Thinking about Collaboration: A Conversation about Fiscal Sponsorships and Back Office Services

Passionate about your program and the clients/community that you serve and thinking about ways to expand impact? Please join a webinar hosted by the Mission Sustainability Initiative to learn about existing partnership models that leverage established infrastructure and operational expertise in support of other nonprofits. Whether your organization has been in existence for a long time or you started a mutual aid or other effort in response to the 2020 health, racial, and economic crises, find out about some options to increase impact, overcome challenges, and address equity.

Panelists:

• Dede Cadet, Organizer, Justice Cream Deandra “Dede” Cadet (she/her) has a passion for connecting people, resources, ideas, and stories to bring us to joy, healing, and collective liberation. Dede was the Cofounder and Executive Director of InterAction Initiative Inc. an organization she co-founded at 22 years old as a student activist to cultivate young BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color) as racial justice leaders and amplify their counter-narratives. Now she is the Development & Operations Coordinator at Radical Monarchs a national movement for young girls and gender expansive youth of color to grow in fierce sisterhood, collective power and radical brilliance. In 2018, Deandra was named a Dalai Lama Fellow, a global program which recognizes young social change leaders. She currently serves on the Board for New Leaders Council Chicago and InterAction Initiative Inc. Chicago is her new home where she organizes with her local mutual aid group in McKinley Park and provides technical and development support for Justice Cream. She loves taking walks near the lake and collaborating with other women of color on projects that center collective liberation and racial justice.
• Jill O’Donovan, Chief Innovation Officer, YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago  After 21 years of litigating complex insurance cases in courts across the U.S., Jill joined YWCA Metropolitan Chicago in 2016 and currently is the Chief Innovation Officer. In this role, she applies her wide expertise and legal skills to develop and secure funding for new strategies and programs to help empower the women and families in and around Chicago. Her most recent initiative is the Impact Shares YWCA Women’s Empowerment Exchange Traded Fund which launched on the New York Stock Exchange in August 2018. Jill also oversees YWCA Metropolitan Chicago’s Women’s Health Exchange, an online resource to connect individuals to health insurance and educate on matters of physical, mental, and financial wellness. Jill is a graduate of the University of Iowa College of Law and George Mason University. Jill became a court-certified mediator for the Cook County, Illinois Law Division Mediation Program in 2013 and continues to serve as an arbitrator for the Cook County Mandatory Arbitration Program.
• Khalid M. Qazi. Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, National Able Network Khalid Qazi joined National Able Network, Inc. in 2003 as Controller and was promoted to become its Chief Financial Officer in 2011. Mr. Qazi manages a team of five accounting professionals responsible for all budgeting, forecasting, compliance, and financial reporting associated with more than 30 publicly- and privately-awarded contracts annually. Mr. Qazi serves as the primary point of contact for federal, State, and independent auditors, and has consistently led the Agency into outstanding audit results. His reputation as a leading expert in non-profit accounting and compliance has brought him to the attention of philanthropic foundations and other non-profits who routinely rely on him for advice and support.

*If you are interested in learning more about the legal aspects of fiscal sponsorships, in particular, check out Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights’ webinar: Advocacy By The Book: The Ins and Outs of Fiscal Sponsorships , Wednesday, September 22, at 9:30 a.m.