4th Annual Nonprofit Business Summit

Connecting the Valley’s Nonprofit Sector to the Valley’s Business Community

 

A critical date for nonprofit executives: 

May 3, 2011 | 7:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. 

As we work through the challenges of the recovery, do not miss this opportunity to connect with Valley business leaders and participate in executive level, educational sessions that will enrich your organization's developmental and operational missions. 

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2011 Breakout Sessions include:

A Megaphone For Your Mission: The Necessity of Advocacy in Today’s Political Climate

The Hawaii state legislature is considering repealing tax exemptions for nonprofits, potentially costing organizations millions of dollars. Nevada’s state government is considering imposing mandatory financial filings that would cause nonprofit professionals to spend more time on paperwork and less time delivering services. And similar headlines come across the wire every day. Now more than ever, it is imperative that we speak eloquently – and in unison – about the essential impact that nonprofit organizations have on the communities and people they serve. This interactive and informative session will equip and empower you to become an advocate for your organization – and the nonprofit community at-large.

Effective Board Development and Assessment

Having an engaged, motivated Board of Directors is the key to running a successful, sustainable nonprofit organization.  This workshop describes the entrepreneurial perspective of an organization, and the Board’s role in fund raising and leadership. The Board’s role in annual fund programs including special event fundraising, major gifts, board/staff solicitations, sponsorships, and in-kind goods/services will be covered in this workshop. 

Diversified Funding Resources / Earned Income 

A workshop for enterprising nonprofits. What are social entrepreneurs doing to solve social problems? Learn about earned income models for tax exempt, for profit and hybrid social enterprises. With social entrepreneur, Karl Gentles, executive director, Back to School Clothing Drive, and social enterprise consultant, Gayle Pincus, discuss emerging sustainability models, social venture philanthropy, and how business thinking shapes solutions to society’s challenges. Open your eyes to new revenue-generating ideas, upcoming learning opportunities, and how to apply them to your organization!

Leveraging Volunteers in the New Normal

Thoughts on Volunteer Management for 2011 & Beyond:  This interactive and informative session will equip you to recruit and retain quality volunteers for your organization, including best practices on episodic, skills-based, project-focused and long-term volunteers. You will walk away energized to build and maintain an highly engaged corps of folks dedicated to helping you realize your mission.

Making the Ask:  Corporate Funding 

You will receive information and practical tips on not just 'how to ask', but how to develop a great relationship with corporate funders.  You will hear more about the specifics of effectively approaching organizational funders.  The business community's needs as related to their Corporate Citizen priorities will also be covered.  In the second half of the session you will hear directly from a panel of corporate funders sharing their perspectives and advice and responding to your questions. 

Making the Ask:  Individual Funding 

(Larger Organizations with Mature Programs) – This session will delve into the critical elements necessary for fundraisers to build long-lasting individual relationships and is focused on those nonprofits that have a mature individual giving program.  This interactive session will explore concepts of total donor value and experience, communication techniques and persuasion as well as how to work with donors on principal and planned gifts.  Participants will leave the session with a deeper understanding of the complexities surrounding donor behavior that will translate into fully growing the donor relationship.

(Small to Medium Sized Organizations) –  This session will explore the fundamentals of individual giving, with a focus on tips and techniques for nonprofits with new or less developed individual giving programs.  This interactive session will explore ideas on how to build an individual donor base, techniques on building relationships and making solicitations, and stewardship to grow gifts.  Participants will leave the session with ideas for building or enhancing their individual relationship building skills for long-term results!

Programming for Collective Impact:  Effective Collaboration for Social Change

In today’s environment there is inordinate pressure for nonprofits to collaborate in program provision, and while there are many successful partnerships that have varying impact in our community, there are also those that are not successful due to lack of shared goals and shared accountability.  Attend this interactive session to learn how organizations, coalitions and leaders can come together to develop community wide programs to effectively drive large-scale social change via cross sector-coordination, shared outcomes, shared results driven decision making, shared resources and shared accountability among participating organizations.
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I attended the following 3 breakout sessions:

Effective Board Development and Assessment

Diversified Funding Resources/Earned Income

Making the Ask: Individual Funding (Small to Medium Sized Organizations)

I will talk about what I learned from each of these sessions in three separate posts. The Summit began with a General Session featuring a panel discussion on corporate community relations and dealing with today's issues. For the sessions I was unable to attend (wish I'd had clones or staff to attend the other ones), there were key points to note.


Leveraging Volunteers in the New Normal

~ Volunteer Recruitment - without volunteers, most nonprofits would cease to exist or would otherwise suffer a drastic reduction in capacity to serve communities and achieve the mission of the organization. Recruitment is the first step in securing volunteer participation in your national service program.

~ Volunteer Scheduling - The you plan your service projects will significantly affect the success of your volunteer recruitment.

~ Volunteer Retention - The best way to increase your volunteer base is to retain current volunteers. Retention is simply a matter of making volunteers feel good about themselves and their service. It includes motivating volunteers before the project, engaging them during the project, and leading them to reflect on the project.

Programming for Collective Impact: Effective Collaboration for Social Change

~ Collective impact is "the commitment of a group of important actors from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem".

~ The 5 conditions of collective success are:
~ Common Agenda: collective impact requires that all participants have a shared vision of change.
~ Shared Measurement System: agreement on the ways success will be measured and reported.
~ Mutually Reinforcing Activities: all participants are not required to do the same thing, but are encouraged to undertake the specific set of activities at which it excels in a way that supports and is coordinated with the actions of others.
~ Continuous Communication: to develop trust and create a common vocabulary.
~ Backbone Support Organization: dedicated staff who can plan, manage, and support the initiative.


Making the Ask: Corporate Funding

~ Relationship building first and foremost.

~ Think about and plan for the connection between your organization and the corporation by viewing the relationship from the corporation's standpoint as much as possible.

~ Be flexible!

~ Do what you say you will do.

~ Go above and beyond!

A Megaphone For Your Mission: The Necessity of Advocacy in Today's Political Climate

~ Storytelling is Key - People don't buy how you do it, they buy why you do it. Tales about your organization should be Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credible, and Emotional Stories (SUCCESS)

~ Portrait to Landscape - Tell personal stories that tie into a bigger picture.

~ Know Your Rights - If you're not at the table, you're on the menu.

All in all, this Summit was information overload for me, but it's stuff I need to know. I feel like I'm going to be so prepared when the time comes. And wherever their are handouts, I'm snatching them up and adding them to my Nonprofit GuideBook.