The 2025 Frederick Nonprofit Summit: Building Blocks for Impact was a day of inspiration!
On June 10, 2025, over 200 professionals convened at Frederick Community College (FCC) for a day of learning, networking, and engagement. The energy of the day remained uplifting and energizing not only through the various workshop sessions but through the activities that were spread throughout the day. The Nonprofit Summit Committee started joking referring to the fun activities during the day as “Opera Moments.”
The morning of the 2025 Nonprofit Summit started with the Touching Lives Award presentation, led by the Nonprofit Alliance at the Chamber of Commerce. These awards honor and recognize the hard work of frontline, non-management staff. These nominees have demonstrated outstanding involvement and commitment to touching the lives of others. There were a 10 awardees in attendance and many invited their family members to celebrate with them, along with a huge crowd of their peers.
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Following the opening Touching Lives Award ceremony, keynote speaker Julie Gaver was welcomed to the stage. Well known for her high energy presentation style, Julie has been professionally speaking for over thirty years. A master storyteller, Julie uses a unique blend of experience, inspiration and theatrics to bring presentations to life. During her presentation, she weaved in a beautiful story of being inspired by a woman singing passionately in her car at a stoplight, as well as included tribute to the Touching Lives Awardees. Prior to the Summit, Julie had reached out to the awardees to learn more about them and blend into her speech the joys of their jobs. She brought cheer to the room and received an enthusiastic round of applause for her keynote. She, also, graciously contributed to the Opera Moments by donating a few copies of books she had written.
After the morning keynote with Julie Gaver, the attendees were invited to join two morning workshop sessions. These 50-minute sessions focused on a variety of topics including effective communication strategies, using data to convey your story, strategic planning, fundraising tips, logic models, and collaboration. These sessions provided a diverse array of information for nonprofit professionals at any level within the organization from board, to executive leadership, to administrative staff.
After two powerful and informative workshop sessions, everyone was ready to refuel with lunch. During the lunch hour, County Council Vice President, Kavonté Duckett.Kavonté’s keynote presentation centered around the importance of collaboration and how individuals need to be present to advocate for yourself and the needs of your organization. His words and motivation helped to move the audience into the afternoon sessions.
Before starting the afternoon sessions began, a
beautiful tribute was paid to Marlene Young, former Executive Director, and now Board President, of Delaplaine Foundation, Inc. After 50 years of service in Frederick County, she is embracing a new chapter in her life and retiring. The nonprofit community knows her well through her active engagement and support from her role at the Delaplaine Foundation, so it became a space of celebration with friends as she was presented with a standing ovation and a canvas photo of lilies in Carroll Creek from Michele Corr, new Executive Director at Delaplaine Foundation, Inc.
Once lunch festivities ended, attendees were invited to visit with Go Team Therapy Dogs before heading to two afternoon workshop sessions. The pups were delighted to see everyone and were tired after a bunch of friendly pets.
Once the final two workshops concluded, participants descended the stairs to find a table full of popcorn (donated by Warehouse Cinemas), candy (donated by Wegmans), and sodas. After grabbing snacks, attendees were welcomed back, the lights were dimmed, and a film “Frederick’s Impact Story” began to play. This short film montage was made b stitching together videos and media that attendees submitted when they registered. Together these clips highlight the amazing work of organizations in Frederick County.
As if all of these special moments and festivities were not enough, FIVE grants of $1,000 were raffled away at the end of the day! These grants were award by Delaplaine Foundation, Inc., PNC Bank Foundation, Helen J. Serini Foundation, and Rowan Digital Infrastructure. The lucky raffle winners were SOS Safe Ride Foundation, Second Chances Garage, Asian American Center of Frederick, United Way of Frederick County, and Empowering Community Leaders Network (ECLN). Congratulations to the winners!
Truly, though, everyone who attended the Nonprofit Summit was a winner! The knowledge learned and connections made are irreplaceable and will, hopefully, guide and inspire our local nonprofits moving forward!
Thank you to everyone who attended and supported the Nonprofit Summit. The enthusiastic and positive energy for the day could not have been achieved without the Nonprofit Summit Committee, sponsors, vendors, attendees, and the creative spirit of Joshua Pedersen.
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