About 150 representatives of organizations in the SouthCoast gathered on December 5, 2013 in the Woodland Commons at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth to learn from Beth Tener, Principal of the New Directions Collaborative, and others at the first SouthCoast Non-Profit Leadership Conference. Organized by the Greater New Bedford Funders' Network, the day-long conference was organized in response requests from participants in last year's SouthCoast Meet-the-Donors Forum. According to Tener, aligning work more strategically across organizations and sectors can enable “collective impact” greater than any one organization can create alone. She used the first three hours to explore how to make these networked approaches work, giving examples from various contexts such as local food systems, renewable energy, and community development. Through an interactive exercise called World Café, participants then engaged in conversations to explore how our organizations and community can collaborate for collective impact and generate ideas and momentum. Click here for a ninety-minute video of the three-hour session. For more information, contact the Greater New Bedford Funders' Network at 508-748-2809,

(Top row) Jennifer Downing, Operations Manager and Program Officer for the New Bedford Fund of the Garfield Foundation introduces Beth Tener, Principal of New Directions Collaborative, who then led an interactive World Café style exercise in which participants engaged in conversations to explore collaboration for collective impact and momentum. (Row two, right) Following lunch, Alfonso Perillo, who heads up the non-profit practice at Edelstein & Company offered a presentation on Financial Management. (Row three, left) Vangy Auclair of the Children's Advocacy Center talks with Kristen Pavao of the Argosy Collegiate Charter School in Fall River. (Row three, center and right) New Bedford United Way President Michelle Neves Hantman makes an announcement, and Jeffrey Bilezikian of the Bilezikian Family Foundation in Yarmouthport addresses the group. (Bottom row) A panel of local donors gathers for a final Q & A session with Christina Bascom of the Marion Institute Board, Jennifer Downing, Jeffrey Bilezikian, Island Foundation President Denise Porch, Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts President Craig Dutra, and Nancy Kirk with a donor-advised fund through that Foundation.