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presentation descriptions
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MORNING KEYNOTE - LIZ WALKER Small Nonprofits Can Address Big Problems: JourneyProductions and the Problem of Darfur |
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LUNCHEON KEYNOTE - STEVE GROSSMAN It ain't Beanbag: An Insider's View of Presidential Campaigns |
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CLOSING KEYNOTE - KIP TIERNAN Nonprofits: What we've learned |
SESSION I Workshops
MNN Action Session I: Public Awareness of the Nonprofit Sector
Dave Turcotte and Heather Hartshorn
Facilitators will discuss a plan for the promotion of enhancing the public awareness of the Massachusetts nonprofit sector. Some preliminary research by Lamberg and Associates under the auspices of Massachusetts Nonprofit Network (MNN) has been accomplished. Discussion points will include the messages we would like the public to receive, the most effective messengers, and the most effective message vehicles. Participants will be asked to share their own reactions and ideas regarding all three of these elements of the nonprofit public awareness campaign. Participants are asked to bring any available documentation or evidence regarding the public’s perception of the nonprofit sector.
Effective Practices: Building Your Nonprofit’s Infrastructure – Organization Culture: Oil or Sand?
Organizational development (OD) efforts often fail because existing organizational culture is not developed to support the new approaches and ends up more as sand than oil in the engine of OD. This workshop will present the parameters and relevance of organization culture and suggest steps that can be taken to assure it is developed to support new initiatives. Small groups of common nonprofits will discuss common problems and suggest solutions for consideration.
Event Planning Olympics: Who Will Take Home the Gold?
In challenging times, nonprofits are looking to fill in the missing pieces in their development plans or enhance what they already do to raise money. Often, a board or staff member will suggest adding a special event to the mix. What can you do to make sure that if you do hold a special event, it is truly a fundraiser, and doesn’t end up costing you money? This highly interactive workshop will be led by a facilitator, who will draw on her own experiences, as well as the experience of everyone who attends, as we share strategies to get the most “bang for the buck” out of a special event.
Funding Continuous Improvement Outcomes: Lessons Learned from the Trenches
The Institute for Nonprofit Development at Mount Wachusett Community College is a nonprofit support center, providing training, consulting, and mini-grants for nonprofit continuous improvement projects, while trying simultaneously to keep our own act together. We are learning powerful lessons about measuring real impact for outcomes in “capacity building” and collaboration—what happens when collaboration is forced and how we’ve attempted an environment of “organic collaboration”, partially by clarifying what it is we mean by “collaboration”. This funny, frank and interactive action session is an opportunity for us to share with you early results from our pilot program for funding social enterprise through peer-to-peer learning groups, including a model for long-term support in the pre-award, application and post-award period. You’ll come ready to share with us and your peers your experiences as a grantee or funder of a collaborative effort, eager to discuss trends in funding capacity building and/or collaboration, and willing to find enjoyment in the serious work of organizational development.
Looking for Leverage in All the Right Places
The purpose of this workshop is to introduce Systems Thinking principles and tools to help nonprofits leverage their resources more effectively. You will learn how to identify high leverage interventions, why complex systems often resist people’s best intentions to change them, and what questions to ask yourself and your constituents to ensure that you are making the best use of your limited resources.
Mission Driven Organizations: Growing your network to help build your organization
In this workshop, nonprofit leaders will have an opportunity to engage with themselves and with others about the many challenges and opportunities of growing your organizational networks in order to be able to expand and grow an organization. We will examine how the mission of an organization connects with their ability to reach out and create a growth plan and strategy and how new contacts and colleagues get brought into the organization.
New IRS Form 990 for Exempt Organizations; Things Every Practitioner Needs to Know
Nixon Peabody attorney Anita Pelletier will provide information regarding the history of the Form 990, the genesis for updating the form and schedules, a review of the core Form 990 and schedules, and a summary of recommended policies and procedures.
Nonprofit Leadership: Building Sustainability by Prioritizing on the Right Stuff, but How Do You Know?
Nonprofit leaders in our ever-changing economy are addressing dwindling resources and new challenges that were unthinkable even a few years ago. In order to build sustainable success, senior leaders have to know what is important to them, their business, and their customers in order to prosper and excel. In this workshop, you as a nonprofit leader will come to better understand your company as a system. We will aid you in creating a foundation to help you establish what’s really important to your organization.
The Real Value of Strategic Planning
Through a brief presentation, case studies and discussion, this workshop will explore why the term “strategic planning” strikes fear in the hearts of many executive directors and board members. It will trace the path of both successful and unsuccessful processes, with an emphasis on the holistic nature of all nonprofit organizational development challenges. Best practices and best use of volunteer leadership will be reviewed.
SESSION II Workshops
MNN Action Session II: Advocacy for the Nonprofit Sector -- Income tax ballot question, what issues should MNN take on?
Mr. Hunter will open the session with a brief review of recent and current Massnonprofit network advocacy efforts, in particular, the fight against the repeal of the state income tax (ballot question #1). He will outline the impact of question 1 should it pass, strategies for defeating its repeal, and ways in which participants can become engaged with the effort to defeat question 1.
Michael Weekes, who chairs MNN’s public policy committee, will then solicit ideas from participants regarding the public policy initiatives that MNN should undertake in the upcoming legislative sessions, both federal and state.
Board Roles to Board Goals: Creating an Annual Board Work Plan
Join us for a highly focused yet interactive workshop about a simple yet powerful nonprofit board practice that could dramatically benefit your board – right away! Beginning with board roles, we’ll show you how to set board goals, empower board committees, and build an annual board work plan – fast.
Fundraising in a tight economy: Best Practices for Success
The notion of a high-performance nonprofit is an innovative concept in the field of human service management. It requires a new way of thinking, of leading and running our organizations. Yet the payoff is tremendous. High-performance nonprofits attract and retain funding dollars, productive board members, better serve our clients and fulfill our missions. And in today’s increasingly complex and competitive marketplace, we can afford nothing less!
Passion & Purpose: Raising the Fiscal Fitness Bar for Massachusetts Nonprofits
Matthew Bane and Geeta Pradhan, facilitated by Abby Yanow
Passion & Purpose: Raising the Fiscal Fitness Bar for Massachusetts Nonprofits, is The Boston Foundation’s “call to action” in the form of recommendations that address TBF’s findings that significant financial and organizational weaknesses exist in the sector. This session will be led by one of the chief authors of the report, Geeta Pradhan of the Boston Foundation. Matthew Bane of the Hunt Alternatives Fund will express his concerns with some of the findings and recommendations. It will not be a debate, but rather a facilitated discussion in an effort to reach consensus on the real action steps that might be generated by the report.
Social Enterprise Quickstarts
This interactive session will help you to identify if your organization is ready to delve into a social enterprise start-up, and if it is, where to get started. From concept creation to business plan implementation, learn the steps you’ll need to take.
Strategic Planning as Organizational Development
Sustainable success amidst changing conditions requires a strategy. Many of us have had less than inspiring experiences with strategic planning. However, when the planning process is designed to fit the needs, culture, maturity, situation and size of a nonprofit organization, it can be invigorating for all involved, and transformational for the organization. In this session, participants will develop an understanding of the basic structure of an effective planning process, ways of adapting it for individual organizations, the roles of various stakeholders, and why it can be a critical function of organizational development.
Update on Labor and Employment Law for Nonprofits
Howard M. Brown and Peter J. Moser
Like all employers, nonprofits face a wide variety of state and federal laws affecting their employment policies and practices. In recent years there have been numerous changes to the law in areas such as wage and hour, family and medical leave, union organizing, discrimination on the basis of “family responsibilities,” etc. This workshop will provide an update on these changes, so you can help your nonprofit avoid liability.
Updating Nonprofit Governance to Address the New Form 990
This program examines nonprofit governance changes prompted by the IRS’ recently adopted Form 990. A new section concerning governance and other new questions throughout the form require nonprofits to disclose their practices in a number of key areas, prompting many to revise existing policies or adopt new ones. This program shares the wisdom of the presenter and participants in implementing specific policies and strategies to address the questions asked by the IRS in the new Form.
Making the Most of Disruption: When You're Changing Executive Directors
Heather Harker and Nancy Jackson
Leadership Transitions: Crisis or Opportunity? Engage in discussion about managing transitions, developing succession plans, and how to find the right leader for the organization. Properly managed, a leadership transition provides a pivotal moment, a potential change in direction, and a strengthened capacity. In this workshop you will assess your organization’s readiness to go through a leadership transition and learn how to be better prepared.
Session III Workshops
MNN Action Session III- Effective Nonprofit Practices: How can MNN help
Bill Walczak
Recent media and published research reports have suggested that some nonprofits can be more effectively managed. One aspect of Massachusetts Nonprofit Network’s mission is to assist nonprofits in that regard. Bill Walczak, MNN Board President, will lead this action session whose purpose is to solicit ideas for ways in which MNN can most effectively meet its obligations in this regard. Participants should bring with them any ideas from their own nonprofit experience regarding effective nonprofit management that have worked effectively and that might be transferable. Topics will include financial management, governance, program and strategic planning, web-based communications, program design, delivery and evaluation, and social networking, among others. The role of MNN in promoting and/or establishing performance standards will be discussed.
Cultivating New and Different Leadership
Jodi DeLibertis and Lydia Watts
Ignore generational and cultural differences in the workplace at your own peril. Workshop attendees will learn to identify when generational and/or cultural differences are at play; to encourage an open and healthy discussion about these differences; and to cultivate leadership among the younger and more diverse members of your staff.
Financial Management for Non-Financial Managers
Enterprise Bank
Participants will learn the difference between a budget and cash flow, how to calculate overhead, and how to read a balance sheet.
ISO My Dream Funder: How to Tell if a Potential Grant maker is a Good Match
Most grant proposals are rejected because they are not a good match with the grant maker. But what do funders want?! This interactive session will teach you how to discern a grant maker’s personality and beliefs in order to read between the lines and find the “hook”!
Making Strategy Work: Using the Balanced Scorecard to Drive Change in Your Organization (Nonprofit Governance & Leadership / Strategic Planning)
Laura M. Downing and Dylan N. Miyake
Does your strategy work? Can you describe it on one piece of paper? During this session, we will briefly cover how the Balanced Scorecard has helped countless nonprofit organizations make their strategy operational. After the overview, we’ll drill down into a participative session, followed by open discussion on the universal benefits of the Balanced Scorecard. You will come out of this session with an understanding of the Balanced Scorecard, and hands-on experience building a strategy map that you can use with your own organization.
Marketing Your Organization’s Volunteer Opportunities at Community Events
Lori Tsuruda & Directors of Volunteer Administration (DOVA) Members
Put your best possible foot forward to recruit volunteers and other supporters at community events. Learn the basics of “tabling” and see what works for professional volunteer recruiters, regardless of your budget. Share your best practices. Share and discuss events most appropriate for you to select and to target who you need the most.
Action Session - Nonprofit Work Space: To Rent, to Own, or to Collaborate?
Joan Honig and Jackie Cefola, facilitated by Jonathan Spack
This interactive session with four experienced practitioners will examine the options available to nonprofits that are considering buying property, relocating, or sharing space with others. We will look at this issue from various perspectives, including strategic (linking money to mission), pragmatic (pros and cons of buying vs. leasing; current market conditions) and collaborative (benefits of shared workspace) and will provide concrete examples and handouts to guide particpants' future decision making. There will be ample time for Q&A.
Turning Vision Into Reality: Action Plans and Budgets
Does your nonprofit have great ideas about how it can better serve the community but have a hard time implementing them? In this session, which will include both large and small group interactions, we'll talk about turning your strategic plan into action plans. You'll work with tools for prioritizing your long-term goals, developing annual goals and drafting immediate action steps so that you can start moving foward on your vision. We'll talk about the role of budgeting in both defining and communicating your plans. And you'll get some tips on how to present your plans to your board. At the end of this session, you'll be ready to take the first steps on the path to the future of your nonprofit.
Data-Driven Advocacy in Today's Policy-Making World
Steve Backman, Database Designs & Heidi Hall, Director of the Boston Youth Services Network
A program description will be available shortly.
Using Social Media to Engage Gen Y
When it comes to targeting the latest generation of volunteers, mailers have become a thing of the past and email has been proven ineffective. In this session, good2gether founder and CEO Greg McHale discusses how to effectively reach the growing audience of Millenials. Delving into how organizations can deploy new technologies that enable large-scale cause engagement, McHale will also speak on how to leverage social media solutions to most effectively focus an organization’s cause marketing efforts.