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Together We Will: 3 Questions & 3 Promises to Our Nonprofit Community

Charlie Imbergamo, MA, CFRE, a white man with greying hair and glasses wearing a dark grey suit and standing on a podium with the NLC logo on it
Charlie Imbergamo

The 2023 Nonprofit Leadership Conference was an amazing moment. As I looked out at the crowd of more than 750 nonprofit professionals and business leaders who gathered at the Hilton Tampa Downtown, I saw some of the most mission-centered and generous people in our communities. Each person who attended — whether in person in Tampa, virtually online, or both — represents the very best of what our sector has to offer. YOU are the driving force that fuels the good we do together.

A diverse mix of nonprofit leaders sit in a ballroom looking toward the stage

What is Possible When Nonprofits Come Together?

Being the change that changes everything takes more than one of us.

More than some of us.

More than a lot of us.

It takes ALL of us.

But what does that look like?

At the Nonprofit Leadership Conference, that’s the very question we sought to answer, as this year’s theme was Together We Will.

What is possible when we work in new and different ways together? For me, my dream is a regional social impact ecosystem of learners — nonprofits, funders, philanthropists, governments, boards, volunteers, and management support organizations — working more closely together than ever to provide the hope, healing and change our communities need.

3 Questions We Must Ask Ourselves

What will it take to turn that dream into a reality? I believe the path forward requires us each to regularly ask ourselves three key questions:

  1. How well am I managing my personal energy? What energizes or de-energizes me, and what do I need to commit to doing to be good to myself and those around me?

  2. How well do I manage the expectations I have of myself and those around me? Can I be honest with myself when I am overthinking, overworking or overloading others or being overloaded by others around me?

  3. How well am I managing new opportunities? Do I prefer to go together rather than going alone?

3 Promises to the Nonprofit Community

Here at the Nonprofit Leadership Center, we always prefer to go together, because we know we can do more together than any of us can or will ever do alone. In the spirit of collaboration, and as we consider what it means to go together with our community, the Nonprofit Leadership Center team makes these three promises to you, our nonprofit community:

  1. When you call on us, we will answer and grapple with you to imagine possibilities, offer support if appropriate, or point you in a direction to find the support you need.

  2. You will find in us companions on the journey of learning and growing — humans full of hope and aspiration, navigating our own imperfection with grace and grit.

  3. Lastly, you will find in us a joyful lot – a merry band of mission warriors. People with whom you can be honest and be yourself.

Indeed, we are better together. Thank you to every staff member, volunteer, nonprofit professional, funder and partner who makes our collective work possible, and who made the 13th annual Nonprofit Leadership Conference possible to remember that Together We Will.

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Charlie Imbergamo

MA, CFRE

A committed lifelong learner and a genuinely curious people-person, Charlie Imbergamo has 30 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, primarily serving in the education and pastoral ministry fields before transitioning to a career in capacity building, training and development. He was appointed the Nonprofit Leadership Center’s CEO in July 2023 after serving as director of strategic programs.

Before joining the Nonprofit Leadership Center, Charlie served as the founding president and CEO of the first Cristo Rey Network School in Florida, a college preparatory high school and corporate work-study program for underrepresented youth in East Tampa. Charlie has served in several executive leadership roles and on various boards of directors in New York, New Jersey, Texas, and Florida. He volunteers for various organizations around the community, serves on his HOA board, and currently serves on the BayCare Behavioral Health Board.

Photo of Charlie Imbergamo from the waist up, a white male wearing a navy blue suit jacket and green tie with grey hair and a beard

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