2026-10-23 Steady Footing: Preparedness for Nonprofit & Local Government Leaders Navigating Uncertain Environments - Stamford Campus

Steady Footing: Preparedness for Nonprofit and Government Leaders Navigating Uncertain Environments
With Laura McKechnie, CEO & Principal Consultant, Eileen Lawless, Chief of Programs & Engagement, and Kellie Burk, COO & Partnerships Director, Civic Safeguard Strategies

Friday, October  23, 2026
9:00 AM – 4:00 PM (30 minute break)
UConn Stamford Campus

Organizations across the nonprofit and local government sectors are increasingly navigating operating environments that shift faster than their internal systems were built to handle. This session helps participants build real-life preparedness rather than react to pressure as it hits. Drawing on decades of practitioner experience helping organizations in closing and closed civic spaces around the world, we walk participants through recognizing early warning signs and mapping their shared ecosystem. Then, they use scenario planning to explore what different plausible futures could mean for various stakeholders and their organizations. Because local governments and nonprofits often share the same operating environment without always sharing the same constraints or interests, participants build a common understanding of the risks ahead together. This is an important step even where their actual paths forward may differ because these two groups can work together for better results. From there, participants practice making real-life decisions in response to the futures they mapped out, individually and in coordination with other participants and facilitators, so they leave with a clear read on the landscape. The result is leaders who have rehearsed what a hard decision feels like before they are ever in the room where that decision making counts.