Keynotes & Presenters 2024

Powerful Keynote Speakers.

Kick off the 2024 conference with Shifting Power, Strengthening Nonprofits, a keynote by Candid CEO Ann Mei Chang on September 30. The next day, October 1, we’ll from Ananda Leeke who will move us from shifting power to opening doors in her closing keynote, When You Open Doors & Shift Power, You Become a Change Agent.

Shifting Power, Strengthening Nonprofits

Date: Monday, September 30

Presented by: Ann Mei Chang, CEO, Candid

From figuring out the right “post-pandemic, new normal” work life to navigating an increasingly complex political climate, today’s nonprofits don’t have it easy. The U.S. public’s trust in nonprofits dropped to a historic low in 2023. Once a reliable source of support, individual giving is also on the decline—decreasing by nearly 13.4% in 2022. Meanwhile, funders’ grant applications and reporting requirements remain cumbersome with restrictive strings attached. As the funding landscape evolves, many nonprofits are forced to focus even more attention on securing funding—taking precious time away from their causes. This leaves nonprofits with less resources to advance their organization’s mission-driven work—all while societal demand for their services skyrockets.

How can nonprofits be expected to do more with less? Not to mention, where should charitable organizations focus their limited resources to find the best path forward while everything still feels so up in the air?

Candid’s CEO, Ann Mei Chang, delves into these challenges and offers a mix of practical answers and innovative solutions nonprofits can implement now for immediate relief. She will highlight three main keys to shifting power and strengthening the nonprofit sector: increasing resources, decreasing funding burdens, and ensuring equity. Drawing from her deep expertise in social innovation, she will also provide guidance on how nonprofits can approach reimagining their post-COVID operations to carry out their work most effectively—including by sharing examples of Candid’s post-pandemic approach to operations and policies. Lastly, Ann Mei will share actionable takeaways, collaborative initiatives, and free resources that nonprofits can use to combat today’s uncertain and imbalanced dynamics—freeing up their time and resources to more fully focus on advancing their missions.

Discover how—together—we can make our sector more efficient, effective, and equitable by ensuring nonprofits are resourced and positioned to meet ever-increasing needs.

Participants will learn about:

  • Why it’s increasingly difficult for nonprofits to secure funding to advance their missions, including a complex societal climate, decreased public trust, declines in individual giving, resource-intensive funding practices, and the restrictive nature of many grants.
  • How to thoughtfully approach reinventing nonprofits’ own internal operations to find the most effective and impactful path forward in today’s post-pandemic world, including examples of how Ann Mei led Candid’s efforts to do the same.
  • The consequences that today’s lack of flexible funding, power imbalances, and growing resource constraints have on nonprofits and how they contribute to burnout, staffing shortages, and a hindered ability to drive impact at these organizations.
  • How nonprofits can take advantage of free Candid resources to help secure funding and strengthen capacity to free up time to focus on their causes, as well as benefit from participating in collaborative initiatives aimed at shifting power to decrease the burdens placed on grantees.

About Ann Mei Chang

Ann Mei Chang is the CEO of Candid, a nonprofit that provides the most comprehensive data about the social sector—where money comes from, where it goes, and why it matters. Ann Mei leads Candid in harnessing the precision of data, the power of technology, and the compassion of the social sector to increase its collective ability to do good during these unprecedented times of disruption and need.

She is a leading expert on social innovation and the author of Lean Impact: How to Innovate for Radically Greater Social Good.  Ann Mei served as chief innovation officer at the
U.S. Agency for International Development and the first executive director of its U.S. Global Development Lab. In addition, she was chief innovation officer for Pete for America, chief innovation officer at Mercy Corps, and senior advisor for women and technology at the
U.S. Department of State.

Prior to her work in the public and social sectors, Ann Mei was a seasoned technology executive, with more than 20 years of experience at Google, Apple, and Intuit, as well as at a range of startups. As senior engineering director at Google, she led worldwide engineering for mobile applications and services, with a mission to bring the next billion people online.

She was recognized as one of the “Women in the World: 125 Women of Impact” by Newsweek/The Daily Beast in 2013, “The 23 most powerful LGBTQ+ people in tech” by Business Insider in 2019, and “Top LGBTQ+ Entrepreneurs, Executives and Thought Leaders” by Global Shakers in 2019.

Ann Mei earned a B.S. in computer science from Stanford University and is a member of the Aspen Institute’s Henry Crown Fellows class of 2011. 

About Candid

Candid is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides the most comprehensive data and insights about the social sector. Every year, millions of nonprofits spend trillions of dollars around the world. Candid finds out where that money comes from, where it goes, and why it matters.

Candid was formed in 2019 when GuideStar and Foundation Center merged. Candid combined GuideStar’s tools on nonprofits and Foundation Center’s tools on foundations with new resources to offer more comprehensive, real-time data and insights about the social sector.

When You Open Doors and Shift Power, You Become a Change Agent

Date: Tuesday, October 1

Presented by: Ananda Leeke, Founder & Chief Mindfulness Officer, Ananda Leeke Consulting

When life is “lifeing” with so many “whats” and “hows” still up in the air, you come face-to-face with the big C – CHANGE. CHANGE happens every day. It can be messy, difficult, uncomfortable, scary, and so much more. How you face it comes down to your choice. When you choose to shift power and open doors as individuals and organizations, you become a CHANGE AGENT. Listen to keynote speaker Ananda Leeke discuss what you need to nurture and grow yourself as a CHANGE AGENT.

 

About Ananda Leeke

Ananda Kiamsha Madelyn Leeke discovered mindfulness, self-care, and wellness when her career as a lawyer, an investment banker, and a digital communications professional stressed her out, caused burnout, and did not produce the level of success she expected. Over the past 30 years, mindfulness, self-care, and wellness have helped Ananda navigate change, become resilient, overcome panic attacks, transform her relationship with technology and social media, and release her career expectations. As a result, she has been able to pursue her calling as an artist-in-residence at Smith Center for Healing and the Arts at Howard University Hospital and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, an author, a speaker, a trainer, a mindfulness and yoga teacher, a digital wellness educator, a reiki and sound healing practitioner, a Thriving Mindfully Coach, and a Human Design Doula. Today, she coaches and trains people, companies, organizations, and communities on how to navigate change, to embrace self-care and digital wellness, to tap into creativity, to become resilient, and to embrace thriving mindfully.

As the founder and Chief Mindfulness Officer of Ananda Leeke Consulting, she leads a wellness company that specializes in personal and professional development. She oversees the Thriving Mindfully Academy, an online learning platform and membership site. She also serves as a Human Design Doula, a legally ordained interfaith reverend, and hosts and produces the Thriving Mindfully Podcast. In addition, she creates artwork that promotes mindfulness, self-care, wellness, and resiliency. Her mixed media collages, wire sculptures, and paintings have been exhibited in the Washington DC metropolitan area, New York City, North Carolina, and Kentucky. Several of her paintings decorate the covers of her booksLove’s Troubadours, a yoga-inspired novel, and That Which Awakens Me, a mindful creativity memoir. Both books and her mindful technology memoir, Digital Sisterhood are available on Amazon. Currently, she and her father Dr. John F. Leeke are co-writing his memoir, Change Agent. She is also writing her third memoir, Thriving Mindfully as Theresa’s Daughter.

About Ananda Leeke Consulting

Ananda Leeke Consulting is a wellness company, and the Thriving Mindfully Academy, an online learning platform and membership site. Through her work, Ananda is able to hold space for and support the growth and resiliency of individuals, companies, organizations, and communities that are facing change.

Our Presenters.

Get to know our stellar line-up of speakers who will be leading us through dynamic sessions, conversations, and activities during our time together this fall.

Collaborative Conference Agenda.

While everything feels so up in the air, let’s ground ourselves in possibility. Come along for the ride!