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5 Things We've Learned about Gatherings

  • Writer: Tyler Miscannon
    Tyler Miscannon
  • Jul 26
  • 3 min read

Northside Networking Nights, Coffee Clubs, oh my!


One of the best minds and texts around gathering is Priya Parker, The Art of Gathering. Priya Parker’s core message is that gatherings should be designed with purpose, not left to chance. It's about being intentional on who is in the room, guiding deliberate conversations, and close with clear next steps.


We knew at the beginning of starting River North in 2025 that hosting and attending gatherings was integral to our work. At first it was to do a few things; learn about great things happening in our region, connect with likeminded communitarians and seek to understand what our role we could play as an emerging community foundation.

There were a few fun ideas thrown around regarding intentional gatherings - it started with the name nonprofit in everything, but we quickly realised that it's not only not-for-profits we're looking to engage here...Consider how you name your gathering - something fun but inclusive to who you want there!

We want to connect with passionate residents who love where they live, business owners, intrapreneurs, government representatives, philanthropists and people who have no idea what is going on in the nonprofit sector but know a bit of purpose is missing from their lives and they want to contribute.

We began with Coffee Clubs which were naming a coffee place within a suburb that we would be at for an hour, anyone was welcome to come and there was no RSVP. We had CC's that had upwards of 8 people and some that only had one or two - these were great to begin those initial role conversations and here about people's passion and professional work. Now, we welcome members of our Founding Fifty initial donors who are actively participating with the foundation to host CC's in their suburbs!



Northside Networking Nights - now, coming back to Priya I'm not sure if she would approve but these nights are very purposefully extremely informal although very intentionally so! Invitations are sent out through our mail subscribers, Founding Fifty group, social channels and we do targetted reach outs to local not for profits, social enterprises, community groups, government representatives and others.


Everyone is greeted on arrival, and knows the only formalities are a welcome from River North, brief introductions (your name, suburb and passion/org your associated with). The idea is to maximise the time for connection and collaboration to blossom. We've hosted three so far in our journey at some wonderful local breweries (you should check out) -


SO for our learnings...


1. Collaboration happens when you intentionally mix sectors

One of the strongest observations is that some of the most valuable conversations happened because the room wasn't made up of only community organisations. Enabling cross sector/cross industry/all people from all walks of life collaboration is magic and a unique role of a neutral community foundation.

Learning: Diverse rooms create better conversations than sector-specific rooms.

2. People are looking for permission to connect

The popularity of the Coffee Clubs and Networking Nights suggests people were already seeking connection—they simply needed someone to convene it. We heard this anecdotally from attendees over the past year and even when only a handful of people attended, meaningful relationships and conversations emerged.

Learning: Community doesn't always need a big event—it needs someone willing to create the space.

3. Our region has incredible assets that are often invisible

Every gathering surfaced organisations, initiatives and passionate people that others in the room had never heard of. Whether it was environmental groups, social enterprises or arts organisations, there was always an "I didn't know you existed" moment.

Learning: The River North region is full of great community infrastructure, some of it still remains disconnected and hidden.

4. Storytelling is one of the fastest ways to build trust

The reflections repeatedly mention learning what people do, hearing their stories and understanding why they care. This also goes for us as River North sharing what we learn about and what we do (see this article ;)

Learning: Before people collaborate or refer, they need to know something's out there, then hear the stories first hand and build trust.

5. The role of a community foundation is to convene before it funds

One of the biggest insights seems to be about River North itself. Early gatherings weren't designed to launch projects—they were designed to listen, understand local priorities and discover where the foundation could add value. That listening has helped clarify your role as a neutral, place-based backbone organisation.

Learning: Sometimes the greatest contribution isn't providing the answer—it's bringing the right people together to discover it.

Boom - mic drop!

See you at our next Northside Networking night, events always live on our website!


Your neighbour,

River North


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