Recap of “Questions Worth Asking” – Online Forum For Nonprofit Practitioners
Questions Worth Asking (QWA) is the signature online community program hosted by Philanthropy University. Each month, we invite an interesting guest speaker from the development sector to join a handful of Philanthropy University learners to field pre-collected questions collected from its thousands of learners. “Questions Worth Asking” Q&As is held on Google Hangouts and live broadcasted to YouTube with the intent to have them serve as a resource for connecting, sharing knowledge, collaborating, and inspiring.
As the “Host” for this online interactive program, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity and the trust my senior leadership placed upon me to be the public face of our brand. Personally, this was an amazing opportunity for me to ask questions and share the space with some of the most interesting thought leaders from the nonprofit field. During this period I featured academics, CEOs and nonprofit leaders who came on the show to share their expertise. What it equally rewarding was that I got to interact with some of the best social entrepreneurs from around the world who graciously shared their time and questions to this show. Undoubtedly, the program itself was a guru for me as I learned so much about the intersection of technology and international development. Some of the topics such as human-centered design, social entrepreneurship, and startup success offered a great wealth of information as well as sparked a curiosity to do more research on these topics.
It is with great pleasure, I Introduce the summary of these topics featuring then topics and guests.
Connor Diemand-Yauman, CEO of Philanthropy University. As the head of Philanthropy University and a thought-leader in the online education space, Connor answered questions about leadership, running a Silicon Valley start-up, and of course what it’s like working at Philanthropy University.
Muna Wehbe, Chief Executive of the Stars Foundation, explored on topics including grant-making to locally-led NGOs, girls rights and empowerment, and leadership.
Ben Mangan, Executive Director of the Berkeley-Haas Center for Social Sector Leadership, University of California Berkeley, shared his expertise on social entrepreneurship, how to set up a social enterprise, and leadership.
Swatee Deepak, “With and for girls” program head of Stars Foundation UK, graced the show to share her knowledge on topics including partnership building, fundraising, and competitive bidding, and using art for storytelling.
Beth Kanter, a master trainer and social media guru, graciously shared her years and years of experience in digital strategy for nonprofits, use of Networking for social change, and Crowd fundraising.
Kathleen Kelly Janus,Social Entrepreneur, Author, and Lecturer at Stanford University, shared her years of research conducted on nonprofit organizations and her findings from her latest book “ Social Startup success” covering topics on Measurement, Evaluation, and Learning, how to start a successful social enterprise, how to scale and diversify, and what makes a startup succeed or fail.
Ana Bel Campos, Product Manager, Exygy talked about how Human Centered Design could be a framework for a nonprofit organization to explore in its programming. Some of the other areas she touched are Design Thinking and User Research.
As the conceptual lead and the host for “Questions Worth Asking” I take this opportunity to thank all my guests and viewers for their unstinted support.