A workshop at last year's conference

At the second annual Illinois Nonprofit Conference in Springfield on October 16, we’ll be offering an exciting slate of workshops designed to ensure that your organization is effective and efficient in achieving your mission.

The workshops will be offered in three tracks: capacity building, collective impact, and collaboration. You can mix and match workshops in different tracks to meet your unique needs. Advanced sign-up of the workshops is not required, but of course you need to register for the Conference. Some highlights include: 

Social Media for Nonprofits (Capacity Track)

Presented by Keynote Speaker, Farra Trompeter

Social media is everywhere. Your donors are connecting with you on LinkedIn, your advocates are sharing links about your nonprofit on Twitter, your program participants are commenting on your Facebook page, and your staff is posting videos on YouTube–what's an executive director to do? In this workshop, Farra will share some strategies you can use to evaluate and manage your organization's approach to social media. We'll also discuss topics such as staff capacity, social media guidelines, and your personal/professional brand.

Identifying and Meeting the Unmet Needs of Those We Serve (Collective Impact Track)

Presented by Megan Kashner of Benevolent

Additional Presenter: Frank Baiocci, Polk Brothers Foundation

In the past decade, we’ve seen our peer organizations struggle, down-size and sometime fold operations, bent under the weight of dramatic decreases in public and private funding. This panel discussion will address this and several corollary questions including:

• Where are the gaps in our services and safety net programs today that would, in earlier decades, have been met by direct cash supports to clients and families?

• What are examples of trends in client needs that one would hope could be met through a broad-based program or innovation?

• What policy or funding action would we strive to advocate in light of the gaps we’ve identified?

The Eleanor Network – Grantee Collaboration in Action (Collaboration Track)

Presented by: Maricar Ramos, The Eleanor Foundation

Additional Presenters: Sacella Smith, Youth Job Center of Evanston; Emily Stinnett, Jane Adams Resource Corporation; Julie Garfield, The Cara Program

Panelists will include the program officer from the Eleanor Foundation as well as representatives from three grantee organizations. The presentation and discussion will center around how the Eleanor Network functions; funder to grantee, as well as grantee to grantee communication; sharing of resources; brainstorming around common challenges; collaboration between grantees; and the relative uniqueness of the Eleanor Network in the Chicago philanthropy and nonprofit sector.

• To understand how a collaborative network between a granting organization and its grantees functions;

• To hear firsthand examples from grantees about the benefits of such a network; and

• To learn how to establish a similar collaborative network between like-minded organizations.

There's Much More!

You can find full descriptions of these and all of the conference workshops here on the 501cometogether microsite. If you haven't registered for the Illinois Nonprofit Conference yet, you have until September 16, to receive the early-bird rate. Register today. Don't miss this opportunity to build your organization's capacity and enhance its effectiveness.