NEW WORKSHOP ADDED!
Growing without Bricks and Mortar: New Models to Scale Your Impact
Commercial coworking spaces, the for-profit equivalent of nonprofit shared space, have seen meteoric growth in North America via a very simple model: acquire more space, serve more tenants, generate more revenue, then acquire even more space… and on and on. With a lot less resources and a strong focus on social impact, what models might nonprofit centers consider for our own scaling? Hear how Tides Converge in San Francisco and Open Gov Hub in Washington, D.C. are both scaling their impact without more real estate.
Nada Zohdy
Open Gov Hub
Washington DC
As Director of the Open Gov Hub, Nada oversees all programs and operations of this $1M social enterprise in Washington, D.C., which supports nonprofits promoting government transparency, accountability and citizen engagement around the world. She leads the Open Gov Hub’s efforts to provide shared services (including coworking), and to facilitate innovation, learning and collaboration across the Hub’s member network of 40 organizations. In 2015 she received an MPP from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, where she focused on linking democracy/governance with social entrepreneurship/innovation. She also performed research on innovative nonprofit collaborations, published by the Stanford Social Innovation Review. Previously, she worked for the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED), where she created a program that supported a dozen local watchdog NGOs and think tanks in several Arab countries in the wake of the Arab Spring. She has also been a consultant with the World Bank and the Democracy Fund. Over the last decade, she has supported 50+ nonprofits in several capacities. These experiences fuel her passion for social impact and civic innovation, globally and locally. She studied International Relations and Arabic at Michigan State University and is a 2009 Truman Scholar.
Alexis Paza
Tides Converge
San Francisco, CA
Lexi is a fierce believer that the design and use of spaces are deeply linked to equity and has worked within the intersection of good design, the built environment, & the social fabric of communities for fifteen years. Currently on the real estate and operations team at Tides, Lexi leads placemaking and manages the collaborative infrastructure at Tides Converge San Francisco, a twelve building campus of 80 mission-aligned nonprofits and social enterprises. She also leads Tides’ collaborative workspace consulting, supporting partners who want to leverage their real estate for good. Recent partners have included Google.org, who opened the Google Community Space in May 2017 which now hosts hundreds of events and coworking sessions every month for over 700 Bay Area nonprofits. Her previous experience includes the Housing Industry Foundation, KaBOOM!, and Rebuilding Together Silicon Valley. Originally from western Maryland, Lexi has an MA in Social Service Administration with a concentration in Community Planning, Organizing & Development from the University of Chicago.