Join us for the Center’s Annual Member Meeting—an opportunity for our nonprofit community to come together, reflect on the past year, and look ahead to what’s next. During this gathering, we’ll share highlights from the Center’s Annual Report, key insights from our Annual Member Survey, and updates on how we are responding to member feedback to better support your work.
The meeting will also feature the panel discussion Navigating the Moment: Leadership in Today’s Nonprofit Landscape. Nonprofit leaders are balancing rising community needs, funding uncertainty, staff wellbeing, and growing expectations for advocacy and collaboration. Hear how their organizations are adapting, engaging their boards and donors, and sustaining themselves and their teams during this challenging time. Joining the discussion are panelists:
- Sarah Mikhail, Chief Executive Officer, Time Out Youth
- Dr. Keisha B. Spivey, Co-Founder & Executive Director, Awaken Church and Ripple Effects Group
- Laura Zapater, Associate Director, Centro Unido Latino Americano
We encourage organizations to invite staff and board members to attend and strongly recommend that your organization’s designated voting representative be present.
This event is exclusively for current Center members.
Center-Hosted EventABOUT THE PANELISTS:
Sarah Mikhail, LMSW (she/her) is Chief Executive Officer of Time Out Youth, Charlotte’s only LGBTQ youth community center dedicated to fostering unconditional acceptance and creating safe spaces for queer and trans youth. At Time Out Youth, Sarah shapes the strategic vision for the organization and helps the team and the young people that they serve bring their visions for creating inclusive communities for youth to life. As a social worker, she’s spent her career working with LGBTQ youth, fighting for access to safe housing, supportive families, and their right to exist fully as they are. She is passionate about this work and wants to use any opportunity she has to remove obstacles for our vibrant queer and trans youth. Sarah relocated to Charlotte in 2020 after spending 15 years in Brooklyn, NY. She received her MSW from New York University and has been an adjunct professor of social work at New York University and Hunter College. Prior to coming to Time Out Youth, Sarah worked at A Way Home America, a national initiative focused on ending homelessness for LGBTQ youth and youth of color, and at The LGBT Community Center in New York.
Dr. Keisha B. Spivey is a wife, mother, pastor, and committed change agent who passionately educates, equips, and empowers individuals to live life on MAX – in Jesus. She is known for her dynamic leadership, practical teaching, and heart for transformational impact in both local and global communities. A graduate of Liberty University Rawlings School of Divinity, Dr. Spivey holds a Doctor of Ministry, Master of Divinity, and Master of Arts in Christian Leadership. Her academic foundation, coupled with real-world ministry experience, uniquely positions her to develop leaders who are spiritually grounded and purpose driven. In addition to pastoral ministry, Dr. Spivey serves as a professor, author, certified life coach, and chaplain, bringing a holistic approach to leadership development and personal growth. Alongside her husband, Eric Spivey, she is the co-founder of Awaken Church and Ripple Effects Group, organizations committed to awakening purpose and creating lasting impact. Their work spans offices in Rocky Mount, NC and Kenya, reflecting a heart for both community transformation and global outreach.
Laura Zapater (she/her) is Associate Director at Centro Unido Latino Americano, a community-based organization serving McDowell County and surrounding areas of western NC. She has been with Centro Unido for more than five years, where she has developed a strong understanding of the needs and strengths of the Latino/Hispanic community in rural WNC.
During the executive director’s sabbatical, Laura served as Interim Executive Director, providing organizational leadership and guiding Centro Unido’s recovery efforts following the devastation of Hurricane Helene. She is deeply committed to health equity, community healing, and resilience, and also serves as a board member of Western North Carolina Community Health Services, a Community Health Center dedicated to providing high-quality primary care throughout the region. Her passion for community service began early, through volunteer work with local government in her hometown in Spain, and continues to guide her leadership today.