7 social impact Meetup groups you should join

Hey, social impact orgs — don’t forget about the “social” part of that title.

By that we mean that it’s time you got out of the office — out of your silo — and got mingling with likeminded folks. In the interest of fostering community, here are seven Meetup.com groups we think you should be aware of. See you at happy hour.

• Dollars Making Sense: Philly’s Nonprofit & Fundraising Group — Organized by social good-focused creative agency Here’s My Chance, this group focuses on fundraising, leadership development, showing impact — all topics related to improving your nonprofit. (Yep, that’s columnist Lansie Sylvia as the organizer.) Unfortunately, HMC’s next event, a panel about the “complexities of women’s leadership,” is hella sold out.
• Philadelphia Nonprofit Development Meetup — As we reported about this group’s launch last month, Nonprofit Development is all about sharing best tech-related practices for nonprofits, à la an “open source mentality.” The group’s next hangout will cover choosing the best content management system for your organization on Monday, March 28.
• OpenAccessPHL — OAP is made up of professionals from a diversity of fields who are interested in making city data more transparent as well as making Philly “a better place to live, work and play through effective design/deployment of technology.” In February, for instance, we got an update about the city’s efforts to make its new website more user-friendly. In January, we heard from a panel of women in tech. OAP’s next meetup, focusing on neighborhood revitalization, will be Friday, April 1.
• Young Involved Philadelphia — Philly’s an awesome city for millennials, and YIP aims to keep it that way by fostering civic engagement in residents ages 22 to 35. See: its annual State of Young Philly series. There aren’t any upcoming events listed at the moment, but YIP hosts “Get Involved” onboarding happy hours regularly.
• Philly Accessibility Forum — This group is all about making technology accessible for all potential users, regardless of their abilities. The next two events it’s touting are a hackathon hosted at the PMA this weekend and The Accessible World conference hosted by EvoXLabs at the end of April.
• Net Tuesday Philly Meetup — As we’ve seen with the prevalence of such groups, tech and social impact are becoming more entwined and both influence the other. Net Tuesday hosts hangs on the first Tuesday of every month about best tech practices for social changemakers. You just missed the “Data-Driven Storytelling” meetup, but check back soon for April’s event.
• Generocity’s Philly Social Impact Meetup — So, we’re obviously biased here. (We’re last on the list, OK?) As perhaps you’ve read on this site, we host monthly events featuring community leaders who offer actionable advice about issues all impact orgs struggle with. Last month was diversity and inclusion; this Wednesday, it’s moving mission into policy. April’s will be replaced by our first jobs and engagement fair on Tuesday, April 19.