Visioneering
Every idea for a community program that will successfully impact the lives of many starts with a vision. Whether starting a new or expanding an existing program, vision-casting is the first step in gaining focus and direction to make that vision a reality. This workshop will demonstrate the process of idea-development; moving from a set of collective thoughts to a solid plan of action for addressing a need or needs in the community, from setting reasonable goals & objectives to devising an implementation plan and accomplishment timetable with a realistic budget and evaluation plan.

What to do in a Crisis?
The importance of crisis management and conflict resolution is often overlooked by many non-profit. This is quite often due to the fact that the non-profit is working very hard to obtain much-needed funding to run its community programs. In addition, because serving the community is the "prime directive", immediate recovery from elements such as high staff turnover, internal staff conflict, sudden funding slumps or droughts, equipment failure and breakdown, or a combination of these factors and others-has a profound effect on the non-profit's ability to continue its valuable work. This workshop will discuss how to plan for these types of crises and give action steps for addressing and preventing these challenges from hindering outreach efforts.

The Business Side of Community Service
Although the overall mission and purpose of a non-profit organization is to serve its community, it is still a buisness and must function as one. Non-profit professionals seeking to expand their outreach efforts in their communities must focus on three key areas of business development: financial planning, strategic organizational planning, and board & staff development. This workshop will take a closer look at these areas--providing helpful hints and standard practices to ensure effective non-profit capacity-building.

Contract Leaglese
Non-profit professionals often times find that they must review, create or sign contracts as an integral part of their business activities. Whether its hiring a contractor to work on a temporary basis or signing a lease for vehicles or equipment, it is important that board members and directors know and understand what they are signing. This workshop will discuss basic jargon and typical clauses found in service contracts as well as how to design a legally binding service contract that the organization can use.

Partnerships that Work to Your Advantage
Aligning your organization with other organizations that have similar goals & objectives in serving the community could be the key to unlocking doors of opportunity that otherwise would not be open to you. These alliances can be non-profit to non-profit or for-profit business to non-profit depending on what both are trying to accomplish. This workshop will open your mind to the advantages strategic partnerships can hold for your organization, and will have you thinking "outside of the box" in terms of how to establish these types of collaborations and make them work for you and your partners' mutual benefit.

Click on one of the links below to review a description of the other workshop sessions:

Workshop Track II: Keynote Luncheon

Workshop Track III

Workshop Track IV

Speaker Biographies