Recap: 2018 Alumni Summit

Event Summary

This year, CSIS celebrated 892 CSIS Alumni: 375 participants in our residential Impact Houses, and 517 graduates of the Executive Program in Social Impact Strategy and our partner program in Arts Strategy. 105 alumni attended this year’s summit.

Helen Gym (Philadelphia Councilmember) opened the summit by calling attendees to action, with a reminder that true power is in the hands of the people.

Building Community: Alumni self-organized by 11 different impact areas – from education to social enterprise – to share knowledge, resources, and connections.

Improving the Odds: Based on the science of luck, attendees gathered in small groups for luck circles: Members took turns sharing a goal, roadblock, or request as other members offered connections or advice to help the speaker catch a ‘lucky break.’

Omar Woodard (Executive Director, GreenLight Fund Philadelphia) offered inspiration in his keynote:

CSIS Managing Director Ariel Schwartz introduced opportunities for alumni involvement, including mentoring Penn students, applying for an Exec Program teaching fellowship, or supporting CSIS’ 5 Year Anniversary Innovation Summit in 2019.

Nonprofit Leadership Hybrid Masters: Adam Roth-Saks presented the iNPL: a hybrid online / in-person masters degree in nonprofit leadership. Graduates of the Executive Program in Social Impact Strategy automatically enter with 4 out of the 10 required credits.

2018 Alumni Summit Photo Album

Eva Cruz (Crouching Tiger, LLC) documented the 2018 Alumni Summit and Executive Program Final Convening. Check out the event album.

We’d like to extend a special thanks to everyone who traveled for this event, to all of our hard-working and compassionate community members, and to our behind-the-scenes contributors: Eliza Halpin and Jordan Muse.