Archive for the ‘Upcoming Events, Speaking and Training’ Category
Posted by Jon Howard on September 29, 2009 in Upcoming Events, Speaking and Training
People who want to ban a book can’t think of a better argument than “SHUT UP!” The would-be censors are still busy compiling the 2009 list of banned books in schools and libraries across America as I type, but we can share the final 2008 list thanks to the American Library Association and Banned Book Week (Sept. 26 – Oct. 3). For those who can tolerate and even welcome thoughts other than their own, Banned Book Week celebrates the First Amendment and our right to read. The ALA has done a great job explaining what’s at stake on their Banned Book Week site. Thanks, librarians, for keeping the door to shared ideas wide open to everyone. Read More >>
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on September 16, 2009 in Upcoming Events, Speaking and Training
Check out the nonprofit workshops we’re giving around New England this Fall. We hope you’ll join us.
- Wednesday, Sept 30th: Gayle will be co-presenting on Annual Giving Campaigns at the Boston Fundraising Summit at Simmons College. Our session runs from 9:30-10:45 am.
- Thursday, Oct 8th: Jon and Gayle will be presenting “How to make the most of your year end appeal” for the RI Land & Water Partnership from 5:30-8:30 pm. The session will take place at Audubon Society of RI headquarters in Smithfield, RI. While the session is open to all, first dibs go to watershed associations and land trusts.
- Tuesday, Nov 3rd: Gayle will be leading a lively discussion “Building Board Leadership: The role of board officers” at TDC’s downtown headquarters in Boston, Mass.
- Monday, Nov 9th: Gayle will be presenting “Funding your work in these times” at the YES WE WILL Conference at the Crowne Plaza, Warwick RI. Her workshop is from 2:45-4:15.
- Friday Nov 13th: Dig deep into board self-assessment at Gayle’s workshop “How are we Doing? Using Self- Assessment to Jumpstart Your Board Improvement Plan” at the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network/Associated Grantmaker’s Conference at the Sheraton Framingham in Framingham, Massachusetts. Session runs from 1:45-3:00 pm.
- Thursday, Dec 3: “Strategic Planning and Succession Planning” will run for the last time in 2009 at the Rhode Island Foundation/ Fidelity Investments Board Development Program. This one is an early morning session from 8:30-11:00 at Fidelity’s Smithfield, RI campus.
See you there.
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on July 7, 2009 in Upcoming Events, Speaking and Training
Have a tale of a joint venture or collaboration that has strengthened your operating capacity? We’d love to share details of that story through our blog.
Every day we are hearing more and more stories about the growing numbers of nonprofit organizations that are working together to improve their organizational capacity. We’re learning about many innovative or even routine activities that can have a big impact.
We’ve shared two examples already — the shared administrative capacity of the Chattanooga Museums Collaboration and the merger between two CDCs that created CommunityWorks Rhode Island.
We are extremely interested in hearing your stories of nonprofit incubators, employee lease backs, sub affiliates, shared back office support, group purchasing, or whatever models you’ve developed. We think that the number of published case studies don’t reflect the diversity and number of interesting collaborations happening in this sector. We think that the lack of a great recipe book — what it is, how it came about, the mechanics of the arrangement, what makes it successful, direct and indirect benefits — is one of the barriers standing in the way of more nonprofits experimenting with new ways of operating.
We are happy to share your stories on this blog. Send your story along to us at gayle@ceffect.com. Send us your phone number so we can connect if we have additional questions.
Thank you.
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on May 13, 2009 in Better Boards, Communicating, Tidbits, Upcoming Events, Speaking and Training
Purpose. Vision. Wisdom. Humor. Joy. Passion. Shared Values. Dedication. Generosity. Insight. Productive. Patience. Flexibility. Common Ground. Perseverance. Investment. Struggle. Eye-opening. Community-building. Caring. Deep Caring. Collaboration. Diversity. Gratitude. Leadership. Creative. Integrity. Teamwork. Unity. Heaven. Rewarding. Brainstorming. Listening. Support. Respect. Commitment. Interactive. Different. Communication.
These words emerged from a workshop I facilitated this morning called “boards that lead.” To get us started I asked everyone to think of a great board experience they have had and then to share one word that characterized that experience.
In just a few minutes, the 40+ board members, executive directors and staff who attended shared the words above. Together, they described the perfect board experience. What a gift. Thank you.
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on May 8, 2009 in Upcoming Events, Speaking and Training
I love spring in New England! What a glorious day today has turned into.
I just walked home from a meeting with a prospective client. However that goes, I couldn’t help but smile the whole way back. The sun was shining brightly at 5:30 pm, the air was warm, the tulips were still blooming, as are the dogwoods, wisteria, and lilacs. The birds are singing up a storm. Bees are buzzing. Mother Nature has done it again.
It’s too easy in this work to get focused solely on the great need and all that is wrong with the world. It’s easy to forget to take the time to appreciate all that is beautiful around us.
So take a moment and enjoy the natural pleasures of your neighborhood, wherever you may be. Praise Spring, glorious Spring.
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on April 17, 2009 in Upcoming Events, Speaking and Training
Principle IV of the Nuremberg Principles states”The fact that a person acted pursuant to order of his Government or of a superior does not relieve him from responsibility under international law, provided a moral choice was in fact possible to him.”
So while I understand completely why our President would like to avoid right now the whole messy situation of the torture of prisoners during the Bush administration, unfortunately, his reasoning doesn’t fly with me. If the administration believes this is torture, then they are obligated under international law to investigate and hold the perpetrators accountable if found guilty.
According to Amnesty International (one of the best organizations out there– all you funders measuring results pay attention). “the U.S. government is required by international law to respect and ensure human rights, to thoroughly investigate every violation of those rights, and to bring perpetrators to justice, no matter their level of office or former level of office.”
I expect the boards and staff of nonprofit organizations to know when they are doing something wrong and unethical or immoral. I expect more of my government.
Please sign one of the petitions urging your congressional representatives to create a non-partisan, independent commission to investigate the use of torture by US intelligence agents and their superiors. You’ll find the one from AIUSA here. What has been disclosed is still only a tiny portion of what may have happened.
You don’t get to say “he made me do it” when you know that the act is wrong. My mom wouldn’t let me get away with that and neither should our President let employees of the US government do the same.
And I’m sorry, but no one can convince me that the interrogation techniques which have been sited in the memos released are not torture. And torture is never acceptable.
If we don’t hold the moral high ground internationally, what do we have left as a country? As I tell my clients, there is nothing more valuable to your organization than your good name. That goes for the USA as well.
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on March 18, 2009 in Upcoming Events, Speaking and Training
Heather Mansfield shared her 10 Twitter Tips for Nonprofits on her blog at Change.org yesterday. Perfect timing as my class at Simmons College was sharing their ideas with Toni Troop of Jane Doe Inc. who spoke to the class Monday night. (Thank you Toni! It’s great to learn from a real media pro and hear your experiences)
Toni and my students would have strongly agreed with Heather’s tip #5: “Don’t tweat about your coffee, the weather, or how tired you are. Provide value to your followers, not chit chat.”
With hundreds of tweats to check, who has time to hear the minutia of any one other than their very close friends. (That’s what I use FaceBook for… to appreciate everything from the mundane to the existential and wry wit of my closer friends.)
I’ve personally been experimenting with Twitter for a few months now so that I can be informed and helpful to the organizations I work with. I try to log onto Twitter at least once or twice a week (sorry, just can’t Read More >>
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on March 16, 2009 in Upcoming Events, Speaking and Training
In yesterday’s column, Washington Post personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary shared heartwarming examples of ordinary people “sharing their abundance” with friends and neighbors in need.
I’ve always felt that it was unfortunate that the measures of giving have no way to track philanthropy in its essence, the love of human kind.
Reading Michelle’s column reminded me that we need to honor these daily acts of altruism that occur all around us… from the neighbor who gladly shares a few eggs to the vacation rental landlord we met one year who volunteered by driving cancer patients four or five hours each way from rural Maine to Boston for treatment.
Thank you.
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on February 25, 2009 in Upcoming Events, Speaking and Training
“Reach for the high apples first. You can get the low ones anytime.” Hmmm. This was in my fortune cookie today.
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on January 16, 2009 in Upcoming Events, Speaking and Training
If you are one of the many organizations confused by Twitter, you might want to take a lookt at the blog TwiTip. I just discovered it via a Tweet I received from problogger.
Lots of helpful advice to get you started.
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