How Nonprofits Can Turn Convenings into Catalysts for Relationship, Visibility, and Impact
The following post is written by ABW Partners’ Shoshi Rothschild. Shoshi Rothschild is a relationship-builder at her core, known for turning rooms full of people into meaningful, lasting connections that spark opportunity. With both sharp strategic acumen and a genuine curiosity about what drives others, she creates trust that goes far beyond the surface. In an increasingly AI-driven world, Shoshi’s human-centered approach is not just distinctive—it’s essential.
Nonprofits often treat events as episodic opportunities to gather— important, energizing, and resource-intensive, but ultimately isolated. At ABW Partners, we see gatherings differently.
Every conference or convening is an opportunity for something more. When approached with intention, these moments become strategic tools for growth, opportunities to deepen relationships, seed new ideas, and a chance to infuse the work with vigor and energize key constituents in pursuit of the organization’s vision.
From Event Attendance to Strategic Gathering
When planning to attend a conference, many of us instinctively ask:
What time do I need to be there?
Will I have time between sessions for meetings?
Who else is attending?
What am I going to wear?
Strategic participation requires a different set of questions:
What relationships must deepen to advance our mission?
What conversations need to happen that aren’t happening yet?
How can we create value for the field while strengthening our role within it?
What do we want to happen after this gathering?
This shift, from logistics to leverage, is what transforms an event into a growth vehicle.
What Strategic Gatherings Can Do
A strategic gathering might be a curated breakfast, a private roundtable, or a small convening alongside a larger conference. When aligned with your organization’s mission, these gatherings can:
Accelerate Visibility by demonstrating your organization’s value through dialogue and collaboration.
Deepen Relationships by bringing funders, practitioners, and partners into meaningful interaction.
Incubate Partnerships by surfacing opportunities around shared challenges.
Advance Thought Leadership by positioning your organization as a convener of ideas.
Strengthen Stewardship by helping supporters better understand and connect to your work.
Strategic gatherings are most powerful when they extend beyond your immediate circle. While leveraging your own network is essential, achieving broader reach and influence often requires engaging prominent champions, steadfast partners such as funders, and aligned organizations in a mutually beneficial way. When respected leaders lend their voice and presence, it creates strength by association, expanding credibility, visibility, and impact through shared trust and shared platforms.
The Work Begins After the Event
The true impact of a convening is measured not by how it runs, but by what it inspires and generates.
To extend momentum:
Follow up with participants in personalized ways.
Identify collaborations sparked by the gathering.
Integrate new relationships into ongoing development strategy.
Continue sharing insights to sustain dialogue.
A strategic gathering should function as a launch point, not a conclusion.
What This Looks Like in Action: CASJE at The 2025 JFNA General Assembly
One example comes from our work with Dr. Arielle Levites, the Managing Director of CASJE (Collaborative for Applied Studies in Jewish Education), which approached the 2025 JFNA General Assembly not simply as an event to attend, but as an opportunity to convene and inspire.
CASJE hosted a private breakfast, Data Making a Difference: Research Partnerships Powering Insight and Action, featuring Dr. David Bryman, CEO of The Jewish Education Project, Dr. Sarah Abramsom, CEO of One Table & President of Gali Cooks, and Wendy Platt Newberger, Director at Crown Family Philanthropies. The gathering brought together funders, practitioners, and partners for a focused dialogue on using data to strengthen impact across the Jewish community.
Importantly, the convening intentionally engaged respected funders and organizational leaders whose presence expanded both the reach and resonance of the conversation. By bringing prominent champions into the experience, not as sponsors, but as thought partners, CASJE strengthened its credibility and amplified its influence through association.
Designed as a curated experience, not a traditional networking event, the convening elevated CASJE’s visibility, deepened relationships with current supporters, and created space for new partnerships to emerge.
Measuring Success Differently
Success is not defined by attendance alone, but by outcomes such as:
New partnerships explored
Follow-up conversations initiated
Expanded visibility within peer networks
Stronger engagement from existing supporters
Invitations to continue the dialogue
For CASJE, the result was a repositioning, from participant to convener and field leader, with standing room only attendance. The gathering sparked new collaborative conversations and gave stakeholders a clearer understanding of how CASJE could support their work. It succeeded not as a presentation, but as a catalyst for ongoing engagement, proof of impact, philanthropic interest, and investment beyond CASJE’s most loyal and generous funders and partners.
From Gathering to Momentum
When gatherings are aligned to purpose, thoughtfully curated, and intentionally followed through, they become powerful mechanisms for advancing mission and strengthening the ecosystems nonprofits serve.
At ABW Partners, we believe convenings are not just meetings. They are opportunities to turn connection into momentum, and momentum into lasting impact.