May Member Call Blog: What Does it Take to Actually Collaborate?
By Sarah Sterling & Avary Kent During our last Member Call, we discussed the components of…
5 Myths About Virtual Convening
With our world moving more and more into virtual interaction and convening, we’re seeing some…
Webinar Review: Strategies for Hosting Virtual Forums from Tendrel
We recently participated in an excellent webinar hosted by Peter Klebanow from Tendrel with guest…
The Paradigm Has Shifted: Large, Global Events Might Not Be Back Before 2022, and That May Be a Good Thing For Our Communities
As we write this, it is April 23, 2020 and Spring conference season has effectively been canceled.…
5 Things Virology Can Teach Us About Virtual Convening
Small interactions can be incredibly meaningful - Viruses are so tiny--3,000 of them could line…
Evolving with the Times: Best Practices of Virtual Convening
If you're interested in learning more about Virtual Convening Best Practices and Resources, check…
5 Keys for Communicating a Cancellation to Your Community
In this moment of global uncertainty, countless conveners are facing decisions of whether or not…
Top Four Tools We’ve Been Testing
We’ve tested more than a dozen new Virtual Convening Tools. Here are our Favorites. In the age of…
Getting Innovative with Virtual Convening
Virtual convening is relatively new for most conveners and thinking about using it instead of…
What Does It Take to Actually Collaborate? Awareness, Alignment, Action Framework
Many conveners believe that just by getting people into the same space means that genuine…
Getting Creative: Blended Models for Convening
Isn’t it amazing how the course of a couple of weeks (mid-March 2020 in the midst of the COVID19…
7 Good Reasons to Cancel Your Event
As we write this, the world is gripped by a global pandemic of novel coronavirus COVID-19. In this…
Storytelling for Amplifying the Impact of Your Convening
“Marketing is no longer about the stuff you make, it’s about the stories you tell” - Seth Godin…
Convening and the Coronavirus FAQ
Answering your questions around navigating risk and strategies for mitigation During our last…
TCC Group: A Framework for the Effective Evaluation of Convenings
Over many years of attending convenings of varying sorts, and in many cases, being asked to…
Convening in a Complex World
Now that you are clear on the intended impact outcomes for your convening there are a series of…
Creating a Stellar First-Time Attendee Experience
What’s the true purpose of bringing people together into the same space to exchange ideas and…
Leapfrog Concepts for the Evolution of Grantmaking
Last May, Conveners.org began facilitating a group of funders, non-profits, technical and ecosystem…
Evolution of Grantmaking CIP Recap
Last May, Conveners.org began facilitating a group of funders, non-profits, technical and ecosystem…
Evaluating the Impact of Convening Series: Part IV: Understanding Your Intended Impact
One of the main questions that sparked the conversation about measuring the impact of convenings…
Resource: Potent Questions
How it works: During a variety of sessions it helps to have some potent questions that can inspire…
Moving Toward a Zero-Waste Convening
It’s the unspoken elephant in the room at most social impact convenings; how can we justify the…
Impact of Convening Blog Series: Part III: How Do We Measure Convening Outcomes?
After the excitement and adrenaline of deciding to convene and carrying out a convening, conveners…
Frontier Incubators Masterclass Series: How to Reduce the Disruption of Team Turnover
And I knew exactly what to do. But in a much more real sense, I had no idea what to do…. Managing…
Impact of Convening Blog Series: Part II: What are Convenings Trying to Accomplish, Anyway?
Participating in a convening can be transformative, both personally and professionally. The people…
Building and Managing A Strong Team: How to Build a Team for the Long Haul
One of the greatest challenges for any organization is how to create and manage a team that will…
Impact of Convening: Blog Post Part I: The Definition of Convening
The Definition of Convening Part 1 of Evaluating the Impact of Convening Series Participating in a…
Virtual Convening: How to Convene for Connection, Transformation, & Action
Check out Conveners.org’s newest thinking on virtual convening [and what we said back in 2016 that…
WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF PHILANTHROPY?
The Global Philanthropy Forum founder explores how civil society, organizations, and the…
Celebrating Female Leaders – The Global Rise of Women-Led Businesses
Image Source: Pxhere Women today have more options than ever when it comes to work and…
Convening17 Breakfast Club at Skoll World Forum: Takeaways and Insights
At Skoll World Forum we hosted an interactive workshop to unlock the urgent and important lense to…
Inside Circle: Working with Vulnerability and Building Trust
During this month’s Convening Circle Call, we had a special guest presentation by BJ and James from…
FI Masterclass Series: Program Design: Delivering on the Dream
For the second edition of the Frontier Incubator Masterclass Series discussion calls, we focused…
Convening Circles Member Call: Taking Your Event to the Next Level
During this month’s Member Call, we focused on what the key elements and best practices are for…
SDG Accelerator 2019
Application for SDG Accelerator 2019 The SDG Accelerator aims to accelerate the work of small and…
New Book: Compassionate Counterterrorism
In her recently released book, Compassionate Counterterrorism: The Power of Inclusion in Fighting…
Partnership Impact Evaluation Tool
CONNECTIVE IMPACTIVE Connective Impact aids organizations in addressing social, environmental and…
International Education Technology Conferences 2019
Twice per year, EdSurge creates a calendar of K-12 and higher education technology events in the…
Painting life-changing adventures at the NOBEL
I was one of the chosen few to receive a special invite to represent 5th Element Group and India at…
How to Make Your Entrepreneurship Events More Accessible and Inclusive
In this blog post shares some of the key takeaways from Kerry Thompson's webinar on best practices…
Do Good by Giving Up More: A Vision of Restorative Investing
We live in an urgent time: duopolies and monopolies greatly suffocate the growth of small, local…
Learning From the Past and Launching into the Future: Five Years of Accelerating the Accelerators
During SOCAP 2018, leaders from 25 accelerator programs came together for a five-hour session to…
Moving the Dial: Spring Activator Releases Inaugural Impact Report
At Spring Activator, impact means fostering social, environmental, and financial sustainability…
Beaches, Bonding, and Businesses with purpose: OC 2018
In his newly published blog post, Pratik shares his takeaways and observations from attending the…
Inclusion 101 – A Guide for the Well-Meaning, Well-Doing, and the Well, Clueless
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) aims to change attitudes and…
WILL THE SOCIAL IMPACT COMMUNITY BE ANY DIFFERENT IN OUR ENGAGEMENT OF #METOO CONVERSATIONS?
“We can shift how we talk about it, we can shift how we respond to it, we can shift how the culture…
Winners Take All – The Unintended Consequences of Conferences
In Winners Take All, Anand Giridharadas provides a powerful critique of people around the world who…
Convening17: The Power of Partnerships to Advance the SDGs
Ever feel like you go to conference after conference, but only skim the surface when listening to…
Enabling Participation of Persons with Disabilities: Meeting Accessibility Guide
By Kerry Thompson, The Disability Rights Fund This guide aims to serve as a roadmap on how to…
Must we change? Can we change? Will we change?
Must we change, Can we change, Will we change: A Global Shaper’s reflections on The Climate…
How to Manage Post Conference Follow-Up
This post originally appeared in LinkedIN by Kate Hayes of Echoing Green. Going to conferences is…
How we help one another: July Member Call
How we help one another: How we show up, how we help one another succeed is the heart of a high…
Ethical Storytelling for Powerful Convenings
Recap from our August Member Call with special guest Michael Kass the Founder of the Center for…
The Road to OC 2018 : Reflections, and Possibilities
The Road to OC 2018 : Reflections, and Possibilities Contributed by Conveners.org Member Pratik…
The Power of Generative Listening
By Michael Kass Founder Center for Story + Spirit. Any time I lead an organizational or…
The Triplets – The Quickest Way to Create Event Strategy
On June 11th, 2018 we were delighted to welcome Heather Mason, CEO of Caspian Agency as…
Seven Tech-Driven Takeaways from Oslo’s Katapult Future Festival
SOCAP meets Burning Man meets TechCrunch Disrupt this month at the second annual Katapult Future…
Monthly Member Series: From Self-Care to Building Strong Convenings
Building a Supportive Member Community This month we launched our first monthly member call…
Convening17 Virtual Conversation
What happens when we start to weave the threads of conversation together from event to event? The…
23 Conferences On Our Radar In 2018
It’s that time of year! The beginning of a new rotation around the sun when we all start to…
Finding the Perfect Match for Your Scale-Up Needs
There are a host of funding sources for social enterprises seeking to scale up their business, and…
Why Do Low-income Women Entrepreneurs Fail?
At the beginning of 2018, the Failure Institute, along with Pro Mujer, published the results of…
Funding Accelerator Programs
Read this brief from the Global Accelerator Learning Initiative (GALI), a collaboration between the…
Book Excerpt: Raise Capital On Your Own Terms
Read a free chapter from Jenny Kassan’s new book, Raise Capital On Your Own Terms: How to Fund Your…
The Responsibility of Conveners in Light of the #MeToo Movement
When a social movement takes hold of society in the way #MeToo has over the last few months the…
Why Learning from Emerging Markets Is Crucial for Social Innovation
Many of our most pressing social challenges are global in nature. With several recent innovations…
Why We Use Panels
Until there is a shift in participant priorities, the panel will never die. Late last year Duncan…
The Power of Proximity: Envisioning a Shared Future
The end of a year always makes me stop and think about where that year began. For social…
2017 Reflections on the State of Convening
Thirty years ago a group of young American business leaders began to convene values-driven…
FLII 2018 Preview: Latin American Impact Investing Forum
Good news: the impact ecosystem has never been stronger in Latin America and at a global level!…
What is a “Manel” and Why is it Unacceptable for Impact Investing?
“Manels”—the term I am using here to refer to the all-male panel--are so common in most industry…
Co-Hosted Session Summary: Building a Cross-Convening Strategy to Achieve SDG 4
On September 25, 2015, the United Nations adopted a comprehensive agenda to “end poverty, protect…
3 Principles for Collaboration and Impact at #EGSummit2017
Every fall, Echoing Green gathers world-class social entrepreneurs for several days of leadership…
Supporting the Supporters: Why Impact-Focused Incubators & Accelerators Struggle to Find Talent
Today, of the millions of social entrepreneurs starting new social ventures around the world, only…
Accelerator Selection Tool Debuts at SOCAP17
Conveners.org, Sphaera, and ImpactSpace today unveiled the Accelerator Selection Tool, an online…
New Book: Real Impact
Impact investment—the support of social and environmental projects with a financial return—has…
A New Kind of Impact Investment Spectrum: The Holistic Spectrum for Impact
On July 14th, 2017 a classroom full of private investors were about to learn for the very first…
Conference Recap: Survive and Thrive
As entrepreneurs, we can easily get caught up in the day-to-day hustle of our businesses.…
Sprout Summit: 5 Proven Ways to Grow Your Social Enterprise
As a social entrepreneur, it’s vital that, in addition to developing and improving your current…
Social Enterprise Alliance Summit 2017 Recap
Conveners.org Member Social Enterprise Alliance hosted it's annual Summit in Los Angeles last…
What We Learned at the 2017 Global Citizenship Conference
Conveners.org Member Melton Foundation convened over 80 Melton Fellows and delegates from across…
5 Top Mapping Resources for Social Impact Leaders
The impact ecosystem is expanding, and while local and regional ecosystem mapping efforts — such…
How to Put Together and Host an Event That Moves Ideas Forward
Similar to what our friends at Conveners.org have noticed, we at The Determined, a creative studio…
Building Tendrel’s Virtual Community
As a Conveners.org member, Tendrel connects the world's leading social entrepreneurs with their…
Top 3 Tips for Successful Funding Applications
Ever wondered how to give your funding application the best chance of success? Of course you have!…
New Book: The Innovation Blind Spot
According to Village Capital CEO Ross Baird, "Humankind has never been wealthier, yet most people,…
The Best Free Social Enterprise Tools You Didn’t Know You Needed
Whether you are in the planning stages of launching a social enterprise, are brainstorming whether…
Lessons Learned Along The Journey From Unreasonable Institute to Uncharted
Last month the team at the Unreasonable Institute made a strategic leap to have more impact.…
Convening for Impact: Latino Policy Summit ‘Day of Action’
This May the Latino Community Foundation (LCF) convened 300 Latino community leaders, advocates,…
CIP Series Roundup: Advancing Accelerators’ Impact Measurement
And just like that it’s summer! It’s been an incredibly productive and fun year so far, and one of…
Co-Hosted Session Recap: Alternative Revenue Streams for Convening with One World Training & Investment
On July 25, Conveners.org co-hosted an in-person session with One World Training & Investment…
Webinar Recap: Creative Approaches to Convening Cross-Sector Leaders
On July 26, Conveners.org co-hosted a webinar with David Styers of the Presidio Institute to…
Why Collaboration Is Important in Impact Investing
The Good Capital Project convened for the first time on June 19th in New York City. This new SOCAP…
18 Social Innovation and Impact Conferences You Can Attend Each Year
As the impact ecosystem grows, impact-focused events are springing up around the nation and world.…
Holding Each Other Accountable
At a recent dialogue Echoing Green hosted on the future of social entrepreneurship, attendees…
New Book: The Unfinished Social Entrepreneur
Read a full chapter on the trials of social entrepreneurship from the recently published book, The…
The Rise of Social Enterprise in New Zealand
Purpose, inspiration, sustainability, passion… this is what social enterprise thrives on. The…
Creating Breakout Innovation
In 2015, the year before I joined the Thousand Currents team, I started a rather unusual research…
Innovations in Corporate Social Impact
There are a variety of reasons why companies are driven to focus on social impact. Corporate…
Coalitions, the Good, the Bad and the Effective
PCDNetwork CEO & Founder Craig Zelizer shares his thoughts on one session at the annual…
Actionable Insights for Decision Makers, Social Entrepreneurs, and Engaged Citizens
Sally Osberg, President and CEO of Conveners.org Member Skoll Foundation, sat down with Skoll…
Leading with Heart and Building Authentic Relationships to Create Real Change
With over 6,000 alumni, Rockwood Leadership Institute is the United State’s largest provider of…
The Case for Creative Coalitions in a Time of Turmoil
Imagine a country’s Olympics team getting all mixed up. The swimmers end up in the sprint and the…
Top 10 Insights from SPRING: How to Run an Accelerator
SPRING’s hypothesis is that business has the power to help transform the lives of girls. The…
Skoll World Forum 2017 Reflection: Global Goals in an Uncertain World
Walking into the session, a question buzzed in my head: can we 7B+ humans prove to ourselves that…
Early Stage Entrepreneurship Support Programs
Early entrepreneurship support programs come in various forms, however, there are four main types:…
The Entrepreneurial Mindset Is Your Swiss Army Knife
Most, if not all, entrepreneurs share a set of traits which can be described as the…
International Development Organizations Meet Impact
The big question is: Can they learn to syndicate with other capital, and only use subsidies at the…
New Book: The Clean Money Revolution: Reinventing Power, Purpose, and Capitalism
Written by pioneering clean money investor and change agent Joel Solomon, this newly published…
How You Can Help the Entrepreneurs You Care About Succeed: Lessons from 26 Communities Worldwide
She Leads Africa, a female founder-focused VilCap Community in Lagos, Nigeria Silicon Valley is…
Top 5 Tips to Host an Eco-Friendly Convening Abroad
In honor of Earth Day this month, Conveners.org has crowd-sourced a list of best practices for…
Scaling Earned Revenue in Non-Profits
Given the difficulties so many non-profits face when looking for project funding, the need to…
SOCAP Conversations: The State of the Field of Impact Measurement and Evaluation
What should robust evaluation and measurement of impact investing look like? Last year The…
The BIL-LMDF Women Effect Event (or Why Investing in Women Is the Smart Thing to Do)
Conveners.org Member Tiime shares a recap of a recent conference on GLI (Gender-Lens Investing)…
Humans on the Move Spotlight Series: Gulf Coast
This post is the second installment of Conveners.org member Humans on the Move's “Spotlight…
Leading Bravely in Global Health
GlobeMed recently held its annual Summit 'Leading Bravely: Finding Strength in Diversity' on March…
How We Gather
America is changing. Millennials are less religiously afiliated than ever before. Churches are…
SEWF in New Zealand: Creating Our Tomorrow
Christchurch in New Zealand was hit by a series of cripping earthquakes in 2011. Today, the city…
Why the Good Capital Project: Interview with John Kohler
The Good Capital Project will convene for the first time this June in New York City. This new…
Creating Common Ground in an Era of Division
The Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship takes place this week, April 4-7, and…
Humans on the Move New Spotlight Series
Conveners.org member Humans on the Move is launching “Spotlight Series,” a new series highlighting…
Impact Investing in Silicon Valley
Highlighting the rapidly growing interest in impact investment opportunities within Silicon…
The Big Marketing Mistake Most Events Make — and How to Fix It
You’ve probably seen plenty of event highlight videos. They’re the three-minute sizzle reels with…
Change, Justice, Equity: The Optimism of Echoing Green’s Solutions Week
Photo courtesy of The Green Space. Echoing Green, a Conveners.org Founding Member, kicked…
We Don’t Need Another App for Social Change, or My 4 Days at #Sxsw
From March 10 through March 14, Craig Zelizer, CEO & Founder of The Peace and Collaborative…
Why Capitalism Needs Conscious Leadership
The business world has a bad rap, and not without reason. Deforestation, oil spills, unlivable…
Finding Your Tribe in the Network Age
In the modern job-searching environment, being connected is more important than ever. With an…
Webinar Recap: The Power of Convening in Changing Times
What is our role and responsibility as impact conveners in a rapidly shifting socio-political…
Convening for Change: Core Ingredients for Success
Perhaps nowhere in modern history has the need for authentic, cross-community dialogue about our…
It’s Time for Conferences to Stop Underpaying Women Speakers
In my two years as a professional public speaker, I have experienced two consistent trends that…
Will the New Executive Order Impact Your Event?
On March 6, President Trump signed a new executive order that bars foreign nationals from six…
Highlights from FLII: 2017 Latin American Impact Investing Forum
When the Latin American Impact Investing Forum was created in 2011, New Ventures had no idea it…
CIP Call Recap: AtA Impact Measurement
Enthused with the momentum of last month’s call where we chatted about the state of impact…
Webinar Recap: Strategies to Increase Participant Diversity
A core function of our work as conveners is to bring together communities and spur dialogue,…
If You’re Going to Change the World, You Better Bring Your Stories
Conveners.org Member frank, an initiative of the University of Florida College of Journalism and…
Redefining “Replication” For Social Enterprises
Social enterprises are judged by both their social impact and their ability to thrive as…
Rethinking the Response to the Refugee Crisis
Humans on the Move was founded last year in response to a heightening global refugee and migration…
The Rule to Remember if You’re Trying to Change Your Conference
As technology continues to disrupt the face-to-face industry, many meeting and event professionals…
Webinar Recap: Making Complex Collaborations Work
The diagrams above show how connections between organizations can evolve when complex…
CIP Call Recap: AtA Impact Measurement CIP Update
On January 11, we kicked off our 3-part series “Impact Measurement CIP”, which came out of the…
From Passion to Hired
These days, finding a job can be very challenging. Building a career with purpose is even harder.…
Impact Accelerator Trends for 2017
As part of our Accelerating the Accelerators (AtA) program, a program we offer as a public good,…
Impact Convening Trends for 2017
As an organization that facilitates connection, learning, and collaboration among impact-driven…
15 Actions for a More Peaceful and Just 2017
As we embark on a new year, Conveners.org Member Peace and Collaborative Development Network…
Learnings from Lisbon: The ELYSE Final Conference
Last summer, over 100 social entrepreneur supporters and young social entrepreneurs from…
Why Entrepreneurs Are Better Judges of New Ideas than Expert Investors
Seven years in, Village Capital co-founders Ross Baird and Victoria Fram write about how…
How Can We Make Change Happen?
Many of us in the social sector, when reflecting on what brought us here, remember that at one…
A Conversation with NAACP President & CEO, Cornell Brooks
Earlier this year, Cornell Brooks, president and CEO of the NAACP, joined the Presidio Institute…
Risk-Taking In Real-Time
Last month, more than 140 feedback enthusiasts gathered in Washington DC at the second annual…
How to Make Complex Collaborations Work
Something Tom Atlee recently wrote sums up for us what’s happening on the planet right now.…
A Framework for Building Your Cross Sector Leadership Practice
Imagine a world where individuals working in all sectors collaborate to solve our toughest social,…
Webinar Recap: Calling in Nature as Our Teacher
Nature is a master teacher when it comes to collaboration and convening. Conveners.org, together…
Webinar Recap: Designing Community-Focused Gatherings
On October 19, Conveners.org partnered with the New Mexico Health Equity Partnership (HEP) to…
Discover the Best Place to Be a Social Entrepreneur
The launch of the Best Place to be a Social Entrepreneur earlier this fall highlighted a…
A Lesson on Leadership, Or How I Got Lost in HEL
I was recently invited to speak about organizational culture leadership at an annual convening of…
The Conveners.org Sessions @ SOCAP16: Impact Convening Information, Tools, Practices, and Outcomes
SOCAP’s annual gathering of mission-focused investors, entrepreneurs, and social impact leaders is…
Unpacking the Unconference: AtA @SOCAP16
On Tuesday, September 13, 2016 Conveners.org in partnership with the Miller Center for Social…
Want to Increase Minority Entrepreneurship? Make Incubators More Inclusive
Last year’s first ever White House Demo Day, for which entrepreneurs were invited to the White…
Benchmarking Performance of High-Tech Incubators and Accelerators
Over the past year, ICIC has partnered with JPMorgan Chase to research the opportunities and…
Catalyzing Networks for Impact
Today, few doubt the potential for networks of people and institutions to deliver transformative…
Webinar Recap: Planning for the Worst
Risk management – even the term sounds a bit boring. But it is not, as anyone who has gone through…
How to Build a Culture of Trust
The impact ecosystem is replete with well-intentioned individuals striving to make the world a…
Webinar Recap: Top 5 Elements to Build Effective Partnerships
Has this happened to you? You’ve been deeply engaged in a series of discussions with a great new…
How Can We Make Mentoring Better for Social Entrepreneurs?
During our “Shared Resources” Collective Impact Project, a dynamic conversation took off…
Review of “What’s Working in Startup Acceleration”
The Global Accelerator Learning Initiative (GALI) report, “What’s Working in Startup Acceleration”,…
Building Lasting Community – Path of the Entrepreneur #5
This is the final installment of the Path of the Entrepreneur Series. This series is the result of…
Three Tips for Diversifying your Convening
Guest Post by Christal M. Jackson, Founder of Head and Heart Philanthropy Attendees make…
Assessment of Industry Channels for Sourcing Social Entrepreneurs – Path of the Entrepreneur #2
One of the major challenges that accelerators face is identifying high-quality applicants…
CtC Year Ahead Infographic
View Details of the conveners feedback given as part of the SOCAP15 Co-Hosted Session here.
Updated Accelerator Focus Map
In September 2014 we convened the first ever Accelerating the Accelerators @SOCAP14 day long…
Results from Continuing Conversations Collective Impact Project & GIS Co-Hosted Session
GIS CO-HOSTED SESSION RECAP We topped off the Global Innovation Summit with a great co-hosted…
Accelerating the Accelerators @ Sankalp 2015
Many thanks to the great group of Accelerator leaders who gathered at Sankalp in Nairobi, Kenya…
