A Home Run Event: Learning in Community at Dodger Stadium

Across the social impact sector, nonprofits and funders are being asked to demonstrate results. But too often, those conversations happen through reporting requirements rather than shared learning, and data starts to feel like something organizations have to prove rather than something they can use.On February 17, UpMetrics partnered with the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation to change that dynamic. We brought 129 nonprofit leaders and funders together at Dodger Stadium for a day built around a simple but powerful idea: what happens when the sector learns together?

Setting the Tone

The morning opened with welcome remarks from Chaitali Gala Mehta, COO of the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation, who grounded the room in a spirit of shared learning and respect for the realities nonprofits face operating with limited resources.

Nichol McKenzie-Whiteman, CEO of LADF, then joined Drew Payne, CEO of UpMetrics, for a leadership conversation moderated by Stephen Minix, UpMetrics' VP of Community. Together they explored how leaders navigate cross-sector partnership, the evolving role of evaluation, and how the field can move from compliance-driven reporting toward something more useful: learning-centered impact.

The conversation also offered a closer look at how LADF approaches partnership and impact through initiatives like the Dodgers Dreamteam, demonstrating how strategy, community voice, and data can work together to guide meaningful outcomes. 

From Frameworks to Practice

Dr. Kerry Klima of the Dodgers Foundation walked the room through the fundamentals of impact frameworks - practical tools that help organizations clarify who they serve, what they deliver, and how communities are better off as a result.

One idea surfaced again and again throughout the day: the right framework doesn't just help you measure impact - it helps you improve it. When nonprofits and funders share a clear picture of goals and outcomes, data stops being about compliance and starts being about learning.

👉 Want to explore the frameworks we covered? Click here to download the deck.

Centering Nonprofit Voices

Some of the most grounding moments came from nonprofit leaders who shared honest reflections on their own work through a "lightning stories" session:

• Marcus Strother, MENTOR California
• Katie Eiler, Woodcraft Rangers
• Jenny Rizzo, JK Livin Foundation
• Rob Thelusma, Affirmative Athletics

The experiences they shared - adapting programs, listening to community feedback, building trust with funders, being given space to focus on nonprofit capacity building - reminded the room that the most important data in this sector has a human story behind it and underscored the depth of impact work happening across Los Angeles and beyond.

Learning in Community

In the afternoon, participants moved into hands-on breakout sessions where they drafted impact frameworks and explored how data can be translated into meaningful stories about their work.

These sessions created space for nonprofit leaders and funders to explore impact and think through the hard questions side by side rather than through formal reporting structures.

That's a rare thing. And based on what we heard afterward, it mattered.

What Participants Said

Post-event feedback reinforced the value of the format. Participants widely appreciated the discussion-based approach, noting that it created space for authentic connection and peer learning. Many also highlighted the breakout sessions as a strong part of the design.

At the same time, attendees asked for even more depth - including additional time for breakout discussions, more case studies, and practical tools for implementing impact frameworks.

That's not a critique. It's a signal. The appetite for this kind of hands-on, collaborative learning and problem-solving across the sector is real, and it's growing.

Carrying the Learning Forward

Events like this only happen through strong partnership. We’re grateful to the leadership and team at the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation - including Nichol McKenzie-Whiteman, Chaitali Gala Mehta, and Dr. Kerry Klima - as well as the nonprofit leaders who shared their experiences for partnering with us to create such an impactful learning space for organizations across Los Angeles.

Convenings like this remind us that when nonprofits and funders are given spaces where learning in community is nurtured and celebrated, the entire impact ecosystem gets stronger.

We're already looking forward to what comes next.