A business summit to help the staff of nonprofit organizations is set for next month.
Local attorneys, CEO’s, CPA’s and coaches will teach good business practices.
This marks the third consecutive year the Community Foundation for the CSRA (CFCSRA) will host the nonprofit business summit. It is a day-long series of workshops and panel discussions providing professional development education for anyone connected to area nonprofit organizations.
Lasima Turmon, Director of Programs at CFCSRA, told ABD that the summit is designed to help local organizations send staff members and volunteers to an event that is accessible and affordable.
“Typically, when there’s a conference, you may send one or two people, depending on the cost of registration, and then having to pay for people’s travel and food,” she explained. “If we do it at home, we just need the day, and more people have the opportunity to come from an organization. So, it’s not just the executives or just a particular program person, but this is really designed for anyone that works with or around nonprofits, from staff people to board members to volunteers.”
Kicking off the day will be Catie McCauley, President and CEO of the Family YMCA of Greater Augusta. Her welcome will focus on The Heart of Impact: Investing in Those Who Serve. She will explain that a thriving community needs a stable and effective workforce at the nonprofit organizations. It can be achieved by investing in both paid and volunteer workers.
“Each summit has what we consider a centering topic, or its overall theme that we try to have all of our keynotes and breakouts focused on or around,” said Turmon. “This year, it’s about the people doing the work, so the nonprofit workforce itself. Each of the breakout sessions has what we call a learning track, depending on a person’s role and organization.”
The welcome will kick off a series of breakout sessions. The topics will cover:
- Executive
- Programmatic
- Development
- Finance
- Marketing
Among the experts leading a session will be attorney Rachel Ray with the Enoch Tarver law firm and Jason Douglas, from SME CPA. They will address the legal requirements to prepare and protect nonprofit organizations. That will include both financial and legal due diligence, risk management policies, and federal and state reporting requirements.
“It’s important because nonprofits, just like any other small business, need to be aware of the pitfalls, the obstacles that are out there for small businesses because they have to prepare themselves like a small business, to protect their brand, to protect their finances, protect their organizations in all of the same legal ways that a small business has to,” Ray said.
The executive sessions are designed for those in leadership roles, including CEOs, presidents, and executive directors.
“This year, the executive sessions are focused on conflict management, or conflict resolution, which in the nonprofit space, especially with boards or staff, how everything feels good until it doesn’t,” Turmon said. “How do you navigate those challenging moments with people so that you don’t ruin any morale or jeopardize the culture of an organization, and it doesn’t stall the big work happening?”
The sessions will be led by Tekay Brown-Taylor, President & CEO, Brownstone Mediation Services, and presented by Dr. Tony Robinson, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, at Rural Sourcing, Inc. (RSI).
Turmon said the goal of the summit is twofold. First, it gives attendees the chance to network with representatives from all area nonprofit organizations.
“The second is that they meet the subject matter experts who can help them in their work, and they are introduced to people, mostly local subject matter experts, they can call when they have an extra question, or they’re working through some component of something that they learned at the summit,” she said.
The summit will be on May 14 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. It will be at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in North Augusta.
More information and registration at: www.cfcsra.org/nonprofits/training-resources/
