38th Annual Celebration Recap

We had a BLAST celebrating nonprofit success with 250 multi-sector leaders at the Center’s 38th Annual Celebration on October 31st!

This year’s venue gave our region’s top trailblazers – from government officials to foundation, philanthropic and nonprofit leaders – an opportunity to indulge their curiosity at Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. Attendees couldn’t help but mingle with the nation’s infamous pop culture, political and social icons … wax figures, of course.

After grabbing breakfast and snapping a few selfies, attendees convened to hear the leadership testimony of keynote speaker and American Express Foundation president, Tim McClimon.

Along with captivating the audience with stories of his leadership experience, Tim shared his guiding leadership principle for philanthropy: “Create the opportunity, then seize it.” 

Tim’s points are clearly seen through the introduction of the 2017 Phyllis Campbell Newsome Public Policy Award winners. These four public officials have gone above and beyond in partnership with the nonprofit sector:

  • Brandon Todd, Council Member, Ward 4, District of Columbia
  • Cheryl Kagan, State Senator, Montgomery County, Maryland
  • PFC LoQune Brown, Bladensburg Police Department, Prince George’s County, Maryland
  • Martin Nohe, Coles District Supervisor, Prince William County Board of Supervisors, Virginia

PCN Award winner Sen. Cheryl Kagan commented that “the nonprofit sector doesn’t flex it’s muscles enough. [The nonprofit sector] is an important part of our workforce and economy. Don’t be tentative or cautious in advocating for what you need to support your mission.” She applauded the dedication of nonprofit leaders committing their lives to serving the greater good and urged those in the room to “have some attitude and come visit.”

In addition to seeing leadership among public policy officials, we had the opportunity to meet the 2017 Gelman, Rosenberg, and Freedman Excellence in Chief Executive Leadership (EXCEL) Award recipients. Congratulations to these executive directors for their outstanding achievement in nonprofit leadership:

  • Erin Carlson Mast, President Lincoln’s Cottage
  • Natalia Marlow-Otero, DC SAFE
  • Herb Tillery, College Success Foundation

and our honorable mentions:

Mark Bergel, A Wider Circle

Paul Bland, Public Justice Foundation

If the attendees of Annual Celebration 2017 showed us anything, it’s that our area’s nonprofit leaders are not scared! Thank you to all who participated in this year’s event, making this the best nonprofit Halloween celebration ever.

A special shout-out to our presenting sponsor, City First Bank.

Thank you to our row sponsors:

Advantica | Calibre CPA Group, LLC | The Capital Group | City First Bank of DC | CohnReznick LLP | Cooley & Darling Insurance | Cornerstone Montgomery | DC Bar Pro Bono Program | DC Primary Care Association | Elevate | Gelman, Rosenberg & Freedman CPA’s | Giant Food | Global Impact | Goldin Group CPA’s LLC | Industrial Bank | M&T Bank | Mylestone Plans | PNC Bank | Roderick Johnson, Board Member | SC&H Group | Tate & Tryon | UST | United Way of the National Capital Region | Winston & Strawn LLP

Check out the #Center17 Storify for more thoughts from the over 7.3K individuals following the event #BeyondTheWalls.