Summary: Common Good Vermont hosted the first Vermont Nonprofit Summit on Wednesday, October 23, 2024. We were fortunate to be attendees, presenters, sponsors, and project managers for the event. Here’s an inside look at the highlights of the event and what you can look forward to for 2025.

It’s hard to believe that Vermont — a state where one in five employees works for a nonprofit — did not have a statewide nonprofit gathering. When Common Good started planning for the event, even they underestimated the overwhelming excitement it would bring to the Vermont nonprofit community.

We were honored to play a role in planning, sponsoring, presenting, and attending the event. There were four of us at the event: me (Alex Tuck), Andrew Guidarelli, Alex Morgan, and Amy Marshall-Carney. This gave us a unique perspective on what was supposed to happen, what did happen, and all of the benefits of participating in the event.

The Keynote Panel: A Generational Shift in Leadership

The conference started off with a great panel of new executive directors, hosted by Vermont Public’s Mikaela Lefrak. I was furiously taking notes as the panelists shared their lived experiences (Dylan Bell, Operations & Finance Manager at Mary Johnson Children’s Center; Samba Diallo, Executive Director of AIDS Project of Southern Vermont; Sultana Khan, Director of Social Change at Mosaic Vermont; and, Shabnam Nolan, Executive Director of King Street Center).

Breakout Sessions Round 1

Our team split up, catching sessions on Capital Campaigns, How to Communicate Across Different Generations, and a Deep Dive on Funding Resources in Vermont. While most of our team serves on boards, volunteers, and consults for nonprofits, we loved the opportunity to get deeper knowledge on the latest nonprofit challenges and techniques, so we can better-support the clients that we serve. The sessions were roughly 75 minutes and flew by!

Communities of Practice

After a great lunch, we hopped into Communities of Practice. Andrew, Alex Morgan, and Amy went to the consulting community event, while I attended the Program Management session, hosted by Common Good Executive Director, Martin Hahn. These sessions were great opportunities to chat with folks who are experiencing similar challenges to you and in many cases share advice for how you’ve overcome some of those chalenges. This hour was a nice break in the agenda to participate after three hours of listening.

Breakout Sessions Round 2

While there were tons of sessions we would have loved to attend, we were presenting “Project Management Fundamentals for Nonprofits.” We expected to see some dozing off and escapes out the back and side doors, and were pleasantly surprised with a captive audience of 40+ attendees for 75 straight minutes! This was a great opportunity for us to share our knowledge with nonprofit folks who have the responsibility of project management without the official title or tools necessary to successfully deliver projects.

If you’d like a copy of the deck, please send me an email, and we can get one over to you.

Conclusion

If you missed this year’s Summit, you certainly missed out on a great opportunity to connect with 200+ fellow Vermont nonprofit leaders. That said, you can mark your calendars for  November 5, 2025, and you can even fill out the interest form so you will be the first to know when registration is open. If you are interested in hearing more about the event, you can schedule time with our team using this link to hear more of the details.

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