications for supporting leaders going forward.
“A Seat at the Table: The Importance of Diverse Stakeholders in Rebuilding Local Economies”
Across the United States, the economic impact of COVID-19 has spurred state efforts to rebuild local economies, many of which were already struggling with significant systemic barriers to prosperity long before the pandemic. For example, nonprofits in inland California have long received less philanthropic investment than those in other parts of the state, and economic development has often excluded many of these communities. Beyond providing immediate economic support, the pandemic has provided California with the opportunity to reimagine who is at the table when strategic decisions are being explored. Kathleen Kelly Janus, senior advisor on Social Innovation to California Governor Gavin Newsom, will moderate this discussion that includes Don Howard, president and CEO of The James Irvine Foundation, Tara Lynn Gray, CEO of the Fresno Metro Black Chamber of Commerce, and Karthick Ramakrishnan, professor and director, Center for Social Innovation at the University of California, Riverside. This session will explore efforts by government, foundations, and others in inland California to support nonprofits who represent diverse stakeholders and help increase their participation in economic planning efforts, and how these efforts might be replicated in other US states and municipalities.
“Getting Connected: How Chinese Nonprofits Are Effectively Leveraging Social Media in the COVID Pandemic”
The global use of social media in mass emergencies has exploded in the last decade. Beyond direct communication, however, we still know very little about how nonprofits use social media platforms during these times of crisis. Can digital platforms play a more effective role beyond disseminating information? Postdoctoral fellows from Stanford’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, Wei Luo and Wenjuan Zheng, explore how 200 Chinese nonprofit organizations have collaborated with multiple stakeholders and innovated service delivery through the social media platform WeChat – both before and during the pandemic. In this session, they address the role and impact nonprofit organizations had in Shenzhen’s successful fight against COVID-19, explain how social media and other digital tools facilitated the value of public-private partnerships that are essential to pandemic response, and explore how nonprofit organizations elsewhere could learn from the Shenzhen experience to realize the full potential of social media platforms.
“Bringing design thinking to place-based networks during the pandemic: A human centered, systems minded, strategically aligned and equity grounded approach for social sector leader?”
The current pandemic has exacerbated many of the constraints faced by social sector leaders working to address some of society’s most challenging problems. Increased uncertainty, a dramatic rise in the demand for services, and a dwindling pool of resources may cause many leaders to feel that applying design thinking is a luxury they can’t afford right now. How can organizations effectively apply a design-thinking approach – which is highly exploratory – to their strategies and programs in this environment? In this discussion lead by Nadia Roumani, co-founder of the Designing for Social Systems Program and senior designer at the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University (the d.school), Roman Sanchez, chief innovation officer for the City of El Paso, and Heather Tsavaris, principal consultant for Human:Kind at the Columbus Foundation, will share examples of their most recent place-based network-oriented programs, which took place in July and August 2020, in El Paso, Texas and in Columbus, Ohio. Attendees will learn how organizations across these place-based networks are working together to use design to build more collaborative, nimble, learning environments that are necessary to withstand these rapidly changing times.
“Philanthropy in a Crisis: Rhetoric or Real Change?”
In the wake of COVID-19 many foundations have pledged greater flexibility with grantees, stepped up spending levels, and directed significant new resources to racial equity. Are these the signs of a significant and lasting change in how foundations operate? Or are they temporary shifts? Are the changes being made in how foundations operate sufficiently responsive to the challenges posed by the crises facing the country and the world? What should nonprofit leaders expect from foundations and how can they best navigate fundraising challenges in the months and years ahead to ensure their organizations survive and thrive through and after the current crises? This session–moderated by Phil Buchanan, president of the Center for Effective Philanthropy–will explore these questions and others, drawing on new data on foundation responses collected by the Center and the perspectives of Hilary Pennington, executive vice president for Programs at the Ford Foundation, and Anthony Richardson, executive director of The Nord Family Foundation.
“Radically Adapting to a New World: How to Make the Most Impact During Ever-Changing and Ever-Challenging Times”
As circumstances continue to rapidly change on the ground, many organizations are making strategic pivots to maximize their impact, despite catalytic changes in their ecosystems. The result—exponential impact. In this panel, Jim Bildner, CEO of Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, moderates the discussion between Clementine Jacoby, Founder and Executive Director of Recidiviz; and Wawira Njiru, Founder and Executive Director of Food for Education. Learn how these nonprofit leaders are making their own strategic pivots within their organizations.
“Impact Beyond Organizational Boundaries: How Collaboration Can Help Nonprofits Become More Sustainable and Effective”
Many nonprofit organizations were already finding it difficult to achieve their ultimate goals by operating alone. Now, COVID-19 has exacerbated that problem. That is why nonprofit collaboration—whether in a loose affiliate network or movement, or in a more structured partnership or merger—has become an increasingly important tool to achieve impact. But to do collaboration well requires that nonprofits increase their capacity, and that often requires the support of funders and other external providers. Heather McLeod Grant, co-founder and partner of Open Impact, leads a panel of funders and grantees, including Fred Brown, CEO of the Forbes Funds, Pittsburgh; Jess Cavagnero, initiative manager, New York Merger and Collaboration Fund, and partner, SeaChange Capital Partners; David Garza, president and CEO, Henry Street Settlement; and Jennifer Price-Letscher, director, Programs and Special Projects, The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation. Learn how this national network of pooled funding initiatives helps local nonprofits pursue and implement structured collaborations that result in lasting changes to business and operating models, and why these efforts are vital in order to build sustainability and grow community impact in a time of growing resource constraints.
“Humanizing the Workplace for Ourselves and Our Teams” – Part 1
In these tumultuous times, where the boundaries between personal and professional life have been blurred, we are facing unprecedented levels of burnout and a potential mental health crisis. However, this moment also provides an opportunity to bring our whole, human selves back to our work teams and build the personal and organizational resilience we need to not only cope but prosper. In this two-part workshop, Leah Weiss, a researcher and lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, will explore two of the four pillars of team resilience: self-awareness and community. Each session will explore why it is important for nonprofit leaders to develop these skills and highlight ways to bring these skills to the team itself. Part 1 will focus on “self-awareness” and its implications for developing a keen sense of self-compassion, purpose, and self-management to overcome this crisis and build a stronger organizational foundation.
“No Time Like the Present: Reimagining Capitalism”
The massive global disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has brought new urgency to the debate over modern capitalism. While it’s arguably the most successful economic system to have ever existed, capitalism is in danger of destroying itself—and our world. Can a system responsible for environmental destruction, oppressive and underpaid jobs, racial and gender biases, and the production of massive economic inequality really find and scale solutions to many of the world’s problems? In this session, Rebecca Henderson, the John and Natty McArthur University Professor at Harvard Business School, and author of the book Reimagining Capitalism in a World on Fire, gets to the heart of what’s wrong with modern capitalism and lays out a pragmatic roadmap for how business and other organizations can help to catalyze the systemic change we need to build a capitalism that works for everyone. Rebecca will be joined in conversation by Mark Kramer, founder and managing director, FSG, and senior lecturer, Harvard Business School.
“Discussing What It Means to Be an American in Conversation with Governor Deval Patrick and Don Gips”
Being an American has often meant not where you are born, but what you believe. It has meant having values of equality, opportunity, and fair play. America is supposed to be what happens when vision, grit, and determination get a fair chance. Yet today, that idea of giving each other a chance seems to be missing. That is why Governor Deval Patrick has been seeking out others’ answers to the question of what it means to be American. He will discuss this journey, what he has heard, and if, after all this, he thinks we as a country are truly willing to do the hard work of closing the gap between who we are and who we are meant to be. Deval will be joined in conversation by Don Gips, CEO, Skoll Foundation.
“All Together Now: Orchestrated Collective Action in Response to COVID-19”
In March of this year, the German government launched the country’s first government-hosted crisis hackathon: #WirVsVirus (or, #WeVsVirus). While hackathons have been growing in popularity as a tool for social innovation, what made #WirVsVirus unique was its unprecedented urgency and scale: 26,000 citizens generated nearly 1,500 ideas in only 48 hours. Since then, a newly built participative platform has successfully supported more than 130 teams to develop and move from ideas to solutions and impact. This unusual collaboration between the government, civil society and business in Germany may point the direction for a new pathway to face COVID-19 through innovative and participatory forms of civic engagement. In this panel, Johanna Mair, academic editor of SSIR and professor at the Hertie School, will lead a discussion around ways to strategically orchestrate social innovation in times of crisis. The panel includes Inger Paus, executive director of the Vodafone Foundation, Christina Lang, co-founder and CEO at 4Germany, Holke Brammer, strategic mission lead at ProjectTogether, and Thomas Gegenhuber, assistant professor at Leuphana University.
“Humanizing the Workplace for Ourselves and Our Teams” – Part 2
In these tumultuous times, where the boundaries between personal and professional life have been blurred, we are facing unprecedented levels of burnout and a potential mental health crisis. However, this moment also provides an opportunity to bring our whole, human selves back to our work teams and build the personal and organizational resilience we need to not only cope but prosper. In this two-part workshop, Leah Weiss, a researcher and lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, will explore two of the four pillars of team resilience: self-awareness and community. Each session will explore why it is important for nonprofit leaders to develop these skills and highlight ways to bring these skills to the team itself. Part 2 will focus on “community” and its implications for connection, belonging, compassion, and psychological safety in teams. Both sessions will bring in examples of organizations that have successfully applied these approaches, and will be highly interactive, with quizzes, in-person exercises, and reflections.
“Making Use of the Window COVID-19 Opened on Racial Justice”
Inequity, injustice, and insecurity – all of which disproportionately affect people of color – were issues with which many nonprofits wrestled, well before COVID-19. However, the pandemic has drastically amplified and simultaneously shown a spotlight on them. Now, support for combatting white supremacy and creating a more racially just society have become the lens through which many funders are focusing their efforts. A growing number of foundations are committing additional resources and capital toward organizations with transformative approaches to achieving these goals. Nonprofits are likewise beginning to re-evaluate where and to what extent racial equity fits into their work. This conversation will focus on the steps that have already been taken and the questions we all need to ask ourselves to push organizations, foundations, and communities even further. This panel discussion, led by Autumn McDonald, head of New America CA, including Don Chen, president of the Surdna Foundation; Rodney Foxworth, CEO of Common Future; Angela Hanks, deputy executive director of Groundwork Collaborative; and Jamie Merisotis, president and CEO of Lumina Foundation; will explore how this moment – when a global pandemic has broken so much down to the studs – presents a unique opportunity to help advance transformational social change. We’ll discuss why tackling systemic racism is a critical element of a much-needed, re-imagined social contract.
“Closing Keynote: Building Indigenous Power: Creating Change”
The mission of NDN Collective is to scale place-based solutions while building needed philanthropic, social impact investment, capacity, and advocacy infrastructure geared towards building the collective power of Indigenous Peoples. In this keynote session, Nick Tilsen will explore the emergence of the NDN Collective as a movement infrastructure organization. Nick will share how NDN is creating new, Indigenous-led structures for the purpose of dismantling white supremacy and systemic racism in the nonprofit sector and the field of philanthropy. Nick will be joined in conversation by Edgar Villanueva, Senior Vice President at the Schott Foundation and Author of Decolonizing Wealth.