Approximately 235 executives, staff, grant makers and turned out for “Summit 2009: The Future of Nonprofits: A Brave New World” presented by the Long Island Center for Nonprofit Leadership at Adelphi University.   

“This is a day for people to get together,” said Anne Marie Thigpen, Director of the Center.  “One of the challenges on Long Island is the great dispersion of organizations across the Island.  It is hard to feel part of something larger here.  That is what we are trying to do in our very small way.  It is important, especially in times like these, to know that you are not alone and that you can count on friends.”

Keynote speaker Kim Klein, Founder and Publisher Emerita of Grassroots Fundraising Journal, warned nonprofits that “the economic turmoil we find ourselves living in must be seen as the ‘new normal’.”  Klein urged participants to “deconstruct the charity model entirely”.  “Without a vision of how to address the root causes of social problems, and to involve everyone in working towards these solutions, we simply perpetuate a system that is broken and dehumanizing,” she said. 

Klein called on the sector to “rethink branding and identity”.  “We lost sight of the fact that we are not businesses – we are not trying to be the best pizza parlor or the favorite shoe store,” she said. “Especially, we are not trying to drive each other out of business or acquire each other… In the new normal, we brand ourselves as working together.”

Summit attendees also heard from Peter Brinckerhoff who presented the Dr. Joseph L. Vigilante Lecture on “Generation Change: Leading in a New Nonprofit World.”   Individual workshops focused on Online Fundraising and Marketing, New Models of Leadership and “Mission Without Walls”.

“It is an opportunity for organizations to hear from some pretty high powered consultants whom they might never be able to work with one-on-one,” said Thigpen.

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Craig Weinrich

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I attended the conference and was very impressed with most of the speakers, and the flavor of the conference. Mr. Brinckerhoff emphasized that once the financial crisis subsided that the generational gap issues (in relating to each other - not the leadership gap) will still remain. It's a poignant topic for everyone to think about when communicating with anyone of a different generation.

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