SPARK 2025

Pre-Conference Sessions

Intensive Accreditation Training (IAT)
Oct. 19 from 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
The Intensive Accreditation Training (IAT) is designed to prepare organizations to get the most out of their COA Accreditation experience. It provides an overview of the COA Accreditation process and standards, tips on how to manage the work, and advice for preparing for the site visit. Registration for IAT is separate from the SPARK 2025 registration.

Performance and Quality Improvement Training (PQI)
Oct. 19 from 1-4 p.m.
This performance and quality improvement (PQI) training is designed to help organizations pursuing COA Accreditation develop a comprehensive approach to a quality improvement process that will advance an efficient and effective service delivery system and enhance organizational capacity to deliver quality services. Registration for PQI is separate from the SPARK 2025 registration.

Advocacy Amplified: Rapid Response & Readiness in a Shifting Policy Landscape
Oct. 19 from 1-4 p.m.
As federal priorities shift, nonprofit leaders must be prepared to respond swiftly and strategically. This condensed version of Social Current’s Advocacy Amplified training equips participants with the essential tools to navigate today’s policy environment, which includes increasing threats to equity; equity, diversity, and inclusion programs; and core social services funding. Participants will gain practical skills in policy analysis, narrative framing, and grassroots mobilization.

ELI Alumni: Unlocking Potential Because You Matter!
Oct. 19 from 1-5 p.m. CT
For over 20 years, the Executive Leadership Institute (ELI) has established an incredible reputation for providing a quality peer learning experience that positively impacts the development of social sector leaders. This pre-conference convening is the first of its kind! We invite past, present, and future ELI participants to join us to catch up with fellow alumni, network with those who are interested in learning more about ELI, and discuss its transformative impact on both the individual and the organization. Registration is separate from the SPARK 2025 registration.

Volunteer Appreciation Celebration
Oct. 19 from 5:30-7 p.m.
We could not do what we do without our COA Accreditation volunteers. All active COA Accreditation volunteers are invited to join us as we gather and celebrate all that you do. Catch up with colleagues, share site visit stories from the road, and get ready for the start of SPARK 2025. There will be food, drinks, prizes, and a host of swag – so you will not want to miss this event. Registration for the Volunteer Appreciation Celebration is separate from the SPARK 2025 registration. To register, email Darrell Woodliff, director of volunteer engagement at Social Current.

Post-Conference Sessions

The Intersection of Trauma-Informed Approaches and Quality Improvement
Oct. 21 from 2-4 p.m. CT
By applying a trauma-informed perspective, we can reframe the conversation around quality improvement—from asking, “Why aren’t you embracing continuous quality improvement?” to “What’s happening that’s preventing you from engaging?” Quality improvement in human services organizations is a centralized function that relies on data to drive meaningful outcomes. The way data teams collaborate with clinical and program staff is crucial in breaking down barriers, fostering trust, and using data technology to create positive, lasting change. Registration is separate from the SPARK 2025 registration.

Building Healthy Workplace Cultures in Challenging Times
Oct. 22-23 from 9-4 p.m. CT
This two-day workshop will equip leaders and supervisors with foundational knowledge and skills to help their teams manage uncertainty, stress, and interpersonal conflict so they can create a healthy and resilient organizational culture. Presenters will address topics including increasing accountability, having crucial conversations, nurturing relationships, embracing equity, and achieving excellence.

Each workshop is identified as a “learner” or “doer” session:

• Learner Sessions: For those with limited knowledge on the topic who are looking for an introduction
• Doer: For those with prior knowledge and experience with a topic who are looking to advance their skill and mastery

Opening Keynote: Nonprofit 2.0: Navigating the Road Ahead

Today’s nonprofit leaders are navigating a landscape full of detours—AI, funding shifts, burnout, and declining trust. In this opening keynote, Suzanne Smith invites you to zoom out, re-center your mission, and rethink the map entirely. The road ahead won’t be paved with yesterday’s strategies—but with bold mindsets and adaptive systems designed for what’s next.

Suzanne also will present workshop D6: Better Together: Rethinking the Way Nonprofits Collaborate for the Greater Good.

Suzanne Smith
Founder and CEO
Social Impact Architects

Suzanne Smith has a deep belief that everyone is a changemaker. As a serial social entrepreneur, she strives to harness the powerful force of organizations, including nonprofits, foundations and socially responsible businesses, and individuals, especially students and young entrepreneurs, to maximize the potential of the social sector to create real, scalable impact.

In 2009, Suzanne founded Social Impact Architects, a registered Benefit Corporation, to reshape the business of social change. She combines her MBA know-how with two decades of experience as a nonprofit innovator to serve as a consultant, advisor and thought partner. She is also a highly sought-after public speaker at conferences nationwide, including TEDxTurtleCreekWomen. She is also an adjunct professor at the University of Texas at Arlington. In this work, she has pioneered open-source frameworks for the creation of better social solutions, including layered logic models, ecosystem mapping and social alchemy. For her outstanding work as a leading thinker, she was recognized with the Next Generation Social Entrepreneur Award by the Social Enterprise Alliance. Since 2015, Social Impact Architects was recognized as one of the “Best for the World” small businesses by B Corp.

Suzanne also authors Social TrendSpotter, one of the sector’s top blogs according to The Huffington Post. She is frequently interviewed by regional and national media on social entrepreneurship and has published articles in Forbes, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, See Change, Nonprofit Business Advisor, Upstart and Grantmakers in Health.

Suzanne has been at the epicenter of game-changing social solutions for more than two decades as a social intrapreneur. Her first jobs at the City of Garland and Texas Municipal League taught her the power and potential of local government to impact change. Later, she worked for Phoenix House to scale evidence-based prevention and treatment programs to Texas and for the American Heart Association to build a national state advocacy strategy. One of her greatest achievements was co-founding the Alliance for a Healthier Generation – one of the country’s first movements focused on combating childhood obesity – with a team from the William J. Clinton Foundation. She also co-founded Flywheel: Social Enterprise Hub in Cincinnati, to help nonprofits build meaningful and sustainable social enterprises.

Suzanne holds a master’s in business administration from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, where she was selected as the CASE (Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship) Scholar. Nationally, she was selected as a member of Peter Senge’s Society of Organizational Learning and has served on the national board of the Social Enterprise Alliance. She has advised many federal agencies on their efforts on social entrepreneurship and system change.

Closing Keynote

Dorri C. McWhorter
President & Chief Executive Officer
Executives’ Club of Chicago

Dorri McWhorter is renowned for her social enterprise business leadership. Crain’s Chicago Business lauded her as a “nonprofit disrupter” who turned around a major organization “by leading as if it’s a startup.” She is a 2019 Inductee into the Chicago Innovation Hall of Fame, and her work to create a new paradigm for the social impact sector is featured in the documentary Uncharitable.

Most recently, Dorri served as president and CEO of the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago. Under her leadership, the YMCA modernized membership offerings, created partnerships with Nike and Peloton. She also worked to bring a new YMCA to Chicago’s west side as part of a new development to include a wellness center with health care, grocery store, and business incubator. Previously, Dorri served as CEO of the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, transforming it from a traditional social service organization to a “21st century social enterprise.” She added 10 service locations, increased the operating budget by 300%, and established a retirement plan with options for child care providers and small business owners. She led the effort to develop an exchange-traded fund (ETF) for women’s empowerment (NYSE: WOMN) in partnership with Impact Shares.

Dorri prides herself on being a humanity-centered business leader and is committed to creating an inclusive marketplace by leveraging a cross-sector approach of engaging business, civic, and community partners. Dorri’s professional experience spans a variety of businesses and industries. Prior to taking on leadership roles in the social enterprise sector, she was a partner at Crowe LLP, one of the largest accounting firms in the U.S. Dorri serves on the board of directors for several companies including, LanzaTech Global, Lifeway Foods, William Blair Funds, NexPoint Capital, and Skyway Concession Company (Chicago Skyway). Dorri is also active in the accounting profession and serves on the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council and has served as a member of the board of directors of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and a past chairperson of the board of directors for the Illinois CPA Society. Dorri also serves as co-chair of the First Women’s Bank Advisory Board.

Dorri’s civic and philanthropic leadership includes the board of directors for Common Impact, Chicago Council on Global Affairs, Civic Consulting Alliance, Civic Federation, Chicago Center for Arts and Technology, and Forefront. Dorri received a bachelor’s in business administration from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, a master’s in business administration from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Lake Forest College.

Enhance your SPARK 2025 experience by booking a one-on-one consultation with Social Current. Our leaders offer subject matter expertise and have extensive experience in partnering with human and social services organizations to achieve meaningful change.

Conference goers will be able to book consultations starting in mid-August. Spots are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis, so register early to make sure you are among the first to book. Please only reserve one consult per registrant.

Child, Family, and Community Well-Being

Romero Davis, Senior Director of Practice Excellence

Monday – 1:15-1:45 p.m. and 3:45-4:15 p.m.
Tuesday – 7:45-8:15 a.m.

Suggested topics:

• Intentional community collaboration
• Sustainability planning
• Poverty/neglect conflation
• Child welfare challenges

Government Affairs and Advocacy

Blair Abelle-Kiser, Senior Director of Government Affairs

Monday – 1:15-1:45 p.m. and 3:45-4:15 p.m.
Tuesday – 7:45-8:15 a.m.

Suggested topics:

• Strategic policy navigation to understand, respond to, and influence complex federal and state policy environments impacting human services
• Building grassroots capacity, engaging stakeholders, and advancing policy agendas aligned with each organization’s mission and community needs
• Risk and resilience planning that assesses systemic threats, such as insurance instability or funding volatility, and through proactive strategies

Leadership and Organizational Development

Robena Spangler, Senior Director of Leadership and Organizational Development

Monday – 3:45-4:15 p.m.
Tuesday – 7:45-8:15 a.m.

Suggested topics:

• Leadership development opportunities for frontline managers and executive leadership (on-site and virtual)
• Customized leadership and organizational assessment
• Board improvement strategies
• Strategic planning

Workforce Resilience

Karen Johnson, Senior Director of Change in Mind

Monday – 1:15-1:45 p.m. and 3:45-4:15 p.m.
Tuesday – 7:45-8:15 a.m.

Suggested topics:

• Creating brain-friendly work environments
• Building psychological safety
• Promoting positive staff culture
• Creating connection and community at work

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