Nonprofit professionals working in a local, regional, or national nonprofit. The organization must serve Philadelphia residents and have an office located in Philadelphia.

You can apply to the Academy online. Applications will close on Friday, November 14 at 5 p.m.

Our ideal candidate manages or runs a program within their organization and has the following qualities and attributes:

• A continued commitment to innovation
• A strong communicator
• An eagerness to collaborate
• A sense of ownership over a project or program

This program is suited to executive directors, program managers, and project managers. We will also consider applications from frontline staff interested in learning technical skills.

This program is for nonprofits who can’t afford to hire professional design, marketing, or evaluation staff and have to do it all on their own.

Candidates should be comfortable with common office technology and emailing, but do not need any advanced skills to participate in this course.

Applicants must submit a short problem statement with their application. In this statement, applicants will discuss a technology challenge that they currently face at work. A strong statement describes:

• Context to better understand the problem.
• Who the issue affects.
• Why is it important to address this problem.
• Current barriers to solving the problem.

Participants must attend all classes except for extenuating circumstances. If you know that you’ll need to miss more than one class, you may want to wait to apply next year.

Yes. Once final participants are selected, nonprofits must provide commitment letters for their employees. The letter should confirm attendance and ongoing support.

We encourage anyone applying to discuss the opportunity with their supervisor in advance to ensure that you can take the time during the workday to attend the program.

Yes. Nonprofits may have maximum two staff members apply and attend the course together. In fact, we encourage this! This helps ensure that the course can be translated into real practice.

The framework for this course is based on Jefferson University’s Innovation Curriculum and the changing digital landscape.

Students will come out of this course having learned specific innovation strategies as well as technology software programs, tools, and best practices that they can deploy to:

• Help improve their programs in the community.
• Collect meaningful data and share the outcomes and impact of their programs with their community, funders, and more.
• Tell powerful stories about their work using images and video shared through social media and their websites.
• Understand and leverage AI to work smarter not harder.

Each week presents a key theme, activities, and a tech lab to learn new technologies that will support your work. Participants will present their final projects during the last week of the course. The course framework includes the following:

1. Orientation
   • A Meet-and-Greet and level setting (or managing expectations) around the program scope, goals, and final project.
   • Tech lab: Tips and tricks of Microsoft and Google collaborative tools.
2. Introduction to Technology & Design Thinking
   • Reframing our problems to help improve the ways we integrate and use technology in our work.
   • Tech lab: Miro boards and concept mapping tools.
3. Data Collection, Survey Tools, and Asking the Right Questions
   • Learning how to gather the right data.
   • Tech lab: Survey tools such as Microsoft Forms, SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics, and more.
4. Data Analysis, Mapping, and Visualization
   • Translating and analyzing data to better communicate results.
   • Tech lab: Visualization tools with Microsoft Excel and Tableau.
5. Value Propositions and Business Models
   • Investigating decision-making processes to identify where and how your organization brings value to the community.
   • Tech lab: Collaborative flowcharts and causal loop tools in Miro and Figma.
6. Storytelling, Using Creative Media Tools and Communicating Success
   • Telling stories of impact to help reach broader audiences.
   • Tech lab: Visual and audio creation tools, social media channels, and AI persona creation.
7. Using Social Media for Maximum Impact in Public Communication
   • Communicating with the public using different methods.
   • Tech lab: Social media best practices with Adobe Express and Canva.
8. AI & “The Next New Thing”
   • Understanding and in-depth exploration of automation through AI and Large Language Models (LLM).
   • Tech lab: AI tools such as ChatGPT, OpenAI, CoPilot, and more.
9. Synthesis and Learning Networks
   • Presenting final learnings to the cohort using the technology tools introduced in the Academy.

Download the complete program guide

Mandatory orientation will be held Tuesday, January 13, 2026, at the City’s Innovation Lab located in the Municipal Services Building at 1401 JFK Blvd., Philadelphia, 19102. Lunch will be provided.

Formal classes begin on Tuesday, January 20, 2026, and happen every Tuesday from 12 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Jefferson University’s East Falls campus. The campus address is 4201 Henry Ave., Philadelphia, 19144. The course ends on March 17, 2026.

Upon finishing their final projects, participants will receive a SPARK Innovation Academy Certificate of Completion. Certificates can be used for personal or professional development opportunities.

The cost for the course is $2,500. Selected applicants will receive a full scholarship, paid by the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Innovation and Technology.

Lunch is provided on site at noon, and students will have about 30-40 minutes to eat and connect before class.

Participants are responsible for organizing their own transportation to and from class.

There’ll be two virtual information sessions in October to address any questions or concerns before the application deadline. Register for a session.

You can also email digital.equity@phila.gov with any questions.