Organizational Development: Newly designed for 2026, this track bring together camper favorites, including governance, leadership, fundraising, marketing and communications. 

Exciting things are in the works! We're currently building out this learning track with sessions and speakers. Check back soon for updates.

Burnout is Not a Leadership Style

Mission-driven leaders are burning out, and the systems they work in are making it worse. With 53% of managers reporting burnout, leaders 56% more likely to experience disruptive change than individual contributors, exhaustion has become dangerously normalized in leadership culture. This interactive workshop challenges the idea that depletion is the price of impact. Participants will explore the 5 common mistakes that quietly fuel burnout, including over-commitment, avoiding hard conversations, and neglecting core needs. And leave with strategies they can use immediately. By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

1. Identify the patterns and dynamics driving their depletion.
2. Recognize the 5 mistakes that accelerate burnout.
3. Apply practical strategies to protect their energy and set boundaries.
4. Recognize the organizational conditions that contribute to burnout on their teams and identify one concrete step to address them.

Trenia Parham
Founder/Principal, Sustainable Leadership Consulting

AI Adoption Without Cognitive Surrender: A Nonprofit Roadmap

Most nonprofits approaching AI strategy are making the same mistake: treating it as a technology decision. It isn't. It's an organizational development challenge, and how you manage it will determine whether AI raises the quality of your work or quietly degrades it. The risks are real and go beyond reputation. Ethical blind spots, cognitive surrender, and staff who are no longer accountable for the quality of their own work are all on the table. So are genuine opportunities, well beyond efficiency gains, if your organization builds the capacity to use AI responsibly. This session argues that sound AI strategy rests on one overlooked foundation: accountability. Not top-down policy mandates, but org-wide capacity built through peer learning, where staff at every level keep thinking for themselves and own the consequences of how they use these tools. You will leave with concrete must-haves for any nonprofit AI strategy worth the paper it's written on.

Tosca Bruno-van Vijfeijken
Principal Consultant, Five Oaks Consulting

Building Equitable and Sustainable Fundraising Systems: Strengthening the Infastructure Behind Donor Success

Fundraising challenges are often viewed as donor problems, when in reality they are frequently organizational challenges. High staff turnover, unclear roles, inconsistent communication, lack of cross-functional collaboration, and weak internal culture can all undermine fundraising effectiveness and donor confidence.

This session explores how nonprofit leaders can build equitable and sustainable fundraising systems by strengthening the organizational infrastructure that supports fundraising success. Participants will examine the connection between culture, leadership, employee engagement, donor relationships, and long-term sustainability. Through practical examples and interactive reflection, attendees will identify strategies to create stronger internal systems that improve retention, increase collaboration, and support more effective donor engagement.

Participants will leave with a framework for evaluating their organization's fundraising infrastructure and practical actions they can implement regardless of organizational size or budget.

Dr. Kesha Carter, CDE, PHR
Founder and Principal Consultant, Carter Culture Strategies

The Retention Table: A Role-Playing Lab for Growth, Trust, and Long-Term Support

This interactive session brings participants into a facilitated group role-playing game where we work through a shared challenge around retention and growth facing many nonprofit organizations. Using character-based perspective taking rather than case studies or benchmarks, the session helps surface how identity, motivation, and context shape decisions inside our organizations and among the people who support them.

Participants will leave with:

• A clearer, shared understanding of how different roles experience retention and growth challenges, built through live scenario play rather than abstract discussion.
• Practical insights into designing engagement strategies that center trust, identity, and long-term relationships instead of short-term metrics.
• A post-event resource that synthesizes the group’s learning, generated through artificial intelligence analysis of anonymized handwritten notes and game materials from the session, capturing patterns and ideas that extend the value beyond the room.

Designed for members of the New York Council of Nonprofits, this session treats retention and growth as human challenges first, offering a grounded, participatory way to think differently about sustainability.

Tim Sarrantonio
Founder, The Generosity Spectrum

Navigating Advocacy: Effectively Advancing Your Nonprofit Agenda with Legislator

Let's take the mystery out of how to tell your story to those with the power to change the landscape. You're doing the work in your community, understand the challenges, now how do you take that message forward? Hear from long-time nonprofit lobbyist Vincent Marrone how to successfully navigate what can be a confusing legislative structure and make your voice heard. Plus, election years present unique challenges and opportunities for nonprofits, making it crucial to understand the boundaries of permissible activities.

Vincent Marrone
Founder, Public Strategies, LLC

Aligning Governance and Leadership for Financial Sustainability

Strong governance and effective leadership are the foundations of financial sustainbility in a nonprofit organization. This session will explore practical strategies for boards, executives, and finance leaders to work together in fostering transparency, accountability, and mission alignment. Participants will learn how governance structures influence financial decision-making, how to encourage a culture of ethical leadership, and how to strengthen board engagement in financial oversight without overstepping into management. Real-world example will highlight common pitfalls in nonprofit governance as well as best practices that promote resilience and long-term success. Attendees will leave with actionable steps to enhance collaboration between leadership and finance functions, ultimately strengthening both organizational integrity and impact.

Rebecca Reynolds
Audit Partner, RBT CPAs, LLP

Mission-Driven and People-Centered: Leading with Empathy in Nonprofits

This is not your grandparents’ workplace anymore, where showing emotion and compassion were frowned upon. Today organizations with empathetic cultures have greater productivity, retention, and job satisfaction. At a particularly challenging moment for nonprofits, join us for an engaging, hands-on workshop to explore the important role of empathetic leadership in mission-driven work, where everyone is asked to do more with less. We will dive into strategies for being an empathetic leader as well as approaches for overcoming challenges. We will also explore the misconception of empathy as a weakness in the workplace, with solutions to move beyond this perception. Whether you’re a seasoned leader or emerging changemaker, this session will deepen your leadership presence and inspire more inclusive, human-centered interactions with your team to increase trust, collaboration, and impact.

Risa Seelenfreund
Senior HR & Organizational Development Consultant, Sageview Consulting

How to Stop Killing Your Board with Bad Meetings: Simple Changes That Make Board Meetings More Effective

Nonprofit board meetings are often overloaded with reports, unfocused discussion and outdated routines that leave board members disengaged and exhausted. This session explores practical strategies for running meetings that are focused, productive and mission-driven. Participants will learn how to build agendas that prioritize governance over operations, encourage meaningful participation and create space for strategic discussion rather than simply creating new to-do lists for overworked staff. The session will also examine common meeting pitfalls, including report overload, ineffective facilitation, poor time management and the occasional board member who believes every agenda item is a personal TED Talk. Attendees will also explore how technology can support stronger governance through tools for agenda management, consent agendas, virtual participation, collaboration and AI-assisted note-taking and follow-up. Participants will leave with practical tools to improve engagement, strengthen accountability, and create meetings people actually want to attend.

David Howson
Professor, Arts Administration, Skidmore College

ED Confidential

This session will provide an opportunity for Executive Directors to meet with others facing similar leadership challenges. Through structured conversation and a confidential space, attendees will have the opportunity to speak with other nonprofit leaders to get advice, share wisdom – and be understood by others in the same position. NYCON CEO Megan Allen will facilitate this session, which is open to Executive Directors only.

Megan Allen
Chief Executive Officer, New York Council of Nonprofits (NYCON)