Uplifting Nonprofit Leaders: Real-Time Learning from a Community-First Accelerator

Nonprofit leaders are often overlooked in conversations about entrepreneurship and innovation—especially those building community in under-resourced and geographically diverse areas. In this interactive session, we’ll share early insights from Uptide, a new accelerator launched by the Belfer Center for Innovation & Social Impact at 92NY (best known for creating GivingTuesday and the Social Good Summit).

Rooted in 92NY’s 150-year legacy of building community and the Belfer Center’s 13 years of scaling innovative initiatives, Uptide is the first accelerator dedicated to community-building nonprofits and designed to support leaders tackling the “Crisis of Community”—the growing disconnection and disaffiliation at the heart of today’s most urgent challenges. Today, more than ever, we need to support local leaders who are building impactful and replicable new models for growing community.

With Uptide just two months underway, we’ll reflect on what we’re learning in real time: how to build a values-aligned accelerator for nonprofits, how to support nonprofit founders and executive leaders with the right mix of funding, strategy, and connection, and what community-driven scaling really looks like.

The session will create space for other entrepreneurial support organizations and funders to share what’s working, what’s not, and how we might collaborate to better serve nonprofit founders building lasting impact.