Financials are difficult enough to understand, but the nonprofit sector has the added challenge of recording financial information so that their donors understand how their money is being spent. This workshop will break down the Statement of Activities and Statement of Financial Position as well as allocations associated with the expenses so that you can explain your nonprofit’s financials to your potential donors.

Attendees will walk away with a better understanding of what the terminology in the financials mean as well as how expenses are allocated in a nonprofit.

The #MeToo Movement has pushed sexual harassment back into the forefront and recent court decisions have clarified the obligation to prevent and effectively respond to reports of harassment. Organizations, including nonprofits, that fail to respond to the changing landscape risk distraction from their mission, loss of reputation and/or financial support and a significant damage award. This workshop will lay the groundwork for an effective response to reports related to employees and will address the issues associated with responding to the conduct of board members and/or volunteers who are not under the employee umbrella.

This workshop will bring organizational leadership up to speed on the current law, help them identify risk within their current practices and procedures and provide examples of practical steps they can take to minimize risk.  For example, attendees will be able to compare their current training and reporting mechanisms with those that were the subject of recent court cases. Attendees will also gain a better understanding of how to effectively respond to reports of harassment in the current context.

Many nonprofits focus on what their mission and message means to them, rather than the people they're trying to reach. How do you avoid making a video that your staff members all love, but that falls flat with your intended audience? In this presentation Chris will use examples of videos he's produced to help the attendees understand what goes into making a compelling video – or any communications.

Participants will leave this session with a better understanding of how they can use video as part of their communications outreach. Participants will be better educated about what goes into a video, the questions they may be asked (and should ask themselves) before considering a video and what their role is in the production process.

More nonprofits are turning to video to increase their brand recognition and marketing performance. Based on market studies, 82% of consumer web traffic will be video and by the year 2021, it is anticipated that digital ad spend will exceed $22.2 billion. Nonprofit marketers will benefit from understanding how to navigate video and video advertising and use it as an acquisition tool for donors and/or potential members.    

You will learn the components of a solid video strategy through an exercise on how to write a script, how to visualize the visual, and how to use video to tell your story in an inspiring and actionable way. In addition, you will learn about platforms to promote your video.

In today’s workplace, where time is a precious commodity, managers and leaders often believe they don’t have the time to help employees navigate conflict. More often than not, however, it takes more time not to address conflict than to constructively intervene. But before managers can successfully guide others in managing disagreements, they must be able to manage their own mindset and behaviors through centered presence, clarity of purpose, and skilled communication.   

This workshop presents a coaching intervention process to use with employees in conflict—a guide for managers, HR professionals, and leaders to coach conflicting employees back to a professional, effective working relationship, while simultaneously changing their lives for the better.   

Attendees will walk away with skills and practices to reinforce their ability to:

• Be calm and centered in conflict situations. 
• Manage their own emotions and those of others in order to help employees resolve conflict. 
• Know how to work with conflicting parties individually and when and how to bring them together. 
• Sense when employees are willing and able to move forward from the conflict

This workshop introduces participants to scenario planning as a helpful tool for:

• Understanding the broader and complex ecosystem in which each nonprofit organization operates
• Imagining plausible future worlds in which they will be challenged to find success
• Developing and implementing effective long-term strategies.

The presentation covers basic steps and questions that typically guide scenario planning processes and opens eyes and minds to the power of scenarios to heighten the impact of strategic planning exercises and to sharpen the ability to tell a compelling organizational story. Thoughtful consideration of the pressures, forces and events (collectively, the “drivers”) facing an organization enables identification of the critical uncertainties and their implications that will likely shape an organization’s future. Through an engaging and participatory process, this workshop will enable participants to begin practicing the art of scenario planning.

We live in a time where the rich are getting richer, the working and middle classes are slipping behind, and the upper-middle class has growing concerns with funding their education, healthcare, and retirement. What are the implications for fundraising? In the last 25 years we’ve moved from talking about the 80/20 Rule (where 80% of the money comes from 20% of the donors) to the 90/10 Rule. But are we really closer to the 95/5 Rule, and on our way to 99/1? How do nonprofits cope with this significant socio-economic shift?   

In this interactive session, we will discuss strategies for raising major money from those who have it, while still maintaining broad community support. Participants will come away with an understanding, first, of how the country is changing, and second, how to develop fundraising strategies that make practical and philosophical sense for their organizations.

Whether your nonprofit has just hired its first employee or you have hundreds, confusion often occurs between the roles of staff and the board. There are boards that have responsibility for day-to-day operations and, on the other end of the spectrum, boards that only attend board and committee meetings – having no interaction with staff or the operations of the nonprofit. 

This workshop will delineate and discuss the roles of staff and the Board of a nonprofit, how those roles differ, and how those roles may change over time – based on factors like the size of the organization and/or the life-cycle stage.  The workshop will also cover the responsibilities and legal duties of the Board of Directors, the role of outside legal counsel, and how to work with a Board member who is a lawyer.

Your back office is the brain of your business. Learn about the state of the back office today, challenges stemming from the mix of accounting and front desk operations, as well as how technology is helping to solve those problems and change the landscape. Which systems should you be thinking about?  How do you build them? Where do you start? 

After this workshop, attendees will be able to: 

• Better define and recognize the roles/responsibilities of your back office vs. front office 
• Have a proficient understanding of AI, and Bots  
• Outline where and how technology can fit into your organization
• Evaluate which tech solutions will work for your organization
• Save money, time, and personnel hours

With a focused brand strategy, nonprofits have an opportunity to connect with their mission, build strong relationships with key stakeholders and highlight their U.S.P. (unique selling proposition) for donors, sponsors and partners. Many nonprofits today say they have a need for “better branding” – but they are unsure what perceptions or misperceptions exist in the minds of their target audiences. Good branding is based on solid research, and therefore a key question to answer is:  are you known for what you want to stand for? This workshop will explore:

• The 4 steps to building a reputation
• Options for conducting “known for/stands for” research on a shoestring budget
• Techniques for defining and communicating your brand once you have established your U.S.P. and core messages

In August 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued an Accounting Standards Update that affects nonprofit organizations for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2017. 

The changes are meant to help nonprofits tell their story more transparently through their financial statements. While the changes are comprehensive, the areas most significantly affected are:

• Classification of net assets
• Presentation of expenses
• Reporting of liquidity and availability of resources

The time has come for all nonprofits to implement the new reporting standard. Join our presenters from BerryDunn to review how these changes, along with the new revenue recognition requirements, will impact your nonprofit’s financial statements. Take a dive deeper into topics such as:

• Determining if your grants and contributions are within the scope of the new revenue recognition standard and whether they should be accounted for as contributions or exchange revenue
• Exploring how the new liquidity and cash management disclosures will impact your financial statements