We're kicking off the 2021 Nonprofit Seminar Series with fundraising! The United Way of Addison County, the Addison County Chamber of Commerce, and I are thrilled to welcome trainers Joyce Cellars and Shana Trombley of CPG Enterprises, Inc. for an interactive discussion on current fundraising trends and a look ahead to what the coming 18-24 months might have in store. No crystal balls here, but Joyce and Shana will analyze trends and data, consider the impacts of over a year of pandemic lockdowns, calls for racial justice, and climate action movements, and explore adaptations of traditional fundraising best practices through a 2021 lens. Thanks to the generous sponsorship of the United Way of Addison County, this seminar is FREE! Register Today
Past
Build the Board of Your Dreams: Recruitment, Diversity, and Retention | December 8, 2020 | 8:30 - 10:00 a.m. | Zoom
Has your nonprofit committed to building a board that reflects the community you serve? You are not alone if you’re not entirely sure what to do next! Join us for this 90-minute panel discussion with local nonprofit leaders about the steps they’re taking to recruit and retain a diverse board of directors. Many of them are doing this work right here in Addison County! Helena Van Voorst, Executive Director of the United Way of Addison, will moderate. This event is free. REGISTER TODAY Panelists:
Sarah Audet - Board Member, Counseling Service of Addison County: Sarah Audet has served on the board of CSAC since June 2018. She is a member of the Development & Marketing Committee and Chair of the Nominating & Governance Committee. Earlier this year, she stepped down as Executive Director of a small nonprofit and joined the Addison County Chamber of Commerce as Events & Tourism Manager. In addition, Sarah is a nonprofit communications, board development, and strategic planning consultant. She is a graduate of Middlebury College and earned her Master of Education at Northeastern University.
Kerri Duquette-Hofman - Executive Director, WomenSafe: Kerri Duquette-Hoffman is honored to serve as the Executive Director of WomenSafe. Her roots in the movement of work against intersectional gender-based violence began early as a student volunteer, and she has been dedicated to this work professionally since 2002. She received her Master of Social Work degree from the University of Vermont, and has greatly enjoyed bringing her wealth of experience into classrooms as adjunct faculty at The University of Vermont, Community College of Vermont and Castleton State College. Kerri’s work as a social work professional, an educator, and a community leader has been recognized at the statewide and community levels. She is a mom, and a hearty Vermonter who likes to meet the challenge at hand.
Nial Rele - Board Member, United Way of Addison County: Nial serves as the Senior Assistant Director of Admissions at Middlebury College. He holds a master’s degree in higher education administration from Harvard University and an undergraduate degree from Middlebury College in environmental policy and Chinese. Over the last decade, he has worked in several roles at colleges across the US. Nial is the Secretary of the Board of Directors for the United Way of Addison County and also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Bixby Memorial Library serving northern Addison county where he chairs the Personnel and Policy Committee. Nial is a native of India and moved to the US for college 12 years ago. He now calls Vergennes home.
Mia Schultz - Member, Rutland Area NAACP:Mia Schultz grew up in Tucson, Arizona and moved to Bennington with her two sons in 2015. She is Chair of Bennington's Democratic Party Committee, the first African-American woman to hold a top position in the organization. She has been a member and leader in the Bennington chapter of Rights & Democracy since 2016, serves on the Vermont Coalition on Ethnic and Social Equity in Schools advisory group, and participates in organizing through The Root Social Justice and NAACP groups here in Vermont. Schultz reports being most proud of her work in the schools where she was a driving force behind the initiative to provide implicit bias training to all teachers and administrators in the Southern Vermont Supervisory Union and later creation of its equity group. Schultz and her partner Shawn Pratt also do daily advocacy work for folks in Bennington regarding policing and employment. For her daily job, Mia is a property claims reviewer
What is Your Story & How Do You Tell It? | September 10, 2020 | 8:00 - 10:00 a.m. | Zoom
Stories are powerful for nonprofits. Stories inspire and motivate community members to do more for our missions and those we serve. Stories engage our board members and support them in being great advocates and ambassadors. Stories convey our gratitude to our donors and show them the impact of their giving. And stories can even help us, the nonprofit leaders, when we are nose-deep in balance sheets and annual planning, to remember why the work we do is so important to our community.
In this online lab, you will learn how to develop and share your story: your organization's story, as well as the stories of the people who make up your organization. It will help you understand the core concepts and structure of story, how to create a culture of storytelling within your organization, ways to share your story, and things to consider with regard to confidentiality and privacy. We will also practice sharing our stories and discuss how to use your story to create change.
Presenter Becky Holt, Vermont Story Lab & COTS (Committee on Temporary Shelter) - As a former journalist, Becky has spent most of her professional career telling stories in a variety of formats and styles. Now as the Development & Communications Director at COTS (Committee on Temporary Shelter) in Burlington, she continues storytelling, helping our community more fully understand homelessness. For Becky, story is about relationship, the powerful connection between one human being and another that can spur us to feel, to inspire, to act.
Vermont Story Lab Summer Series | Various Dates/Times | Zoom
The Vermont Story Lab partners are hearing from many of you, our nonprofit colleagues, that you want to tell your stories, both as individuals and organizations, but how do you do that mindfully, respectfully and with purpose in a time of upheaval and trauma? We want to help. Please join us at one, two or all of our three free summer online labs, designed to be collaborative, to encourage deep listening and sharing, to help your organization pivot with its pitch and message, and to offer at-a-distance storytelling strategies and tools to tell stories in this time of social distancing.
All of these labs are FREE, but you must register by clicking the links below. Space is limited.
Nonprofit leaders have always worked to meet the challenges of our day, to ensure that our community is safe, stable, and beautiful for all. They did this before the pandemic, and they continue to do it now under the most extraordinary of circumstances. They have shown great flexibility, creativity, and resilience. As the world begins to reopen and the need for services continues to increase, nonprofits are turning their attention to the future. Join us in thinking and planning for the road ahead. We'll have an interactive conversation with a panel of local nonprofit leaders as we consider:
How can you think and plan strategically for a future that feels more uncertain than usual?
How can you adapt your services and programs for the social distancing long-haul?
How can you engage your donors when the economy is hurting?
What resources do you need to support your planning and continued success?
What’s top of your mind? We invite you to bring along your questions and ideas, too!
Recruit, Engage, Retain, Reflect: The Four-Leaf Clover of Individual Giving | March 10, 2020 | 8:00 - 10:00 a.m. Ilsley Public Library, Middlebury
“You’re always after me lucky charms!” chuckles the pint-sized man in a green top hat as you chase him over the rainbow. His pot of gold is just within reach. You’ll never have to write another grant application again if you can get your hands on it. Just then, a faint beeping sound in the distance gets louder and louder. It’s your alarm clock, and you’ve been having fundraising dreams–again! But you’re still in luck: our nonprofit seminar will show you how to engage individual donors from your own community, no leprechauns required. You will learn how to find new donors, retain the ones you already have, keep your donors engaged all year long, and bring lapsed donors back into the fold. You will leave with the tools to begin building a goal-driven fundraising plan for your own organization. Presented by Sarah Audet (Nonprofit Consultant), Hannah Manley (Homeward Bound), Amy Mason (WomenSafe), and Helena Van Voorst (United Way of Addison County) in partnership with the Addison County Chamber of Commerce.
Working with Boards | September 10, 2019 | 8:30 - 10:30 a.m. | EastView, Middlebury
Working with a board of directors offers unique opportunities and challenges. With that in mind, Rob Carter of the Addison County Chamber, Helena Van Voorst of the United Way of Addison County, and Sarah Audet have teamed up to offer a seminar on Working with Boards. This seminar will also be part mixer, to provide the opportunity for nonprofit executives to meet and talk about their respective organizations and the challenges they face.
Goals for the Seminars/Mixer:
Share success stories and lessons learned
Provide the opportunity to ask questions
Share resources
Determine participants’ other training needs/interests
Encourage peer exchange/support among participants
Topics to be Covered:
Board roles vs Director roles
Board member recruitment (age, diversity, etc.)
How to deal with challenging Board members
Board engagement (in fundraising and other things)