Around 280 decision-makers from Arizona businesses, nonprofits and other sectors, including Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold, Inc. and the Phoenix Philanthropy Group, will participate in the inaugural Nonprofit Leadership Forum Wednesday at KAET Eight Arizona PBS studios in the Cronkite Building.
The invitation-only event, hosted by National Bank of Arizona, will focus on “collective impact,” a new term emerging in nonprofit that advocates for combining resources instead of competing for funds, said Laura Bush, a scheduled participant and manager of curriculum design and innovation at the Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation in ASU’s College of Public Programs.
“This is something even bigger than collaboration,” Bush said. “It’s going to take something for everyone to learn about collective impact and to implement it in the state.”
Collective impact involves organizations and businesses setting a common agenda, sharing a measurement system of progress, engaging in mutually reinforcing activities and continuous communication, Bush said. The forum has locked in to a three-to-five-year commitment agreement to continue growth and cooperation, she added.
Other confirmed guests from ASU include Robert Ashcraft, Lodestar Center executive director and associate professor, and Kwang-Wu Kim, dean of the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.
Jathan Segur, senior vice president of marketing for National Bank of Arizona, said the studio in the Cronkite School was the best choice for the conference because of the video capabilities. The entire conference will be taped and able to be viewed by the public at the end of October.
“We want the content to be available to everyone,” Segur said. “Our goal is to use the forum as a launching pad for dialogue.”
Moreover, he added, downtown Phoenix is a great location to accommodate out-of-town guests.
National Bank of Arizona also teamed up with Freeport McMoRan to be the main contributor to the event’s funding and fully compensate guests for the cost of the forum, said Shelby Tuttle, a spokeswoman for the event.
Scheduled speakers include Jeff Edmondson, a national teacher of collective impact, and Dan Pallotta, who has an “interesting perspective on how nonprofits are funded and viewed by the federal government,” Segur said.
Steve Seleznow, president and CEO of Arizona Community Foundation, will also speak for a half hour on philanthropy, most notably that of ASU President Emeritus Lattie Coor, whose namesake building is located on ASU’s Tempe campus, Segur said.
Contact the reporter at mlstewa3@asu.edu
