Artificial intelligence is reshaping nearly every corner of our lives — from how we work and learn to how we participate in civic life. Yet as the technology races ahead, governance has struggled to keep pace.
During a candid panel discussion at NationSwell Summit on October 22 hosted by David Gelles — New York Times reporter and author of Dirtbag Billionaire — Mike Kubzansky, CEO of Omidyar Network, and Miriam Vogel, CEO of EqualAI, explored how society can steer AI toward the public good. Kubzansky emphasized the urgent need for public oversight and values-based regulation that puts people, not profit, at the center of innovation, while Vogel highlighted practical steps organizations can take now — from embedding accountability in everyday workflows to cultivating ethical reflexes inside teams — to ensure AI serves all communities equitably.
A full recap of the panel’s insights can be found below.
Takeaways:
“We shouldn’t expect profit-driven companies to prioritize the public good — that’s not how capitalism works. If we want AI to serve society, we have to build the incentives and accountability to make that happen.”
— Mike Kubzansky, CEO, Omidyar Network
Artificial intelligence isn’t a future issue — it’s a governance crisis happening in real time. The world is deploying AI faster than it can define what “good governance” means. Most organizations use AI in some capacity, but few have internal standards, accountability systems, or a clear understanding of what responsible use looks like.
Every technological revolution has had a societal reckoning — except this one. From pharmaceuticals to nuclear energy, past innovations prompted debate and regulation. In the digital era, no such collective framework exists, leaving critical decisions to private companies and market forces rather than shared values or public consent.
The real gap isn’t technical — it’s institutional. There are no common definitions, standards, or liability frameworks for AI use. As a result, companies set their own rules, often inconsistently. Building shared norms and accountability mechanisms is now as urgent as any technical breakthrough.
“You cannot regulate your way out of this; governance starts inside the organization. Every company needs to know how it’s using AI, who’s accountable, and what happens when something goes wrong.”
— Miriam Vogel, President and CEO, EqualAI
Governance begins inside organizations, not in Congress. External regulation alone can’t ensure safe or ethical AI. Companies need internal “AI hygiene”: clarity about where AI is used, who is accountable, and how issues are surfaced and resolved. Without internal governance, regulation becomes meaningless.
Regulation does not stifle innovation; confusion does. Rules provide clarity, not constraint. Some of the most innovative economies operate under strong governance frameworks. Real innovation thrives in environments where safety, trust, and transparency are built in from the start.
Public trust is collapsing, and AI literacy is the cure. Half of Americans report being more afraid than excited about AI. Those who understand it are more optimistic, suggesting that AI literacy — not hype or fear — is the foundation for responsible adoption and social trust.
Profit-driven systems won’t self-correct. Expecting companies to prioritize ethics over revenue misunderstands capitalism’s incentives. Governance must come from a mix of policy, investor expectations, and board accountability — ensuring AI’s social license to operate.
There’s still time to design responsible AI — but only if we demand it now. Responsible AI isn’t theoretical: it requires clear accountability, transparent testing, and leadership ownership. The companies that get this right will be the ones that earn both consumer trust and long-term viability.
On a crisp October morning in New York, more than 250 leaders came together for NationSwell Summit 2025, united by this year’s theme: Together — a call to move beyond silos and into shared purpose. Across the day’s sessions — which spanned across the challenges of childhood in the age of social media and community transformation to healing through sport, collective action, and the future of work — speakers returned to a single truth: our shared progress depends on partnership.
The day’s conversations invited participants to reimagine how we govern technology, build workplaces that nurture every kind of talent, and invest in the local trust and shared purpose that make lasting change possible. Our Impact Spotlights served as powerful and emotional reminders of the good work happening in this community, and included: It’s Time to Make Connection a Cause, featuring Aaron Hurst, U.S. Chamber of Connection; What Teachers Are Telling Us, featuring Alix Guerrier, DonorsChoose; In This Lifetime — Structural Change, Strategy, and Belief, featuring DeRay Mckesson, Campaign Zero; Collaborative Action: Strengthening Public Health by Integrating CHWs featuring Barb Short, Sanofi andDenise Octavia Smith, MBA, CHW, PN, National Association of CHWS; Neurodiversity & The Future of Business, featuring Nathan Friedman, Understood.org; Opening Doors to the AI Economy, featuring Nicole Johnson, Cadence Design Systems and Cadence Giving Foundation; and Together in Action: Unlocking the Power of Corporate Philanthropy, featuring Dale Strange, Blackbaud.
In case you were not able to be with us in the room — or if you’d simply like to revisit the day’s events — we’ve recapped several Summit sessions below:
1. NationSwell’s Book of the Year: The Anxious Generation by Dr. Jonathan Haidt
Featuring: Dr. Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation
Moderated by: Margot Brandenberg, Ford Foundation
“If aliens landed here and we didn’t understand them, would we send our kids off to play with them? Hell no. But that’s what we’re doing with artificial intelligence, and at warp speed.”
— Dr. Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation
Technology has accelerated beyond our social evolution, eroding the very institutions that once bound us together. Humans are deeply social creatures who developed systems like democracy, education, and the rule of law in order to cooperate with each other at scale. But the rapid pace of technological change, especially through social media and AI, is destabilizing those social bonds faster than society can adapt.
The greatest threat posed by modern technology is that it makes us less reliant on each other. Where we once depended on relationships for knowledge, connection, and decision-making, we now turn to machines and algorithms. This erosion of interdependence undermines empathy, belonging, and the shared fabric of human life, especially among younger generations.
The smartphone marks a generational rupture unlike any before. The sharp divide between those who went through adolescence before versus after 1995, when smartphones became ubiquitous, has created the first truly distinct digital generation. Rates of anxiety, depression, and dysfunction rise steeply beginning with this cohort, particularly among girls.
Girls are being crushed under the social and emotional weight of social media, while boys are disappearing into digital addiction. Girls’ mental health suffers from social comparison, online bullying, and exposure to predatory or appearance-based content. Boys, meanwhile, retreat into gaming, pornography, and sports betting — activities that hijack dopamine systems and stunt social and emotional development.
Parents are caught in a collective-action trap, each feeling powerless to resist norms everyone privately disapproves of. Most children admit they dislike social media but feel compelled to use it to avoid being left out. Families acting alone feel “cruel” denying their kids phones; only collective, community-level norms can reset expectations and make restraint the default.
Four collective-action norms can restore real childhood and social connection:
No smartphones before high school.
No social media before 16.
Phone-free schools.
More independence, free play, and responsibility in the real world.
According to Haidt, these shifts would re-anchor children in lived experience rather than addictive digital feedback loops.
Passive screen time isn’t inherently harmful — but solitary, interactive screen time is. Shared story-based experiences, like movie nights, nurture imagination and moral reasoning. The danger lies in touchscreens that deliver rapid, isolated, reward-based stimuli — training children’s brains for distraction and consumption rather than focus and empathy.
Mothers have emerged as the unexpected vanguard of reform. Across political lines, grassroots groups of mothers have organized text threads, reading groups, and policy campaigns pushing for phone-free schools and age restrictions. This movement’s bipartisan momentum signals widespread cultural readiness for change.
AI poses the same relational threats as social media, but on a far greater scale and at warp speed. AI companions already draw teens away from human relationships. Unlike past technologies, AI evolves autonomously and exponentially, with little oversight or liability, amplifying the risks to truth, empathy, and social cohesion.
Children are not small adults, and AI should not be tested on them. While AI can be a powerful tool for adults, it risks replacing essential developmental struggle with servitude and dependency in children. Until its effects are understood, the safest role for AI in childhood is none.
Hope lies in collective resistance and community-based action. The success of parent-led campaigns to limit smartphone and social-media use proves society can move quickly when unified. If we can win this fight for childhood, it will build the civic muscle needed to confront even larger challenges — like AI — together.
2. The Power of Place: Community-Driven Impact in Action
Featuring: Tonya Allen, McKnight Foundation; Kwame Owusu-Kesse, Harlem Children’s Zone
Moderated by: Amy Lee, NationSwell
“Together is actually more than a theme. Given the times that we are in, it’s basically a survival tactic. The idea of togetherness is a prerequisite of the work; it’s where transformation endures — understanding that we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. If we want to move the country forward toward pathways of excellence, it is a requirement that we are in lockstep with one another.”
— Kwame Owusu-Kesse, CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone
Trust and proximity are the foundation of lasting impact. Place-based work succeeds when leaders get close enough to hear the truth from those affected by their efforts. Community proximity creates accountability and keeps change grounded in lived experience rather than abstract theory.
Place is the true unit of change. Where a child grows up determines much of their economic mobility. By tightly weaving education, health, and economic programs within a defined geography, organizations like Harlem Children’s Zone prove that thriving neighborhoods drive generational progress.
Build from community assets, don’t fix perceived deficits. Effective place-based work begins with local strengths — aspirations, talents, and collective wisdom — rather than focusing on what’s broken. This approach unleashes creativity and ownership within communities themselves.
“Transformation happens in real places with real people. I think a lot of the time we think of transformation as abstract, and I think that is actually why we struggle with creating real change. We are so far away from the people and the places we want to help.”
— Tonya Allen, President of the McKnight Foundation
Transformative change requires matching the scale of the solution to the scale of the problem. Incremental fixes cannot close the wealth gap. Initiatives like the GroundBreak Coalition call on institutions holding capital — banks, governments, philanthropies — to redesign systems so wealth flows with “speed and justice” to those long excluded.
Power in place-based work means organizing people and organizing money. Communities can’t achieve lasting change through engagement alone; financial systems and resources must also be organized intentionally. Those in power have a responsibility to “rewrite the rules” so access to capital and opportunity is fair and attainable.
Collective accountability is the test of true partnership. When outcomes falter, real collaborators resist finger-pointing and instead share responsibility for results. Joint ownership of successes and failures keeps efforts aligned across the full cradle-to-career continuum.
Excellence is not negotiable in service of equity. Mission-driven work must meet the same standards of rigor and quality as any enterprise. Communities deserve world-class execution, not “good hearts” without capacity or skill — nonprofit should mean tax status, not lowered expectations.
Strong relationships and courage sustain collective impact. Partnerships endure when they’re built on trust strong enough to survive fatigue, turnover, and disagreement. Courage is required to challenge underperforming systems and refuse complacency in the face of inequity.
Lead with fierce, radical love, and guard your focus. Love, properly understood, is not sentimental but powerful and protective — it fuels persistence through difficulty. Staying focused amid distraction is an act of moral courage; every inch of lost focus, as one leader put it, “a child pays for.”
3. From Bold Ideas to Big Bets: Building Relationships that Move Impact Forward
Featuring: The Rockefeller Foundation and Big Bets Fellows; Jacob Hannah, Coalfield Development; Catherine Wilson, United Way of Greater Newark; Rey Faustino, One Degree
Moderated by: NationSwell Vice President of Partnerships and Community, Jordan Vaughn
Revitalizing communities begins with refusing to leave them behind. In West Virginia, a new generation of leaders is reversing economic decline by rebuilding from within. Through workforce development, sustainable business, and reclaimed infrastructure, communities once defined by extraction are becoming engines of renewal — proof that it is more than possible to thrive in rural America.
A modern safety net must be built for the AI age. Millions of families are lost in a maze of disconnected systems, forms, and eligibility rules. The next frontier is digital public infrastructure that connects services across agencies — not to replace human care and labor, but to make processes faster, fairer, and more humane for all. When technology is designed with community at its center, it can open doors instead of closing them.
Microinvestment can turn residents into owners and equity into belonging. In Newark, New Jersey, local residents are being invited to invest directly in new developments, giving them the chance to not only live in revitalized neighborhoods but to hold a real financial stake in their city’s growth. The model reframes community wealth as something that’s built from the ground up, where homeownership and local investment become tools for dignity and shared prosperity.
4. A Framework for Collective Action
Featuring: Nick Cericola, NationSwell
“The fight for marriage equality, the anti-Apartheid divestment movement, the Montreal Protocol — none of these were solo victories. They were built on unlikely alliances that turned moral clarity into structural change — laws, treaties, new norms, even new markets.”
— Nick Cericola, Vice President of Insights, NationSwell
Effective collective action channels outrage into agency. Movements succeed when they give people a tangible role to play. Whether through organizing, storytelling, or investment, they transform moral clarity into coordinated effort — turning diffuse frustration into focused momentum.
We are living through a Renaissance in collective action. Across the U.S., cities like Tulsa, Houston, Baltimore, and Union County are pioneering cross-sector collaborations that integrate employers, educators, and community organizations. These are not loose partnerships but structured, disciplined systems built for long-term community outcomes.
Five models dominate today’s landscape of collaboration:
Co-investment models pooling private funding with shared governance.
Shared capacity platforms that centralize infrastructure.
Learning, advocacy, and action networks aligning peers around common cause.
Public-private partnerships marrying public oversight with private sector innovation.
Place-based initiatives uniting stakeholders across a geography.
Each model balances tradeoffs between control, trust, speed, and innovation.
“The best movements don’t wait for perfect consensus — they build coalitions of the willing. They give people a role, a way to turn conviction and even outrage into agency.”
— Nick Cericola, Vice President of Insights, NationSwell
The right collective model depends on your goals. Choosing between approaches requires clarity — do you seek scale, legitimacy, deep local ties, or speed? Each configuration demands different governance, risk tolerance, and resource investment, and the best collaborations evolve as conditions change.
Enduring principles — shared purpose, clear structure, mutual value, and trust — anchor all successful collaborations. Though models differ, the underlying DNA remains constant. Trust is the most essential ingredient, enabling participants to move through the inevitable slow progress, repeated meetings, and political friction of long-term coalition work.
Systemic change is inherently slow, but it’s the only thing that works. Collaboration is messy and iterative, yet every meaningful societal advance has been collective in nature. The complexity of today’s challenges simply exceeds the capacity of any single organization, however powerful, to solve alone.
Collaboration itself is our greatest technology. When practiced with creativity and discipline, collective action becomes a living system — capable of adaptation, innovation, and scale. The question is no longer whether collaboration works, but what we will choose to do with it next.
5. Nothing Heals Like Sport
Featuring: Megan Bartlett, founder of the Center for Healing and Justice through Sport
Sport is one of the most under-utilized tools for healing and mental health. When designed around people rather than performance, sport can calm the body’s stress response, rebuild trust, and reconnect young people to joy. It’s not just play — it’s applied neuroscience in motion, capable of changing biology and behavior.
The real power of sport lies in regulating the nervous system. Sport helps young people move out of chronic “fight, flight, or freeze” states by creating safety and rhythm in the body. Regulation — feeling calm, connected, and safe — is the foundation for learning, love, and growth, and sport naturally provides it.
Movement, connection, and challenge are the biological ingredients of healing, and sport delivers all three. Patterned, rhythmic movement restores a sense of safety; connection with teammates and coaches builds trust, the antidote to stress; and appropriate challenge — neither too much nor too little — teaches resilience through safe struggle, not avoidance.
We must shift the focus of youth sports from winning to well-being. Too often, youth sports environments prioritize competition over care, leaving both kids and coaches dysregulated. To unlock sport’s healing potential, coaches must have training, resources, and community support that allow them to stay grounded and emotionally available.
Healing is relational — dysregulated adults cannot regulate dysregulated kids. Coaches and mentors are frontline healers, but they can only help young people recover if they themselves are resourced and supported. Investing in their regulation and mental health multiplies impact across entire communities.
With the right investment, sport can become a scalable system for social change. The infrastructure already exists — fields, gyms, parks, and millions of committed coaches. Through initiatives like the Move Fund, seeded by Nike, local coalitions are being equipped to harness sport not just as recreation, but as a public-health intervention that helps young people heal before they learn, achieve, and thrive.
When it’s done right, nothing heals like sport.The opportunity isn’t to reinvent sport, but to reimagine its purpose: as a powerful, ready-at-scale, evidence-based framework for rebuilding trust, resilience, and connection in a generation living under chronic stress.
6. Building a Workforce and Workplace Where All Can Thrive
Featuring: Carrie Varoquiers, Workday; Lisa Lawson, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, Claire Casey, AARP Foundation
Moderated by: Utaukwa Allen, Google
“There are 48 million young people on the bridge of adolescence right now, and we should think of ourselves as the bridge-builders responsible for making sure they have what they need to make a successful passage across.”
— Lisa Lawson, President & CEO, Annie E. Casey Foundation
Thriving workplaces are built through intergenerational collaboration. With five generations now working side by side, success depends on learning from one another rather than forcing younger employees to adapt to outdated norms. The most effective organizations cultivate “intergenerational agility” — a culture of mutual learning that values both experience and innovation.
Adolescence should be seen as a bridge, not a problem. Young people are often framed through a deficit lens, described as entitled or unmotivated, but this narrative is harmful and self-fulfilling. When we view adolescence as a stage of growth and potential — one that society must help young people cross safely — we create the conditions for confidence, purpose, and long-term success.
Skills-first hiring and new learning models are expanding access — but must be guided by purpose. The shift away from degree-based hiring has opened doors for untapped talent, while AI-assisted upskilling and apprenticeships are redefining what readiness looks like. The goal is not just speed to employment, but creating pathways to meaningful, family-sustaining work that centers human dignity.
“The marginalized worker — whether younger or older — has far more in common than we realize. Only a third of low-income workers over 50 will stay continuously employed through their 50s, and just one in ten will ever earn as much as they did before… We talk a lot about lifelong learning, but we forget about the worker. It’s time we practice what we preach.”
— Claire Casey, President, AARP Foundation
Mentorship and connection remain the most powerful workforce technologies. Bridging generations through mentorship builds confidence, soft skills, and community. Whether formal or informal, these relationships help young workers navigate new environments while reminding older ones of their enduring value and leadership.
AI should amplify our humanity, not replace it. Used well, technology can reduce administrative burden and free time for creativity, empathy, and collaboration. The challenge — and opportunity — is to design systems that strengthen connection rather than diminish it, ensuring that human relationships remain the core of productive, innovative workplaces.
The call to action: Be a bridge builder. Creating thriving workforces means linking generations, sectors, and technologies in pursuit of shared purpose. Every person, regardless of age or role, can help others cross into stability and possibility — because thriving, by definition, is something we achieve together.
8. AI and the Public Good: Who’s Governing the Future?
Featuring: Michael Kubzansky, Omidyar Network; Miriam Vogel, EqualAI
Moderated by: David Gelles, author of Dirtbag Billionaire
Public trust is collapsing, and literacy is the cure. Half of Americans report being more afraid than excited about AI. Those who understand it are more optimistic, suggesting that AI literacy — not hype or fear — is the foundation for responsible adoption and social trust.
Profit-driven systems won’t self-correct. Expecting companies to prioritize ethics over revenue misunderstands capitalism’s incentives. Governance must come from a mix of policy, investor expectations, and board accountability — ensuring AI’s social license to operate.
There’s still time to design responsible AI — but only if we demand it now. Responsible AI isn’t theoretical: it requires clear accountability, transparent testing, and leadership ownership. The companies that get this right will be the ones that earn both consumer trust and long-term viability.
At a time when technology is reshaping the workforce and climate pressures are redefining business, leaders are grappling with a central question: how do we equip organizations — and the people within them — not just to keep pace, but to thrive? During Climate Week, Kyndryl convened an event called “Growth with Purpose” that featured two dynamic panels focused on tackling that challenge from different but deeply connected angles.
The first panel, Skilling for a Secure Digital Future, examined how AI is transforming the very notion of being “future ready.” Panelists stressed that technical expertise alone will not suffice; adaptability, resilience, and human-centered skills remain just as critical. They spoke candidly about the paradox of AI adoption: the technology’s potential to unlock massive productivity gains is real, but its impact depends as much on mindset, culture, and trust as on tools themselves.
The second panel, Risk, Readiness, and Reporting in Sustainability Work, turned the focus to how businesses prepare for an uncertain climate future. Executives from finance, technology, and infrastructure underscored the growing importance of supply-chain resilience, the integration of sustainability into financial decision-making, and the role of trust and transparency in meeting investor and community expectations. As externalities like carbon and natural capital become priced into markets, sustainability is moving from a regulatory obligation to a driver of business value.
Together, the discussions revealed a common imperative: whether navigating the rise of AI or the realities of climate risk, organizations must balance innovation with intentionality. The future may be uncertain, but readiness, resilience, and principled action will be the measures of who thrives.
Panel 1: Skilling for a Digital Future
Being “future ready” means building systems of continuous learning. Panelists agreed that the future of work is not a fixed destination. Instead, it requires organizations and individuals to build habits of constant iteration and adaptation. One speaker even suggested professionals should aim to “make 20% of their jobs obsolete each year,” eliminating low-value tasks to create space for higher-value innovation and growth.
The biggest barriers to AI adoption are cultural, not technical. While AI’s potential is vast, many organizations struggle with implementation because of fear, discomfort, or uncertainty. Leaders stressed the need to normalize experimentation and failure as part of learning. Generational divides also surfaced: senior employees often use AI more effectively because of their experience and judgment, while younger hires may be more fluent with tools but lack context. Bridging these divides will be essential.
Workers need more transparency about which credentials actually pay off. Although 40% of U.S. adults have some college but no degree, only 12.5% of credential programs deliver meaningful wage gains. More transparency is needed so workers know which credentials are actually valuable. Panelists argued for clearer data and guidance so workers understand which pathways provide real mobility, and which don’t deliver on their promise. The same logic applies to skills: For example, Kyndryl is prioritizing mapping current vs. future skills and making that data transparent to employees — helping them visualize where the business is headed and how they can grow.
Human-centered skills will only grow in value. As technical skills shift rapidly with technological change, human skills — such as empathy, trust-building, problem-solving, and communication — are emerging as the most durable advantage. Panelists suggested reframing these as “higher-order thinking” skills, a label that better conveys their central importance in AI-enabled workplaces.
Intentional AI use is the key to maintaining critical thinking. Overreliance on AI risks weakening workers’ ability to write, think critically, and craft narratives. Panelists encouraged organizations to set intentional guidelines: use AI as an accelerator, but not as a replacement for human judgment and expression. The financial incentives also matter: Skepticism about providers pushing AI use for profit is warranted, and workers and companies alike need to set their own intentional frameworks for adoption.
Panel 2: Risk, Readiness, and Reporting in Sustainability Work
Uncertainty is inevitable, but principles must guide the response. Speakers emphasized that uncertainty has always been part of business, but climate change and resource scarcity magnify it. To remain resilient, companies are establishing clear principles — such as cutting emissions or increasing recycled content in supply chains — that remain non-negotiable, even as circumstances shift.
Embedding sustainability into the core business is no longer optional. Panelists described how sustainability leaders now work directly alongside CFOs and finance teams, reflecting the growing importance of environmental and social considerations to business value. Carbon pricing, regulatory frameworks, and investor demands are pushing companies to treat sustainability as central to strategy, not a side function.
Climate risk also creates business opportunities. Disruptions like floods, fires, or supply-chain breakdowns pose real threats, but they also spur demand for new services — from resilient infrastructure to risk management products. Companies that innovate around these needs can turn risk into opportunity.
Collaboration across the value chain is essential. No company can meet sustainability goals alone. Panelists highlighted the importance of embedding expectations across suppliers, engaging directly with high-emissions vendors, and even spurring innovation through competitions. They also stressed that collaboration must extend beyond the value chain — to startups, academia, industry groups, and policymakers.
Transparency builds trust with investors and communities. Trust emerged as a critical currency. Transparent reporting on emissions, risks, and progress not only satisfies regulators but also strengthens investor confidence and community credibility. As investors increasingly scrutinize how companies manage both transition risks (like shifting to renewables) and physical risks (like fires or floods), disclosure and accountability become differentiators.
AI is already helping sustainability efforts, but it must be paired with governance. From using drones to inspect infrastructure to crunching massive emissions datasets, AI is already proving valuable in sustainability work. Yet panelists stressed that AI must be deployed “secure by default,” with robust cybersecurity and governance in place. While the technology can handle scale and speed, empathy, trust, and human judgment remain irreplaceable for advancing sustainability goals.
The most Successful impact teams reflect an optimal blend of passion, evolving skillsets, drive, and resilience.
On August 21, NationSwell hosted a virtual Leader Roundtable dedicated to exploring the tools and talent strategies that are helping organizations fuel innovation, foster agility, and cultivate the next generation of leaders from within.
Some of the key takeaways from the discussion appear below:
Key Takeaways: AI literacy is becoming a mission-critical skillset. Teams are committing to universal adoption of AI tools, supported by training, shared use cases, and responsible governance frameworks. This not only boosts efficiency but also frees employees to focus on higher-order strategic and creative work.
Resilience and decision-making under uncertainty are essential leadership capabilities. With rapid change and rising complexity, leaders must strengthen their ability to make clear, values-driven choices amid ambiguity. Anchoring decisions to a “North Star” focus helps organizations stay disciplined, prune non-essential efforts, and move forward with confidence.
Cross-functional skills are critical for team adaptability. Rather than siloing capabilities, every team member should be comfortable interpreting data, telling stories, and applying new tools. This democratization of skills builds flexibility and helps teams pivot more effectively during times of change.
Storytelling is a powerful tool for building coalitions. In an era of skepticism toward public health, science, and social progress, compelling storytelling helps organizations mobilize stakeholders, strengthen coalitions, and sustain movements. Narratives that connect impact to human experience can bridge divides and inspire action.
Ruthless prioritization ensures resources drive maximum impact. With finite budgets and capacity, organizations must sharpen their ability to allocate resources where they matter most. Prioritization helps avoid burnout, clarifies tradeoffs, and maximizes the return on both social and financial investments.
Mentorship, shadowing, and sponsorship accelerate growth of soft skills. Formal and informal programs that pair employees with mentors, sponsors, or shadowing opportunities help individuals build confidence, broaden perspectives, and advance their careers. These practices also embed a culture of advocacy and leadership development within organizations.
Coaching creates organizational capacity for growth. Embedding coaching into leadership KPIs and encouraging leaders to “learn, do, and teach” creates a multiplier effect. As senior leaders coach others who then pass knowledge forward, organizations build a sustainable culture of professional development.
Connection and culture are as important as technical skills. In remote or high-change environments, intentional practices such as personal “user manuals” and dedicated time for relationship-building can strengthen trust and cohesion. This human connection supports teams in navigating turbulence with resilience and empathy.
Measuring what matters is critical for long-term credibility. Without strong metrics, social impact efforts risk being deprioritized during budget cuts. Building robust measurement systems and demonstrating “value on investment” ensures initiatives are recognized as integral to the organization’s strategy, not peripheral.
Purpose-driven alignment strengthens both impact and sustainability. Impact teams that tie their work to the organization’s core business strategy — and prove the social rate of return alongside financial outcomes — are better positioned to sustain funding and demonstrate long-term value. Showing that “doing good is good for business” helps win over skeptical stakeholders and ensures continued support.
Driven by our steadfast commitment to advancing bold, effective leadership across the impact sector, NationSwell continues to deepen the ways we serve our community, expanding the insights, expertise, and strategic guidance available to help members lead with clarity and drive meaningful change. That’s why we’re thrilled to welcome three exceptional leaders to our Strategic Advisory team: Kim Dabbs, Shannon Schuyler, and Celeste Warren (pictured left to right).
They join a distinguished group of NationSwell Strategic Advisors who bring real-world experience to the challenges and opportunities facing today’s impact leaders. Together, this group supports our members across some of the most strategic and exemplary work and needs in the sector, including building resilient organizational cultures, embedding impact into business strategy, the practice of impact leadership in organizations, architecting strategies that are differentiated and built to last, and leading on issues ranging from workforce innovation to diversity and inclusion to corporate responsibility.
Kim, Shannon, and Celeste bring deep expertise and a proven track record of leading transformational change across sectors. They will support our members in a variety of ways, including one-on-one consultations, roundtable conversations, and tailored guidance. Through these engagements, they will offer new opportunities to advance impact, strengthen strategy, navigate complexity, and accelerate our members’ most important work. Their involvement will help deepen the value of membership and expand what is possible for the leaders in our community.
We’re proud to welcome them into this remarkable community of changemakers and excited for the impact they’ll have in shaping the future of social good. Read on to learn more about their journeys and the expertise they bring to the NationSwell network.
Kim Dabbs
STRATEGIC ADVISOR Areas of Expertise: Belonging and Purpose, Social Innovation, Organizational Culture, DEI, Identity and Purpose, Workplace Culture, Organizational Development
Kim Dabbs is the Global Vice President of Impact at Steelcase, where she drives social innovation and fosters inclusive environments. With a background as the Executive Director of the West Michigan Center for Arts and Technology and a residency at Stanford’s d.school, Kim brings deep expertise in creating equitable spaces.
She is the best-selling author of You Belong Here: The Power of Being Seen, Heard, and Valued on Your Own Terms, which provides a framework for cultivating belonging. Kim is also the founder of To Belonging, a global community of changemakers exploring the intersection of identity and purpose. As a sought-after speaker, Kim has delivered keynotes at organizations like Google, Microsoft, MIT, and The Guggenheim, helping leaders create inclusive and impactful workplaces.
Shannon Schuyler
STRATEGIC ADVISOR Areas of Expertise: Culture Activation; Aligning Purpose with Performance; Value Creation through Operational and Revenue Resilience; C-suite and Board engagement
Shannon Schuyler brings over three decades of experience transforming how organizations drive sustainable success through cultural innovation and purpose alignment. At PwC, she held multiple global leadership roles, including Chief Purpose Officer, Chief Sustainability Officer, Chief Diversity Officer, Climate Risk Leader, Corporate Responsibility Leader, co-Leader of CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion, and President of the PwC Foundation. She has guided C-suite executives and boards across industries in embedding purpose, values, and sustainability into organizational strategy, culture, and stakeholder engagement. Shannon has also served on nonprofit boards, leading strategic planning, pro-bono funding initiatives, and executive succession.
Her insights on the link between culture and strategy have earned recognition from Fortune, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Insider, and Fast Company. Named one of the 100 People Transforming Business and a World Changing Woman in Conscious Business, Shannon is a sought-after speaker and advisor who helps organizations align purpose, culture, and strategy to achieve lasting business and societal impact.
Celeste Warren
STRATEGIC ADVISOR Areas of Expertise: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Organizational Culture, Talent Development, STEM Education, Leadership Strategy, Change Management
Celeste Warren is the Founder of Celeste Warren Consulting, LLC, where she guides organizations in implementing impactful diversity, equity, and inclusion strategies. With over 28 years of experience, she previously served as the Vice President and Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at Merck, where she led global diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and developed diverse talent pipelines.
Celeste is also the co-founder of Destination STEM, Inc., a nonprofit focused on supporting students of color and students in need pursuing degrees in STEM. Her work has earned her recognition as one of Black Enterprise’s “Top Executives in Global Diversity and Inclusion” and Diversity Global Magazine’s “Influential Women in Global Diversity.” She was also named Chief Diversity Officer of the Year by the National Minority Supplier Development Council in 2024.
A published author and frequent speaker, Celeste’s diversity, equity and inclusion insights have been shared globally across major platforms, publications and conferences.
One in ten high school students experience dating violence before graduation, and comprehensive sexual education has been linked to prevention. Young people are leading the charge in creating more accessible and inclusive education programs and tools. Two of our NationSwell Fellows, Emily Bach and Maya Siegel, are working to scale their efforts, which focuses on bringing consent-based education to high schools and universities. Here’s a closer look at their mission — and how you can help move it forward.
NationSwell: Tell us about your work and why it’s important.
Across the country, programs that help young people build safe, respectful relationships are under threat. Title IX, the federal statute that protects sexual violence survivors, has been significantly weakened due to the dismantling of the Department of Education. Schools are increasingly being pressured to limit how teachers and administrators discuss healthy relationships. Funding for sexual violence prevention education has been drastically reduced, with further cuts looming.
Stories of Consent is an organization devoted to community-based consent education, particularly in states and regions where governmental policies make formal consent education inaccessible – or entirely untenable. By sharing personal stories about what affirmative consent looks and feels like, we aim to make consent education more accessible, actionable, and relatable to young people. Our goal is to fill legislative and policy gaps to ensure that young people have the tools to form safe, healthy relationships.
NS: You both have worked alongside high school-age youth to build Stories of Consent. What are some lessons from collaborating with these young people?
Currently, if consent is taught in schools, young people typically learn about it through legal language or punchy acronyms. They learn what actions could lead to jail time. In some states, they’re taught that consent is as easy as FRIES: freely given, reversible, informed, enthusiastic, and specific. This is a great foundation – but it can’t be the end of the conversation. How many of us pause to run through a checklist before kissing someone?
We are almost always navigating consent in the context of our relationships, interpreting various forms of communication. Young people know this, even when their education doesn’t reflect it. They often turn to friends for advice on situations our education system fails to formally address. They learn about consent through public media and the internet. These facts reveal something important about consent education: even in states without mandates, consent education is happening – but it tends to happen on an individual or interpersonal basis.
Stories of Consent acts as a structured space for young people to have conversations about how consent looks, sounds, and feels in the context of their lives. We offer some ground rules for engagement – like defining affirmative consent – but we also encourage young people to engage with the project on their own terms. They bring the questions. We help create a safe space to explore the answers.
NS: How is implementing your education programming with college students different from students in middle school?
The best educational programs adapt to meet the people they serve. This often (but not always) means that college students are looking for guidance on navigating consent in increasingly complicated situations. For example, most of us would agree that discussing the relationship between consent and alcohol use would be inappropriate in a middle school classroom. But with college students, it’s one of the most common and relevant topics of discussions. Our project is designed to address consent in the kinds of situations students are most likely to encounter, and it naturally evolves with those situations.
Importantly, this dynamic holds true across different identity groups. Our stories have been used in a support group for transgender students, where a facilitator focused on stories from LGBTQ+ youth. They’ve also been used by feminist groups to examine the different expectations placed on women’s sexuality. We collect stories from people of different ages, backgrounds, identities, and experiences so students can see themselves in the stories — and find language that fits their own experiences.
NS: What do you hope your work will accomplish long-term?
Long term, our goal is to contribute to a cultural shift in how the next generation understands consent. For example, 50 years ago, the culture around drunk driving was vastly different. It was frowned upon, but not widely seen as a serious safety risk. That perception changed through advocacy – largely led by mothers – who highlighted its dangers and potential long-term impacts on others. As a result, rates of drunk driving have substantially decreased.
Our goal is to foster a similar cultural shift around consent. We want it to be widely understood as necessary for any healthy romantic or sexual activity. We believe that shift will only happen when young people understand the human impact of practicing consent.
NS: How can people get involved?
Visit storiesofconsent.com to read or share a story, or bring Stories of Consent to your school or organization. Teachers, students, school administrators, and community organizers can also reach out to us to host Stories of Consent exhibits at their schools. We provide the materials for free. Our contact information can be found at our website or on our Instagram page, @storiesofconsent.
Additionally, we partner with SafeBAE to train young people to become educators in their communities through their Peer Educator Training. If you’re interested in becoming a peer educator or supporting one, visit safebae.org to learn more.
Today’s challenges demand a new level of agility and creativity from philanthropy. Traditional models of giving are evolving as funders seek innovative ways to deploy resources, drive systemic change, and respond to urgent needs without sacrificing long-term impact.
On May 6, NationSwell convened senior leaders for a candid discussion on Innovative Philanthropy in Times of Uncertainty and Urgency. Some of the key insights that surfaced during the course of the discussion appear below:
Key takeaways:
Be in community; talk through the anxiety and surface needs among your partners and peers. Amid pervasive feelings of “stuckness” among funders and grantees alike, continuing to have tough conversations and be in relationship with those who can appreciate the unique difficulties of this moment will be an invaluable tool. Connecting with others who want to solve problems — even when the problems seem insurmountable — and conducting regular pulse checks with grantees can sometimes be the best antidote to malaise, anxiety, and fear.
If your organization doesn’t have the right support to offer, help connect to those who do. Even when funders don’t have the right tools or expertise to directly support their grantees or partners, they can still play a valuable role by acting as connectors. By brokering relationships, making introductions, or spotlighting other resources to tap, funders can help ensure their partners get the support they need without overextending their own capabilities. Influence and networks can be just as valuable as dollars.
Adjust your strategy with the long view in mind — and stay true to it. Especially in times of uncertainty, crafting intentional and precise strategies around your funding philosophy and partnership strategies will help you to stay true to your mission, goals, and organizational identity. Once established, hold to the strategies you’ve crafted so thoughtfully and intentionally. Push through the inclination to “freeze”; move forward with confidence, clarity, and adaptability.
Explore “pooled funds” and strategic coordination with fellow funders. By sharing financial commitments, funders can support innovative or high-risk projects with less individual exposure, making it easier to pilot new ideas or respond to urgent needs. Pooled funds can also help to streamline support for nonprofit partners, reducing the administrative burden of managing multiple relationships and reporting requirements and allowing them to focus on driving impact.
Consider the value of forging fewer, deeper partnerships. Some funders are focusing on larger, more impactful strategic collaborations with a few key partners to maximize impact and efficiency.
When possible, support partners with multi-year, unrestricted grants. Knowing that funding is secure for several years makes organizations more likely to experiment, innovate, and take calculated risks that could lead to greater impact without the added pressure of fundraising. For funders, multi-year grants support a more strategic, long-term approach to philanthropy, allowing for deeper alignment with organizational values and mission.Engage your internal stakeholders. Actively bringing in employees, agents, and other internal stakeholders in partnership activities can help to deepen your organization’s relationships and extend the reach of your partnerships. Particularly in times of deep division, taking the time to forge and fortify deep personal connections will be a critical component of long-term resilience.
As political turbulence converges with new return-to-office mandates, AI-driven labor disruption, and shifting workplace power dynamics, now is a good time to ask: are the employees alright? Data shows employee engagement is at a 10-year low, and impact leaders may have an important role to play in creating a positive inflection.
On May 1, NationSwell brought together cross-sector leaders to explore strategies for fostering authentic employee connection, sustaining momentum on social impact, and navigating changing internal expectations in an era of heightened scrutiny. Some of the key takeaways from the event appear below:
Takeaways:
Anchor employee engagement in business-critical priorities. Programs that connect directly to strategic business goals are more likely to endure through organizational change. At one company, engagement efforts were preserved during a leadership transition by aligning volunteerism with learning, development, and belonging. A measurement framework built in collaboration with people analytics helped secure executive support.
Use measurement as a lever for influence. Data creates the language leaders listen to. One company links employee voting on grant recipients to follow-up participation, showing that 75% of those who vote go on to volunteer. Another organization uses data to understand volunteer participation, and found that 80% of promoted employees were active volunteers. By surfacing these data points and aligning them with talent outcomes, leaders are better positioned to communicate the ROI of engagement programs.
Earn employee trust through transparency. Employees crave clear, consistent communication, especially in uncertain times. Multiple participants emphasized the value of regular, authentic updates, both from leadership and peer-driven campaigns. “Unmute yourself” emerged as a motto: don’t wait for perfect messaging; lead with openness and frame updates with “this is what we know right now.”
Model the behavior your culture aspires to. Culture is shaped by visible actions at the top. Regular leadership communications about personal boundaries, time off, and volunteerism can help normalize healthier habits across an organization. Creating regular forums for open dialogue – modeling transparency and presence, even without perfect answers – can build trust and empathy across teams.
Design with accessibility in mind. Reaching frontline and distributed employees requires intentional design and policy choices. One company adapted their engagement communications for workers in warehouses and on the road, using QR codes, mobile-friendly newsletters, and on-site leadership champions. These adjustments helped employees without company email or office connect with impact opportunities.
Create intentional space for human connection. Structured time for reflection, learning, and emotional engagement is beneficial for employees, especially in remote-first cultures. One organization holds monthly no-meeting “Endays” with rotating themes like sustainability and wellness. These experiences foster shared culture across offices and time zones, reinforcing purpose beyond the to-do list.
Programs scale more effectively when employees are trusted to lead them. Empowering individuals to shape initiatives builds long-term engagement. One organization trained nearly 100 social impact champions across global offices – employees who volunteered to activate colleagues in local offices and remote settings. These champions received in-person training, face time with senior leaders, and resources to launch programs aligned with company values.
Adapt messaging to meet the moment. In highly regulated or politically sensitive environments, traditional engagement strategies may need recalibration. When constraints limit what can be said or supported publicly, reframing programs to tap into current employee curiosity about what the organization’s plans are for addressing uncertainty can drive participation.
In the first quarter of 2025, the NationSwell Council set out on a cross-country journey for a Salon series dedicated to unlocking The Power of Community.
Designed to explore the ways that a strong sense of community can serve as the foundation for shared purpose, empathy, and mutual support — particularly in times of division — the series convened a number of incredible and diverse cross-sector leaders concerned with the creation and maintenance of robust communities. From incentivizing collective action to the bridging of generational divides to empowering youth to facilitating leadership development, our members shared a number of heartfelt, resonant insights on the ways they’re helping to make their communities stronger.
We’re proud to present a selection of those insights — along with some of the most powerful resources that were shared during the course of the series — below:
Key Insights:
Urgency shouldn’t only arrive with disaster: In moments of crisis, we say yes quickly, clearly, and without hesitation. What would it look like to show up with that same energy and commitment for our communities absent a crisis?
Empathy is a muscle, not a trait: It needs consistent practice. We can build it into our daily habits, our systems, and our institutions. The question is not if we have empathy, but how often we choose to use it.
Be more human, more of the time: In a world that often prioritizes efficiency over connection, how can we slow down and really see the people around us, in our neighborhoods, our workplaces, and our communities?
Community involvement and collective action: Effective community development relies on the active participation of individuals who are invested in their local area. These community members play a crucial role in identifying and addressing issues that affect their neighborhoods. The collective effort of residents is essential for creating sustainable solutions, as their proximity to the problems allows for a nuanced understanding of local challenges.
Bridging generational gaps: Even in relatively homogeneous communities, a diversity of generations exists, each with its own perspectives and experiences. This generational diversity can lead to conflicts, particularly when young people with innovative ideas clash with older generations who may be more resistant to change.
Youth engagement and empowerment: Engaging and empowering youth is crucial for the long-term sustainability of community development efforts. Key issues that concern young people include: physical safety and mental health; equity and justice; economic mobility; and sustainability
Digital landscape and education: Today’s youth are digital natives, primarily using mobile devices for online activities. However, this familiarity with mobile technology does not necessarily translate to proficiency in computer skills required for higher education and professional environments. Additionally, young people may be more susceptible to online fraud compared to older generations.
Leadership development and empowerment: Creating strong leadership pipelines is essential for the long-term success of community development initiatives. This process should begin early, ideally in junior high school, to build people capital and prepare the next generation for leadership roles.
Cross-sector collaboration and engagement:
Cross-sector partnerships are indispensable for community building, as they bring together diverse expertise and perspectives. This collaboration enables communities to leverage a wide range of skills and resources, ultimately leading to more effective solutions.
Authentic Engagement: Genuine engagement with communities is crucial. This involves active listening and observation, ensuring that the needs and voices of community members are heard and respected.
NationSwell is excited to reintroduce our pilot NationSwell Fellows Accelerator Program, sponsored by Jon & Wendy Stahl, which offers young leaders the strategic support, connections and leadership development needed to turn their interventions into sustainable and meaningful interventions. This cohort has been moving on the four key areas of the program – building and refining a theory of change, building organizational structure and presence, stakeholder engagement and storytelling. We are honored to remind our networks of the incredible fellows who have been working with us and introduce a new pair of co-founders joining this pilot program.
EMILY BACH (ANY PRONOUNS)
Emily Bach is an organizer and educator based in Oakland, California. Her research on community-based consent education has been presented across 9 universities, and they currently serve as a peer reviewer at the American Journal of Sexuality Education. Emily sits on the Board of Directors at SafeBAE, Stories of Consent’s fiscal sponsor.
MAYA SIEGEL (SHE/HER)
Maya Siegel is a digital strategist based in Denver, Colorado. Her work focuses on narrative-centered initiatives to foster a more sustainable and equitable future. She currently serves as the Platforms Manager at FEMINIST, the largest (6M+ followers across platforms) women-owned nonprofit media platform for women, girls, and gender-expansive people, and is a founding board member at Intersectional Environmentalist.
Together, they are the co-founders of Stories of Consent, the first and only national organization in the United States that uses a youth-led, peer-education model to provide consent education in states without educational mandates. In just a year and a half, they initiated conversations about consent with over 462,000 individuals and have implemented an educational model that impacts middle and high school students across 45 U.S. states. They are excited to be joining NationSwell’s pilot Accelerator Program.
ALEX ANG (SHE/HER)
Alex Ang is a content creator and mental health advocate living in Saint Paul, MN. Through her work, she is dedicated to increasing access to mental health resources and developing storytelling around cultural competency, anxiety awareness and workplace mental health. She currently sits on the NAMI StigmaFree Advisory Board for Workplace Mental Health, and is the host of a mental health podcast, a is for anxious.
Through these last few months of the accelerator, she has been working on her project, Mental Health Mailboxes, a community-based campaign aimed at increasing access to free mental health resources and acts as a catalyst for mental health awareness, using the power of collective aid and resource exchange to curate a source of mental health stories and resources. The idea is a simple one: Place a Mental Health Mailbox in your community and watch as community-members populate its shelves with an abundance of resources, suited to each community’s culture and location.
JORGE ALVAREZ (HE/HIM)
Jorge Alvarez is a first-gen Latine Social Impact Strategist, Mental Health Advocate, & Creator who has taken his mental health advocacy from lecture halls on his college campus, to millions online, and even to The White House. After being recognized by MTV as 1 of 30 participants to be part of the inaugural Mental Health Youth Action Forum at The White House where he spoke alongside Selena Gomez, the U.S. First Lady, and the U.S. Surgeon General, Jorge went on to consult companies and nonprofits alike on campaign messaging, program development, and BIPOC/youth engagement strategies. Most recently, he advised MTV and sActive Minds, a youth mental health nonprofit, on their national mental health campaign called A.S.K.– the stop, drop, & roll for young people to emotionally support their friends! Online, he uses his love for storytelling to spark dialogue for collective reflection, unlearning limiting beliefs, and breaking cycles leading to his community of +130,000 across social platforms. While he loves creating, Jorge works directly with communities by speaking at venues, universities, and institutions across the U.S. to empower and educate young people and allies about mental health, social media, advocacy, and more.
JAZMINE ALCON (SHE/HER)
Jazmine brings over 7 years of experience in the mental health advocacy space and is dedicated to transforming the mental health narrative to be more culturally relevant, engaging, and accessible. Her work has been rooted in empowering BIPOC communities, which she has executed through health equity, community, and marketing initiatives in the non-profit and corporate sectors. Jazmine is an Ilocana immigrant who believes that storytelling is fundamental in creating systemic and collective change in how we address youth mental health. Jazmine holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Health with a minor in Health and Society. She is also the co-founder of AAPI Mental Health, a digital platform dedicated to redefining the mental health conversation in the Asian and Pacific Islander community. In her free time, Jazmine likes to create art, hang out with her friends and cat, and be outdoors!
Together, the pair have been building on their work in the Accelerator Program. Titled, I’ve Been Meaning to Tell you, this campaign consists of a non-scripted interview-style video web series featuring difficult yet sincere intergenerational dialogue between BIPOC parents or guardians and their children (ages 18-26). Given the impact of cultural, ethnic, and racial nuance, each episode will spotlight how vulnerable and intimate conversations between parents and children of color can lead to a place of understanding. This campaign will not only invoke emotion and demonstrate that having intimate and vulnerable conversations between different generations is possible and why it’s important to do so, but it will also inspire others to have these same conversations. Ultimately, our goal is to use digital content to drive traffic toward culturally relevant resources with actionable next steps with viewers to continue the conversation.
Learn more about the NationSwell Fellows Program here.
