Reflections from the 2024 NetHope Global Summit: A Community Converges
The 2024 NetHope Global Summit showcased the transformative power of technology in the nonprofit sector, bringing together over 600 participants attending in person and another 700+ joining virtually from 118 countries. This turnout underscores the importance of NetHope’s mission: to empower nonprofit organizations through technology. Idealist Consulting’s dedication to supporting nonprofits aligns seamlessly with this mission, making the Summit a perfect opportunity to join others in brainstorming solutions, creating strategic partnerships, and nurturing a vibrant, global community.
NetHope’s unique format offered an immersive experience for all attendees, blending high-level, in-person interactive plenaries and solution-focused sessions with a robust online program accessible worldwide. This hybrid approach fosters innovation and collaboration, making it possible for NetHope members, solution providers, and global partners to engage deeply, no matter their location.
Key Themes from NetHope 2024: AI, Community, and Innovation
AI: Beyond Buzzwords to Practical Use Cases
One topic that dominated conversations this year was artificial intelligence. As the sector grapples with defining AI’s role, attendees expressed a need for tangible use cases that can be practically deployed to support humanitarian missions, such as automated translation services for refugee support, predictive analytics for disaster response, or natural language processing for beneficiary feedback. While AI undoubtedly holds transformative potential, it is often presented at a conceptual level. To bridge this gap, service providers like Idealist Consulting are committed to providing NGOs with actionable AI insights and straightforward AI preparedness strategies. In a recent webinar with partner Golden, I discussed the basics of AI, aimed at helping nonprofit leaders understand how to leverage AI for real-world impact.
Community: A Dynamic Shift and a Call for Inclusivity
NetHope's community showed impressive growth and inclusivity this year, with a fresh influx of organizations eager to engage. While long-standing members remain vital to the community’s foundation, there’s an exciting energy from newer attendees and smaller humanitarian organizations. With pressing global challenges, it’s more essential than ever for NetHope to nurture an inclusive environment, offering smaller NGOs the knowledge, vision, and support to succeed.
For Idealist Consulting this year’s Summit truly felt more like a community gathering than a traditional conference. Booth traffic at the Idealist Consulting space doubled from last year, sparking insightful conversations with peers and partners, partially thanks to our Impact Support Initiative designed to support NGOs in these challenging times. Our panel, with speakers from IRC, IRUSA, and World Food Program USA, was particularly memorable. The session was well-attended and buzzing with engagement (sign up for our monthly newsletter to get notified of our upcoming session takeaways blog post). Additionally, Salesforce’s sponsorship brought renewed energy, underscoring their commitment to social impact, and the evening event provided an ideal setting to relax, reconnect, and forge new connections.
Looking to the Future: NetHope 2025 in Amsterdam
With Amsterdam announced as the host city for 2025, the excitement is already building. Idealist Consulting will be attending, along with our Global Impact Team, to delve into our “last mile” solutions and support efforts for the NetHope community. We’re thrilled to continue growing with NetHope and look forward to seeing familiar faces and new participants next year. See you in Amsterdam!
Connect with me on LinkedIn to stay current on nonprofit technology trends and follow Idealist Consulting's latest innovations. As CEO and Founder, I aim to share strategies to help organizations maximize their social impact through smart technology solutions.
