SmartSimple Attends the Florida Philanthropic Network (FPN) Statewide Summit on Philanthropy

On January 29th and 30th, the SmartSimple team made their way down to Orlando, Florida, to take part in the annual FPN Statewide Summit on Philanthropy Conference, held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

“It was great to be able to attend this conference for the third year in a row,” says Todd Lapin, Director of Strategic Accounts. “It’s a fantastic opportunity to meet new people and catch up with clients and friends I've known for years.”
Todd Lapin greets visitors to the SmartSimple booth.


Presented by Bank of America, the FPN Conference is an annual event aimed at bringing members of the Florida philanthropic community together to share new learnings, discuss issues, trends and ideas surrounding the health and vitality of “The Sunshine State.” Key experts and industry professionals shared their thoughts and best practices, including Aaron Dorfman of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, William A. Schambra of the Hudson Institute's Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal, and Phil Buchanan, President of the Center for Effective Philanthropy.

This year’s keynote speaker was Ambassador James A. Joseph, Professor Emeritus of the Practice of Public Policy at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. He has been leader in residence for the Hart Leadership Program and founder of the United States Southern Africa Center for Leadership and Public Values at Duke and the University of Cape Town.

“Ambassador Joseph is a phenomenal speaker and had some truly insightful commentary to share with the audience on the state of philanthropy today. It was a pleasure to hear his keynote speech,” continues Todd.

“I was also proud to see one of our clients, Richard Brown, as the featured speaker at the Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy dinner,” Todd adds. “Richard is Vice President of Philanthropy at American Express, and is a national leader in the area of non-profit leadership.”

A great turnout at the FPN Conference.
SmartSimple also participated in the Foundation Center’s session called “How to Get on the Map” – an initiative they’ve undertaken with the Forum for Regional Associations of Grantmakers to help improve the ability to access and share granting data – stay tuned for a separate post on this fantastic initiative!

In closing, Todd shares a quote from another of our clients, Barbara Ryan Thompson, Executive Vice President and CEO of Helios Education Foundation, which she posted on the FPN Twitter feed during the conference; “Is the philanthropic sector’s work inspiring our communities to dream? Is it inspiring us to learn and share? Is it inspiring us to do and become more for the greater good?”

“I think these are vitally important questions for everyone to ponder, no matter where they do good works,” concludes Todd.

Stay tuned for an upcoming blog on all the events SmartSimple will be attending in March, as well as information on our Annual Community Conference in Toronto, Canada, on April 15th!

Check out our website for our latest webinars and, as always, you can request a demo if you’d like to learn more about what SmartSimple can do for you.

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