Elevate’s Reflections from Recent Conferences
Written by Callie Johnson
Earlier this month, some members of our team attended the TN Nonprofit Network Conference in Memphis, TN. We had a blast, and got to meet and chat with so many different nonprofit organizations from all over Tennessee! Amy and David also presented on Navigating the Long Game of Systems Change. Here are some takeaways from the folks who attended:
Gavin
It was so exciting to be in Memphis earlier this month in a dual capacity - both as a conference attendee and to support our client Tennessee Nonprofit Network as they launched their Fundraising and Volunteer Management cohorts.
The conference itself was jam-packed with brilliant people and ideas, but one thing I haven’t stopped thinking about is Impact Funnels, as introduced by Peter VanWylen from United InfoLytics. The concept is simple, as you track people or sales or whatever is relevant for your work through various stages and identify points of large dropoff as potential focus areas. This enables you to identify the pain points where your model may have failed and thus to adjust moving forward. I thought immediately of our work with The Family Collective, whose ultimate goal is to make homelessness a rare and brief experience for Middle Tennessee families. Of course, the final goal is housing, but what are all the intermediaries in between getting connected with TFC and ultimately retaining long-term housing? It’s a simple exercise with straightforward calculations to identify these dropoffs, but it forces you to articulate every granular step of your process and enables you to maximize your impact.
And, of course, I can’t help but shout out the brilliant folks at TN Nonprofit Network; it was awesome to see the investment and buy-in you’ve already built through your cohorts. I saw connections being made real-time, people sponging knowledge from one another, and the enormous potential or transformational change that the cohorts will be able to collectively achieve. I’m stoked to be alongside y’all in evaluating the impact that these people and organizations will have, and look forward to everything we can do together!
Megan
It was incredible to see over 450 nonprofit organizations from across the state of Tennessee, gathered to learn, connect, and form new relationships. Elevate was thrilled to be a sponsor of the conference, and we met so many individuals from organizations of various sizes, missions, and geographic locations. It was a true highlight of the year for me to see a statewide connection come together so successfully. I’m already excited for the 2025 TNN Conference in Nashville!
Brianna
The TNN conference was a great opportunity for nonprofits, community leaders, and consultants statewide to gather in one unified space. With the vast number of service areas represented, the conference provided opportunities to hear from a range of subject-matter experts, promoting individual and collective learning and development. Here are some of the key insights that I’m taking with me:
Burnout is a significant challenge in the nonprofit sector, physically impacting the brain and reducing productivity. Consistent rest, values alignment, and setting healthy boundaries are examples of strategies that can mitigate these effects.
Executing effective leadership is very similar to Elevate’s approach to work - the emphasis is just as much on the process and its impact on teams, as it is about the product and bottom lines which come consequently.
Fundraising is critical for good governance. Signs that your Board is in need of targeted support and training may be 1) lack of engagement, 2) hesitancy to make connections, and 3) lacking the will to solicit.
About 30% of nonprofits are actively using AI! Are you one of them? AI tools are enabling organizations to streamline operations and expand reach by creating tailored communications and marketing collateral.
Together, these approaches can foster resilience and strategic engagement for mission-driven organizations. What are you taking with you and applying to your practice or organization?
Amy
It was so great to participate in the Tennessee Nonprofit Network Conference - one of my first in-person conferences post-baby and post-pandemic! I walked away with so many thoughts and ideas, but I had two major takeaways:
Meeting partners from across the state was a powerful reminder of how often we get caught in regional silos, focused solely on our local networks. It highlighted the value of reaching out to learn more from one another’s experiences and ideas, which can strengthen our work on a broader level.
The conference reminded me of the importance of setting aside time to rest, learn, and connect with peers - a habit that’s been tough to reestablish post-pandemic. Prioritizing this time not only recharges us personally, but enriches our ability to make a lasting impact.
I’m excited to continue connecting with and learning from partners locally and statewide!
Also this month, some members of our team attended the American Evaluation Association’s 2024 Evaluation Conference, where they gave a few presentations, co-hosted a happy hour to meet some other evaluators/consultants, and enjoyed the sights in Portland! Here are some takeaways from the folks that attended AEA:
Hannah
AirTable is a great database option for smaller organization or more streamlined programs. It’s fairly user-friendly, has decently customizable dashboards, and plays well with other data collection platforms, like SurveyMonkey, Google Forms, or Qualtrics. I’m excited to include this as a tool in our menu of database options with clients!
AI is here to stay, and we need to be thinking critically as evaluators about how we use this tool in our work. On the one hand, there are very tangible ways it can increase efficiency, reduce human errors in repetitive processes, and more creatively and visually communicate complicated information. On the other hand, it is not objective and has real biases and limitations when it comes to culturally-responsive data interpretation. We’ll likely always need a “human in the loop” when it coms to interpreting findings and making value judgements based on those findings.
Alyssa
The theme of this year’s AEA conference was “Amplifying and Empowering Voices in Evaluation.” Many of the sessions I attended delved into niche topics that underscored the importance of lived experiences, diverse ways of knowing and doing, and engaging young people in evaluation. What excited me about these sessions was hearing from participants across the country - and even a few from abroad - who are critically reflecting on how to include all voices in their work. Two organizations particularly stood out to me: UBUNTU Research & Evaluation, a collective of Black women, femmes, and non-binary individuals who embrace an “undisciplined” and “transdisciplinary” approach. I learned about their innovative work in community-led asset mapping. Additionally, I had the opportunity to hear from Nicole Bowman, President of Bowman Consulting, about her efforts to decolonize funding and partnerships. There is always more to learn and unlearn, and I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to engage in this collaborative learning experience with friends at AEA.
Jessica
I learned that our approach to evaluating systems change efforts at Elevate is in line with how evaluators around the country are thinking about it, which is always validating, and I picked up some helpful tools and frameworks for working with clients to design systems change evaluations. I also had a wonderful time connecting with colleagues and friends who also own small consulting firms focused on learning and hearing about the cool work they are doing!
Maria
This year’s AEA was really informative around systems change and collective impact, especially in regards to how we design and co-create frameworks with the communities that we work with. I got to hear in-depth examples of some of the frameworks we currently use like outcomes harvesting and about best practices for implementing them. I also got to have conversations about how we consider place and the land we are on in the work we do, which is really interesting and exciting.