About the Conference.
Meeting the Moment – Rooted Together
The Collaborative Conference: where Pennsylvania’s nonprofit professionals go each year to connect, network, learn from each other, learn from experts, and together leverage our collective power to create change – within ourselves, our organizations, our sector, and our communities. For only the second time since 2019, we’re excited to take this experience fully off-screen, at our old haunt in State College. That’s right, this year’s conference will feature two days of in-person fun, learning, connection, and maybe even some shenanigans, at the good ol’ Penn Stater Hotel & Conference Center.
Since January 2025, many nonprofit leaders have been operating in a constant state of fight or flight, reacting to chaotic shifts in Federal policy and funding that have reshaped how nonprofit work functions across the Commonwealth. Regardless of political affiliation, or even for those nonprofits that are fully nonpartisan, this has been an era of existential crisis for the sector.
The 2025 Collaborative Conference’s theme, Meeting The Moment – Rooted Together, is both an acknowledgement that this is a heavy, challenging time for the nonprofit community, and also offers a solution, a way to stand strong and united, tightly connected beneath the surface of an ever-shifting landscape. The systems upon which so many rely may be breaking, but Pennsylvania’s nonprofit community is not.
This is a moment that invites us to clarify how we work, who we work with, and what truly matters in each of our communities. Like the aspen grove, the nonprofit sector in Pennsylvania shares deep, often unseen roots. We share purpose, mutual care, and lived commitment to making the world a better place for those who call the Commonwealth their home.
Our visible work is powerful, but our invisible relationships hold us up. The 2025 Collaborative Conference is about tending to those roots. It’s a gathering during which we choose to connect more deeply with ourselves, with each other, and with what comes next.
Workshops. Peer Discussions. Taproot Talks.
Meeting The Moment is not about having all the answers. It’s about knowing the right questions to ask, and being able to ask them of the right people. This event is where we can explore our common ground. We may grow differently, but never separately, whether our nonprofit organizations are small or large, urban or rural, old or new. Here, we can breathe, think, and build together. We can see the ways in which we are part of something statewide, shared, and resilient. This event is a stepping stone in a movement that is larger than any one organization, but made possible by all of us.
Because this year’s conference is taking place in a moment that is both complex and filled with possibility, sessions are designed to meet this moment not just in their content, but in how they’re delivered. Each session will be supported by a synthesizer. Formats include:
- Workshops – designed not just to inform, but to help attendees connect to each other and leave with practical tools you can apply to your work immediately.
- Facilitated Peer Discussions – designed to provide some context around the topic chosen, with questions and prompts to generate stories and ideas from those on the ground doing the work.
- Taproot Talks – designed to engage, inspire, and inform in 10 minutes or less, offering powerful, personal reflections or big ideas that ground us in what matters and express a big vision.
All Workshops, Peer Discussions, and Taproot Talks will be rooted together in the following tracks:
- Advocacy
- Board Governance
- Communications
- Fundraising
- Human-Centered Leadership
- Planning for Funding Cuts/Delays
Our Partners.
The 2025 Collaborative Conference is brought to you in partnership by the Greater Pittsburgh Nonprofit Partnership (GPNP), the PA Association of Nonprofit Organizations (PANO), and the Department of Public Administration at Villanova University.
The Wisdom is in the Room.
We firmly believe the wisdom is already in the room – we are all experts in our own right, figuring out what works best for our organizations, our communities, and beyond. Sometimes we get stuck, overwhelmed, paralyzed by what’s happening in the moment, and could use a sounding board, a fresh perspective, an example of a promising new practice to help us meet that moment. That’s where the wisdom in the room can help! Come draw out the wisdom in the room with us, and be part of the wisdom in the room for someone else.