We’re excited to offer more than 180 sessions across the in-person and virtual NTC experience! Sessions will appear here as speakers confirm their participation, so check back often as the list continues to grow. When the conference platform launches in February, you’ll be able to build your own personalized schedule and bookmark the sessions you don’t want to miss.

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<p>We’re excited to offer more than 180 sessions across the in-person and virtual NTC experience! Sessions will appear here as speakers confirm their participation, so check back often as the list continues to grow. When the conference platform launches in February, you’ll be able to build your own personalized schedule and bookmark the sessions you don’t want to miss.</p>

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<p>We’re excited to offer more than 180 sessions across the in-person and virtual NTC experience! Sessions will appear here as speakers confirm their participation, so check back often as the list continues to grow. When the conference platform launches in February, you’ll be able to build your own personalized schedule and bookmark the sessions you don’t want to miss.</p>



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Sessions

Data visualization is everywhere now. You see it in your social feeds, in your annual reports, even frequently on utility bills! BUT, there is s a huge difference between data visualization (in general) and effective and engaging data visualization.
This 1 hour crash course in improving data visualizations will take real world examples and improve them using a set of easy data visualization principles that increase engagement.
As a group and with lots of discussion take on confusing charts (from well-known organizations) and make them super easy to understand with just a few small tweaks.

Joe Travers

1 hour data viz crash course: Easy fixes to make your charts better!

Do you have projects on your plate? Big things on the horizon, or a LOT of small-but-crucial ones? This workshop is designed for new project managers, unofficial or accidental project managers, and anyone who wants a head start on setting up their next project for success. 
Understanding and engaging your stakeholders, defining your goals and resources, getting the most out of your meetings, and documenting changes during your projects: These are all crucial, challenging responsibilities for anyone managing a project or just trying to get stuff done. Luckily, you don’t have to start from scratch. 
This session will present five tools you need to get started, run effectively, and finish strong in any project for your org. We’ll work through a set of templates you can use right away, with details and examples of how to get the most out of each one.

Adrienne Figus

Project Manager

5 project management tools you need–especially if you’re not a project manager

This session will give nonprofit professionals practical tips for using generative AI to create stronger website and social media content. With limited budgets and staff capacity, AI has the ability to help brainstorm ideas, refine messaging, and increase content production while ensuring authenticity and strategic messaging. 
Participants will walk through five actionable strategies for leveraging AI responsibly, including content ideation, audience targeting, SEO optimization, repurposing across channels, and maintaining a human voice. The discussion will emphasize ethical use of AI and demonstrate how nonprofits can create a balance between efficiency and authenticity. Examples of content made with AI will be shared, and participants will leave with user-friendly tactics they can implement right away.

Chris Rosica

CEO and President of Rosica Communications

5 tips for ethically using AI to develop compelling website and social content

In 2024, over 35 million people participated in GivingTuesday, raising $3.6 billion in the U.S. alone. Whether your organization participates in this event or has its own giving day, these 24-hour campaigns have the potential to raise critical funding for your mission, increase brand awareness and affiliation, and mobilize supporters. 
This fast-paced 30-minute session will cover everything you need to know about planning a giving day, touching on topics like:
- Audience and donor segmentation 
- Gamefying strategies
- Multi-channel methods for direct asks
- Collaborating with your comms/marketing team and major gift officers
- Leveraging influencers for social media
- Preparing your CRM and more
Who should attend: Fundraising or communications/ marketing professionals who coordinate or participate in a giving day campaign. This session will be especially helpful to anyone who is leading a giving day for the very first time or wants to revive their current campaign and needs some inspiration. 
The presentation will also include a link to our giving day template, which will help attendees organize a large multichannel campaign.

Jackelyne Briseno

Director of Digital Fundraising

A complete guide to planning and executing a successful giving day

Is your member portal a vibrant digital clubhouse or a dusty content library? In today&#39;s hyper-connected world, a simple paywall for exclusive content is no longer enough to retain members. The real value lies in community. This hands-on workshop is designed to help you transform your passive member website into an active, self-sustaining community hub that drives loyalty, deepens engagement, and boosts renewals.
We will move beyond theory to provide a practical roadmap for community-centric design. You&#39;ll learn how to audit your current digital member experience, identify key opportunities for connection, and leverage the right tools—from AI-powered personalization to simple forum software—to foster powerful peer-to-peer relationships. You&#39;ll leave not with a list of ideas, but with a concrete action plan to build a digital space your members will never want to leave.

Leah Lundberg

VP, Marketing & Operations

Chris Lundberg

CEO & Founder

A playbook to turn your member website into a thriving community

Digital equity isn’t a digital divide challenge—it’s a system determining who can access, use, and benefit from technology. We&#39;ll explore how a cultural institution creates digital solutions, centered in geographic concepts, to empower communities to leverage data to support the communities they live, serve, and work in.
The Henry Ford will share case studies about:
The Innovation Atlas: a platform that maps innovation barriers and STE(A)MM opportunities across every K-12 school nationally
The Detroit Resource Mapping Tool: in partnership with the National Disability Institute and Wayne Metro Community Services, it supports conversations on intersectionality and unintentional silos that impede practical solutions to the complex economic challenges faced by individuals with disabilities
Community Partner Hub: a network of community-based organizations that provide direct social services to underserved and underrepresented clients in Metro-Detroit area
Together, we’ll examine the decisions and partnerships that made these projects possible and discuss how nonprofits can replicate these strategies to build trust, share knowledge, and drive collective action in their own missions.

Jarell Brown

Director of Analytics & Business Intelligence

Accessibility in tech: Designing solutions that empower communities

Nonprofit technologists are more sensitive than most with respect to building accessibility practices into ongoing work. This presentation begins with a pop quiz to understand how audience participants are already using accessibility practices to build more inclusive online experiences. 
From there we&#39;ll review seven practical steps to increase implementation strategies so that the digital products we build, will work for users of all abilities.
Target Audience
Web Developers
UX/UI designers
Product managers and business stakeholders
Content creators and marketing professionals
Accessibility advocates and newcomers to the field
All participants receive a resource list for continued support with access to accessibility testing tools and web resources. Parts of this talk were first presented at the United States National Association of State Technology Directors conference in August 2025.

Nikki Flores

Senior Technical Project Manager

Accessibility matters - change management at your organization

Have you noticed your web traffic declining? It&#39;s not just you. AI tools like ChatGPT and Google&#39;s AI Overviews are changing how people search and find answers online. For nonprofits that depend on search traffic to connect with their audience and demonstrate their impact, this shift raises important and urgent questions about how to remain seen, relevant, and trusted.
In this session, we&#39;ll explore the latest research on AI search adoption, why AI search may reduce clicks to your site, and how to adapt your digital measurements. We&#39;ll also cover strategies you can use right now, such as optimizing your content for AI visibility and strengthening direct relationships with your supporters on channels you own.
The format combines verbal presentation with interactive small-group discussions where you can brainstorm how to apply these concepts to your organization. This session is designed for nonprofit leaders, comms teams, and digital strategists who want their organization to remain visible and relevant in the age of AI search.

Spencer Brooks

Founder & Principal

Adapting your digital strategy for the AI search era

Technology should expand opportunity and advance justice, yet current policies too often allow inequities to persist and expand — from digital redlining and biased algorithms to unaffordable broadband access. Color Of Change launched the Black Tech Agenda to chart a new path for equity in the digital age, ensuring technology empowers rather than displaces communities. In this session, Portia Allen-Kyle, Interim Executive Director of Color Of Change, will share how the Black Tech Agenda is a roadmap to build coalitions and mobilize communities to demand accountability from tech companies and lawmakers. Participants will learn how their advocacy and agency can address systemic harms, what it takes to shift the rules that govern digital access and fairness, and how nonprofits can connect their missions to a broader fight for equity in technology policy.

Michael Franklin

Chief Thought Leadership Officer

Advocating for equity: Advancing the Black tech agenda together

Learn how to leverage low-cost, interoperable agentic AI to revolutionize nonprofit health communication and operations. This session introduces a high-impact, low-cost model using tools like n8n, Google Sheets, and simple API calls on Google Cloud infrastructure. We will demonstrate how this stack can be employed to automate tasks, productivity by orders of magnitude, and enable your team to focus on high-leverage work. We will also speak about how we use FHIR data to develop and deliver socially personalized, adaptive health messages to rural Indonesian mothers, offering practical advice for structuring patient-centric data and operationalizing information to bridge care gaps.
This session will be an interactive presentation with a live demo of our agentic AI system, followed by open Q&amp;A and discussion to enable mutual learning. It is most suited for nonprofit IT managers, operations staff, program coordinators, and executive leaders who are interested in exploring practical, low-cost AI applications to enhance service delivery and operational effectiveness, particularly within the healthcare sector.

Jesslyn Audrey Virginia

Software Engineer

Puan Nurul Ramadhani

health communication coordinator

Emil Yakhya

Technology Partner

Agentic AI for health equity: A low-cost operations blueprint

Move beyond basic AI tools to discover how AI agents can autonomously execute complex tasks for your nonprofit. Unlike traditional AI that responds to prompts, AI agents can plan, execute multi-step processes, and make decisions independently – offering the processing power of agentic behavior without full automation. This approach transforms how nonprofits approach donor research, program evaluation, and operational efficiency.
This hands-on session explores practical applications where AI agents can revolutionize nonprofit work: researching potential donors, conducting program impact analyses, managing volunteer coordination workflows, and generating personalized supporter communications at scale. You&#39;ll learn to identify tasks suitable for AI agent execution and understand the ethical considerations of deploying these technologies in mission-driven work.
We&#39;ll cover implementation strategies, risk management, and measuring ROI when AI agents handle organizational processes. Perfect for operations directors, development professionals, and nonprofit leaders ready to leverage AI agents that work independently to advance their mission while they focus on strategic priorities.

Kathleen Daniels

Senior Project Manager

AI agents for nonprofits: When your technology takes initiative

Artificial Intelligence is reshaping how we all operate in the non-profit world. While this tool can be very effective in automating some of your processes, it cannot replace your HR team. 
This 30-minute exploration of how AI can be responsibly used in your HR processes will help you build some solid guardrails and strategies that will provide you the best opportunity to make strategic use of the tool and maintain the Human in Human Resources.

Matthew Sucre

Training Manager

AI doesn't replace HR

AI is everywhere you look these days. Tools are AI-powered, people are leveraging AI, and the power of what AI can do is changing literally daily. But for those less familiar, it can still feel like a far-away concept. What is AI actually useful for? How can you tell the difference between various AI tools and leverage them effectively without being super technical? And what are AI&#39;s limitations and the pitfalls of using AI that you should be aware of? You&#39;ll walk away from this interactive talk with a deeper understanding of all of those areas and the ability to start using AI tomorrow to supercharge, and maybe even revolutionize, your regular responsibilities.

Allison McMillan

AI for the rest of us: A nonprofit professional's guide to getting started

In a moment of significant pressure and uncertainty, AI offers a unique opportunity for nonprofits to sustain their impact and avoid staff burnout—if harnessed thoughtfully. But only 9% of nonprofits feel ready to adopt AI responsibly (AI Equity Project, 2025). 
In this workshop, Remy Reya (Director of AI &amp; Thought Leadership) and Bethany Henderson (CEO) will share how we led the Compass Pro Bono team from skepticism to enthusiastic adoption, with 100% of individual staff now using AI to save an average of 10+ hours/week. We’ll walk through our team’s evolution from basic prompting to AI-powered automation, including how we used continuous education and change management strategies to drive AI literacy without leaving anyone behind. While learning our Responsible AI Integration Framework, participants will complete activities to build robust AI toolkits and real momentum on their own organizational AI strategies.
This is a 60-minute workshop tailored for nonprofit professionals who are curious about AI but unsure of how to scale their efforts in a sustainable way. Activities blend demos, individual reflection worksheets, and peer discussion to accommodate varied learning styles.

Remy Reya

Director of AI and Thought Leadership

Bethany Henderson

AI without the overwhelm: A culture‑first framework for sustainable adoption

Want your communications to not just inform, but spark action? This interactive session will help you design narratives that drive donors, members, and constituents to movement when it matters most. 
You&#39;ll learn the elements of an organizational narrative (who we are, why we matter, the problem, the solution, and what&#39;s possible), learn how to define that narrative for your specific mission, and practice applying them directly to your mission. 
By the end of the session, you&#39;ll have the rough draft of your organization&#39;s unique arc, plus a practical checklist to turn that narrative into powerful fundraising appeals, advocacy campaigns, and event invitations. 
This is a session designed for communications and development leaders, but anyone on communications or development teams would benefit.

Genie Gratto

Communications Strategist & Consultant | GWRITES

Anatomy of a narrative: How to shape stories that inspire action

New tools are emerging constantly, but which ones are worth checking out? This session will draw upon the experience of experienced nonprofit technologists and explore new and existing technology that can help accelerate, automate, and augment your work. This session will cover the best new apps, tools, and tactics to manage in the modern nonprofit environment. Join for a fast-paced and fun session highlighting practical tools and tactics that you take back and start implementing immediately.

Jason Shim

Chief Digital Officer

Apps, tools and tactics 2026

Multiple systems that don’t talk to each other, rogue spreadsheets, mysterious integrations, and systems held together with digital duct tape – sound familiar? This session is tailored for nonprofit staff seeking tips and tricks to assess, remediate, and manage a suite of technology tools inherited by well-meaning predecessors.
We will walk through a framework for conducting a comprehensive audit of your technology ecosystem that also accounts for the people, processes, and strategy behind it. Together, we’ll explore the key phases of a tech assessment – from Discovery &amp; Analysis to Prioritization &amp; Roadmapping – we’ll equip you with real-life examples and tools for each phase such as surveys, interviews, process mapping, and prioritization criteria.
This holistic tech assessment approach will help you bridge the strategic gap between where you are and where you want to be. Whether you&#39;re a new leader inheriting digital chaos or a seasoned IT professional trying to tackle your technical debt, you&#39;ll leave this session with the ability to envision and plan your path to a streamlined tech stack.

Aparna Kothary

Nonprofit tech consultant

Simone Carvalho

Principal Consultant

Assess, don’t guess: A framework for confident tech decisions

You are probably using some form of marketing automation today, whether it is a simple set of auto-responses from your email blasts or a complex set of &quot;what if&quot; communications that run your entire season&#39;s campaigns. But are you getting all you need out of your marketing communication software and systems? 
This short and sweet session is focused on helping you to ask the right questions to see what else your marketing automation investment might offer your team. Whether you are a development officer, program leader, marketing director, or operations specialist, this session can be useful. 
The session will start with introduction and information on this. As a short exercise to wrap up, we&#39;ll then ask the attendees to engage by asking for someone to volunteer a real-life example of the types of automation they use and how they use it - and open it up to the room to provide ideas for how to leverage what they have to do more.
All attendees will be provided with a training guide handout that will provide examples/case studies, self-learning items and activities, plus &quot;things to know&quot; for getting the most out of marketing automation.

Cassie Dennis

Principal

Laura Blacklock

Operations Director

Best ways to use marketing automation

Digital equity efforts often stop at access—getting people connected, trained, or equipped. But access alone doesn’t build adoption or impact. Trust does. This session will explore how nonprofits and mission-driven organizations can move beyond access to foster authentic trust in the systems, tools, and institutions that shape digital experiences. Drawing from case studies and insights from the Aspen Institute’s Weave Project, we’ll focus on strategies for listening first, practicing transparency, designing with representation, and measuring trust—not just usage. We’ll also share how Threespot builds “trust by design,” weaving equity and justice into every stage of our process to ensure solutions are rooted in inclusion and impact.
The session combines practical frameworks with interactive discussion, inviting attendees to reflect on their own trust-building challenges and collaborate on solutions. This session is designed for nonprofit leaders, digital strategists, technologists, and anyone committed to ensuring technology strengthens rather than fractures communities. Participants will leave with concrete strategies and a community-centered framework to apply in their work.

Nathan Lucrisia

Director of Business Development

Beyond access: Building trust in a digital age

This is a highly interactive workshop led by Mentimeter as a presentation tool (audience polling, Q&amp;A, and other activities). This hands-on workshop helps participants embed accessibility into their communications strategy, making their message resonate with everyone, regardless of abilities. We will audit existing communications and then develop an action plan that meets the organization&#39;s goals and needs. This session is for anyone who develops or updates content, from marketing and communications staff to program managers and executive directors.

Britne Jenke

Consultant / Secretary

Beyond compliance: Creating accessible communications for all

Technology companies can offer far more than cash donations and volunteers. With most major firms now running “tech for good” initiatives, nonprofits have an opportunity to form partnerships that combine knowledge, resources, and networks to achieve outcomes none could reach alone.
In this 30-minute expert discussion, GitLab Foundation and GitLab Inc. will share how they use a Partnerships First approach—anchored in mutual accountability, transparency, and measurable outcomes—to create collaborations that unlock economic opportunity. We will highlight case studies where nonprofits leveraged infrastructure, technical expertise, and co-investment models to scale impact, while also showing how to structure agreements that deliver mutual value.
This session is designed for nonprofit development leaders, executive directors, and partnership managers who want to move beyond transactional relationships, as well as technology executives and CTOs who seek to align their expertise with systemic change goals. Interactive discussion will ensure participants leave with actionable strategies for partnership development.

Elizabeth Robillard

Global Director of Ecosystem

Beyond donations: Building technology-nonprofit partnerships for impact

Discover how nonprofits are using video in fresh, creative ways to connect with supporters, increase donor retention, and expand fundraising opportunities. In this session, we’ll go beyond the basics and explore how mission-driven organizations are integrating video into donor stewardship, campaign storytelling, volunteer recognition, educational programming, and leadership outreach. You’ll also learn practical ways to add video into events and sponsorship packages, without needing a full production team or large budget.

Terry Nawrot

Beyond the basics: Innovative video strategies to drive engagement and revenue

Nonprofits often collect lots of data through surveys, but much of it ends up incomplete, biased, or unusable. This session will teach participants how to design surveys that gather accurate, actionable information. We will cover writing clear questions, choosing the right response options, and using results to drive decisions, improve programs, and tell stronger impact stories.

Francesca Frederick

CEO & Cofounder

Beyond the checkbox: Designing surveys that give you better data

Prospect identification is a fundamental element of fundraising, and historically has been an area rife with bias. We talk to people we already know, and look for more people who look like the people we already know. In today’s fundraising world, the truth is that our beneficiaries, donors, and constituents are a beautiful mosaic of identities, and our fundraising strategies and approaches need to reflect this for long-term sustainability. 
This session will review how and where biases creep into our prospect identification and selection, and provide substantive methods of stepping away from bias and into a more equitable practice. 
This session is aimed at fundraisers in nonprofits generally, and nonprofits using wealth screening tools more specifically. We will be inviting ongoing dialogue with attendees, and encourage engagement with in-presentation polls and quizzes.

Sarah Marcotte

Biases in prospect identification: Broaden your pipeline and approach

Most nonprofits treat brand work and organizational development as separate initiatives—but what if they&#39;re actually the same thing? This workshop guides participants through the diagnostic process that reveals when communications challenges are actually organizational systems problems in disguise. 
We&#39;ll start with an interactive assessment using real scenarios where participants practice identifying intersection points between brand strategy and organizational development, then work through exercises to recognize when staff &quot;chipping in&quot; on comms creates systemic inefficiency. 
Through hands-on work, participants will learn how brand foundation elements (voice, audience strategy, processes) become organizational development tools that improve decision-making and enable more effective work. In small groups, participants will apply frameworks to their own challenges, developing solutions addressing both brand and operational needs simultaneously. 
Everyone will leave with practical diagnostic tools, stakeholder assessment templates, and frameworks for integrated approaches that maximize limited resources while strengthening internal operations and external impact.

Sara Hashim

Brand building as organization building: A hands-on workshop

Outdated beliefs like treating volunteers as unpaid staff or assuming recognition can be solved with a birthday email are not only ineffective, they reinforce inequities that drive people away. In a digital age, these myths are further magnified by technology that can exclude or harm if used without care. Auto-scheduled messages that alienate volunteers, fundraising systems that violate consent, or engagement platforms that favor certain groups over others are all examples of inequities embedded in digital practices.
In this 60-minute interactive workshop, Jessica Pang-Parks and Terra Loire Gillespie will explore how volunteer engagement myths show up in digital tools, data practices, and communication strategies. Participants will use Mentimeter to reflect on how equity and digital inclusion intersect with volunteer engagement and will see examples of policies and practices that actively promote belonging, trust, and social justice.

Terra Gillespie

Director

Breaking the spell: Superstitions holding back volunteer engagement strategies

As a nonprofit technology professional, I have seen firsthand how the digital divide creates barriers for rural and underserved communities—limiting access to education, healthcare, and economic opportunity. This session will share practical solutions nonprofits can use to bridge those gaps. We will explore common challenges such as infrastructure, affordability, and digital literacy, and highlight community-driven strategies that have proven effective. The session will include an interactive presentation followed by breakout discussions, giving participants the chance to share their own experiences and learn from peers. Attendees will leave with practical tools, frameworks, and ideas they can apply within their organizations to advance digital inclusion. This session is ideal for nonprofit professionals, community leaders, and technologists who are committed to breaking barriers and ensuring digital equity for all.

Victor Ejike

Bridging digital gaps with nonprofit solutions for underserved communities

It’s a tale as old as time: Leadership makes decisions that leave frontline staff feeling misunderstood and unsupported. It becomes challenging to get honest feedback and new initiatives are a struggle to get off the ground. Organizational culture suffers and employee retention plummets. Leadership becomes increasing frustrated that their efforts fall flat. Traditional organizational hierarchies often create these structural gaps between leadership and frontline staff. Yet, just because it has been does not mean it has to be! 
In this session, we will discuss the common disconnects between leadership and frontline staff to more quickly prevent or address them. We will then equip you with a toolkit of practical strategies that build equity and incorporate more voices into the decision-making process. Don’t just take our word for it, though! We will also examine case studies of successful implementation of these strategies at COMPASS Youth Collaborative. Finally, we will work together to develop action plans that address your most pressing concerns.

Mica Knox

Data Analyst

Bridging the gap: Aligning conference room decisions with frontline realities

Data migrations are among the most complex and high-risk phases of any technology implementation, especially for nonprofits managing decades of mission-critical donor, membership, and program data. 
This session will walk through best practices for mapping, cleansing, and loading data between database systems. Drawing on real-world projects, we will help you prepare for common pitfalls, manage stakeholder expectations, and design repeatable testing cycles that build confidence before go-live. 
Attendees will leave with a clear framework for their own data migrations, from scoping and mapping through final validation, plus practical insights into how to best balance your limited organizational resources with the desire to have it all. 
Whether you are leading a migration, supporting one, or preparing your organization for change, this session will provide actionable strategies to ensure smoother transitions and long-term success.

Lou Bialon-Crane

Delivery Manager & Solution Architect

Emily Smartt

Supervisor, Nonprofit Relationship Management Solutions

Bridging the gap: Practical strategies for nonprofit data migrations

When nonprofits’ custom apps are breached, it’s not just data at risk—it’s the safety and trust of the communities we serve. From participant records to program data, vulnerabilities can trigger reputation damage, political attacks, and real harm. Too often, nonprofits only find gaps after an incident or audit.
Join Girls Who Code’s technology leaders and ethical hackers from RipRap Security to learn how their partnership built a practical security framework for nonprofit custom app development. This isn’t generic cybersecurity. It’s focused, nonprofit-tested strategies.
You’ll gain actionable guidance on embedding security into requirements from day one, choosing vendors who meet clear standards, setting expectations, and maintaining app safety as you scale. Walk away with checklists and resources to use immediately.
Designed for IT leaders, program staff managing projects, and decision-makers overseeing development. No deep technical background required. Through interactive discussions and real-world examples, you’ll learn to make informed security decisions that keep your apps,your community, and your reputation safe.

Jessica Hunsinger

Senior Director of Technology

Build secure apps: How to build safer custom apps for your community

We’ve all heard of change management, but how can it help us be prepared for the unexpected?
Why is it important to use this framework to manage evolving situations? 
In high-pressure environments, such as during a crisis or disaster, the ability to manage change can significantly impact response times, coordination, and overall success. By implementing structured change management processes, organizations can prepare their teams to quickly adopt new roles, workflows, and technologies that may arise no matter how big or small the challenge is, or the size of your organization.
In this session, we will discuss this proactive approach to minimize confusion, boost morale, and help maintain business continuity of operations across all impacts, dependencies and stakeholders while driving innovation and teamwork.

Sarah Wimberley

Principal & Founder

Change readiness & management

The social media world is a little chaotic right now. Algorithms change faster than you can say “social media managers aren’t wizards.” New features roll out every week (looking at you, Instagram). And let’s not forget the tidal wave of AI-generated noise and misinformation we need to cut through. If managing social feels overwhelming, it’s because it is.
That’s why we’re bringing together mighty but small nonprofit social media teams of one to get real about how we’re making it work. 
Panelists will share:
-Time-saving tactics like building a content reuse system that works.
-Smart ways to use AI while keeping your content authentic and human-centered.
-Strategies to fight burnout when “just log off” isn’t an option.
But this isn’t just about us talking at you. It’s about learning from each other. As we swap tips, tricks, and hard-earned lessons, we’ll also crowdsource ideas from the room. Together, we’ll build not just a toolkit of fresh strategies, but a supportive community of fellow social media pros who get it.
This panel will include:
-Nicole Howard, Teach.org
-Anitra Hunt, Boys &amp; Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas
-Keara Klose, Cats in Bloom
-Kate Meyers Emery, Candid

Kate Meyers Emery

Senior Digital Communications Manager

Keara Klose

Social Media Manager

Anitra Hunt

Confessions of nonprofit social media managers

Hyper-personalized, behavior based outreach is nearly impossible to scale for nonprofits without AI and automations. This session will cover how to apply a hyper-personalization strategy to your SMS and social media outreach and show real world examples of how nonprofits are using behavior-driven chatbots. Attendees will learn how to design channel specific message sequences for Instagram and SMS that are both relevant and timely to supporters.
By engaging with those who express interest or take a related action, nonprofits drastically reduce their cost per acquisition. This session will cover how tools like Strive Messaging, Manychat, and Amplify AI can be used to free up staff time and automate key conversation goals like data collection and link sharing. Rather than replacing human connections, AI chatbots can funnel supporters up the ladder of engagement and lay the groundwork for meaningful one on one conversations.
This 30 minute session will include actionable steps to get started using AI chatbots and provide the performance metrics you need to make the case for adopting this strategy within your team. This session is designed for nonprofit social media and texting teams.

Alexandra Druck

Jedd Countey

CEO, Head of Partnerships

Conversations that convert: Using behavior-driven chatbots on SMS & Instagram

In this interactive workshop, we&#39;ll walk through every phase of a successful texting campaign. We&#39;ll start with the basics of setting goals and defining your audience, and then move on to crucial steps like getting approvals, managing replies, and showing ROI. 
You&#39;ll learn how a good texting partner can handle the heavy lifting, freeing up your team and ensuring your campaigns are a success from start to finish. This session is perfect for anyone who plans or manages texting campaigns or would like to bring texting to their organization.
The workshop will also facilitate and encourage knowledge sharing with your peers at other non-profit organizations. Expect to have conversations about the challenges nonprofits face in communications/marketing outreach, hear what has (or hasn&#39;t) worked for others, and learn about different strategies to bring back to your organization.

Rose Stangel

Director of Marketing

Crafting a text message campaign for maximum impact

Education is a powerful form of audience engagement, and microlearning – attention-grabbing short-form content, like quizzes, videos and infographics – can help deepen community ties that extend your mission and drive donations. 
In this working session, you can follow our framework and create a strategic plan to educate your community or audience that will further your mission. 
We’ll step through planning stages: 
1. Setting a vision for community education: Set program goals, define the larger purpose, and identify gaps and opportunities.
2. Content planning: Imagine the creative ways to support your mission through education. Involve volunteers, dispatch leading voices, and bring people together to research, learn, and take action.
3. Operations mapping: Sketch out a plan for the tools, technology, and services that will drive your education program. Consider your budget and the potential to drive donations through learning. 
4. Timeline and marketing planning: Outline a strategy for your outreach efforts, including email marketing, social media, and partnerships. Define how you will measure success.

Carmen Scheidel

Co-founder and CEO

Create a microlearning strategy for your organization

This session will examine how Restore NYC, an anti-trafficking organization, approached the development of a chatbot that connects survivors of human trafficking with critical resources while maintaining trauma-informed, survivor-centered, ethical practices.
The presentation will follow a case study format, with Restore sharing their operational challenges and implementation journey, while Forest &amp; Trees discusses the essential user-centered design principles and mission alignment strategies required when developing technology for populations with vulnerabilities and needs related to exploitation. Together, they&#39;ll demonstrate how to balance technological innovation with ethical responsibility.
Target Audience: Nonprofit organizations that provide direct services and resources to the communities they serve, particularly those working with people with minimal support networks who need referrals to partner organizations and external resources.

Creating ethical AI tools: Lessons from an anti-trafficking nonprofit

This session shares the practical story of how one organization transformed leadership communication from occasional updates to a consistent weekly internal newsletter, achieving a 75% average open rate over nearly two years. The session will walk through the strategic partnership between communications and operations leadership, the technical implementation using HubSpot, and the cultural commitment to consistency (&quot;even if it&#39;s just a cat photo&quot;).
This 30-minute session will provide concrete takeaways, real examples from our newsletter content, and actionable strategies participants can implement immediately at their own organizations.

Mia Velasco

Operations Manager

Creating internal newsletters your staff will actually open

Vulnerable communities need protection from discrimination, is your unsecured data leaving people exposed? Cybersecurity is not just about safeguarding finances or passwords, it also about protecting the identities and privacy of those in the community you serve. In this session we will go beyond theory. Together, we will discuss the specific actions you can take to protect your organization’s data, the questions you should be asking your third-party providers, and where your community&#39;s personally identifiable information is most at risk. 
You’ll leave with practical tools and a clearer sense of how encryption and data protection can safeguard both the work of your organization and the trust your community places in you.

Tiffany Nyklickova

Information Specialist

Cybersecurity as social responsibility: Protecting people, not just passwords

This highly-rated workshop returns to NTC to emphasize that nonprofits face cyber threats that can’t be ignored – even on a limited budget. In this practical session, we’ll share ten essential security measures every nonprofit IT team can implement right now without breaking the bank. We’ll also demystify the HICP and CIS security standards, showing how they can guide your security efforts and highlight what you might be missing (and why it matters). We&#39;ll discuss real-life implications of breaches, typical pitfalls, and the ethical responsibilities surrounding sensitive and protected data, particularly when it comes to the use of AI.
By participating in this interactive session, attendees will engage through live polls, real-world scenario analysis and Q&amp;A segments, enabling them to apply learned principles effectively in their operations. This presentation is ideal for new attendees with job descriptions related to IT management in their programs. Attendees will walk away with an updated “security to-do” checklist, tips for low-cost implementations, and greater confidence in protecting sensitive data in today’s threat landscape.

Edward Wilson

Ellen Samuel

Chief Operating Officer

Cybersecurity on a shoestring: Safeguarding nonprofits in the age of AI

Dashboards are often used as simply a way to visualize data, but there is so much more untapped potential. This is especially true for program staff who rely on information from disparate systems to deliver programs. Join us for a practical example-packed session where we walk through how multiple nonprofits- including NTEN, the Afterschool Alliance, and Purpose Built Communities - have elevated their use of dashboards to serve as their one-stop tool to fully manage and evaluate program delivery. We’ll explore a variety of use cases, a range of possible tools such as Looker Studio and Tableau, and some critical lessons learned through years of hand-on work in these tools. 
 Join Ash Shepherd (Chief Program officer at NTEN), Elizabeth DiLuzio (Principal at Evaluation + Learning Consulting), and 1-2 other presenters from nonprofits to uncover some of the potential that dashboards could add to your efforts. If you find yourself struggling working with data across multiple systems or systems that limit how you can use your data, then this session is for you. Join us for an interactive and practical approach to making it easier to support the communities we serve.

Ash Shepherd

Chief Program Officer

Elizabeth DiLuzio

Co-founding Principal

Dashboards: Moving beyond pretty charts to functional powerhouses

Come learn about three powerful tactics for protecting your organization&#39;s information. We&#39;ll talk about what data classification, minimization, and sanitization are—and how to use them to craft the right approach to data retention and deletion in your organization. 
Using a planning template, you&#39;ll have the opportunity to think through how to identify your organization&#39;s sensitive information and what changes you should make to how it&#39;s handled.
This session is for data managers, technology-responsible people, and anyone who&#39;s in charge of sensitive files or information as part of their role.

Lisa Jervis

Data can't leak if it's not there: Classification, minimization, & sanitization

Nonprofits today face increasing pressure to manage their data with the same precision and security as major tech companies, while using data insights to enhance supporter engagement. Your CRM, marketing tech, and collaboration tools offer the opportunity to integrate business units — fundraising, programs, finance — by unifying workflows and data within a &quot;single source of truth.&quot; But do these teams have a shared frame for how they own, operationalize, and protect data?
Often overlooked, Data Governance is a dynamic muscle your organization can build to ensure your data is timely, accurate, secure, and actionable for engaging constituents, streamlining internal processes, and amplifying impact. 
In this session, we&#39;ll define what Data Governance is (and isn&#39;t), understand how your business practices may already support governance outcomes, and outline tactical steps to begin maturing your nonprofit&#39;s Data Governance capabilities that stick without slowing you down. 
This session is part of Skeleton Key Strategies&#39; proposed five-part curriculum designed for nonprofit leaders navigating technology, data strategy, and data governance.

Justin Birdsong

Data governance: Herding cats for the greater good

Google is a monster of a corporation that has wrapped its tentacles around the lives of billions of people’s lives. While many understand the dangers this company poses – as it amasses all of our personal information, provides surveillance for governments and law enforcement, relies on data centers that threaten communities and the environment, and pushes out competition with monopolistic practices – it feels impossible to quit it. But many of us in the social change and advocacy space would prefer to use tools that don’t undermine our safety, and the safety of our families, colleagues, and peers.
In this session individuals and organizationwill share why we decided to make this move, what alternatives we considered and what we ended up going with, how we went about it, and where we go from here. Each participant will go through these pieces, sharing both anecdotal experience and practical steps that others can use, and then open up to questions from others. The goal for attendees is to leave with more confidence in their ability to move away from Google and some clear next steps for how to do so.

Caitlin Seeley George

Campaigns and Managing Director

De-Googling: Practical advice from folks that have done it

Sometimes, the clearest instructions aren’t enough to overcome complex processes. When systems are cobbled together over time, or decisions are made in isolation without considering the impact on other departments, we can end up with processes that get in their own way.
Join us to explore what it looks like to apply a plain language lens to create systems and processes our participants can easily navigate and use. We’ll also talk about the importance of clear communication behind the scenes in a variety of settings and how leadership, from program managers to executive leadership, can make plain language the standard for internal communication. 
In this session, we will briefly review the principles of plain language and how it benefits your audience. We’ll use several real-world examples to problem-solve common system challenges through group discussion and hands-on activities. And, we’ll discuss what gets in the way of clear communication INSIDE your organization and explore how plain language policies and procedures can create better experiences for both staff and the communities you serve.