Last week, Eileen Greenlay attended the Social Innovation Summit on behalf of Dixon Center for Military and Veterans Services. This annual convening brings together purpose-driven business leaders, funders, community stakeholders, and impact entrepreneurs to share ideas and inspire collaboration to make systemic change in communities.
Major takeaways:

• Funders are becoming more strategic in their funding priorities. Non-profits may have to invest more time into their development efforts, but this could lead to long-term partnerships.
• Leveraging tools and innovation such as AI to measure outcomes and promote an organization’s work is important, but a good story will always be the best means to communicate impact.
• Systemic change requires flexibility. Remain credible, stay true to your values and start by making a small difference and grow from there.

By ensuring veterans were part of the discussion, Dixon Center engaged with several organizations as potential new partners to help us further our mission to improve the lives of veterans and their families.