2024 Schedule

Tentative session topics and times are included below. Each breakout time will include a session following one of four conference tracks: Funding, Leadership, Marketing, and General. More details will be released to attendees via the conference app/website in coming months. Download the schedule (PDF).

October 14, 2024

7:30-8:30 Registration & Breakfast

8:30-9:00 Welcome

9:15-10:30 Breakout Session A

  • Utilizing AI to Enhance Workforce Productivity (Bernadette Boerckel, CSIU)

  • Social Media Fundamentals (Ryan Leckey, Ryan Leckey Media)

  • Modern Leadership for World-Changers (Kedren Crosby, Work Wisdom)

  • Donor Cultivation and Relationship Building (Mark Sharer, Bucknell University)

10:45-12:00 Breakout Session B

  • Equality & Equity: Siblings, Not Twins (Kristin Austin, K.E.Advancement, Inc.)

  • Strategic Target Audience Identification (Janice Clark, Susquehanna University)

  • Creating and Managing Successful Boards for Nonprofits (Harry Mathias, Community Giving Foundation, and Davie Jane Gilmour, First Community Foundation Partnership of Pennsylvania)

  • Effective Grant Writing and Grant Management (Neal Fogle, Penn State University)

12:15-1:45 Keynote Lunch

  • The Science of Influence and Persuasion (Sarah Colantonio, Work Wisdom)

2:00-3:15 Breakout Session C

  • Creating Cohesive Teams (Keith Kuzio, Intentional AdVennTures, LLC)

  • Reframing Stories: The Power of Asset-Based Narratives (Lisa Nelson-Haynes, StoryCorps)

  • Change Management and Transformational Leadership (Kendra Aucker, Wellspan Evangelical Community Hospital)

  • Donor Panel: Q&A with Regional Philanthropists and Corporations. Panel will include Linda Brown, Jeff Erdly, Nicole Miele, and Frank Pellegrino. Facilitated by Jason McCahan (FCFP).

3:30-4:45 Breakout Session D

  • Mastering Crucial Conversations (Caz Russell, Caz Russell LLC)

  • From Concept to Click: The Art of Engaging Content (Lynn Zitta, Lycoming College)

  • How to Create a Truly Sustainable Nonprofit Forever (Dani Beam, Beam Consulting)

  • Human Resources: Create Engagement and Happiness at Your Nonprofit (Mary Kay Williams, MindShift Consulting)

5:00-6:00 Networking Reception

October 15, 2024

8:00-8:45 Networking & Breakfast

8:45-10:00 Morning Session

  • “Current•ly: Along the Susquehanna”: Monitoring Community Vitality (Jill Avery-Stoss, The Institute)

10:15-11:30 Breakout Session E

  • Creating Equitable Organizational Cultures (Sarah Colantonio, Work Wisdom)

  • Measuring Results and Promoting Impact (John Grabusky, Geisinger)

  • Talent Pipeline Management and Leadership (Jeff Emanuel)

  • Planned Giving 101: How to Develop, Maintain and Grow Your Program (Loni Kline, Pennsylvania College of Technology, and Tammy Weber, Marshall, Parker & Weber, LLC)

11:45-12:45 Lunch & Networking

1:00-2:15 Afternoon Session

  • “Meet the Funders”. Panelists will include Senator Eugene Yaw (Senate District 23), Senator Lynda Schlegel Culver (Senate District 27), Adrienne Mael (Susquehanna Valley United Way), Ron Frick (Lycoming County United Way), Robin Stauffer (High Foundation, Inc.), Brianna Apfelbaum Kula (The 1994 Degenstein Foundation), Betty Gilmour (FCFP), and Karri Harter (Community Giving Foundation). Facilitated by Alyssa Meyers-Sanonu (Community Giving Foundation).

2:30-4:00 Closing Keynote

  • Big Potential (Shawn Achor, New York Times best-selling author)