Have you ever received an email that immediately struck your irritation chord triggering a strong reaction within you? Ever replied to this type of email too quickly – and wished you had written a more thoughtful reply? Or know others that you supervise who have replied too quickly? Learn how to use targeted strategies to untangle your emotions, regain your balance and respond rather than react when you find yourself triggered from emails and/or conflict situations. Strategies are applicable both professionally and personally.

Participants will be able to:

• Choose a response to conflict versus using reactive actions
• Find more balance and clarity with their own “triggers”
• Take away new strategies to use immediately
• Shift from furious to curious about the intention behind the triggering words

Audience

All job types and skill levels

Cyber-attacks present a serious risk to all business entities including nonprofit organizations. While leveraging today’s technology offers new ways for businesses to create value, the constant connectivity and data sharing also creates new opportunities for information to be compromised. We will explore some of the more notable developments in the battle to combat cyber-risks.

This session will provide an overview of the current threat landscape, especially how it pertains to nonprofit organizations. We will discuss the various types of cyber-attacks and the potentially devastating effects on an organization should it become a victim.

While the threat is real, the good news is that there are tools available that can help an organization mitigate the risk. We will discuss the importance of practicing cyber hygiene as well as best practices and necessary steps towards preventing cyber-attacks.

The goal of this workshop is to further educate participants on the current threats we see and the potential damage to the organization. One of the most important elements of a strong security strategy is ongoing employee education. In describing the threats, we will review some basic "do's and don'ts," that all employees need to be aware of in order to avoid facilitating a cyber-attack.

Participants will:

• Walk away with a deeper understanding of the cyber threat they are facing,
• Better understand the importance of having a strong security policy and plan
• Lean about steps that can be taken immediately to improve their security posture
• Learn about tools and services available to further protect the organization from cyber-attacks

Audience

All job types and skill levels

Perhaps one of the most difficult – yet fulfilling – roles in the nonprofit universe is that of the board chair.

Unlike other leadership positions, the board chair’s goal is to facilitate the success of a group of other leaders to govern and make sound decisions as a whole, not as individuals, and on behalf of an organization they do not work for and are not involved in the day-to-day operations of.

In addition, there is only one employee the board oversees and your job is to partner with this employee to develop the board’s highest potential and keep their focus on governance, strategy and fiscal soundness.

It’s a heady task, one that calls for skillful facilitation, high-level strategic sensibilities and a keen sense of how to build a dynamic team.

This workshop will involve case studies, interactive discussion and the sharing of resources and tactics to advance the skills and knowledge of executive directors, board chairs and future chairs.

Audience

Board Chairs, Future Board Chairs and Executive Directors

For organizations starting their first development program or those who want to expand upon an existing one, it’s critical to understand where to apply resources and what’s most important to a successful program. Too often, organizations focus solely on bringing in more money, rather than building the relationships that are critical to both short- and long-term sustainability.

This session will:

• Provide participants with an overview of all of the elements of a development operation
• Discuss which ones are most critical to have and why
• Dive into some of the lesser-known factors that make some programs more successful than others

Participants will:

• Learn how to integrate fundraising throughout their organizations.
• Understand why it is important to ensure that their fundraising program is centered around people rather than money and how to leverage that for successful philanthropic engagement.
• Learn what makes up a solid development program, including all program elements and tools, but especially how relationship-building and story-telling serve as the framework through which all fundraising should happen.
• Take away specific information about how to launch and build a good program
• Understand the critical things to implement and how to integrate the development operation throughout the organization

Small or start-up organizations will have a road map of what to put in place as they initiate fundraising for the first time, and more established organizations will understand what they need to build upon in order to be more successful in raising money.

Audience

Executive directors, development directors and board members of small- and mid-sized organizations

This workshop will help you thoughtfully craft messages leading up to and after the election, ensuring you address the critical issues your donors are thinking about while still remaining bi-partisan. We will also discuss donor behavior and motivations surrounding a political year and what your nonprofit can do to ensure a successful Annual Appeal after the election outcomes.

Participants will leave with:

• A framework for storytelling in 2020
• A list of the top things not to do when fundraising in an election year
• Insight into donor behavior in 2016 and what we can expect in 2020
• Ideas on how to stay true to your mission while also attracting new funds
• The ability to craft bi-partisan messages leading up to and after elections

Audience

Development Directors, Marketing staff and Executive Directors, with any level of experience in small to mid-size organizations.

One of the single most important factors in the success of a nonprofit is the ability of the Board to be engaged, dynamic and adaptable. In order to think beyond traditional governance to ensure organizational viability, an engaged Board builds clear plans and remains focused on three primary roles: Strategy, Financial viability, and CEO oversight. This type of Board demonstrates the correct balance between support, particularly in strategy and development, while recognizing that the operation of the organization rests with the CEO and staff.

This session offers 3 methods, each applicable to unique organizations, [KW1] of increasing Board engagement to achieve greater impact. This includes how to:

• Establish clearly defined roles,
• Shape focused agendas
• Improve communication to strengthen the foundations of teamwork.

Participants will

• Master key strategies in working collaboratively to establish roles, responsibilities, and level of engagement while building a governance structure that is more focused and effective
• Have action items specific to their organization that they can take back with them

Audience

Any CEO/Executive Director, staff member who interacts with the Board, or member of the Board. Concepts are applicable to any nonprofit regardless of size or focus.

Marketing today is complex and can feel overwhelming, particularly with the budget and staff size of a nonprofit. This workshop gives you a new way to think strategically about your U.S.P. (unique selling proposition) and targeting your priority audiences. We’ll discuss how to focus that never-ending marketing to-do list into a doable plan that produces results.

In this workshop, participants will:

• Hear about best practices of nonprofit communications planning and marketing
• Gain insight into the Behavioral Public Relations Model to help you with methods for triggering desired behaviors from your most important audiences – including your most important ambassadors, your employees and Board members
• Discuss the differences between goals, objectives, strategies and tactics
• Start thinking about tactics that drive behavioral results instead of adopting marketing strategies because “everyone else is doing them”
• Explore the important role of research in enabling you to plan effectively and evaluate your success

Audience

All job types and skill levels

The Sabbatical Program is a cost-effective way to develop leadership at all levels, improve organization resilience and retain talented staff. In this workshop, participants will have the opportunity to hear firsthand from the Community Loan Fund how the program works including the design and implementation of the sabbatical policy. There will be opportunity to interact with colleagues who have taken or covered for colleagues and explore how to prepare for a sabbatical to achieve maximum results for the organization.

This program is an opportunity to build bench strength in the organization because while the employee is out on sabbatical getting recharged, those covering the sabbatical are learning new skills and getting crossed trained, which in turn strengthens the organization. This is a win-win for the organization and its colleagues.

Participants will learn how to:

• Make the case for this personnel policy to your board
• Identify what problems it can solve
• Hear about why it’s even better for the organization than it is for the staff

Participants will see how this program can be a tool that can help develop and retain talented employees.

Audience

All participants could benefit but ideally ED’s and CEO’s – decision makers; it could also be someone from the organization who is not a decision maker that can take it back as an idea for their organization.

The most common complaint from nonprofit development staff is that they don’t have enough time – and much of that time is spent on relatively unproductive activities. Often, we do things this year because we did them last year, and we’ve lost track of why. This is especially true of special events, which, when managed correctly, serve an important purpose, but can take on a life of their own, create stress, dominate your calendar, and yield paltry results.

You’re not the only one feeling this way. Your donors, too, feel harried by all your events. They have become transactional customers of yours, and not your partners and friends. Meanwhile, they are sending their larger gifts to organizations that have figured out how to develop real relationships.

This workshop will help you analyze your own development program, to slay the “events beast” that’s eating you alive, and to focus on the kinds of activities that will yield stronger short- and long-term results. You’ll have a better sense of where you’re going, and how to gain some traction for those first difficult steps in the right direction.

Participants will:

• Gain the tools (and the courage) to analyze their development activities and take steps to streamline/reconfigure them.
• Explore the true costs of fundraising events including the cost of what’s NOT being done because of the time demands of the event.

Audience

CEOs, development directors, development staff, board members, and perhaps communications and finance staff from organizations of all sizes.

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

• Understanding the broad, 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 in a very uncertain and rapidly changing world

The workshop 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.

This workshop is designed to provide both an overview and a taste of scenario planning. Participants will come away with a conceptual understanding of the purposes and benefits of scenario planning in an uncertain world, a basic recipe for conducting a scenario planning process, and a little bit of practice in "Imagineering" the future.

Audience

The ideal audience is a mix of board members, organization leaders, and staff from any size organization, including small-, mid- and large-size organizations whose missions and strategies are subject to periodic reappraisal due to ever-changing external factors. Audience members should have an interest in organizational governance and strategic thinking.

Nonprofits often think their good works speak for themselves. But that is not always the case. Marketing for a nonprofit is just as essential as it is for any for-profit business. We are exposed to hundreds of marketing messages every day—in print, online, just about everywhere. How can your organization stand out and get the attention you need? How can you create messages that motivate donors and other key stakeholders? By the end of the workshop, you will better understand how to identify your target audiences, develop compelling messages, and create a brand that stands out.

This workshop covers:

• Positioning strategy and branding
• Defining and understanding your intended audiences
• Developing clear and consistent messaging that sets you apart
• Creating a messaging guide which specifies audiences, behaviors, and key messages
• Using the messaging guide to gain consensus from staff and board
• Using a messaging guide to produce downstream marketing content

Participants will be able to:

• Conduct a positioning exercise with their team
• Identify target audiences or segments
• Understand how to create concise messages per target audience
• Implement a communications “audit”
• Develop a plan to update their communications

Audience

This workshop is designed for nonprofit executive directors, marketing directors and development directors in small to mid-sized nonprofit organizations. It will also be appropriate for any communications professional responsible for developing marketing content and programs.

To be a financially strong and sustainable organization, a nonprofit needs board members and staff to take ownership and responsibility of the fiscal health of the organization. For many board and staff leaders, we took on the role  because we love the mission of the organization, butfinancial statements are something that we rely on the finance director and the CPA on the board to understand. Attend this presentation to lose your fear of financial statements and gain skills to add to the long- term financial well-being of your organization.

This fast-paced, interactive presentation will cover key topics including:

• Best practices for reading and using financial statements
• Why you should care about the financial statements
• What each part of the financial statements tells you
• Understanding the Form 990
• Best practices in corporate governance
• Key questions to ask the auditor and/or financial professional
• How to be involved when your expertise isn’t finances and accounting.

Participants will:

• Gain knowledge of key concepts related to understanding financial statements, internal controls and their fiduciary duties as it relates to the finances of an organization
• Leave with an understanding of questions they should be asking and how to evaluate the responses to those questions

Audience

Board and staff leaders seeking deeper understanding of nonprofit financials.

This workshop will provide an overview of the accounting changes agencies need to be aware of in 2020. From the auditing perspective, presenters will reflect on lessons learned from the implementation of the not-for-profit reporting standard, discuss what’s happening now with regard to revenue recognition, and look to the future and the implementation of the new lease standard. Presenters will share perspectives from the tax side, addressing "red flag areas" on the 990 as the IRS continues to hone their data driven approach to audits. In addition, they will discuss unrelated business income, and take a deep dive into the area of lobbying vs. political expenditures.

Audience

Executive Directors, finance staff and board members

As competition for engaged donors increase, nonprofit leaders must look beyond the tactics of donor relationship building and become adept and creative at establishing a community culture in their donor base and nourishing organic growth. This workshop provides the best practices to shift their approach. Participants gain insight into the five elements for sustainable engagement that are essential to founding and growing a reliable community of donors- People; Shared Purpose; Shared Experience; Shared Resources; and Trust. We will discuss, explore, and then develop our own understanding of the five essential elements in community development, as well as identify and problem solve on a case for improvement.

Participants will:

• Be able to identify and articulate the ‘why’ behind the five elements of a sustainable donor community
• Learn how to identify and develop meaningful and measurable aspects of their community that match the five elements.
• Be guided through the proper application or optimal effectiveness of each element through group case study and problem-solving
• Learn how organizational departments can better work together to align department goals and enhance the community experience while growing engagement for the organization.
• Learn how to create an action plan to ensure that the goals for the donor community elements stay alive and vibrant.

Audience

Development staff, Executive Directors, and board members with some experience in development