The growth and effectiveness of nonprofits often hinge on a strong board that understands and operates within clearly defined roles. Yet most members have never had formal training. As a result, many well-intentioned boards can stray into areas outside of their scope and have a devastating impact on the organization. The session uses stories and real-life examples, diving deep into the legal and core responsibilities of amazing boards. The session covers the myths of nonprofit boards, organizational lifecycles, recruitment and evaluation.
Dan Prater, Senior Managing Consultant at FORVIS
Dan is the Senior Managing Consultant at FORVIS. He provides consulting services to numerous nonprofits and governmental organizations throughout the United States. His services include strategic planning, board governance, leadership transition, and organizational assessments.
Dan has an extensive background in nonprofit leadership and higher education. He was the founder of the Center for Nonprofit Leadership at Drury University (Springfield, MO). He co-created the university’s popular Master of Nonprofit and Civic Leadership degree and continues to serve as the lead instructor in the program.
He has been a leader in various nonprofit organizations, mostly in the areas of poverty, child abuse, and domestic violence.
Dan is a frequent speaker at conferences and workshops throughout the nation. He has been published more than 50 times on nonprofit industry topics.
Board roles and responsibilities covers the baseline roles and responsibilities for board members. This presentation is great for new or emerging board members and
executive directors, as well as anyone who functions and works with boards.
Kimberley Sherwood
Kimberley Sherwood is a consultant, coach, and facilitator who works with nonprofit executives and leadership teams to help make their organizations more effective and humane. Her company helps guide people in creating positive change and aligning their personal practices with their professional aspirations, with a special focus on strategy, governance, and financial health. Stewardship is at the core of her company’s approach, with a deep sense of responsibility to conduct her work and her company for the benefit of her clients, their stakeholders, and the communities they serve. Find out more here.
Nate Broeckert
Nate is passionate about building capacity for nonprofits by uplifting and supporting the individuals on the ground doing the work. Nate believes that service and education are the path of least resistance in the pursuit of changing the world, one community at a time.
Nate has vast experience in both education and programming, coming to the Colorado Nonprofit Association after serving as a Senior Impact Manager with City Year Denver. In this role, Nate was responsible for the training, coaching, and professional development of AmeriCorps members as they served schools and communities. Nate has a proven track record in supporting both schools and nonprofits in leveraging partnerships to build capacity and heighten impact. Nate also has extensive development experience, having successfully written multiple federal and private grants worth close to a million dollars.
When not serving at CNA, Nate serves on the Board of Directors for the Ronald McDonald House Denver, spends an absurd amount of time with his dogs, roots obnoxiously for the Green Bay Packers, and plays golf very poorly. Nate and his wife Sara recently welcomed baby Broeckert in October 2022!
What makes an effective nonprofit leader?
It’s not simply taking charge or making decisions—though that can often be how leadership presents. When used wisely, these capabilities certainly enable leaders to be decisive, action-oriented, and persistent. However, when bumping up against the culture of niceness in our social sectors, leaders who challenge themselves and others may experience push-back or resistance. This leads to frustration and anxiety, often leaving leaders feeling stranded or stuck.
This workshop aims to introduce Nonprofit Executives to a fundamental framework or operating system focused on strengthening leadership capabilities by focusing on mental fitness. Participants will get a sneak peek of what’s standing in their own way and a set of practical tools that, when practiced, can greatly enhance performance, satisfaction, and relationships with peers, colleagues, teams, and direct reports.
During our time together, we’ll explore:
In the second part of the workshop, participants will break out into discussion groups based on top saboteurs (from an online Saboteur Assessment they can conduct ahead of the workshop). Each saboteur group will create a simple poster describing the characteristics that present the greatest internal obstacles to their leadership, performance, achievement, and well-being. They’ll share with the entire workshop cohort. This is a fun, interactive way to gain deeper insights and help folks shift from conceptual understanding to a deep personal “a-ha” of how they have been undermining their own performance, effectiveness, wellness, and relationships.
We’ll conclude by offering resources folks can access to go deeper into the framework if they desire.
Kimberley Sherwood is a consultant, coach, and facilitator who works with nonprofit executives and leadership teams to help make their organizations more effective and humane. Her company helps guide people in creating positive change and aligning their personal practices with their professional aspirations, with a special focus on strategy, governance, and financial health. Stewardship is at the core of her company’s approach, with a deep sense of responsibility to conduct her work and her company for the benefit of her clients, their stakeholders, and the communities they serve. Find out more here.
Surveys are everywhere – online, at work, in your news feed – the list goes on. Whether for evaluation or marketing, surveys can be a valuable tool in capturing meaningful data and telling your story of impact. In this informative session, learn how to create effective surveys from scratch or revamp a survey that may not be capturing the right information. Learn more about quantitative and qualitative methods and best practices in designing surveys.
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Dr. Annette Shtivelband is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Research Evaluation Consulting LLC (REC). Annette has extensive experience working with social sector agencies and has served as an evaluator, researcher, and consultant in the nonprofit sector for fifteen years. She works with her clients to systematically, strategically, and thoroughly measure their impact. Annette excels in all things related to data and can communicate effectively with people from all walks of life. Using both quantitative and qualitative approaches, she knows how to make evaluation meaningful, actionable, and helpful.
Too often, evaluation is placed onto nonprofits by funders with limited resources to meaningfully engage with it. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Nonprofits and fundraising professionals can take back control of the evaluation and learning process. Evaluation and learning can be used by nonprofits to connect with their purpose, understand their impact, and connect with their communities. By doing this, nonprofits can more effectively tell their story and engage with funders that are aligned with their mission, rather than trying to align with funders’ mission and evaluation expectations. In this session, we’ll explore how nonprofits can take control of the evaluation process, a framework for engaging in meaningful learning and evaluation, and how nonprofits can use this process to engage funders.
Laura Sundstrom is your partner on your organization’s learning journey. She is the Founder & Principal Consultant of Illuminary Perspectives based in Denver, CO. Laura elevates the expertise of the individuals and organizations she works with and those impacted by the work, all in service of strengthening process and impact. With over 15 years of experience in the evaluation and nonprofit fields, Laura brings a broad range of experience and expertise to her perspectives of evaluation and learning. She has worked in the fields of philanthropy, health care, housing, hunger, youth development, and violence prevention, to name a few. Laura holds a Bachelor’s in Women’s and Gender Studies from Beloit College and a Master’s in Social Work from the University of Michigan.
Laura brings the curious and humble mindset of a learner to her work. Laura seeks to partner with individuals, organizations, and communities to advance their equity and justice goals, rather than enter as an “expert” seeking to determine what is good or bad. Through these partnerships, Laura is skilled at asking questions that challenge assumptions and spark deeper reflective.
Outside of learning and evaluation, Laura spends her time staying active and enjoying the beautiful hiking Colorado has to offer, teaching yoga and meditation, going on walks, and experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen.
The session will:
● Explain why having a core foundation for all of your messaging is so important
● Explain the core components of a core message foundation: Why, How, What, and Who
● Teach participants how to develop their core message foundation by providing examples and an easy framework to follow
● Teach participants how to tailor their messaging to their target audiences, as well as to different platforms
● Explain how to make messages culturally resonant and meet target audiences “where they are”
Catherine Alonzo, Founding Partner & CEO of Javelina
Catherine Alonzo is the Founding Partner & CEO of Javelina, a purpose-driven branding and marketing agency that develops and tells stories that create social, political, and economic change. Javelina helps nonprofits, political campaigns, and other organizations creating equity in their communities to build strong connections with their audiences and maximize their impact.
Originally from the UK, Catherine moved to Arizona in 2005 to complete her master’s degree in Public Administration at Arizona State University.
For over fifteen years, Catherine has been advancing the marketing and advocacy industries in the Southwest. She has been an integral part of the teams behind significant policy and communications campaigns in sectors ranging from transportation and infrastructure, to health equity and abortion rights.
Catherine’s specialty is developing unique and compelling approaches to messaging and brand development. Her ability to pull together words that connects to peoples’s hearts and minds procedures powerful results.
#GivingTuesday, the biggest giving day of the year, is just months away. We’re kicking off the countdown with a session to teach you how to maximize the time you have left and lay the foundation for a successful day of giving.
We’ll explore the important role your website plays, powerful tactics you still have time to implement and the essentials for an integrated communications plan. Let us help you create a successful #GivingTuesday strategy that lasts well beyond a one-day event.
Kiersten Hill, Director of Nonprofit Solutions at Firespring
Kiersten Hill is Firespring’s Director of Nonprofit Solutions. She has almost 2 decades of experience in nonprofit management and fundraising before joining Firespring. She has raised over $20 Million for Nebraska nonprofit organizations and has worked to better train and equip nonprofit leaders and Boards of Directors. Kiersten made a move from nonprofit management and fundraising to Firespring with the goal to help assist, educate, and equipt nonprofits at a larger scale.
She is a rising thought leader and frequently speaks to nonprofit groups and other organizations about marketing, fundraising, board development and organizational change. Last year alone, Kiersten has presented in-person and virtually for more than 75 webinars and 16 nonprofit conferences. Kiersten is also a Storybrand Certified Guide and has led nonprofits in storytelling workshops as well as individual coaching. Kiersten’s presentation style is energetic, authentic, and easily relatable as she has walked years in the audience’s shoes.
As the leaderof a small or midsized social mission organization,you’ve probably seen how difficult it can be to collect meaningful data that proves you’re making an impact.Impact measurement can feel overwhelming – somany experts provide recommendations, all using different jargon. It’s especially hard to know what to-do’s will be most impactful to your team right now, and are appropriate for an organization of your size and ambition.
In this virtual workshop, we willbegin by completing a short data fitness assessment. This assessment (based off of a number of peer-reviewed tools and Coeffect’s work with 50+ nonprofits) will help you understand your organization’s strengths and weaknesses in collecting data to understand your impact.
With these results in hand, we will discuss how organization’s data practices tend to evolve over time, and what kinds of projects your team can choose to take on to move your data practice forward.
Data Roadmap Template
Paul Collier is the founder of Coeffect, a consulting firm that works with nonprofit executives and founders of social enterprises to leverage data to make a greater impact. Since 2016 Coeffect has consulted with over 40 for-impact clients across Colorado, California, and Washington D.C. Paul has also led trainings around impact measurement strategy for hundreds of nonprofit professionals through the Colorado Nonprofit Association, Nonprofit Learning Lab, and Social Venture Partners Denver. Prior to Coeffect, Paul served as the Data and Evaluation Manager at Safe & Sound, a leading family resource center developing a data-informed model to help families raise thriving kids. He also worked for Protiviti, an international consulting firm providing internal audit services to Fortune 500 clients.
Dana Bacardi, Senior Vice President of Philanthropy at Strat Labs
Dana Bacardi has 15 years experience in the nonprofit sector where she has specialized in several aspects of fundraising as VP of Development and later as VP of National Expansion with a national non-profit organization supporting families and children facing critical illness. Helping to grow the organization from the ground up, she has hands-on experience with everything from donor engagement, corporate sponsorship strategy and community events, to board development, grant writing, and major fundraising campaigns. Dana graduated with a Business Management and Communications degree from Bentley University in Boston. She began her career in the tech and wireless industry in Boulder, Colorado before moving into the non-profit sector in 2007. Dana is goal oriented, results driven and passionate about bringing people together for a greater good.
Melissa Shane, Vice President of Philanthropic Services at Strat Labs
Melissa Shane has extensive knowledge in the nonprofit sector with over 22 years of experience in fundraising, board development and management, philanthropic investment, nonprofit case support, and donor strategy. The last fourteen years of her career have been in-house at a large elite university and Illinois’s most extensive hospital system. She began her career in public affairs consulting in Washington DC and Chicago, where most of her clients needed expertise in nonprofit strategy and cause marketing campaigns, sprinkled in with a bit of politics and corporate foundations.
End your 2023 fundraising on a high note and learn how to optimize your short-term fundraising campaigns.
You’ll explore:
Upgrade your year-end giving (including #GivingTuesday) and let us help you create a successful strategy that lasts well beyond a one-day event to end 2022 strong—and start 2023 even stronger.
Kiersten Hill, Director of Nonprofit Solutions at Firespring
Kiersten Hill is Firespring’s Director of Nonprofit Solutions. She has almost 2 decades of experience in nonprofit management and fundraising before joining Firespring. She has raised over $20 Million for Nebraska nonprofit organizations and has worked to better train and equip nonprofit leaders and Boards of Directors. Kiersten made a move from nonprofit management and fundraising to Firespring with the goal to help assist, educate, and equipt nonprofits at a larger scale.
She is a rising thought leader and frequently speaks to nonprofit groups and other organizations about marketing, fundraising, board development and organizational change. Last year alone, Kiersten has presented in-person and virtually for more than 75 webinars and 16 nonprofit conferences. Kiersten is also a Storybrand Certified Guide and has led nonprofits in storytelling workshops as well as individual coaching. Kiersten’s presentation style is energetic, authentic, and easily relatable as she has walked years in the audience’s shoes.