Request for Proposals: 15th Symposium on Public Policy for Nonprofits

The annual symposium, now in its 15th year, is co-sponsored by the Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), Independent Sector, and Nonprofit Policy Forum. Last year’s online symposium attracted nearly 1,000 registrants interested in exploring important issues affecting nonprofits and philanthropy. Registration for the February 19, 2027 symposium will open this fall.

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[R]ecent years have presented significant challenges for America’s nonprofit sector. A variety of shocks – the COVID pandemic, new policies promulgated by the Trump administration, the rapid development of AI technology, and more – have jolted nonprofits from their usual ways of doing business. And other longer standing trends – the aging of the population, the influx of large numbers of immigrants, the increasing polarization and harshness of American politics – are also impacting nonprofits in a variety of ways.

The February 2027 symposium will focus on these and other developments affecting nonprofits and philanthropy, asking how resilient individual nonprofits – and the charitable sector as a whole – have been able to be in these challenging times. For the purposes of this symposium, resilience may include such dimensions as financial sustainability, workforce stability, governance capacity, technological adaptation, policy engagement, service delivery, and others.