Join 1,000 nonprofit professionals on November 5, 2026 for New York City’s foremost gathering for nonprofit leadership, management, and movement-building. This full-day, in-person convening is designed to co-create real solutions for our sector’s challenges, spark collaboration, and strengthen community resilience.
This year’s theme, “Stay Relentless,” is a call to action. It asks us to remain steadfast, determined, and solution-focused in a moment that continues to challenge and reshape our work. It’s about staying in motion, grounded in community, in communication with one another, and committed to delivering high-quality, high-impact support and services to all New Yorkers.
Through timely discussions, shared resources, and space for reflection, the 2026 Annual Conference brings people together to reconnect with what matters and with each other. Whether you’re leading an organization, shaping strategy, managing programs, or supporting behind the scenes, this conference is designed for you. Come for the insights, stay for the connection, and leave moving forward, relentlessly.
Overview
Plan Your Visit: Nonprofit New York Annual Conference attendees get a discounted rate of $399 per night for a Marquis Deluxe Room, either King or 2 Double Beds. Reserve your room now!
Keynote Speakers
Keynote Speaker Name
Vu Le (“voo lay”) writes the blog NonprofitAF.com. He is the former executive director of RVC, a nonprofit in Seattle that promotes social justice by supporting leaders of color, strengthening organizations led by communities of color, and fostering collaboration among diverse communities. Read more…
Keynote Speaker Name
Diane is a nationally renowned nonprofit leader with nearly 30 years of experience advancing housing and social justice, including nine years as President and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, where she led transformative campaigns. Read more…
Agenda
Coaching Sessions
Take part in one 20-minute coaching sessions with experienced nonprofit professionals. Get practical advice and insights from years of sector experience. Space is limited—sessions are offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Register early to secure your spot.
To register, first purchase your ticket for the 2026 Annual Conference on Eventbrite. You will receive a confirmation with the link to register for coaching sessions.
SESSION 1: 10:15 — 11:25 am
SESSION 2: 11:35 — 12:45 pm
Coach Name
Key Areas of Nonprofit Management
Equity is our throughline and is woven throughout each conference session. Each track will integrate questions and practices that center equity in meaningful and actionable ways.
Session Guide
Below is a list of conference sessions modeled on the days activities and Key Areas of Nonprofit Management ensuring an engaging day for leadership and staff alike.
This Session Guide is subject to change.
Advocacy
Advocacy is how nonprofits transform mission, community knowledge, and moral clarity into collective action. In a moment of political uncertainty, shifting public policy, and rising community need, advocacy cannot sit in one department or with one specialist. This track equips executives, board members, staff, communicators, and program leaders to understand their advocacy role, build coalitions, navigate risk, and move from concern to organized action in defense of communities, equity, justice, and democracy.
Sessions
- Advocacy 101: Getting Started When the Stakes Are High
- Under Pressure: Advocacy Strategies for a Shifting Policy Landscape
- Advocacy Strategy Lab: Coalition Building for the Long Haul
Advocacy
Advocacy is how nonprofits transform mission, community knowledge, and moral clarity into collective action. In a moment of political uncertainty, shifting public policy, and rising community need, advocacy cannot sit in one department or with one specialist. This track equips executives, board members, staff, communicators, and program leaders to understand their advocacy role, build coalitions, navigate risk, and move from concern to organized action in defense of communities, equity, justice, and democracy.
Sessions
- Advocacy 101: Getting Started When the Stakes Are High
- Under Pressure: Advocacy Strategies for a Shifting Policy Landscape
- Advocacy Strategy Lab: Coalition Building for the Long Haul
Advocacy 101: Getting Started When the Stakes Are High
What can your organization legally do? Where do you start? And how do you make time for advocacy when you’re already stretched thin? This session is a primer for nonprofits new to advocacy. Learn what’s allowed under the law, how to identify and engage your local, state, and federal representatives, and how to build an advocacy strategy that fits your size and capacity. Leave with tools to map influence, carve out time, and get started, whether you’re a solo executive director or part of a larger team.
Under Pressure: Advocacy Strategies for a Shifting Policy Landscape
In times of political and funding threats, advocacy is essential to protecting your mission and community. This session explores how to respond when your organization or the people you serve come under attack. You’ll learn how to assess risks, track policy shifts, and engage decision-makers from city hall to Capitol Hill. We’ll cover how to activate your board, staff, and allies; shape the public narrative; and lead with clarity under pressure. With a focus on communities most impacted by sudden changes, this session offers practical strategies for organizations serving them to stay agile, set priorities, and avoid burnout.
Advocacy Strategy Lab: Coalition Building for the Long Haul
No nonprofit should have to navigate this moment alone. This peer-driven strategy lab offers a space to connect with others doing advocacy work—and to begin forming the relationships that will carry your efforts forward. Together, we’ll explore how to build cross-sector coalitions, align around shared goals, and support each other when resources are limited. Whether you’re new to collective action or looking to deepen your alliances, you’ll leave with connections and inspiration to strengthen your work long after the conference ends.
Communications
In challenging times, clarity is courage. Effective communications require more than occasional messages; they demand discipline, authenticity, and a steadfast commitment to organizational values. From storytelling and brand strategy to message discipline, mission narrative, crisis response, and advocacy campaigns, participants will learn how intentional, consistent, and values-driven communication builds trust, inspires action, and sustains momentum.
Sessions
- Organizational Communications: Telling Your Story with Strategy and Purpose
- Rapid Response Fundraising: Communicating Urgency and Inspiring Action
- Communications Strategy Lab: Crafting Clear, Compassionate Messages
Communications
In challenging times, clarity is courage. Effective communications require more than occasional messages; they demand discipline, authenticity, and a steadfast commitment to organizational values. From storytelling and brand strategy to message discipline, mission narrative, crisis response, and advocacy campaigns, participants will learn how intentional, consistent, and values-driven communication builds trust, inspires action, and sustains momentum.
Sessions
- Organizational Communications: Telling Your Story with Strategy and Purpose
- Rapid Response Fundraising: Communicating Urgency and Inspiring Action
- Communications Strategy Lab: Crafting Clear, Compassionate Messages
Organizational Communications: Telling Your Story with Strategy and Purpose
Build a clear, values-driven communications strategy that helps your nonprofit connect with funders, participants, and staff. This session blends big-picture strategy with practical storytelling tools to help you cut through the noise, clarify your mission, and communicate with impact. (Learning Circle Session)
Rapid Response Fundraising: Communicating Urgency and Inspiring Action
In moments of crisis, clear and timely communication is crucial to rally donor support quickly and effectively. This session will guide you in crafting authentic, urgent messages that convey the immediate needs while maintaining trust and transparency. Learn strategies for mobilizing donors through compelling storytelling, real-time updates, and meaningful expressions of gratitude.
Communications Strategy Lab: Crafting Clear, Compassionate Messages
This hands-on session helps you turn storytelling and purposeful messaging into clear, values-driven communication strategies that cut through the noise. Work in small groups to craft and refine key messages for funders, community, and staff—balancing authenticity with strategic care. Walk away ready to communicate with confidence and compassion, even in challenging moments.
Finance
Financial leadership is a strategic function, critical to a relentless pursuit of long-term sustainability and day-to-day operations. Nonprofits are navigating cash flow pressure, contract risk, revenue volatility, infrastructure costs, cybersecurity exposure, and heightened expectations for transparency and accountability. This track helps leaders and finance professionals align resources with mission, understand financial models, plan for uncertainty, fund the infrastructure that makes impact possible, and build resilient organizations prepared for both risk and opportunity.
Sessions
- Managing Cash Flow and Financial Reporting Without Losing Momentum
- Talking About the Tough Stuff: Financial Transparency Across Your Org
- Finance Strategy Lab: Budget Scenario Planning
Finance
Financial leadership is a strategic function, critical to a relentless pursuit of long-term sustainability and day-to-day operations. Nonprofits are navigating cash flow pressure, contract risk, revenue volatility, infrastructure costs, cybersecurity exposure, and heightened expectations for transparency and accountability. This track helps leaders and finance professionals align resources with mission, understand financial models, plan for uncertainty, fund the infrastructure that makes impact possible, and build resilient organizations prepared for both risk and opportunity.
Sessions
- Managing Cash Flow and Financial Reporting Without Losing Momentum
- Talking About the Tough Stuff: Financial Transparency Across Your Org
- Finance Strategy Lab: Budget Scenario Planning
Managing Cash Flow Without Losing Momentum
Even the most mission-driven work can grind to a halt when the money doesn’t come in on time. This session tackles the real-world challenge of managing cash flow when grants are delayed, reimbursements are slow, and expenses don’t wait. We’ll break down how to forecast cash needs, build reserves, and make smart decisions in tight moments. Designed for nonprofit leaders, finance staff, and program managers, this session offers practical tools and smarter tech strategies to keep things moving, even when the money isn’t.
Talking About the Tough Stuff: Financial Transparency Across Your Org
When budgets are tight and funding is uncertain, honest communication is more important than ever. This session will offer practical strategies for talking about financial challenges with staff, board members, and community stakeholders in ways that build trust rather than fear. We’ll also explore how different teams can work together to make thoughtful, values-aligned decisions when resources are limited. Walk away with tools for transparent budgeting, collaborative planning, and leading through uncertainty.
Finance Strategy Lab: Budget Scenario Planning
Nonprofit leaders need flexible financial tools to adapt to shifting realities. This session will introduce the basics of budget scenario planning — a strategic approach to modeling multiple financial futures so you can prepare, not just react. Participants will explore how to build “what if” scenarios that account for best-case, worst-case, and most likely outcomes, and discuss how to engage staff, boards, and funders in honest conversations about risk, priorities, and tradeoffs.
Fundraising
Fundraising is the practice of building relationships, trust, and shared investment in mission. Staying relentless in fundraising requires more than urgency; it requires stewardship, board engagement, donor strategy, healthy development culture, and sustainable revenue systems. This track helps organizations activate board members, assess and strengthen their development programs, cultivate next-generation donors, and support fundraisers in ways that sustain both mission and people.
Sessions
- Diversifying Funding Streams: Strategies for Sustainable Growth
- Accessing Public Funding
- Fundraising Strategy Lab: Building a Customized Fundraising Plan
Fundraising
Fundraising is the practice of building relationships, trust, and shared investment in mission. Staying relentless in fundraising requires more than urgency; it requires stewardship, board engagement, donor strategy, healthy development culture, and sustainable revenue systems. This track helps organizations activate board members, assess and strengthen their development programs, cultivate next-generation donors, and support fundraisers in ways that sustain both mission and people.
Sessions
- Diversifying Funding Streams: Strategies for Sustainable Growth
- Accessing Public Funding
- Fundraising Strategy Lab: Building a Customized Fundraising Plan
Diversifying Funding Streams: Strategies for Sustainable Growth
Traditional funding sources like government grants and corporate philanthropy have become increasingly unreliable or limited. Relying on a single source of funding can put your organization at risk. In this session, you’ll learn how to approach individual major gifts, demystify donor-advised funds (DAFs), and expand your prospect pool with intentional outreach. We’ll also cover how family foundations often function like major gifts and why leaning into individual giving is more critical than ever. This session will help you navigate tough funding decisions and create a more resilient, diversified funding base beyond traditional corporate and foundation support.
Accessing Public Funding
Get a clear overview of the city’s public funding system and learn the essentials of applying for and managing government grants. This session will demystify the process, helping you understand key requirements and build a foundation for successfully securing this vital funding stream. (Learning Circle Session)
Fundraising Strategy Lab: Building a Customized Fundraising Plan
This interactive session will guide you through the key components of a strong annual fundraising plan—then give you the space to start building one. Learn how to set clear goals, align strategies with your calendar, and create actionable plans for donor outreach, grant applications, and inclusive campaigns. You'll leave with a customized roadmap tailored to your organization and practical next steps to strengthen your fundraising year-round.
Governance
Nonprofit boards own ultimate legal and ethical responsibility for the organization's governance, financial health, and mission fulfillment. To meet this obligation, they must ask better questions, make informed decisions, steward resources, support executives, prepare for succession, ensure fidelity to our values and lead with purpose, clarity, and accountability. Through solutions-based, interactive sessions, this track equips board members, CEOs, and senior leaders with practical tools and governance practices that strengthen board-executive partnerships and prepare organizations to navigate complexity with purpose.
Sessions
- Boards 101: Governing and Fundraising Fundamentals for Today’s Nonprofits
- Board Dynamics in Motion: From Recruiting to Risk-Ready Leadership
- Governance Strategy Lab: Designing Boards for Impact and Agility
Governance
Nonprofit boards own ultimate legal and ethical responsibility for the organization's governance, financial health, and mission fulfillment. To meet this obligation, they must ask better questions, make informed decisions, steward resources, support executives, prepare for succession, ensure fidelity to our values and lead with purpose, clarity, and accountability. Through solutions-based, interactive sessions, this track equips board members, CEOs, and senior leaders with practical tools and governance practices that strengthen board-executive partnerships and prepare organizations to navigate complexity with purpose.
Sessions
- Boards 101: Governing and Fundraising Fundamentals for Today’s Nonprofits
- Board Dynamics in Motion: From Recruiting to Risk-Ready Leadership
- Governance Strategy Lab: Designing Boards for Impact and Agility
Boards 101: Governing and Fundraising Fundamentals for Today’s Nonprofits
This session covers the core roles and responsibilities of nonprofit boards—including governance basics like oversight, staffing, financial stewardship, and risk management—with a focus on what’s evolving in today’s landscape. You’ll also dive deep into engaging your board as active fundraising partners, learning practical strategies to motivate and equip members to make their own gifts, leverage networks, and advocate effectively. Walk away with clear approaches to build board commitment, navigate legal compliance, and strengthen your nonprofit’s sustainability through shared responsibility. (Learning Circle Session)
Board Dynamics in Motion: From Recruiting to Risk-Ready Leadership
Building an effective board goes beyond filling seats—it requires shifting culture, clarifying roles, and creating pathways for meaningful, inclusive leadership that reflects your mission and values. This session explores how to recruit and retain engaged board members while addressing the evolving role of fundraising, including the risks and opportunities fundraising brings. You’ll also gain practical tools to help your board lead with agility—assessing risk, developing responsive strategies, and turning meetings into action-oriented moments.
Governance Strategy Lab: Designing Boards for Impact and Agility
This hands-on session gives you space to apply what you've learned. With peer feedback and guided tools, you’ll leave with a practical plan to strengthen governance in your organization, whether that means developing a more intentional recruitment strategy, refining board roles and structures, or redesigning meetings for greater engagement and decision-making agility.
Programs
Programs are where mission becomes lived experience. As communities change and external conditions shift, organizations must adapt without losing purpose or extracting wisdom from the people they serve. This track explores strategic pivots, community voice, human-centered design, collaboration, and program decision-making so organizations can remain responsive, mission-aligned, and grounded in the needs and leadership of their communities.
Sessions
- Start with Listening: Designing Programs Around Real Needs
- Working Smarter: Using Data and Prioritization to Drive Impact
- Programs Strategy Lab: Adaptation into Action
Programs
Programs are where mission becomes lived experience. As communities change and external conditions shift, organizations must adapt without losing purpose or extracting wisdom from the people they serve. This track explores strategic pivots, community voice, human-centered design, collaboration, and program decision-making so organizations can remain responsive, mission-aligned, and grounded in the needs and leadership of their communities.
Sessions
- Start with Listening: Designing Programs Around Real Needs
- Working Smarter: Using Data and Prioritization to Drive Impact
- Programs Strategy Lab: Adaptation into Action
Start with Listening: Designing Programs Around Real Needs
Effective programs begin with listening—deeply and continuously. This session will explore how to root your program design in the evolving priorities of the people you serve, not just in funder mandates or past models. Learn how to conduct meaningful needs assessments, define your target audience, and co-create a clear theory of change that reflects community-defined impact. We’ll also discuss how to integrate cultural competency, sustainability, and equity into your program’s foundation from day one.
Working Smarter: Using Data and Prioritization to Drive Impact
This session shows how to turn meaningful data into actionable insights that guide your program strategy across all roles—from frontline staff to leadership. Learn how to collect and use evaluation data effectively, then build routines that help your team prioritize what to start, stop, or continue based on real impact. You’ll gain tools to align priorities with community needs, make strategic decisions that prevent burnout, and focus your energy on the work that matters most.
Programs Strategy Lab: Adaptation into Action
This interactive session gives you the space to reflect on what you’ve learned across the track and begin shaping a plan to apply it. Take time to revisit your program goals, assess where change is needed, and begin outlining concrete next steps. Walk away with a clearer sense of direction and the beginnings of a strategy that reflects your community’s evolving needs.
Talent
People make mission possible. Nonprofit leaders face the challenge of building sustainable, adaptable organizations with values-aligned culture amid enormous resource constraints. This track focuses on the practices that support leadership pipelines and retention, strengthen management and equity, and make talent strategy an essential part of organizational resilience.
Sessions
- Leading Forward: Equity, Access, and the Future of Nonprofit Leadership
- Data-Driven Insights on Leadership Diversity: Strategies for Inclusive Change
- Leadership Strategy Lab: Leading Forward - Insight to Action
Talent
People make mission possible. Nonprofit leaders face the challenge of building sustainable, adaptable organizations with values-aligned culture amid enormous resource constraints. This track focuses on the practices that support leadership pipelines and retention, strengthen management and equity, and make talent strategy an essential part of organizational resilience.
Sessions
- Leading Forward: Equity, Access, and the Future of Nonprofit Leadership
- Data-Driven Insights on Leadership Diversity: Strategies for Inclusive Change
- Leadership Strategy Lab: Leading Forward - Insight to Action
Leading Forward: Equity, Access, and the Future of Nonprofit Leadership
In an era of political pushback and sector-wide change, nonprofit leaders are being called to lead with greater integrity, adaptability, and equity. This session explores how executive leadership can uphold DEIA values amid shifting external pressures, while rethinking internal structures to better support long-term sustainability and retention. We’ll examine evolving leadership models—including lateral advancement, co-leadership, and nonprofit co-op structures—that expand access and break down barriers to advancement. Participants will walk away with strategies to invest in people, lead adaptively, and build more inclusive, resilient organizations.
Data-Driven Insights on Leadership Diversity: Strategies for Inclusive Change
What does the data tell us about who leads—and how can we use it to build a more equitable workplace? This session goes beyond the numbers to explore how workforce and leadership data can inform real change. We’ll look at how to use data to identify gaps, improve hiring and retention practices, and shape a work culture that supports inclusion, transparency, and shared accountability. Whether you're a manager or part of a team, you'll gain tools to use data for better decisions and stronger, more equitable organizations.
Leadership Strategy Lab: Leading Forward - Insight to Action
In this interactive session, you’ll explore equity, adaptive leadership, and sustainability by examining your organization’s recruitment, retention, and leadership development. Through guided tools and peer discussions, you’ll co-create actionable commitments that center well-being, equity, and inclusion—especially for underrepresented communities. Leave with a concrete plan and next steps to strengthen your leadership pipeline and culture for the future.
Technology
Technology is now core infrastructure for mission delivery, organizational effectiveness, risk management, and community engagement. From AI and cybersecurity to data governance and digital tools, nonprofit leaders must make informed decisions without losing sight of trust, equity, privacy, and purpose. This track helps organizations use technology strategically, manage risk, and build the digital capacity needed to stay relentless in pursuit of mission.
Sessions
- Strengthen, Secure, Sustain: Building a Cybersecurity Plan That Works
- AI with Empathy: Human-Centered Design in the Age of Automation
- Technology Strategy Lab: Smarter Workflows, Safer Systems
Technology
Technology is now core infrastructure for mission delivery, organizational effectiveness, risk management, and community engagement. From AI and cybersecurity to data governance and digital tools, nonprofit leaders must make informed decisions without losing sight of trust, equity, privacy, and purpose. This track helps organizations use technology strategically, manage risk, and build the digital capacity needed to stay relentless in pursuit of mission.
Sessions
- Strengthen, Secure, Sustain: Building a Cybersecurity Plan That Works
- AI with Empathy: Human-Centered Design in the Age of Automation
- Technology Strategy Lab: Smarter Workflows, Safer Systems
Strengthen, Secure, Sustain - Building a Cybersecurity Plan That Works
In this session, we’ll cover the fundamentals of a cybersecurity plan: protecting sensitive data, training your team to spot threats, and setting up simple, sustainable practices that keep your organization safe over the long haul. You don’t need to be a tech expert to get started, just a commitment to protecting your community and your work. Walk away with clear steps to build a plan that’s practical, effective, and designed to last.
AI with Empathy: Human-Centered Design in the Age of Automation
As artificial intelligence transforms how nonprofits operate, it’s essential to keep people at the center. Discover how next-gen AI tools can automate routine work, uncover insights, and deepen community connections. Learn how to balance automation with care, use AI responsibly, and keep your community at the heart of innovation.
Technology Strategy Lab: Smarter Workflows, Safer Systems
In this hands-on session, participants will apply key concepts from cybersecurity, technology integration, and AI to develop a customized tech strategy tailored to their organization’s needs and values. You’ll map your current tech ecosystem, identify security gaps, and design workflows that enhance data flow and staff efficiency. You’ll leave with a clear, actionable tech roadmap that balances innovation with security and empathy, ready to implement with your team.
Tickets
| Member Tickets Individual and Group Rates |
Early Bird Ticket May 13 - August 31 |
Regular Ticket September 1 - October 20 |
|---|---|---|
| NPNY 501(c)(3) Member Organization | $200 | $300 |
| NPNY 501(c)(3) Member Organization Group Rate (6 or more tickets purchased in a single transaction) | $170 | $280 |
| NPNY Business or Philanthropic Member | $400 | $500 |
| NPNY Business or Philanthropic Member Group Rate (6 or more tickets purchased in a single transaction) | $370 | $480 |
| Non-Member Tickets Individual and Group Rates |
Early Bird Ticket May 13 - August 31 |
Regular Ticket September 1 - October 20 |
| 501(c)(3) Non-Member Organization | $300 | $400 |
| 501(c)(3) Non-Member Organization Group Rate (6 or more tickets purchased in a single transaction) | $270 | $380 |
| Business or Philanthropic Non-Member | $600 | $700 |
| Business or Philanthropic Non-Member Group Rate (6 or more tickets purchased in a single transaction) | $570 | $680 |
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