Squire Patton Boggs hosted its annual Nonprofit Leadership Symposium in Washington DC. This year’s event, entitled “Purposeful Philanthropy – The Strategic Planning Imperative”, was held at Squire Patton Boggs’ Washington DC office and at The National Archives on Constitution Avenue on March 31-April 1.
The Non-Profit Leadership Symposium brings together leaders from numerous national and regional organizations and institutions from the public, private and nonprofit sectors to discuss and honor the invaluable contributions made by nonprofits to US communities, society and public life. This year’s program focused on two overarching themes: Purposeful Philanthropy – The Strategic Planning Imperative, and Civics, Civility and the Constitution.
Keynote speakers included Governor James J. Blanchard, Chairman and President, National Archives Foundation and Former Governor of the State of Michigan, and Ambassador Andrew J. Young, distinguished Civil Rights activist and Chairman of The Andrew Young Foundation, with senior partner Fred Nance, Global DEI Counsel at Squire Patton Boggs, also proving welcoming speeches. The symposium closed with concluding remarks from the Honorable Rodney Slater, senior partner at Squire Patton Boggs, who is Chair of the Squire Patton Boggs Foundation and Vice Chair of The National Archives Foundation.
Other principal speakers are Judge Curtis Lynn Collier, former NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Harvard Professor Rosabeth Mass Kanter. There also was a special segment of the program focused on the Delta Region: Its People, Its Promise, Its Potential.
On day two of the symposium, five Squire Patton Boggs awards were presented recognising non-profit leadership for 2023:
- Virginia Johnson received a ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ for her superlative and artistic acumen and visionary and vigilant leadership as a founding member, principal dancer and Artistic Director of the renowned Dance Theatre of Harlem;
- Ambassador Andrew J. Young received a ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ for his many years of service as a Civil Rights leader, elected and appointed official, community leader and philanthropist;
- Central Houston, Inc. received the ‘Non-Profit Partner of the Year’ for its unyielding and praiseworthy advocacy for the 1-45 Reconstruction Project in ways that reconnect communities, improve housing and spur economic development, while addressing the transportation needs of the fourth largest city in the country;
- Washington Nationals Philanthropies received the ‘Non-Profit of the Year’ award for its exemplary dedication to causes important to the DC Metro area, especially youth leadership and achievement through the love of baseball; and
- Renew America Together received the ‘Newcomer Non-Profit of the Year’ award for visionary and vigilant leadership to renew America and to educate future leaders through its Civility Leadership Institute.
Squire Patton Boggs senior partner Rodney Slater said, “Once again, I am delighted and humbled by the outstanding contributions to this year’s event and by the inspiration and commitment of our friends and colleagues engaged in making for a common better future. Above all, my congratulations to the well-deserved recipients of this year’s awards, Virginia Johnson, Ambassador Andrew J. Young, Kris Larson, President of Central Houston, Tal Alter, CEO of Washington Nationals Philanthropies, and General Wesley K. Clark, founder of Renew America Together.”