IMAGINE: Five Takeaways for Nonprofits

IMAGINE: A Better World, a Global Nonprofit Conference, brought together hundreds of nonprofits from around the world for a unique, interactive learning experience. Attendees got a look at innovative ideas and proven approaches, delivered across a variety of tracks and topic areas.

Sessions shared how technology can help scale mission impact, what it takes to evolve organizational culture, and why technology and culture together drive innovation. This year, the focus was on experiential learning and the transformative power of storytelling. Presentations also emphasized the importance of marketing and fundraising, with Amazon and nonprofit marketing experts speaking to email-crafting, social media strategy, design, and analytics.

Check out five takeaways from the event below:

Deserve to Dream

Dan Pallotta, a humanitarian activist and author, took to the keynote stage, inspiring nonprofits to return to the wild-eye dreams that drew them into nonprofit work. He raised big questions about the mission of nonprofits, including the importance of investing in advertising and marketing and reward structures for staff, and offered a new narrative that counts overhead costs as part of the mission. A first step: Encourage donors and board members to think this way. On how to create a community of caring, Dan says it’s the same way you create a community of consumption – you invest in it!

New AWS Nonprofit Competency

The AWS Competency Program highlights top AWS Partner Network (APN) partners who have demonstrated technical proficiency and customer success in specialized solution or industry areas. Within the public sector, we have Education Competency Partners and Government Competency Partners. Today, we are adding a third competency: the Nonprofit Competency. The Nonprofit Competency Program distinguishes our top technology and consulting APN Partners who are dedicated to, experienced in, and qualified to support the unique missions of the communities they serve. Learn more.

Enhance Your DR Capabilities with the AWS Disaster Response Program

Many nonprofits are called upon in mission-critical situations, when they don’t have time to waste on IT because lives may be on the line. The new AWS Disaster Response Program enables disaster response organizations access to cloud services at the edge, even in the harshest conditions. With the AWS Disaster Response Program, customers can focus on mission-critical functions, while AWS provisions critical data and applications, transports hardware to the base of operations, and implements deployable infrastructure based on customer need. Learn more.

Listen to the podcast interview with AWS Disaster Response lead, Maggie Carter.

Apply for the AWS Imagine Grant

Are you a nonprofit organization using technology as a mission-critical component of your projects? Are you looking for support to pursue your technology-driven goals? The AWS Imagine Grant is a public grant opportunity open to registered 501(c) nonprofit organizations in the United States, who are using technology to solve the world’s most pressing challenges. As part of the program, we are seeking proposals for pilot projects, proof of concepts, strategic technology planning, or existing programs that utilize technology in a new or expanded way. Apply today.

Experiencing Virtual Reality with GameChanger Charity

If you’re not familiar with the work GameChanger is doing to improve patient care in hospitals using VR and AR technologies, prepare to be amazed. Attendees at our conference were able to experience the same VR simulations that GameChanger is bringing to patients in hospitals around the U.S. GameChanger believes that VR and AR can play a powerful role in the healing process by providing access to a world beyond the hospital room.

Learn more about how AWS helps nonprofits solve the world’s most pressing issues here.