Spur Impact Association

The spur leadership initiative is designed to help activate and develop the next generation of leaders and is anchored by the millsummit, spur impact's annual leadership and professional development conference. The conference is designed to help connect leaders and inspire them to a bigger impact in their careers and communities. In 2024, there were more than 400 unique in person and virtual attendees from 14 states, including 36 speakers (75% of speakers were women or persons of color). The millsummit continues to be among the largest hybrid conferences of its kind in the country.

The spur connection initiative is designed to help educate, train, and build capacity for those working or volunteering in the nonprofit sector and includes the delaware difference makers and emerging leaders community (elc) programs. The delaware difference makers creates and facilitates networking and educational opportunities for those working or volunteering in the nonprofit sector, shares best practices, and otherwise helps educate nonprofit staff and volunteers on new or emerging industry trends or events. The elc is designed to train and connect these professionals and other leaders who are interested in philanthropy and volunteering and nonprofit board leadership with nonprofits seeking such individuals. Through 4 elc cohorts (40 participants), 26 (65%) have pursued board roles, and 19 (73%) have been successfully placed on 16 delaware nonprofit boards as of september 30, 2024.

The other spur impact initiatives include the nine innings of networking (spur networking) and the pursuit of health & wellness (spur wellness). The nine innings of networking are delaware-focused job fair and networking events. The nature of the event at the baseball stadium allows for a more relaxed networking and recruiting atmosphere between the prospective employees (and other attendees) and any employers attending the game. The job fair aspect of the nine innings of networking initiative is expected to be phased out with a more intentional focus on in-person and hybrid networking events throughout the year.the pursuit of health & wellness or spur wellness initiative is focused on promoting health and wellness in different ways to the emerging leaders and young professionals in spur impact's network as well as to the broader community. Although the health fair event is not expected to continue, spur impact has continued to develop its health in high heels women's focused networking event and also incorporates health & wellness topics into much of its programming throughout the year.