Stanford Nonprofit Management Institute Recap
October 8, 2009As promised, here’s a follow-up post on the Stanford Social Innovation Review and Association of Fundraising Professional’s 2009 Nonprofit Management Institute conference.
First, despite my initial reservations around the format – 8 plenary sessions over 2 days, no breakouts – it really worked. The presentations were high quality and the speakers offered diverse perspectives. It also helped that there were generous break periods, where the real work of any conference – networking – gets done. Plus, the venue and weather cooperated very nicely.
The event was a huge success for me because of the fantastic speakers the Institute had recruited. I usually cannot sit through an entire hour-long conference session, call it ADHD or boring speaker overload, but I surely didn’t have that problem the past two days.
What most struck me was the entirely cross-sector conceptualization of social innovation. Peter Hero, the former community foundation CEO, spoke about the future of philanthropy both capital P foundation philanthropy and small p individual giving. Stanford’s distinguished Professor Hayagreeva Rao discussed interventions in a hospital setting that ultimately saved over 122,000 lives. I spoke to the nonprofit sector about partnerships, mergers, and collaborations. You don’t get that mix at most conferences.
I appreciate that SSIR thinks across sectors, in the nonprofit sector we are far too often sector-bound in our approach to problem-solving. I also found the mix of people in attendance fascinating. There was a strong and diverse international contingent and a great variety of size and type among the American nonprofits present. That mix made for great discussion during the breaks, and I learned quite a bit from several younger nonprofit leaders who shared their perspectives.
I am sure there will be more as I digest the sessions, but that’s the quick download.
Tags: nonprofit