North Idaho Non-Profit Retreat September 18, 2015

Transcription

1 North Idaho Non-Profit Retreat September 18, :00 9:30 Opening Program, Welcome and Keynote Address Keynote Address Leadership: Confronting Challenges and Fears with Courage Presented by: Randy Russell The opening keynote session will describe experiences of personal leadership in the context of non-profit mission-based organizations. How does one confront one s own fears using courage to fully translate an organization s mission to our community? However we became leaders, we are here now. Non-profit leadership provides the opportunity to link a passion-born mission to a community need. Service to others requires leaders to translate the mission to those served as well as to our broader communities. This keynote will explore a variety of situations and circumstances the non-profit sector faces and how it challenges our personal leadership. Whether we are broadening minds through the language of the arts, providing practical support to the beginning or end of life, or providing education in a variety of ways, our personal experience of what constitutes the role of a leader varies widely. Our personal experience sets up our attitudes for risk taking and the courage to become a great leader. Attendees will leave with: 1) A framework to assess our readiness to fully embrace community leadership. 2) An invitation to craft a personal internal antidote to unfounded fears. 3) An invitation to decide to be courageous through personal leadership. 4) Real-life examples of personal leadership disasters and some lessons learned from a seasoned (but courageous) mistake-learner.

2 Morning Workshops 9:45 12:00 Take Your Non-Profit from Surviving to Thriving Presented by: Jeff Conroy A really effective Executive Director can make any non-profit successful. But a really ineffective or even incompetent (e.g. rising to your highest level of incompetence but a really good practitioner) executive can destroy a non-profit. And while there is a lot of literature about what makes a great executive, there is little literature that describes the institutional changes that should call a board to action when there are signs that change is necessary. Neither is there literature about what these signs might be. This class is based on lessons focused on helping non-profit boards determine when and how to address one of the biggest institutional changes a non-profit s board can experience: Deciding if the executive is the right person for the current life of the non-profit and how to turn the organization around. The first half of the class is based on four assumptions: First, non-profit board members are the legitimate owners of a non-profit and are responsible for ensuring optimal outcomes. Second non-profit executives are a non-profit board s pinch hitters tasked with caretaking and ensuring that the day-to-day systems, resources and work are all focused on the mission. Third, a non-profit board must act when signs indicate that something is not right. The second half of the class works on turning a negative into a positive. How to foster positive change not only within your staff and board, but within your community. As an Executive Director you bring energy and opportunity. This class will walk you through steps that will make a positive impact on you non-profit including: A 90 day change, rebuilding your board, energizing your staff and community, and the benefits of being transparent. Impactful Strategic Master Planning Presented by: Monica Revoczi A well-developed and effectively implemented strategic plan is essential to success. The strategic planning process can be used in both your personal and professional life to cultivate passion, productivity, and extraordinary results. So, why do so many plans fail in reaching their potential in development and/or implementation? This class will teach powerful methods for tapping into what you are truly passionate about, and how to align and design your future accordingly. Participants will be equipped with the knowledge necessary to manage and think critically about the strategic planning process in order to maximize its impact. They will also have a keen understanding of the plan s elements: How to effectively develop them, tools to support implementation, and how to leverage the plan in relation to all stakeholders to optimize organizational success. Part I: Participants will examine what it takes to create an effective strategic plan. As part of the class, we will experience developing a genuinely inspiring vision and practice setting powerful, outcome-oriented goals. Part II: We will examine keys to strategic plan implementation, including the factors that must be considered before, during, and after the planning process to ensure success. We will discuss strategic performance measurement and explore tools to facilitate implementation.

3 Personal Leadership - Accomplishing your Mission through Skills and Confidence Presented by: Randy Russell Part 1) Managing to the Mission This class will address the vast array of expertise expected of leaders and how to manage it all and address the mission. As a leader of an organization or within an organization, there is no guarantee that knowing how to best manage people, administration, programs, finances, volunteers, donors, fundraising, collaborations, grant writing, and countless other jobs are given skill sets in our personal leadership experience. The challenge is to stay awake to moment-by-moment choices of where and how to spend time, in order to maximize the meaning of the mission. Tools and opportunities for regular re-focus of activities will be provided in this class. Attendees will leave with: 1) Techniques outside of time management to choose impactful use of time. 2) Practical tools for screening to hire right the first time, simple guides to financial roles, program design values, and Real-Time Strategic Planning tools. 3) Confidence to make two fundamental changes to personal leadership to work smarter. Part 2) How to Assess Mission Relevance This class will address practical applications to assess current contexts and the relevance of organizational missions. Practical approaches will be offered to attendees of how needs assessments, research, and practical data can be aligned to help organizations know whether or not their mission and their work is relevant to the community. Attendees will leave with: 1) Examples of mission assessments done by organizations. 2) Introduction to Real-Time Planning work to help align the mission. 3) Clarity about the critical components of mission relevance. The Law and Non-Profits Presented by: Jay Sturgill The law and non-profits is a survival kit presented for non-lawyers. This one hour class will cover the legal basics for board members. We will discuss different business entities, tax status, and non-profit status. By the end of the discussion class members will to be able to identify potential hazards and liabilities for themselves and their organization. We will focus on governing NPOs, articles, bylaws, and how NPOs change and develop. The class will also discuss how to conduct regular meetings, and role play a board meeting with challenging subjects.

4 Why People Give Presented by: Bob Hoover Bob Hoover spent 37 years in higher education and 6 years in the non-profit world. While never a fundraiser during those years, he was often fundraising. Over those 43 years he has developed some ideas as to why people become philanthropic and how they might best give gifts in support of their charitable interests. He believes that Idaho s non-profits and charities are entering a significant period in the transfer of enormous wealth from the baby boomer to the following generations and that non-profits need to be prepared to garner that potential support to meet Idaho s philanthropic interests. By better understanding why people give and how they might give, Idaho s non-profits can have a significant opportunity to increase support for their charitable activities. 12:15 1:15 Lunch, Announcements and Keynote Address Lunch Keynote Address Achieving Organizational Excellence through Partnering and Collaboration Presented by: Terry Bacon This keynote session will focus on how non-profits can achieve greater success through collaboration and partnering with other non-profits, with foundations and other funding agencies, with local governments, and with citizen groups. Many non-profits view themselves in isolation focused on their mission, serving their constituents, raising money with their protected list of donors, and operating within their chosen niche. But the opportunities for creative collaboration and partnering are virtually boundless, and they offer non-profits the potential to enhance their missions, serve a broader range of constituents, explore new fundraising avenues, and redefine themselves within their communities. Partnering requires a collaborative mindset, an open mind, the ability to compromise without giving up anything essential, and good leadership skills. The benefits of partnering can be enormous. In fact, in today s world it may be impossible to achieve a transformational vision unless you build the right partnerships and work collaboratively with others. During this keynote, the opportunities, benefits, and challenges of creative partnering for non-profits will be discussed, and the speaker will illustrate his points through his own experiences as a non-profit leader. He will also share other real-life examples where partnering has made a huge difference in non-profit performance and fundraising success.

5 Afternoon Workshops 1:30 3:45 Funders Forum: What It Takes to Secure Foundation Dollars Presented by: Lauren Nissen, Britt Towery, Charlie Miller and Bob Hoover This is a special two part class presented by representatives of two well respected foundations and a business that have a history of funding non-profit organizations in the Idaho Panhandle. These presenters will share their funding priorities, how to apply for a grant, and tips for writing a successful proposal. Each presenting organization will role-play the ask with a local non-profit staff person or board member, and provide feedback to that person(s). Class participation with questions is encouraged. Class participants will gain rare insight into how to increase their organizations financial strength. High Impact Volunteerism Presented by: Jackie Maker This two part class will first cover keys to attracting, training, motivating and retaining a vital group of volunteers who can leverage the efforts of paid staff, while contributing to cost savings and program growth. Class participants will learn easy and practical techniques for creating an effective volunteer program that is critical to creating a strong and sustainable organization. The second half of the class will be spent talking through strategies of dealing with and sometimes releasing a volunteer who is not a fit for your organization. Finding the right volunteer is great, but what happens when you find it s not working? There will be a group discussion and Q&A time to discuss and strategize solutions for this common problem. Board Development: The Critical Link for Organizational Excellence Presented by: Terry Bacon Non-profit boards vary wildly in their effectiveness. This two part class will address the fundamental roles of non-profit boards and the factors that make those boards highly effective or grossly ineffective. Included in the class discussion will be: 1. The critical role of board oversight 2. The board s fiduciary responsibilities: What this means and how these responsibilities are met or not 3. The right relationship between board members, the Executive Director, and members of the nonprofit s staff 4. The board s role in fundraising 5. The board s role in community and donor relations 6. The expectations board members should have of themselves and their board president 7. The right way to measure board effectiveness Participants will leave with practical guidelines on board effectiveness and insights on the differences between the best and worst non-profit boards.

6 Human Rights Challenges in our Community Presented by: Brenda Hammond This one hour session will look at the status of legal protections on a national, state and local level; some of the milestones in the struggle for genuine equality and specific challenges before us today. The session will conclude with interactive problem-solving and discussions about what actions we can take now to advance human rights in our community. We will consider Dr. Martin Luther King s remarks about going beyond civil rights to questions of human rights, and present the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a framework for progress in social and economic justice. Participants will leave this session better informed and more aware and energized with ideas and intentions to make a difference in their own spheres of influence. Sister Said: Celebrate Your Differences Or Else! Presented by: Sister Roberta Lamanna and Sister Rosemary Thielman Our gathering will invite all of us to look with power and a positive spirit at what happens when we celebrate differences; how to make this happen in the corporate or non-profit world; and what happens when we ignore this. In an interactive and enjoyable way, we will look at underlying values and actions that contribute to building a vital, inclusive, and productive organization. Participants will leave with some concrete how-to s for building a sustainable work environment that embraces a welcoming and open attitude toward all of life, and a heart more open to greater inclusivity in life, work, and service to humanity.