The 2007 Independent Sector Annual Conference in Los Angeles was our biggest ever, bringing together over 1,000 leaders from the nonprofit community.

Participants representing more than 500 diverse organizations exchanged ideas and solutions on topics such as communicating the value of our work, building a strong staff team, profiting from partnerships, and increasing civic engagement.

Highlights from the 2007 Annual Conference include:

What Do We Stand For?
“I stand before you today to argue against parochialism, against a form of specialization that disconnects us one from the other. To serve our missions, to serve the world, we must serve one another,” stated IS President and CEO Diana Aviv during her opening keynote address on how charities' and foundations’ responsibility to create a vibrant, compassionate society must extend beyond fulfilling their individual missions to building the entire nonprofit community.

National Forum
Participants debated -- and voted on -- which issues the nonprofit community might improve together in 2008 and beyond, in areas such as strengthening our organizations, increasing voter participation, and addressing problems facing American society.

A Conversation with Wade Henderson
Wade Henderson, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference for Civil Rights, examined the past, present, and future of the struggle for equality by responding to questions from moderator Alberto Ibarguen of the Knight Foundation and from audience members.

A Changing America: Bridging the Divide
A diverse panel of speakers responded to challenging questions from former IS board member Hodding Carter on how to we can work together on topics such as racial and ethnic diversity and disunity; economic opportunity and inequality; political polarization; and religious and cultural divides and opportunities.

The Honorable Antonio R. Villaraigosa, Mayor of Los Angeles
Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa implored leaders from nonprofits, businesses, and government to innovate together in creating social change.

Out with the Old, In with the New?
Five panelists representing the nonprofit community and the media nonprofit leaders analyzed how to combine old and new approaches to complex community problems.

John W. Gardner Leadership Award Dinner
After receiving the Gardner Leadership Award in recognition of four decades of creating opportunities and building civil society, Ford Foundation President Susan Berresford spoke about her hopes for the future of the nonprofit community.

View the video and program tribute to Susan Berresford | Read her remarks on accepting the award.

CEO Summit: Chief Executive Officer, Chief Storyteller
Leaders from IS member charities, foundations and corporate philanthropy programs helped each other develop their organization’s most compelling stories in a special session led by nonprofit communications expert Andy Goodman.

Public Policy Action Institute
Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA) of the House of Representatives’ Budget and Ways and Means Committees was one of the speakers who met with nearly 70 nonprofit community senior public policy advocates at the fourth annual Public Policy Action Institute. Special to this year’s institute were sessions, based on research commissioned by Independent Sector, on how to make policy messages more compelling.