All posts in Professional Development

Please help spread the word to people in your network about the call for nominations for the $100,000 Purpose Prize.

In its sixth year, The Purpose Prize provides major recognition to community leaders, 60 years and older, who are creating new ways to solve our most pressing social issues – from health care to the environment, poverty to education. It is the nation’s only large-scale investment in social innovators in the second half of life.

I’ve served as part of the selection process for the past three years, and the nominations and work from people throughout our communities is amazing, as are the entrepreneurial ideas that people develop.

Nominations – including self-nominations – are due by March 31, 2011 at www.encore.org/prize.

Do the following characteristics describe you?

• A person of color
• Work in a Bay Area health and human service organization
• Currently in a mid-level management position
• Have at least 2 years experience managing people and budgets
• Have never been an executive director
• Plan on staying with your organization for the next year
• Have a commitment to social change

If so, you’re eligible to apply to CompassPoint’s Next Generation Leaders of Color leadership development (NGLC) program!

NGLC, sponsored by the California Wellness Foundation, is an intensive leadership development program for managers of color working in Bay Area health and human service organizations. Using a multicultural leadership framework, NGLC focuses on two management areas critical for community-based managers and leaders to be successful. The first area is to supervise, develop, inspire, and influence people. The second is to develop business acumen with an emphasis on financial strategy, comprehension, and literacy.  The program will include a 360-degree assessment tool, in-person seminars, facilitated peer-learning groups, leadership/executive coaching, and a final cohort gathering.

Applications are due February 4^th. For program details, eligibility requirements, and to apply online, please click HERE.

Image source: Compasspoint website

This is another reminder about the Kapor Foundation’s first ever Grant Application Workshop that we will host at our offices (543 Howard Street, 5th Floor, San Francisco) next Tuesday, January 11, 2011, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. This is an opportunity for current grant recipients and other interested nonprofit organizations to learn more about our grantmaking strategies for Green Access and Voting Integrity and Civic Engagement.  It’s also a chance for current grant recipients, particularly key partner organizations, to find out how to access various additional supports, including some new opportunities, as part of our Assistance & Advising program.

I’ve received some inquiries as to whether or not this is a mandatory meeting for our current grant recipients, and the answer is no.  If you have the time and staff (any and all staff are welcome to attend) who are interested in attending, then we welcome you.  All you need to do is to register by clicking HERE.  I hope to see many of you next Tuesday!

For the past few years, there have been numerous conversations, papers & articles, and conference sessions about the leadership vacuum that exists within the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors.  As a response, groups focused on the next generation of leadership have sprung up all over the place.  Now, two young, Black, female pioneers on the topic have joined forces to publish a new book: How to Become a Nonprofit Rockstar: 50 Ways to Accelerate Your Career.

Rosetta Thurman, popular nonprofit blogger and consultant, and Trista Harris, executive director of the Headwaters Foundation for Justice and ABFE Connecting Leaders Fellow alumnus (along with our very own CEO, Cedric Brown) have published this book to share the things they wished they knew when starting their journeys within the nonprofit sector.  The book, which has already garnered some great reviews, is available in electronic and paperback form.

To buy the book or for more information about it, click HERE.

The Progressive Technology Project, located in Minneapolis, is announcing its newest capacity building initiative: the Innovation and Integration Partnership Project. The Partnership Project is a year-long intensive program designed to significantly increase organizational infrastructure and skills for long-term, large-scale work.

For community organizing groups, the spheres of organizing, communications, technology, voter engagement, and fundraising are increasingly becoming intertwined. At the heart of this intersection are the technology and organizational practices that support programmatic work.  The Progressive Technology Project’s Innovation and Integration Partnership program is designed to help groups bridge the gaps between communications, fundraising, organizing, voter engagement (i.e. integrating voter work and data with your organizational database and ongoing work), and technology and bring them together in a seamless unit that amplifies and extends the scope of its organizing efforts.

To be considered, groups must:

• have a substantive project to work on in 2011 with clear goals – the project can be related to technology, communications, voter engagement, fundraising, organizing, or organizational integration
• be seriously interested in a year-long program of deep engagement with PTP
• recognize the need for help in building organizational capacity
• be committed to working collaboratively
• be willing to experiment with changes in  organizational culture and practice in the interest of building capacity and effectiveness

Preference will be given to organizations that:

• have participated in PTP’s REVERB trainings
• designate a project manager who holds a senior decision-making position on the staff
• propose an innovative project with the potential to build knowledge and skills that could be transferrable to other movement organizations
• are anchor groups in coalitions or networks
• have designated communications, fundraising, and/or technology staff members
• have the organizational capacity and enthusiasm to take on a year-long intensive partnership
• are open to experimentation

Click here to download the application.

Are you a nonprofit Executive Director or nonprofit board member who wants to better understand financial management?  Do you struggle to understand nonprofit financial statements?  Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group is offering a free webinar: Financial Management Fundamentals For Executive Directors & Board Members.  This free webinar is part of the NonprofitWebinars.com Wednesday Webinar series for nonprofit staff and board development.

Date: Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Time: 1 p.m. Eastern / 10 a.m. Pacific
Presenter: Rebeka Mazzone, Director of the Rhode Island Region for Accounting Management Solutions, Inc.

Takeaways from the webinar:
* Learn financial “best practices” for a nonprofit
* To become familiar with the basics of nonprofit financial statements
* Demystify financial terminology
* To learn and understand key financials indicators and risks

To register, click HERE.

Image source: www.freshalliance.com/

The time has come to get out there and vote!

It’s been a crazy two years since the historic presidential election of President Obama.  Since then, we’ve seen the passage of national health care reform,  the rise of the tea party movement, and the economic crisis strike across the country.  We’ve also seen negative campaign ads, local critical mass, and all kinds of parties to make sure we make it out on election day.  And now the time has come.  A number of our key partner organizations are at the forefront of local and national civic engagement efforts including the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, San Francisco Rising, Oakland Rising, and Voto Latino.  Below are some voter resources, including two voter guides from the League of Women Voters & The Ballot as well as organizational voter guides from the Ella Baker Center and Oakland Rising

League of Women Voters

The Ballot

Ella Baker Center for Human Rights Voter Guide

Oakland Rising

The Windcall Institute has just announced the call for applications for its renowned residency progam, a “mini-sabbatical” for social justice leaders. Windcall is part of our colleague funder, the Common Counsel Foundation. The application deadline is November 30th. Click HERE for more information.

From their announcement:  “A Windcall Residency is a free, mini-sabbatical of three or four weeks, held in a restorative setting with a small cohort of community and labor organizers.  Since 1989, over 435 dedicated organizers have benefited from a Residency (Windcall Alumni).

You will have time to reflect, write, create, engage in physical activities and renew your energies – all in the company of other committed organizers.  Windcall Resident awardees can also access post-Residency coaching.

The Windcall Institute is a national program to renew and develop social, environmental and economic justice organizers.  Our goal is to support valuable leaders staying in their work for the long haul by supporting them in rediscovering their purposes, renewing their energies, working in more sustainable ways, and launching new approaches.”

Just having returned from a sabbatical, I can happily testify about the rejuvenating potential of such a break, so don’t pass up this opportunity!

Photo borrowed from the Windcall website.

As part of the NonprofitWebinars.com Wednesday Webinar series for nonprofit staff and board development, the Nonprofit Professionals Advisory Group is providing a free webinar entitled:

Understanding the Twitter Rule: How to Make Twitter Work for Your Organization
2:30pm Eastern / 11:30am Pacific
Presented by Debra Askanase, Community Marketing Manager at FirstGiving

The webinar will discuss The Twitter Rule: less broadcasting, more conversation and why that makes Twitter the powerful medium that it is. Other topics will include why an organization should be using twitter, best practices, how to find and follow the people you need, automating some of your work on Twitter, and nonprofit organizations and individuals using Twitter well.

Takeaways:
Best practices for setting up your twitter account and using it
The Twitter Rule: less broadcasting, more conversation
Useful tools and Twitter apps
Time-saving Twitter tips and tricks
Examples of nonprofit organizations and individuals using Twitter effectively

To register for this webinar or to see the full schedule of upcoming webinars, please click HERE.

CompassPoint and the Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training (GIFT) are pleased to announce that they will offer another year of the Fundraising Academy for Communities Color focusing on nonprofits based in communities of color in Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano Counties. The deadline to apply for this seven month academy is Friday, August 20^th.

The Fundraising Academy helps people of color led nonprofits that are primarily supported by foundation grants or government to build a base of supporters from the communities they serve and advocate for. With the worsening local and state budget crisis, grassroots fundraising is even more important- to raise money and to galvanize advocacy efforts.

The Fundraising Academy for Communities of Color helps individuals and organizations from communities of color to raise the funds they need in a more sustainable way, through diversity of sources and strong relationships with community donors. The academy has been successfully offered four times in the San Francisco Bay Area, and most recently in Los Angeles.  Over 80 organizations have completed the academy and participants consistently report that their experience in the academy has significantly shifted their groups approach, strengthened their skills to raise money from individual donors, and increased their goals and results.

For a complete description of the academy: Academy Program Information

Hear what past participants have to say:  Experiences in the Academy

To apply now or before August 20: Click Here

Thanks to the support of several foundations, the East Bay Fundraising Academy for Communities of Color is 90% subsidized.  If accepted, participating organizations will contribute a participation fee of $500 – $2,000 based on annual operating budget. The academy provides 8 full days of training and peer learning, 15 hours of one on one coaching, and Kim Klein’s new book “Reliable Fundraising in Unreliable Times” and a years subscription to the Grassroots Fundraising Journal.  Please review the academy information and discuss the investment of time and money in this program with key members of your organization before you apply.  Then, seize the moment and apply!

Image source: beyondwar.ning.com