A Day at the Collaborative

By Ellie Burke

Reading Time: 3 minutes

A day at the Collaborative is a day like no other. For three days, top minds in the social impact space convene to collaborate, share best practices, and exchange key learnings. Gone are stuffy, windowless conference rooms and awkward networking sessions. At the Collaborative, you’re there to be open and comfortable, dig into social problems and solutions, and readily discover and share news of progress.

The Collaborative also culminates in the prestigious Classy Awards, a ceremony that recognizes the most innovative programs solving the world’s toughest problems.

“Hollywood has Oscar, Broadway has Tony, and Philanthropy has the CLASSYs.” – AOL

To give you a sense of what the average day at the Collaborative is like, we created an illustrative timeline. Flash forward with us for a moment, to June 2017.

8:00 AM	Check in and grab coffee with a fellow development director to swap ideas

9:00 AM	Get inspired by Classy CEO Scot Chisholm at a keynote address. Today’s topic: technology, fundraising, and community mobilization

10:00 AM	Grab a snack and strike up a conversation with someone leveraging new technology to solve a social problem

10:30 AM	Attend a panel on The Secret to High Performance Teams

12:00 PM	Take a lunch break and sit next to a Classy Awards finalist

12:45 PM	Swing by the Lab to see the latest in social impact technologies and hardware innovations

1:00 PM	Watch a demo on How to Improve Your P2P Individual Giving Rates

2:00 PM	Observe a panel on Fueling Personal Fundraising with The Power of Story featuring speakers from City of Hope, American Kidney Fund, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Susan G. Komen

3:00 PM	Bump into industry bigwig Asha Curran at a phone charging station and chat about how much you enjoyed her panel discussion on #GivingTuesday

3:15 PM	Check out a TED-style showcase on Health featuring Alaa Murabit, a UN High-Level Commissioner on Health Employment and Economic Growth

4:30 PM	Attend a keynote on Modern Nonprofits: How Technology Amplifies Impact

5:30 PM	Sit down for office hours with Gary White, CEO of Water.org

6:00 PM	Mingle with other social sector leaders at happy hour