Monday marked CNE’s 8th annual Philanthropy Day celebration. Another sold-out crowd of more than 400 philanthropists, nonprofit professionals, business leaders and elected officials packed the room to celebrate the amazing contributions the philanthropic sector has made to our community.
The opening remarks, by Executive Director Cristine Nardi and Host Committee Co-chair Chris Noland, noted that nonprofits are here for us – building a strong community and putting the “quality” in our quality of life. And CNE is our collective way to invest in nonprofits that invest so much in us.
Keynote speaker, Jennifer McCrea then took the podium and motivated both philanthropists and nonprofit practitioners, alike. Some key takeaways included:
- Donors are a nonprofit’s philanthropic partners in creating change. They bring more than just financial resources to a cause, but can open networks, share expertise, and lend talent to solve large community problems.
- Individuals have a complicated relationship with money because of the value system associated with money. When we replace the values of scarcity, power, and control with courage, justice, and change – these relationships evolve from transactional to transformative.
- We need to focus on our goals, which are the changes we hope to make in the community, not the financial cost of creating these changes.
And the thought that seemed to resonate deeply was that this work is a challenge of the head, the hands and the heart. We should be mindful that the work is what restores us and gives us the courage to continue.
Thank you to NBC 29 and The Daily Progress/Charlottesville Tomorrow for great coverage of the event.
We thank The Rimora Foundation and Wells Fargo for their sustaining support of this event. Their partnership makes Philanthropy Day possible.
Photography generously provided by Eze Amos Photography.