TANGO 2025 Building Bridges Educational Sessions
2025 Sessions & Speakers
Our one-day educational conference specifically for nonprofit organizations will focus on business-oriented sessions where you’ll learn strategic best practices in an array of areas to help your organization thrive. Our sessions will be presented by industry experts who either work directly with Nonprofits or are affiliated with a Nonprofit organization. We are proud to offer a variety of session topics for you to choose from!
We will have two simultaneous educational sessions running for you to choose from.
Sessions & Speakers
Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Registration, Breakfast & Meet the Partners
Registration and breakfast will take place casually from 8:00am to 8:30am During this time, you’ll also be able to network with leaders in the nonprofit sector, our TANGO Business Partners, along with our guest speakers and TANGO Members.
Conference Welcome
Beyond the Playbook: Turning Challenge into Opportunity
Strong organizations don’t happen by chance—they are built through intentional leadership, strategic growth, and a culture that supports both people and performance. Today’s nonprofit leaders face unprecedented challenges, from shifting funding landscapes to increasing demands on teams and services. Success in this environment requires more than technical skills; it calls for agility, resilience, and a growth-oriented mindset.
In this session, participants will explore practical strategies to align leadership behaviors with organizational goals and mission, strengthen culture, and drive measurable outcomes. Drawing on principles of business psychology and real-world nonprofit leadership, the discussion provides actionable tools to help leaders and teams adapt quickly, innovate, and thrive even in times of uncertainty.
Guest Speakers:
Grant Writing MythBusters: Inside the Funder’s Mind
Think grant writing is all about who you know or how many pages you submit? Think again. In this fast-paced, interactive session, join Melanie Lambert as she helps bust the most common myths about grants and puts you in the funder’s seat to see proposals from their perspective. Whether your nonprofit is small or large, new to grants or seasoned, you’ll leave with practical tools and fresh insights to strengthen your next application, including how to:
- Spot and avoid the most common grant-writing pitfalls
- Translate jargon into clear, compelling language
- Align your budget with your narrative to tell a stronger story
- Think like a funder when reviewing applications
Guest Speaker:
Thriving in Changing Times
The nonprofit sector is undergoing tremendous changes and threats to the viability of living out our missions in ways that have worked in the past. New strategies and approaches are required to adapt and thrive in these times. This session will help to layout the current state of the sector, outline various options for adapting and equipping participants to respond to the changes in ways that lead to better outcomes.
Guest Speakers:
Taking The Pain Out Of Healthcare!
Employer-sponsored healthcare is complicated and painfully expensive. In fact, for most nonprofits, it’s their second-largest expense. We’ve all heard that the US healthcare system faces numerous challenges across its spectrum, leading to higher costs without consistently achieving superior health outcomes.
This misalignment of expenditure and effectiveness is driven by factors such as administrative inefficiencies, fragmented care delivery, disparities in access, and a fee-for-service model that often prioritizes volume over value… Yet there is relief in sight!
Our panel of experts is leading the charge to disrupt the status quo. This discussion will cover the emerging innovations in healthcare that are helping employers and their employees better manage their care while reducing their spend.
Guest Speakers:
Matt Bailey
Vice President of Sales, Northeast
Garner Health
Monica Guinn
Vice President
NFP, an Aon company
Sharla St. Rose, DBA
Managing Director, PEO & Staffing Practice Leader
NFP, an Aon company
Ryan Thomson
Senior Sales Executive
Centivo
Navigating Policy Shifts: How Nonprofits Can Stay Ahead of Today’s Many Legal Changes
The legal landscape is changing every day and it is challenging to keep up with the changes that could impact your nonprofit organization. Our panel will explore the changes in the law and policy positions and how nonprofits can adapt to maintain their efficiency and business practices.
In particular, this session will provide updates on some of the latest changes (including, those actions related to charitable giving, Medicaid cuts, and federal funding) that directly affect nonprofits. We will address these impacts, and explore some potential strategies to address ongoing challenges.
Guest Speakers:
It’s not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens!
We all face challenges, but not too many people have faced the challenges Chris Waddell has faced. Chris’ story of resilience and drive reminds us of what we can achieve when we have great teammates by our side.
As a popular keynote speaker, Chris helps audiences become champions of their businesses, their worlds, and themselves. He has spoken to nearly every industry and every kind of audience—from Fortune 500 Companies and nonprofits to sales groups, venture capitalists and engineers.
In his special keynote session, Chris will inspire those in the nonprofit sector who face challenges and discuss ways to overcome them by viewing the challenges from a different perspective.
Special Guest Keynote Speaker:
Register Today!
Building Bridges is complimentary to TANGO Members and Nonprofit Organizations.
Non-Members pay a fee that goes to the
TANGO Foundation.
Thank you to our Partners
TANGO has put together a team of partners who can provide seasoned advice and counsel within many areas of expertise. We have learned there are often times when nonprofit organizations are faced with strategic or operational business decisions where consultation from an outside voice can ensure they are making the best decision for the organization’s future.
Strategic AI: Empowering Innovation in your Organization!
Join us for an insightful session on how Artificial Intelligence is not just reinventing Human Resources, but the entire organization. In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, every company needs to become an AI company. However, achieving this transformation requires a well-defined strategy and framework, with Leadership and HR playing a crucial role, no matter the size of your organization.
Key Takeaways:
Don’t miss this opportunity to explore the transformative power of AI across the entire organization and gain valuable insights to stay ahead in the evolving business environment.