You seek opportunities to talk with your colleagues on the topics that most challenge you and your organization. It is hard to get to trainings, and there are only so many experts to go around. “Nonprofit Conversations” was created to give nonprofit networks and other communities of nonprofit people the resources they need to convene conversations that move their practice forward. They draw on the archived webinars that Washington Nonprofits produces each month.

We are very grateful to our volunteer speakers for sharing their wisdom during our webinars and agreeing to have their presentation recorded for on-going access by nonprofits across Washington.

Nonprofit Conversations…

  • Expands learning opportunities taking place outside classrooms.
  • Strengthens peer connection when questions, success stories, and enduring challenges are tackled collaboratively.
  • Grows networks between participants so that people can reach out to each other after the meeting is over.

Read more about how it works below, or download and print the Nonprofit Conversations Overview.


Getting Ready

  1. SET MEETING: Organize a time to get together with colleagues—or plug in to an existing nonprofit network meeting. Washington Nonprofits has information about regional events and coalitions.
  2. CHOOSE TOPIC: Choose a topic of interest. Our library of webinars and training videos is growing each month.
  3. DOWNLOAD WEBINAR: Download the related webinar onto a laptop that you can bring to the meeting. Test the webinar in advance to make sure that it plays smoothly. We recommend that you don’t play it directly from Vimeo since you may have unreliable Internet.
  4. THINK PROJECTION: You will need to project the webinar somehow, either using a projector onto a screen or through a television.
  5. COPY HANDOUT: For many of our webinars, we have created discussion guides for you to share with participants. Make as many copies as you need.

During the Meeting

  • ASSIGN A FACILITATOR: They may be the organizer, or maybe there is someone else in the group who is good at making sure that everyone participates in the conversation. A great facilitator pushes questions to a deeper place, engages everyone in the room, and drives towards concrete action steps at the end of the meeting.
  • INTRODUCE YOURSELVES: Take time at the beginning to have everyone introduce themselves. They should share their name, organization/location, and something about the topic. This might be: a question, an idea that they want to share, a success story, or a tool or resource that has proven be particularly helpful.
  • WARM UP: Start with the “key questions” at the top of the Discussion Guide to get a sense of what people are thinking on this topic.
  • LEAVE TIME FOR WRAP-UP: After a great conversation, it is helpful to have your note-taker or someone else sum up the conversation. Pay particular attention to resources that people said that they need, either from each other or an outside source.

For additional resources, visit Washington Nonprofits  or 501 Commons.