Category: Event Takeaways

On November 18, NationSwell hosted a virtual Leader Roundtable dedicated to unpacking how artificial intelligence is transforming the way we work, communicate, and create impact. From advancing organizational efficiency to reshaping advocacy and service delivery, AI holds enormous potential — and raises equally pressing questions around ethics, equity, and governance.

Some of the most salient takeaways from the conversation appear below:

Key takeaways

Treat AI adoption as a culture-change initiative, not just a tech rollout. Invest in thoughtful change-management strategies: designate AI champions, embed AI into everyday workflows, and ensure all staff achieve at least baseline competency through training.

Build an AI Champion network to accelerate culture change. Identify early adopters across functions and empower them to model practical use cases, lead demonstrations, and mentor peers. Champions make AI visible and approachable, increasing the likelihood of shifting day-to-day behaviors.

Recognize that this moment requires upskilling and unlearning. Encourage teams to move beyond legacy workflows and reimagine how work gets done with AI as a strategic partner. Beyond technical training, this requires a mindset and behavioral shift that fosters adaptability and continuous learning.

Establish clear policies to guide responsible, mission-aligned AI use. Staff need clarity on what is encouraged, allowed, and off-limits. Transparent guardrails reduce anxiety, build trust, and empower teams to deploy AI confidently and ethically.

Enable each team to define AI applications relevant to their work. Functions such as philanthropy, marketing, compliance, and operations will leverage AI differently. Facilitating team-specific exploration uncovers meaningful use cases that improve workflows and drive impact.

Clarify AI’s sustainability footprint to remove barriers. Many hesitations arise from misconceptions. Provide accurate context on energy use, environmental impact, and organizational commitments, ensuring sustainability concerns do not hinder adoption.

Identify opportunities where AI can deliver strategic value. Look for high-volume, operational, or repetitive tasks where AI can save time, enhance rigor, and create consistency, freeing teams to focus on higher-impact work.

Place-based initiatives often begin with promising pilots, but the real challenge lies in building models that endure, evolve, and create lasting change for communities. From knowing when to sunset a project, to adapting an initiative as conditions shift, or to nurture long-term, community-driven impact, place-based work raises important questions about what success truly looks like. Should scale always be the goal—or are shifts in power and resources, and other changes representative of deeper measures of progress?

On November 13, NationSwell hosted a virtual Leader Roundtable event designed to explore what it takes to move beyond the pilot phase and built place-based impact that lasts. Some of the most salient takeaways from the discussion appear below:

Center on-the-ground leadership and lived experience. Effective place-based work starts with local leaders, residents, and young people as co-designers and decision-makers, not just “voices in the room.” When communities define the problems, interpret the data, and choose strategies, funders are able to support work that is more trusted, relevant, and durable.

Shift from standalone projects to long-term strategies. Moving from a collection of disconnected pilots to a portfolio and strategy approach allows leaders to track progress over time, reallocate resources, and adapt without “killing” programs overnight. This zoomed-out view makes it easier to align partners around shared outcomes.

Treat scale as systems change, not just numbers served. In place-based work, scale often looks like stronger civic infrastructure, policy shifts, better-aligned funding streams, and new local capacities, rather than big “vanity” reach numbers. What equally matters is what lasts after a grant cycle ends: local organizations that can attract new resources, shared data systems, and cross-sector tables that keep working.

Lead with values over metrics and logic models. Shared guiding principles – such as non-negotiable youth leadership, community involvement in all decisions, and non-extractive partnership – create the trust and alignment needed for complex collaborations. When values are explicit, they shape governance, grantmaking practices, and how power is shared between parties.

Use national power to open doors, not dictate direction. Large institutions can add enormous value by validating local models, attracting co-funders, and lending policy or communications support. But they don’t need to dictate the agenda. Showing up with humility, naming reputational or political risks transparently, and “walking alongside” community partners helps make sure big brands amplify local leadership instead of overshadowing it.

Standardize the framework but localize the solution. What transfers across communities is the evidence base, theory of change, and shared indicators for success; what must be locally tailored are the specific strategies and programs. The work is a continuous loop: look at the data, ground-truth it with residents, choose evidence-informed approaches that fit local realities, test, learn, and adapt.

Measure both the journey and the destination. Robust, shared data systems are important, but so are simple, practical signals: who’s showing up, which relationships are forming, and whether local leaders feel more connected and capable. Tracking process indicators alongside long-term outcomes helps manage leadership expectations, tells a more honest story of progress, and keeps everyone committed to the multi-year horizon real systems change requires.

On November 12, NationSwell hosted a virtual Leader Roundtable dedicated to examining what’s ahead for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Amid a turbulent year for DEI, the discussion was designed to unpack the pressures, highlight innovative responses, and surface practical strategies that enable organizations to safeguard hard-won gains, navigate uncertainty, and continue advancing more equitable workplaces and communities.

Some of the most salient takeaways from the event appear below:

Key takeaways

Maintain progress over posture. It’s critical to make progress, not a just point—staying committed to tangible outcomes rather than symbolic gestures. This mindset demands both courage and strategy: being careful not to obey in advance to external pressures or political headwinds that discourage action.

Focus on the problem you’re solving: access, opportunity, and shared prosperity to strengthen its staying power. Get clear about naming the challenges you’re solving, like inequitable access to capital or opportunity, rather than centering the focus solely on identity. This approach to language helps protect the intent of the work while expanding its reach and legitimacy across audiences.

Reimagine investment for systemic impact. Practitioners are aligning the levers of philanthropy with the principles of venture capital, while ensuring that the return on investment accrues to the communities themselves. This means mobilizing catalytic capital that addresses the intersections of material conditions such as housing, economic mobility, and entrepreneurship.

Embed equity into leadership and institutional DNA. The shift from programmatic to executive–led initiatives ensures accountability at the highest levels. By developing collectives of teams and integrating initiatives across business units, companies can ensure inclusive work becomes a shared operational responsibility and cannot easily be targeted, defunded, or liable to scrutiny.

Build local, cross-functional ecosystems to spread the risk and keep moving forward. Leaders are forging stronger alignment among legal, compliance, communications, and other teams—working in lockstep to mitigate risk without compromising purpose. The question is not whether risk exists, but who can take on what risks, and where the risks lie. Consider which local partners you can work with to keep pushing beyond where your organization is able. Ask yourself: what costs are we willing to bear to uphold our values? And what do we lose if we don’t?

Adapt and sustain commitments amid scrutiny. Even as language shifts and brand sensitivity heightens, the overwhelming majority (94% of purpose-driven companies) continue the work. Many are increasing investment in ERGs, volunteering, and community engagement because changing words, not work, allows employees to feel continuity of mission while maintaining public trust and compliance.

A strong future hinges learning from our past, and having the courage for tomorrow. “History is repeating and rhyming, and it’s a great teacher.” By staying committed to the work while strategically responding to external conditions, organizations can thrive amid headwinds. Communicating clearly about what is changing and what remains constant, helps counter perceptions of retreat, while sharing authentic stories of impact reinforces enduring credibility.

In today’s fractured attention economy, advancing policy and advocacy goals has never been more complex. For impact leaders, breaking through the noise requires new strategies to connect with hard-to-reach audiences, build trust across divides, and mobilize stakeholders around urgent issues.

During a November 4 virtual Leader Roundtable, participants explored how leaders are navigating these challenges and reimagining advocacy for the current moment, examining the innovative approaches to earning attention, translating awareness into action, and ultimately driving meaningful change.

Some of the most salient insights from the conversation appear below:

Key takeaways:

Effective advocacy begins with reframing, not resistance. When audiences arrive with hardened beliefs, direct confrontation rarely works. The most persuasive advocates find new points of entry — rephrasing the question, offering a story, or isolating a single relatable detail. Shifting the frame in this way can help to bypass defensiveness and move people from ideology to empathy. 

Small numbers, clearly told, drive disproportionate impact. In an age of data overload, specificity is what lands. Audiences can’t meaningfully conceptualize millions or billions, but they can relate to the story of a family trying to eat on $2 a meal. The same principle applies to action: small repeatable steps — writing one email, attending one meeting — build the muscle memory that sustains movements over time.

Authenticity is operational, not aesthetic. For mission-driven companies, credibility isn’t a tone of voice, it’s an infrastructure. True authenticity comes from governance models, internal accountability, and consistency across decades, not from reacting to what’s trending. The most resilient organizations root their advocacy in explicit values and distribute ownership across teams so that no single marketing cycle or leadership change can dilute the mission.

Action is the currency of trust. Many organizations talk about values, but far fewer design concrete actions that invite participation. The strongest campaigns make it easy for people to act — not just to emote — and measure success by policy, practice, and participation rather than by clicks or sentiment. Over time, that clarity of purpose builds deeper loyalty than any consumer-facing brand push. One member pointed out that organizing is a ladder and not plank: once an individual takes an action, they are more likely to take another, but are less likely to jump from the bottom rung to the top.

Inside large organizations, effective advocacy depends on internal rigor. One participant described a “scorecard” framework that guides crisis-response across marketing, comms, policy, and philanthropy. Each potential intervention is scored on employee, customer, and corporate impact, which enables the company to move quickly while maintaining transparency and fairness. This kind of cross-functional infrastructure transforms reactive decision-making into principled, replicable action.

Speed and alignment are as important as intent. In the wake of any crisis, momentum is everything. When systems are pre-built and ownership is distributed, teams can mobilize in hours instead of days — ensuring that compassion isn’t slowed by bureaucracy. The organizations that respond best have built their playbooks long before they’re tested.

Digital should drive people towards community, not away from it. While online engagement remains vital, younger generations increasingly crave in-person organizing — IRL spaces to connect, learn, and interact away from screens. The next wave of advocacy will merge the reach of new digital frontiers with the depth of human connection.

Clarity and courage still cut through the noise best. In a saturated attention economy, the most enduring messages are the ones that blend moral clarity with concise storytelling. Whether addressing AI ethics, social justice, or climate resilience, audiences are drawn to organizations that speak with conviction and lead with transparency.

Hope isn’t naive — it’s strategic. At a time of polarization and fatigue, hope is a mobilizing force in and of itself. By naming progress, celebrating persistence, and grounding advocacy in tangible wins, leaders can replenish the emotional reserves that movements depend on.

When it comes to data: Show, don’t tell. When complex systems are made visible, they become impossible to ignore. Mapping inequities or visualizing unseen harms helps people understand scale and proximity, transforming abstraction into urgency and urgency into action.

Collective action provides a pathway to greater scale, durability, and innovation. It also distributes and mitigates some of the risks that can undermine or deter individualized approaches. But what are the most successful, proven, and accessible forms of collective action in practice today? Which examples can we look to for how various models work at their best? And what should impact leaders be asking and weighing when determining the best ways to advance shared goals with would-be collaborators?

On October 30, NationSwell hosted a virtual Leader Roundtable dedicated to exploring The State of Collective Action by introducing new analysis on the most prevalent models for collaboration, sharing a new resource designed to help leaders identify which approaches best fits their goals, and spotlighting other ways we’re helping you spark connection and partnership within our ecosystem.

Some of the most salient insights from the discussion appear below:

Key takeaways

The field is evolving from “should collaborate” to “must collaborate.” With accelerating technological change and complex social challenges, collaboration is shifting from a desirable practice to a core strategic capability. Leaders reflected on when to launch new coalitions, when to join existing ones, when to sunset from partnerships, and how to balance urgency with sustainability.

Collective action requires clear structure and governance. Coalitions succeed when they establish shared purpose, defined roles, transparent governance, and mechanisms for accountability. Structure promotes consistency, momentum, and alignment across diverse partners.

Collaboration frameworks help leaders choose the right model. Taxonomies, like that contained in NationSwell’s new resource on collective action models, and playbooks for collaborative work are helping the field gain clarity on when to convene, when to follow, and when to partner. These models guide decisions on structure, decision-rights, and stewardship, reducing duplication and increasing efficiency.

Equity must be a design principle. Lower barriers to entry and open pathways for smaller organizations, grassroots partners, and historically under-resourced communities to meaningfully participate. Flexible funding, capacity building, and intentional inclusion practices are essential.

Trust and relationship-building are core infrastructure. Sustained and equitable collaboration is rooted in trust. Transparent communication, shared decision-making, and ongoing engagement build the social capital needed to navigate tension, share power, and stay aligned through long-term systems-change efforts.

Resource the work behind the work. Collective success depends on establishing resourcing backbone functions such as convening, coordination, communications, and shared measurement. Micro-grants and operational support help ensure all partners can contribute fully.

Measure what matters. Participants noted that impact measurement remains a difficult yet important aspect of effective collaboration. Ideally, partners should identify their key leading and lagging indicators at the outset of an initiative, ensuring transparency and accountability from the beginning.

Eighty percent of health outcomes are shaped by social drivers, not just clinical care. But too often, investments overlook community-based solutions that prioritize gaps in trust, access, and care. In this NationSwell virtual roundtable, we’ll explore how cross-sector leaders can elevate, resource, and integrate the approaches communities already trust – building a stronger, more human-centered health system in the process.

On October 14, NationSwell hosted a candid virtual conversation on the journey toward health equity: how to identify and support proven, underinvested solutions – such as Community Health Workers; how to invest effectively in the social determinants of health; and ways to strengthen your impact through practical strategies, peer-tested insights, and emerging norms.

Some of the most salient insights from the discussion appear below:

Key takeaways

Invest in the workforce that builds trust where systems cannot. Community Health Workers (CHWs) are essential to closing care gaps in rural and underserved areas. Their deep community ties, cultural fluency, and lived experience make them uniquely equipped to connect people to care. 

Offer sustained funding for CHWs. Grants are part of the solution, as is Medicaid reimbursement; but for communities to truly thrive with help from CHWs, we need to start integrating CHWs into public health solutions that are sustainably funded. First port of call: Connect with your local CHW networks and support their work on this mission.

Keep care rooted in the community, not clinic-bound. As healthcare systems integrate CHWs, maintaining their proximity to communities—not just clinical settings—protects the authenticity that makes their work effective. Additionally, the human connection CHWs provide ensures that technology and convenience don’t replace trust and understanding. Over-medicalizing their role risks diluting the very trust and creativity that make their work transformative.

Pair digital literacy with inclusion. From patients and caregivers to CHWs themselves, digital literacy determines whether emerging health tools close gaps or widen them. Building confidence, access, and comfort with digital health platforms is essential to realizing the promise of tech-enabled care.

Care for the workers. CHWs often absorb community trauma and carry the emotional weight of their work, all while navigating precarious pay and limited protections as a predominantly female workforce. Sustaining this workforce requires mental health support, fair compensation, and respect for their labor.

Let lived experience lead policy and partnership. CHWs bring generational wisdom and firsthand knowledge that should inform every level of system design—from funding to regulation. Creating spaces where CHWs co-lead with clinical and policy leaders ensures decisions reflect reality, not assumption.

Lean into urgent needs that CHWs are uniquely positioned to address. The aging population brings strain on “sandwich generation” caregivers, the need to create “hospital at home”, and a social connection crisis for older Americans. CHWs are uniquely able to support

Build a common table for collective progress. Advancing health equity demands cross-sector collaboration grounded in shared definitions and mutual respect. When CHWs shape the future of their profession alongside healthcare, corporate, and policy partners, we build not just better programs—but the health system the world needs next.

On October 6, Nasdaq convened its Economic Opportunity Summit — a half-day of panel discussions built on the legacy of its Purpose Forum designed to bring together innovators, policy experts, and business leaders under one roof to talk about what economic prosperity really looks like in 2025 and beyond. 

Centering questions of how we can expand access, revitalize communities, and drive inclusive, purpose-led growth, the day’s agenda ranged from rethinking how we measure prosperity to reimagining regional ecosystems, integrating capital with opportunity, and amplifying authentic storytelling as a force for change.

Below are some of the key insights from the event.

The New Company Town

1. Regional revitalization depends on intentional investment in education and ecosystems. Innovation isn’t confined to Silicon Valley — it’s taking root in cities and regions across the U.S. The Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center’s Advancing Regional Innovation Economies Report maps where inclusive innovation is thriving, using data to highlight communities effectively linking education, research, and entrepreneurship. The findings show that regions with strong R1 and R2 universities, early-stage capital networks, and coordinated civic leadership see the highest GDP and talent growth.

2. Purpose-driven business is good business. Data shows that companies with purpose-driven values outperform peers across metrics like employee retention, innovation, and return on capital. With 94% of Gen Z workers unwilling to join companies that lack a clear social purpose, aligning corporate impact with community investment has become both an ethical and financial imperative.

3. The power of “co-op-etition.” For the Dallas Economic Development Corporation, success is built on a blend of fierce competition and deep collaboration between the private sector, government, and education. From streamlined permitting processes to customized workforce training and a tax-friendly environment, Dallas has become a national model for business attraction and ease of doing business.

4. Culture is a critical driver of economic growth. Panelists emphasized that vibrant arts, culture, and community life are not extras — they’re economic infrastructure. Investments in cultural institutions, public green spaces, and livable neighborhoods attract top talent and strengthen social cohesion. 

The Power of Possibility (featuring Jenny Just, co-founder and managing partner at Peak6 Investments and Sloane Stephens, professional athlete and founder of the Sloane Stephens Foundation):

1. The power of possibility begins with saying yes. Jenny Just’s career started on the trading floor — a male-dominated world where she learned early that opportunity often hides behind uncertainty. “I never said no,” she said. That willingness to try, to pivot, and to persist built a fintech empire from an initial $1.6 million family-and-friends investment into multiple multi-billion-dollar businesses. Her message: Don’t wait for the perfect plan — just begin, stay curious, and adapt.

2. Purpose fuels perseverance. For Sloane Stephens, the power of possibility comes from passion and persistence. What began as a neighborhood tennis hobby became a global platform for impact. Through the Sloane Stephens Foundation, she now helps youth see that the world is their oyster, providing access to sports, education, and mentorship so they can imagine bigger futures for themselves.

3. Failure is not fatal — it’s formative. Both speakers reframed failure as essential training. They urged audiences to embrace iteration — failure as a rep in the gym that builds the muscle of resilience.

4. Confidence at the table changes everything. Just’s current mission — to teach one million women and girls to play poker — isn’t about cards, but about confidence. Poker, she said, teaches risk-taking, capital allocation, and negotiation — the same skills needed in the boardroom. “If we teach our daughters to play poker,” she said, “we can change the world.”

Tracking Prosperity: How do we Measure Economic Impact?

1. GDP is essential — but incomplete. Panelists agreed that GDP remains a vital benchmark for assessing economic activity, but it is a blunt instrument that fails to capture inclusion, equity, or quality of growth. Global growth projections have declined from 3.7% pre-pandemic to just above 3% today, threatening income convergence and poverty reduction. We need complementary indicators that measure sustainability, inclusion, and balance — not just output.

2. Data granularity reveals who’s thriving and who’s being left behind. Panelists emphasized the importance of individual-level, real-time data to understand how families and small businesses are faring across income, race, and gender lines, and cautioned against aggregate indicators, which mask critical disparities.

3. Inclusive growth requires better data on how opportunity actually moves through the economy. Built through a collaboration between the Schultz Family Foundation, Harvard Business School, and the Burning Glass Institute, the American Opportunity Index uses millions of real career records to measure how well large employers enable upward mobility — tracking promotions, pay growth, and internal advancement. Now in its fourth year, the Index’s findings challenge assumptions about where opportunity lives: in many cases, frontline roles at mid-sized firms outperform brand-name employers on career progress. By turning workforce data into public benchmarks, the Index gives companies a roadmap to improve mobility outcomes and helps policymakers and investors identify where inclusive growth is genuinely taking root.

4. The future of prosperity depends on inclusion and adaptability. The panel closed with concern over asymmetries in the labor market — a mismatch between where jobs are disappearing (including software roles affected by AI) and where demand is rising. Without stronger education-to-employment pipelines and retraining systems, AI and automation risk deepening inequality rather than reducing it. New research from the Schultz Family Foundation and HarrisX recently put a name to this disconnect: the broken marketplace. The call to action: design data-informed policies that help workers move, not just survive, through economic transition.

Uniting Capital with Opportunity

1. Homeownership remains central to wealth creation—but new models are needed. In 1985, a teacher’s salary was one-third the price of a home; today, it is one-tenth. Shared appreciation lending models like those being pioneered by Homium help to connect capital markets directly to first-time homebuyers and can serve as unlocks that help teachers, nurses, and first responders afford homes in the communities in which they work.

2. Expanding stock ownership can narrow the wealth gap. Disparities in stock ownership are the single largest driver of the racial wealth gap, which is why companies like Ownership Works have taken up the mantle of ensuring that all employees — from the CEO to the front line workers — are partial owners through free equity grants. In addition to generating billions in payouts, ownership also results in greater engagement, lower attrition, and tangible financial gains for workers.

3. The next five years will test whether innovation can reach the people who need it most. Panelists envisioned a future where innovation serves teachers as much as tech executives. From portable lifelong savings accounts launched at birth to scalable models of employee ownership and affordable homeownership, they argued that aligning incentives between capital and community is the key to inclusive prosperity. 

4. Transforming the language of investing is just as critical as transforming its systems. The Transforming Investor Identity Research Report — a national pilot by Commonwealth with support from the Nasdaq Foundation — is a model for shifting cultural perceptions of what it means to be an investor. By studying how individuals see themselves in relation to investing, the research surfaces both structural and psychological barriers that keep millions from building wealth. Its findings challenge institutions to expand access not just through new products, but through new narratives — ones that connect financial inclusion to agency, identity, and long-term confidence.

Seizing Your Power (featuring Tiffany Dufu, President of the Tory Burch Foundation)

1. Storytelling is a leadership superpower. Dufu emphasized that “purpose isn’t mystical — it’s a decision inspired by your lived experiences.” By rooting leadership in personal narrative, individuals can clarify their purpose and communicate it authentically to others. The stories we choose to tell — like Dufu’s story of her mother breaking cycles of poverty — shape how we lead, what we stand for, and how effectively we inspire others.

2. Authenticity must live through behavior, not branding. Authenticity isn’t found on a company’s website or in its values statement, it’s revealed through daily actions. Dufu praised leaders who “send the elevator back down,” mentoring and supporting others in tangible ways. True purpose, she said, “has to manifest and live through the behavior of people, always.”

3. Rewriting the narrative of entrepreneurship. Dufu challenged prevailing myths that entrepreneurship is “too risky” or reserved for others. She urged women to redefine entrepreneurship as an extension of their grit and problem-solving, not an unreachable identity. 

4. The Tory Burch Foundation is scaling women’s economic power. Under Dufu’s leadership, the foundation has unlocked $342 million in economic impact to date and aims to surpass $1 billion by 2030. Its decade-long Fellows Program boasts a 91% business survival rate and focuses on helping women build multi-million-dollar enterprises by providing access to mentorship, markets, and capital — not just funding but a “sisterhood of founders” who help each other scale and succeed.

The State of Create: Exploring the Economic Impact of the Influencer

1. The term “influencer” is evolving into something more entrepreneurial. Panelists agreed that while “influencer” has picked up negative connotations, it still best captures the breadth of what creators do. One panelist observed that creators are “entrepreneurs building businesses around community,” while another mused that even C-suite executives now count as creators if they’re sharing expertise and building engaged audiences.

2. Agency and authenticity are driving Gen Z’s creator ambitions. Younger generations aren’t just seeking fame — they’re seeking freedom. The ability to build a media company from your phone makes content creation deeply appealing. Gen Z and Gen Alpha see it as a path to autonomy, creative control, and purpose-driven expression.

3. Monetization is becoming more democratized and diverse. Panelists highlighted how creators now monetize earlier and through multiple streams: direct fan support, brand deals, donations, speaking engagements, and ad revenue. Twitch’s affiliate model enables creators to earn income from day one, while others use partnerships and media opportunities to sustain free, educational content.

4. AI and trust will define the next era of influence. While creators see AI as a powerful tool for efficiency and safety moderation, panelists warned of its risks, including the rise of deepfake ads that can mimic a creator’s likeness, threatening the trust that underpins their relationship with audiences. Panelists agreed that more guardrails are needed in order to protect human authenticity and connection moving forward.

Breaking Barriers, Building Opportunity: Investing in Impact

1. The women’s sports “movement” isn’t a moment, it’s a systems reset. During the 2019 Women’s World Cup, Team USA’s victory and equal pay lawsuit revealed a glaring disconnect between audience enthusiasm and industry investment. Women’s sports weren’t lacking talent or audience — they were trapped in outdated business models measured by men’s sports metrics like reach and efficiency. 

2. Athletes must have a seat at the business table. Sue Bird — WNBA Champion, Olympic Gold Medalist, and Hall of Famer  — joined Deep Blue to bridge the gap between athletes and advertisers, bringing firsthand perspective to boardrooms often devoid of lived experience. Their collaboration ensures that partnerships are authentic, relevant, and reflective of real athletic culture — not filtered through outdated creative briefs.

3. Authenticity and engagement matter more than reach. Bird emphasized that the women’s sports community thrives on depth of connection rather than scale. This authenticity gives brands higher long-term value, transforming athletes into trusted cultural partners rather than traditional endorsers.

4. Purposeful partnerships drive cultural and economic returns. Deep Blue’s “Stay Ready” campaign with MassMutual spotlighted three athletes at different career stages, connecting financial readiness with empowerment and longevity. Rather than restricting it to “women’s sports” media, the campaign ran across March Madness, NBA Finals, and business networks — proving that women’s sports stories can outperform when told universally.

Although AI is poised to change and reshape many contours of our economy and lived experience, few among us express confidence in putting it to use in our day-to-day work.

That’s why, on September 16, NationSwell convened a group of peer leaders for a virtual roundtable focused on immediate, practical applications for AI on impact teams. From day to day low-lift use cases to opportunities for mission delivery, attendees explored how leaders are using generative AI – and increasingly agentic AI – to increase speed, clarity, and capacity in core workflows.

Some of the key takeaways from the event appear below:

Key takeaways:

Recognize that adoption is widely happening in the impact sector. The majority of social sector staff are experimenting with generative AI tools in their work, even if they don’t consider themselves advanced users or have streamlined guidance in the workplace. This signals opportunity and a responsibility to provide structure and support.

Democratize access to AI. Smaller nonprofits often lack the capital to experiment and funders can be discouraged to invest without tech experience. However, investing in organizational capacity through AI training, tools, or peer learning communities ensures that nonprofits can participate fully in the AI era.

Navigate the shared learning curve together. Nonprofit leaders and funders are all learning together—often unsure what to budget, request, or approve. This affirms the importance of shared guidance, education, and implementing standards that are critical for progress.

Establish governance and guidelines that protect your organization and its data. Large corporations can rely on private licensing and built-in governance systems to safeguard data shared with AI models. Nonprofits, by contrast, often depend on public tools, underscoring the need for risk management.

Start AI integration incrementally, not exponentially. For non-tech affluent organizations, beginning with small, incremental applications of AI—such as using off-the-shelf tools for efficiency—is more effective than jumping immediately to large-scale projects. The most practical applications are those that strengthen existing processes like fundraising, program design, or communications.

Build AI strategies into organizational roadmaps. Organizations can create customized AI roadmaps that reflect their priorities and capabilities, ensuring alignment with mission. For example, a nonprofit has an upcoming fundraising cycle that includes 5 key phases. For each of those phases, the nonprofit identifies incremental steps to integrate AI to enhance efficiency. 

Shift from individual to collective AI use. While many staff are experimenting with AI on their own, organizations unlock far greater value when they standardize usage. Meta-prompts and custom GPTs help move beyond scattered adoption and enable teams to work in alignment, share best practices, and ensure outputs reflect organizational priorities.

Scale responsibly with trusted principles. Growth in AI adoption should not outpace organizational values. Embedding equity, transparency, and bias prevention from the outset establishes a foundation of trust with staff, partners, and communities. By treating responsible AI use as a living framework—one that adapts as technologies and risks evolve—organizations can scale confidently while safeguarding.

As the global economy undergoes rapid transformation driven by digital innovation and artificial intelligence, the future of work demands a new approach—one that centers inclusion, equity, and adaptability.

During a virtual Leader Roundtable hosted on September 10, NationSwell members unpacked how integrating digital fluency into skilled trades training, advancing skills-based hiring, and designing accessible learning pathways that center future-ready skills can help build a more inclusive and representative workforce.

Key takeaways:

• Design training programs in close partnership with employers. Employer-informed curricula and training ensure learners are trained for actual demand, not theoretical needs. Models like customized training tracks for data center technicians show how alignment with industry can lead to placement rates above 80% and help close gaps in fast-evolving fields.
• Build agility into workforce initiatives. Instead of long planning cycles, programs can adopt short pilots, rapid iteration, and feedback loops to adapt quickly. This allows leaders to experiment, take risks, and scale what works — an approach critical in a labor market reshaped by AI and automation.
• Pair technical training with wraparound supports. Barriers like childcare, transportation, housing, or career navigation often determine whether someone can complete training. Embedding these supports — sometimes through cross-sector partnerships — translates access into real outcomes, especially for women, parents, and workers from historically excluded groups.
• Strengthen social capital alongside skills. Networks matter as much as technical ability in securing jobs. Programs that cultivate alumni pipelines, peer mentorship, and hiring networks replicate the advantages of traditional social capital and help level the playing field in an era where AI screening increases applicant volume.
• Break down silos in education and training. Cross-disciplinary programs that cut across engineering, data science, environmental science, and business better prepare students for the complex, blended challenges industries face. Universities that shift from teaching “departments” to solving cross-disciplinary “problems” are modeling the future of workforce education.
• Engage communities where new industries take root. Data centers, renewable energy hubs, and advanced manufacturing facilities are creating jobs in rural areas, but also raising concerns around land use, environmental impact, and neighborliness. Leaders who pair workforce investment with intentional community dialogue and benefit-sharing will unlock more durable opportunities.
• Invest in real-time labor market intelligence. Traditional labor data lags six to nine months, often missing critical inflection points. By collecting live input from job seekers, students, and employers — and analyzing it with AI — leaders can spot emerging trends earlier, respond faster, and avoid over- or under-investing in certain skills.
• Reframe high-demand industries to attract the next generation. Manufacturing and skilled trades are increasingly automated, tech-driven, and well-paid, but remain plagued by outdated perceptions. Recasting these jobs as high-tech, sustainable, and future-focused is essential to inspire young people and address looming talent shortages.
• Expose young people to career pathways early and often. Many students simply don’t know what opportunities exist or how their skills connect to them. Career awareness programs, mentorship at the high school level, and early exposure to applied training help bridge the gap between education and the jobs of tomorrow.
• Expand inclusive on-ramps for nontraditional learners. Talent often sits outside four-year institutions. Short-term credentials, apprenticeships, and alternative pipelines — combined with recognition of prior learning — allow individuals from varied backgrounds to enter high-demand fields and build economic mobility.

Explore how NationSwell’s Workforce Innovation Collaborative is charting a more inclusive path forward to ensure the future of work works for everyone.