November 10: Cultivate the Democracy We Need

On November 10, nonprofit leaders from across Pennsylvania will meet in Harrisburg for the first Convene PA: A Gathering for the Common Good. This is a day to dream out loud about the future of Pennsylvania, and build the tools necessary to create that future with your own boards, staff, and communities.

We are in this moment together. Communities across Pennsylvania face rising needs, deep-seated isolation, and widening inequities. Yet, nonprofit teams continue to forge solutions in direct partnership with the neighborhoods where we live and work.

To accomplish this in ways that lean heavily into trust, we want to add to nonprofit leaders’ facilitation toolboxes by starting with vision and identifying concrete steps for the real action that comes next. We want to demonstrate a model that can inspire action in board meetings, committee meetings, and the community gatherings nonprofits are already holding in their communities.

We begin with the core belief that nonprofits are not just contributors to civic life—they are the infrastructure itself. To ensure future generations thrive, we must cultivate spaces where lived experiences are centered, decisions are shared, and “power with” becomes the default way of operating.

These regional gatherings are designed to cultivate those exact conditions through three core objectives:

• Dreaming and Planning Together: We will hold intentional space to envision a thriving Commonwealth, mapping out an infrastructure built for long-term resilience not just for nonprofits, but for those whose work is adjacent to ours or those whose lives we touch.
• Replenishing Our Leaders: Many nonprofit professionals and volunteers are running on empty. We want you to enter these rooms, feel deeply seen, and leave with more in your tank—bolstered by new connections and renewed hope.
• Sharing the Tools of Facilitation: True systemic change requires ongoing, inclusive storytelling. In the afternoons, we will “pull back the curtain” on how our sessions are designed and run. By walking through the questions that drive equitable visioning, leaders will leave equipped with fresh frameworks to facilitate their own board meetings, staff retreats, and community discussions.

This effort is open to everyone, from grassroots mutual aid groups to established institutions. As a connector, PANO seeks to link the unique expertise of one community leader to the knowledge and skills of another.

To amplify this impact, PANO is joining forces with the National Council of Nonprofits so Pennsylvania nonprofit voices will be a part of a bold, national movement: Transformation 2035. This nonpartisan initiative seeks to collectively build the “more perfect” democracy we have always needed but have yet to fully realize.

This is our moment to imagine bigger, organize differently, and connect more deeply. True democracy is not built from the top down; it is woven together through the shared wisdom, resilience, and everyday commitment of people rooted in their communities. When we show up for one another, pooling our unique perspectives and resources, we discover that we already have exactly what we need. Join us at Convene PA to help shape the next collective step for Pennsylvania—because together, we don’t just navigate the future, we actively build it.