Earn Continuing Education Credits

Bridge to Excellence is a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) 2026 approved provider for continuing education. By attending the conference, you can earn 6 credits.

• Your Mission Is Your Message: Communication Strategies That Protect and Elevate Reputation

  Nonprofits face constant change – from evolving donor expectations to shifting community needs – yet many struggle to communicate with clarity and consistency.

  This session equips leaders with practical frameworks to align messaging with mission, vision, and values, especially during times of change.

  Participants will learn how to build trust, reinforce culture, and support strategic priorities through effective communication.

• Minding the Gap: Making the Successful Transition to Executive Director

  Transitioning to an Executive Director role requires more than ambition – it demands strategic preparation, expanded vision, and refined leadership skills.

  This session explores the critical gaps between operational management and executive-level responsibilities, offering practical strategies to bridge them. Attendees will learn how to strengthen decision-making, cultivate stakeholder relationships, and position themselves for success in the top leadership seat.

• From Data to Donor: Using AI to Strengthen (Not Replace) Relationships

  Technology is reshaping fundraising, but authentic relationships still matter most.

  In this session, learn how AI can support more personal donor engagement by simplifying meeting preparation, surfacing insights, and crafting tailored talking points.

  Jorge Montoya, founder of GrantdAI, will demonstrate how responsible AI helps fundraisers focus on meaningful connections.

• Roles with Purpose: Clarifying Who Does What in Your Nonprofit

  Staff turnover and leadership transitions can disrupt nonprofit teams – often due to unclear roles.

  This session introduces a collaborative approach to defining roles that reduces confusion, strengthens accountability, and builds shared ownership.

  Through practical examples and interactive exercises, participants will learn how clear role design can improve alignment, retention, and team effectiveness.

• Bottom-Up Board Leadership

  Managing up in a traditional workplace is challenging – doing so with an entire board brings a unique set of dynamics.

  This workshop focuses on the specialized skill of leading and managing up to a board, offering practical strategies to strengthen relationships, foster accountability, and support effective governance through real-world examples and hands-on exercises.

• Leading Change That Sticks: How to Bring Change to Your Community

  Change is constant in the nonprofit world – funding shifts, community needs evolve, and leaders transition. Yet many change efforts fade before they take hold. In this interactive session, leadership consultant John Thalheimer helps participants move beyond managing change to leading it intentionally.

  Through practical tools and real-world examples, participants will explore why people resist change, how to guide them toward commitment, and how to communicate in ways that inspire trust and momentum.

• Advancing Leaders Who Move Missions, Mobilize People, and Multiply Impact

  A Cross-Sector Blueprint for High-Performing Nonprofit Executives

  Nonprofit leaders face corporate-level complexity with fewer resources and greater mission pressure, making executive leadership development a strategic necessity.

  This session blends corporate precision with nonprofit purpose, offering practical tools to strengthen decision-making, communication, and team performance while driving measurable, mission-aligned results.

• What is the Digital CFO for Today's Nonprofit?

  The role of nonprofit CFO is evolving from record keeper to strategic partner as leaders increasingly expect real-time, forward-looking insights.

  This session explores the barriers to digital adoption, how cloud-ready organizations improve agility and reduce risk, and practical strategies to close efficiency and talent gaps, helping financial teams become proactive drivers of mission success.

• Building an Effective Advocacy Campaign: Engaging Elected Leaders at Every Level

  Advocacy is a vital tool for advancing your nonprofit’s mission, but influencing elected leaders takes strategy and focus.

  This interactive session guides participants through building an advocacy campaign that effectively engages decisionmakers.

  Using a case study and practical examples, participants will learn how to set clear goals, identify decisionmakers, craft persuasive messages, and mobilize supporters.

• Beyond the Logic Model: Using Strategic Impact Maps to Tell Your Impact Story

  Measuring what matters and communicating impact are evergreen challenges for nonprofits of all kinds.

  Strategic impact maps offer a clear, straightforward way to tell your impact story and show how your work makes a difference.

  In this session, participants will learn the core components of a strategic impact map and how the tool fosters focus, alignment, and a stronger narrative.

• Full Throttle Fundraising: Leadership Lessons from Top Gun

  It’s Not the Plane, It’s the Pilot

  When nonprofit leaders are asked to do more with less, success often starts with a mindset shift.

  Inspired by Top Gun: Maverick, this fast-paced session uses pop culture to explore leadership lessons for fundraisers and nonprofit professionals by focusing on clarity, courage, and decisive leadership during change and challenge.

• The Leadership Shift: Coaching, Mentoring, and Managing for Organizational Growth

  Nonprofit leaders are often expected to do it all, but effective leadership means knowing when to empower others.

  This session helps executives step back to examine capacity, culture, and growth while exploring the differences between coaching, mentoring, and managing.

  Participants will learn how leadership skills must evolve to build capacity, prevent burnout, and support thriving teams.

• Anchors for a Successful Campaign

  Successful campaigns are built, not launched.

  This session introduces the eight critical anchors that must be in place before the first ask is made.

  Drawing from decades of campaign experience and industry benchmarks, we unpack what campaign readiness really means and why most campaigns succeed or stall based on how well these anchors are secured.

• AI Maturity for Nonprofits: Turning Strategy into Scalable Impact

  This session explores how nonprofits can advance through six stages of AI maturity using the AIM2 framework.

  It focuses on aligning AI with strategy, leadership, and governance while addressing challenges like donor engagement, grant management, and impact measurement to emphasize mission-driven adoption over technology-first solutions.

• When You're the First, the Only, or the Youngest: Navigating Power in Rooms Not Built for You

  This bold, interactive session supports leaders navigating spaces not originally designed for them.

  Drawing from her lived experience, Tara Morgan explores power, presence, and pressure while offering practical tools to address imposter syndrome, code-switching fatigue, and unspoken dynamics, empowering participants to lead authentically and claim their seat with confidence.

• Leading Through Transition: Strengthening Leadership, Boards, and Revenue

  Navigating leadership transitions with confidence and clarity. Whether you’re preparing for a change in your executive team, board leadership, or development staff, this breakout will give you the tools to protect mission, momentum and money during times of change.

  Hear real-world testimonials from nonprofit leaders, learn best practices for succession planning and revenue continuity, and engage in practical exercises you can take back to your organization.

• I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me ... 10 Nonprofit Lessons Learned

  One hundred nonprofit professionals were surveyed to give their best lesson learned in their experience.

  These answers were distilled down to a session just for you.

  Walk in to hear the results and walk out more prepared for what you may face in the future or what you are facing today.

• Board Governance and Being a Strategic Thought Partner

  Helps board members and executives shift from passive oversight to meaningful strategic partnership.

  We will cover how strong boards clarify priorities, ask the right questions, and support long-term direction without slipping into operations.

  Participants leave with practical ways to strengthen engagement and improve decision making.

• Aligning Your Board and Strategic Plan

  PENCIL uses a large board model that keeps board members engaged by established committees. The strategic plan is actualized via these committees so progress may be consistently tracked.

  This committee structure also lends itself to intentional board leadership development as each committee is led by co-chairs who serve as members of the Executive Committee. Learn how PENCIL manages this board structure.

• Data for Impact Measurement & Storytelling: Turning Metrics Into Meaning

  This workshop demystifies impact measurement and shows nonprofits how to use data to strengthen storytelling, donor confidence, and strategic decision making.

  Participants will learn how to select meaningful KPIs, gather and visualize data efficiently, and transform raw numbers into compelling narratives that inspire funders and stakeholders. This is a hands-on, practical session designed to help organizations at any size communicate their impact with clarity and confidence.

• Agency Partnerships That Work

  In today’s environment, strategic partnerships are arguably more critical than ever. Yet, leaders may lack proper guidance and framework to identify and develop the right opportunities for their agency, or may be resistant to the idea of partnerships altogether for a variety of reasons. The presentation offers real-world examples of the power, pitfalls, and process of agency/organization partnership development along with specific examples of the power of partnership as well as the potential pain involved. Included are key insights learned from domestic and international partnership development, all with application in in our state and region.

• Workplace Culture Lens: Building Cultural Agility for Emerging Nonprofit Leaders

  Emerging nonprofit leaders are often navigating complex teams, community partnerships, and shifting organizational expectations. The Workplace Culture Lens (WCL) gives rising leaders a clear framework for understanding the hidden cultural dynamics that influence how people work, communicate, and lead. This session introduces participants to the eight dimensions of the WCL and uses nonprofit specific scenarios to help leaders recognize cultural tensions, build trust across differences, and strengthen their leadership presence.

• Foundations for Growth: Your Nonprofit Operational Review

  In this session, nonprofit leaders will learn how to conduct an effective operational review to strengthen organizational alignment, improve efficiency, and maximize mission impact.

  Using a practical framework across Operations, Finance, Huma Resources, and Marketing/Fundraising, participants will explore how to assess current systems, identify gaps, and move from insight to action.

• The Next Level: A Reinvention to Executive Success

  Welcome to the executive level.

  To excel in this new role, leaders must accept that the qualities and skills that got you your success at lower levels won’t necessarily power your career to greater heights.

  Reinvention provides new ways of acting and thinking that will make new leaders successful rising executives.

• Building a Culture of Storytelling in Your Organization - Beyond the Elevator Pitch

  With Joan Garry

  Joan believes genuinely that storytelling is the single most important skill necessary to be a champion for your organization (as a leader, a fundraiser, a board ambassador). She begins with a brief discussion of the critical partnership role a board plays in a nonprofit and then introduces her recipe for igniting board members to become proactive ambassadors inviting folks to know and do more for the organization. This is the essential skill for fundraising success. There will be plenty of actionable advice and an opportunity to workshop your stories.

Meet the Panelists

• Joe Bass, Director of External Communications, Pinnacle Financial Partners

  Joe Bass is a communications and organizational strategist with a long career of public and private service. He is a native Nashvillian and a graduate of both Metro Schools and Vanderbilt University.

  Joe started his career in news at WSMV Channel 4 before making the switch to communications and community engagement as the head of public relations for Metro Schools. He now serves as external communications director at Pinnacle Financial Partners, where he’s worked since late 2016 in roles covering comms, engagement, investor relations and corporate responsibility.

  In addition to his work for the school district, Joe’s history of public service includes volunteer work for organizations as diverse as Room in the Inn and the Sexual Assault Center to serving on the executive committees of Communities in Schools of Tennessee and Miriam’s Promise. He also works closely with nonprofit partners and the bankers who serve them at Pinnacle, supporting their work to build homes and provide economic opportunity across the Southeast.

• Olivia Leow, Vice President/Director of Community Engagement, AllianceBernstein

• Courtney Ross, Senior Manager, Community Engagement, Amazon

  Courtney Ross is Senior Manager of Community Engagement for Amazon, leading stakeholder engagement across Tennessee, Louisiana, Arkansas, North Carolina, and South Carolina. She collaborates with local leaders to foster sustainable community growth and strengthen Amazon’s presence as a good neighbor.

  Prior to Amazon, Ross spent 12 years at the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, serving as Chief Economic Development Officer from 2014-2020. Under her leadership, Site Selection magazine recognized the organization as one of the nation’s top economic development groups for six consecutive years (2014-2019), and Consultant Connect named her one of North America’s Top 50 Economic Developers. Courtney joined the Chamber in 2008 as Vice President of Business Retention and Expansion.

  Courtney’s extensive economic development career has included positions at the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, Memphis BioWorks and the State of Tennessee. The Nashville Business Journal has repeatedly recognized her achievements, honoring her as a Leader in Diversity (2023), Woman of Influence (2022), People to Watch (2021), and including her in their Power of 100 in the dealmaker category (2018). She was also featured in Nashville Lifestyles as Woman of Business in 2022 and was inducted into The Academy for Women of Achievement in 2025.

  Ross currently serves on the following boards and commissions; Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, Currey Ingram Academy, Metro Nashville’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission, Music City Inc. Foundation, Nashville Downtown Partnership, Nashville Entrepreneur Center, Tennessee Adoption Project, and Advisory Board for the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt. Courtney is a member of the Leadership Nashville class of 2018 and led the selection committee in 2024.

  Ross is a native of Memphis, TN and received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. Courtney and her husband, Jason, and their two children, Jake and Ellie reside in Nashville.

• Whitney Weeks, Assistant Vice President, HCA Healthcare Foundation, HCA Healthcare

  Whitney leads grantmaking and community engagement efforts at HCA Healthcare Foundation, supporting over 200 nonprofits annually. With a background in nonprofit consulting, policy, and higher education, she has driven impactful initiatives across Middle Tennessee. A dedicated leader and Nashville Rotary member, she is also a proud mom of three teenagers.

• Kimberly Windon, Vice President of Strategic Communications, Bridgestone Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Africa

  Kimberly Windon is a veteran communications executive with 30+ years helping global organizations sharpen their narrative, strengthen reputation, and lead confidently through complexity. She brings a blend of strategic clarity, cultural intelligence, and steady crisis leadership—shaped across industries including media, legal, gaming, energy, and manufacturing. Known for her judgment and calm under pressure, she is a trusted advisor to the C-suite and senior leaders navigating high-stakes moments. She is also a Member of Bridgestone Americas Trust Fund.

  Her expertise spans executive positioning, issues and crisis management, stakeholder and NGO engagement, investor and media relations, M&A communications, culture-building, community impact, and sustainability storytelling. Kimberly’s work is grounded in transparency and impact, consistently elevating the voices and stories that build trust across employees, communities, and the broader public.

• Moderated By: Ronald Roberts, Managing Partner, FINN Partners

  Ronald Roberts is a Managing Partner for the agency and leads its client retention program. He is a member of Finn Partners crisis communications team and is certified in crisis communications management via the Institute for Crisis Management. He helps direct the agency’s quick response teams during extensive crisis management situations.

  He also specializes in media training, message development, media relations and strategic planning. Roberts speaks/presents on branding and messaging, both from a corporate as well as individual standpoint and has expertise in corporate communication and conflict resolution. Roberts is a co-leader of the 100+ member Finn Partners Impact and Inclusion Committee.

  Prior to joining Finn Partners, Roberts was an assistant director of public relations at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), later moving to the Mass Communications faculty. He also worked as assistant producer at The Nashville Network (TNN) prior to his tenure at MTSU.

  Roberts has served on several boards including: Cheekwood; Citizens Bank & Trust; Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee; Leadership Nashville; Middle Tennessee State University Foundation; Middle Tennessee State University National Alumni Association; Nashville Predators Foundation; Nashville Rotary Club; 100 Black Men of Middle Tennessee; Second Harvest Food Bank; United Way of South Central Tennessee; and United Way of Greater Nashville.

  Roberts has his BS degree in Mass Communication from Middle Tennessee State University (1984) and his master’s degree in education from Middle Tennessee State University (1991).