Nonprofit Support Center

Community Organizing: Strategies That May Benefit Your  Organization

Tuesday, March 12, 8:30-10:30 am

Location: Greater Worcester Community Foundation
Audience: Executive Directors of Area Nonprofit Organizations
To register: Email NSC@greaterworcester.org to reserve your space. There is no fee to attend, but if we do not receive 48 hours’ notice of a cancellation we will bill you $15.

Community organizers are involved in the work of forming the relationships necessary to build power and identify leaders. Even if you’re not “a community organizer” – many of the skills they use might be of value to your efforts. Find out how the pros do it and what benefits you may derive from considering their strategies.

Facilitator Frank Kartheiser is lead organizer of Worcester Interfaith, a multi-issue, multi-racial, broad based community organization, comprising dues-paying institutions that reflect the religious, racial, ethnic and geographic diversity of the city. Founded in 1993, WI focuses on jobs, neighborhood improvements, public safety, education, and youth. Frank also serves as the director of relational spirituality for Y.O.U., Inc., where he runs youth groups at the agency’s residential homes, and teaches community organizing in the IDCE graduate program at Clark University.

How to Gain Strength From Within Your Organization

Tuesday, April 30, 8:30 - 10:30am

Audience: Executive directors of area nonprofit organizations
Location: Greater Worcester Community Foundation, 370 Main Street, 6^th Floor
Fee: There is no charge to attend, but if we do not receive 48 hours’ notice of a cancelation, you will be billed $15.
To register: Email NSC@greaterworcester.org. Space is limited to 12 participants.

It’s often tempting to think that if we could just land that grant or major donor we’d have it made. We may not spend as much time thinking about the ways we could leverage the strengths that already exist within our organizations. How do you develop leadership, dream bigger, and get the results you seek? What roles do energy and the sense of fun inherent in your board, staff, and committees play? Whether your organization is big or small, participate in this conversation to think concretely about your internal assets and how you might redeploy and grow them.

Facilitators are Sue Ellen Scrogin, executive director, The CASA Project, and Deborah Ekstrom, president & CEO, Community Healthlink. For over 30 years, CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) Worcester County has been training volunteer advocates to help children navigate through the foster care and court systems. Since 1977, Community Healthlink, Inc., a member of UMass Memorial Healthcare, has been helping adults, children and families to recover from the effects of mental illness, substance abuse and homelessness.

Worcester Behind the Scenes

Mondays, January 28, February 11, and February 25

A 3-part series exclusively for executive directors, new to their positions since 2011, who lead Worcester based organizations.  To find out if you are eligible to attend, email nsc@greaterworcester.org.

Are You Ready for Revenue Planning? Five Questions to Ask

Thursday, February 28, 10 am – 12:30 pm

Location: Greater Worcester Community Foundation
Audience: Executive Directors, Development Officers, and Senior Managers
To register: Email NSC@greaterworcester.org to reserve your space. There is no fee to attend, but if we do not receive 48 hours’ notice of a cancellation we will bill you $25.

The high season for fundraising has passed – end of year appeals, grant requests, and all the events that go with them. Now the dust has settled. You’re either elated, relieved, or disappointed, depending in large measure on how realistic your goals were and how disciplined you were in executing your plan.

No matter how you fared, you want to do even better this year. Attend this workshop to discover the questions you need to ask before you start developing a new plan and commit your budget for the next fiscal year.

Presenter Steve Pratt is director of financial sustainability at Root Cause, a nonprofit research and consulting firm that partners with nonprofits, philanthropy, government, and business to advance solutions to today’s toughest social issues. As part of this work he is developing more rigorous financial models for clients and sharing these models with the sector. With more than 20 years experience in nonprofit management, he’s served as CEO of two direct service organizations, two capacity-building intermediaries, and a scholarship foundation, and has had a role in the founding of six nonprofit organizations, including Boston After School & Beyond and Bridgespan’s Bridgestar Initiative. One of these start-ups, Eureka-Boston, was a learning community for nonprofit CEOs that developed into the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network.

Financial Management Training (for grantee organizations with budgets between $750,000 and $3 million)

Tuesdays, March 5 and April 2, 9 am-12

Location: Greater Worcester Community Foundation
Audience: Teams from organizations (with budgets between $750,000 and $3 million) that have been funded by Greater Worcester Community Foundation. We recommend that the executive director and key financial staff member or board treasurer attend. If space permits, we will consider other members of your team.
To register: Send your check in the amount of $100 per organization to: NSC/Greater Worcester Community Foundation, 370 Main Street, 6^th Floor, Worcester, MA 01608 with the names, titles, and email addresses of those attending and tell us that each registrant has made a commitment to attend both sessions. We will email your confirmation.  The workshop is subsidized by Greater Worcester Community Foundation for its grantees.

Today’s economic uncertainty places additional pressure on even the best-run nonprofits. Leaders who establish sound financial management are best positioned to see their organizations endure and flourish.

 Will this training meet your goals? These questions may help you decide:

• When was the last time the budget you proposed for the fiscal year matched operating results at year end?
• What are your organization’s strategies for leveraging the strengths and addressing the weaknesses of your financial position?
• Do you have the tools you need to ensure your organization is never caught off guard by an unexpected cash flow shortage?
• What is the appropriate level of reserves for your organization? Does it differ from “rules of thumb?”
• Do you feel confident telling your organization’s financial story to internal and external stakeholders?

You will use a self assessment/planning tool to help you understand and monitor your financial health, guide your participation in the training, and tell your financial story to stakeholders, including staff, board, and funders. Each workshop will combine pre-session reading; training with a practical, hands-on component; and tools to support what you’ve learned when you get back to the office.

Session I:  Tuesday, March 5, 2013, 9 am-12

Participants must attend Session II.

Understanding Financial Trends & Presenting Your Financial Story to Stakeholders

• Become comfortable with reading audited financial statements and learn how to communicate your results to stakeholders.
• Discover why fiscal performance is a critical component of any program evaluation tool, and the industry benchmarks that identify successful organizations.
• Understand the importance of net asset composition, liquidity, and leverage as indicators of financial sustainability.
• Find out what IRS Form 990 tells the outside world about your organization.

Session II:  Tuesday, April 2, 2013, 9 am-12

Participants must have attended Session I.

The Internal Systems You Need to Manage Effectively and Tell Your Financial Story

• Become familiar with the four key standards of excellence in nonprofit financial management.
• Get clarity about the roles of key decision makers in the budget development process and the creation of program-based budgets.
• Find out how to produce reliable financial reports and develop key metrics to support strategic financial decision making.
• Discover an imperative operating strategy: cash flow management tools and techniques.
• Learn how to identify, configure, and utilize an appropriate accounting software.
• Define an optimal fiscal staffing structure.
• Get advice on how to implement key internal controls.

Presenter Hilda Polanco, CPA, is founder and managing director of FMA.  FMA’s services are designed to help nonprofit organizations—from start-ups to legacy agencies—build the fiscal muscle they need to more efficiently fulfill their missions. A nationally recognized and sought after leader in the field, Hilda is on the selection committee of the New York Nonprofit Excellence Awards, established by the New York Times and the Nonprofit Coordinating Committee; an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Department of Health Policy and Management; and on the faculty of the Donor’s Forum of Chicago. She provides direct capacity building, training and coaching services to foundations and nonprofits throughout the country and is a National Advisory Board Member of the Harvard Journal of Hispanic Policy, and an active member of the National Network of Consultants to Grantmakers.

Turn Your Difficult Conversations into Productive Ones

Audience: Nonprofit leaders, managers, and staff members who want to learn how to have conversations that result in better outcomes and that strengthen relationships

Location: Greater Worcester Community Foundation, 370 Main Street, 6^th Floor
Fee: $50 per person.
To register: Email nsc@greaterworcester.org with your name, title, and organization. Send your check or ask us to invoice you.

Do you feel uncomfortable or even anxious when you’re about to have an important conversation at work or at home? If you want to lead a productive and satisfying life, learning how to have the best conversation possible when the stakes are high is an essential skill.

In this workshop you’ll discover a step-by-step process for constructing effective conversations for real world challenges. Then you’ll work in small groups to apply what you’ve learned. You’ll not only have the chance to practice for the real issues you face (names and details may be altered!) but also have the opportunity to receive immediate feedback.

Presenter Cathryn Mattson is an experienced executive who has worked across a variety of industries and sectors domestically and globally. In addition to managing organizations, she has coached executives in a number of businesses and mission-driven organizations. Most recently she was a partner and chief administrative officer for The Bridgespan Group where she had responsibility for leading Bridgespan’s operating functions – human resources, finance, information technology, marketing and impact assessment – and assuring that the firm’s infrastructure supported the implementation of its strategic plan. She has just launched her own coaching practice, Mattson Coaching, LLC, focused on helping executives and senior managers fully develop their leadership potential, improve their communications/interpersonal skills, and lead more satisfying lives.