The 2011 Nonprofit Management Institute
Partnering for Impact
September 27-28, 2011
Stanford, CA
The economy is still struggling. Financial pressure on nonprofits continues to grow as funding sources are squeezed. Giving has not yet rebounded, and government is slashing nonprofit support as it is forced to deal with skyrocketing deficits. Ironically, at the same time as funding sources are shrinking, the demands placed on nonprofits to increase their services are expanding.
What’s a nonprofit to do? Many are finding opportunities by looking internally and using existing resources and competencies in new ways. Nonprofits are also looking externally to reassess funding options and create new cross-sector relationships.
Identifying these internal and external areas of opportunity for nonprofits, this year’s Nonprofit Management Institute has developed a 2011 program under the broad umbrella Partnering for Impact. Conference sessions developed specifically for nonprofit leaders will include:
- Improving communication and persuasion skills
- Capturing and sharing organizational learning
- Developing a framework to integrate financial and social impact
- Building the right funding model
- Creating a volunteerism model for long-term social impact
- Working across sectors in new ways
- Measuring impact across organizations and sectors
The Nonprofit Management Institute, an annual two-day conference, is brought to you by the Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR) and Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP).
- What You Will Learn at Nonprofit Management Institute 2011
- Who Should Attend Nonprofit Management Institute
- What Last Year's Attendees Are Saying About Nonprofit Management Institute
- 2011 Program
- What Your Conference Fee Also Includes
- Conference Facilities and Location
- Lodging
- Rates and Registration
- Contact Information
- About AFP and SSIR
What You Will Learn at Nonprofit Management Institute 2011
We all know how difficult it is to take time out of the office and justify the cost of attending a conference. However, we also know how invaluable it is to bring back the new ideas and energy that come from attending an event focused on issues of great relevancy to your organization. The Nonprofit Management Institute draws from its university environment by inviting great teachers—academics and practitioners—to speak in front of the entire group of attendees, with time for questions and table discussions. This structure allows for a shared experience with all attendees and also time for one-on-one and small group networking. Sessions provide a mix of “big ideas” for attendees to reflect on broadly as well as “small ideas” that can be implemented right away. Our goal is for you to leave energized, brimming with ideas big and small for your organization, and with a long list of new contacts.
Who Should Attend Nonprofit Management Institute
The Nonprofit Management Institute is for senior-level nonprofit executives including CEOs, executive directors, board members, and others with significant leadership responsibilities. Every year the Nonprofit Management Institute features an all-new program, so many attendees come again and again.
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What Past Attendees Are Saying About Nonprofit Management Institute
“In my 25 years of ‘professional life,’ this was the best, most-thought producing, educational training I’ve attended. Great ROI!”
“The quality of programs/speakers has been outstanding. I’m going home with many ideas and to-do’s. Well done!”
“Great experience. Mind-blowing lectures. Very high caliber of speakers. Organizers did a great job.”
“I am continually impressed by this conference. Thank you! It will help me be a stronger leader.”
“As a funder, these sessions were extremely valuable to me.”
“Overall quality of speakers was VERY high – thanks for putting together a really worthwhile event. P.S. Conference food and facilities were lovely!”
“This is my first time – I expect to be back the future!”
“Your partnership [SSIR and AFP] addresses relevant, timely issues coupled with best practices and supported by research. As a seasoned fund-raiser, this has been a refreshing, thought-filled institute!”
“Brilliant, thought provoking, and very useful for strategic leadership!”
Nonprofit Management Institute 2011 Program
2011 Agenda and Program
Monday, September 26
The evening before conference sessions start, attendees are invited to a casual Welcome Reception from 5:30 to 7:00 pm poolside at the Sheraton Palo Alto.
Tuesday, September 27
Registration and all sessions take place in McCaw Hall in the Frances C. Arrillaga Alumni Center, Stanford University. Lunches and the reception are in the Ford Gardens in back of the Center.
8:30 – 8:45 am, Welcome from the Stanford Social Innovation Review and the Association of Fundraising Professionals
8:45 – 10:00 am, Communication and Persuasion
Francis Flynn, Professor of Organizational Behavior, Stanford Graduate School of Business
Biography
As leaders, nonprofit executives spend the majority of their time communicating with others—team members, subordinates, and clients. You probably don’t spend much time thinking about the way you communicate, nor are you likely, in a work setting, to get honest feedback on the way you communicate. Yet the quality of communication largely determines your effectiveness, particularly when you are trying to implement change in your organization. This session will help nonprofit leaders appreciate the nature and complexity of communicating change and provide guidelines for improving your own style.
10:15 – 11:45 am, The Challenge of Organizational Learning
Katie Smith Milway, Partner and Head of Knowledge, The Bridgespan Group
Biography
Table talk facilitators: Ann Goggins Gregory (Bridgespan), Kimberly Oakes (KIPP), Amy Saxton (Summer Search)
No organization wants to reinvent wheels, but too many do. Indeed, the challenge of organizational learning lies at the heart of increasing nonprofit effectiveness. Without leadership that prioritizes learning, defined roles for capturing and sharing knowledge, a culture that rewards learning behaviors, and intuitive processes, know-how fails to flow. Where to focus to uncork the bottlenecks? This session will zero in on concrete ways that organizations can effectively overcome the most common learning barriers to further their missions. It will feature Bridgespan research findings, followed by table talks with knowledge experts from Bridgespan, KIPP, and Summer Search, and other organizations on mapping your organization’s knowledge flows and promoting effective learning practices.
11:45 – 1:15 pm, Lunch in Ford Gardens (Affinity Tables)
1:15 – 2:45 pm, Breakthroughs in Shared Measurement and Social Impact
Fay Hanleybrown, Managing Director, FSG (Biography), and Jennifer Splansky, Senior Consultant, FSG
Collective impact is based on the idea that no single organization alone can solve complex social problems. One of the conditions of the success for Collective Impact is the use of shared measurement, which is defined as systems in which multiple organizations use a common set of measures to monitor performance or track progress toward goals. This session will focus on the process of getting from disparate measures to common measures on a key issue. Participants will get a sense of innovative models for shared measurement and specific examples and details on cost, effort, benefits and challenges involved in implementing this in their own work.
3:00 – 4:15 pm, The Civic Impact of Youth Volunteerism: The Curious Contrast Between Freedom Summer and Teach for America
Doug McAdam, Professor of Sociology, Stanford University
Biography
There is currently widespread consensus among educators, policymakers and academics that youth volunteerism “makes citizens;” that young people who engage in some form of youth service or activism are powerfully impacted by the experience and go on to live more engaged lives as a result. The reality, McAdam argues, is much more complicated. He suspects the great majority of volunteer experiences have little impact. In this session, McAdam will review the results of two follow-up studies of youth activists—those who applied to the 1964 Freedom Summer project and all accepted applicants to Teach for America in years 3 through 8 of that program—and then talk a bit about the very different features of the two experiences that may help account for the starkly different findings in the two cases.
4:15 – 6:00 pm, Networking Reception
5:30 – 6:30 pm, Short Documentary Screening (30 minute version) and Audience Discussion of Saving Philanthropy: Resources to Results
Special Guest: Robby Robinson, Executive Producer and Director. Host: Kim Meredith, Executive Director, Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society
The imperative for the philanthropic community to foster a managing-to-outcomes culture is the theme of this one-hour educational program produced by brother and sister filmmakers Robby and Kate Robinson, airing on PBS beginning in September 2011. Saving Philanthropy speaks to nonprofit directors and funders who value outcomes but are struggling with how to define and measure them. Saving Philanthropy profiles diverse social service organizations that have gained national attention for the measurable outcomes they achieve and highlights the role that forward thinking funders play in the process. The program lays out in clear and digestible language the key components of a managing-to outcomes strategy. www.savingphilanthropy.org
Wednesday, September 28
8:30 - 10:00 am, Building the Right Funding Model for Your Organization
Peter Kim, Manager (Biography), and Jacquelyn Hadley, Partner (Biography), The Bridgespan Group
Nonprofit funding strategy and financial sustainability are central to creating a vibrant and effective sector. Yet our understanding about these issues remains far less sophisticated than our understanding of programs. Conventional wisdom, such as “diversification is good,” substitutes for thoughtful planning. Building upon years of primary research and consulting experience with dozens of nonprofit clients, Bridgespan has developed an approach for how an organization can identify and develop a funding model that will allow it to achieve its programmatic aspirations. This interactive session will provide practical guidance on the steps required and review the types of decisions and tradeoffs that nonprofit leaders need to make along the way.
10:30 am - Noon, Understanding and Changing Your Business Strategy
Jan Masaoka, Editor-in-Chief, Blue Avocado
Biography
Today all nonprofits are hybrids, combining earned income with contributed income. You can't talk about what you're going to do without talking about how to get the money for it, and you can't talk about how to get money without talking about what you're going to do. But how to do both together? This workshop uses the Matrix Map tool that nonprofit leaders can use to understand and explain the interaction among all their activities—programmatic, earned income, and fundraising—and how to adjust it to make the business model that's right for YOUR organization
Noon – 1:15 pm, Buffet lunch in Ford Gardens
1:15 – 2:30 pm, Working Across Institutions, Sectors, and Disciplines to Solve Social Challenges
Barton H. Thompson, Jr., Director, Woods Institute for the Environment, and Professor in Natural Resources Law, Stanford Law School
Biography
Solving complex societal issues increasingly requires both interdisciplinary collaboration across areas of expertise and intersectoral partnerships among NGOs, research institutions, government, and business. Effective collaborations and partnerships, however, are neither easy to organize nor sustain. Moreover, while efforts to work across disciplines and sectors can often lead to new perspectives and approaches, they also can blur lines in manners that can undermine initial strengths. Drawing on work at Stanford's Woods Institute for the Environment and elsewhere, Thompson will identify models for interdisciplinary and intersectoral collaboration and then discuss how best to promote such collaboration and avoid potential pitfalls.
2:45 – 4:00 pm, Partnering for Scale and Impact
Melissa Bradley, Chief Executive Officer, Tides
Biography
The focus on scale within the social sector has dramatically increased. However, scale is often hard to achieve due to lack of capacity and capital. Bradley will discuss the importance of partnerships as a means of achieving scale and increasing impact. Leveraging her executive experience in the public, private, and social sectors, she will offer case studies of successful collaborations and critical success factors to maximize impact.
4:00 – 5:00 pm, Concluding Remarks and wind-down time with coffee and cookies in Ford Gardens
What Your Conference Fee Also Includes
- A list of conference attendees with contact information
- A binder with the presentations and other useful information
- A post-conference website for additional resources, photos, and podcasts
- For AFP members, attendance qualifies for CFRE credits
- Free internet service at conference center and access to business center
- Free nearby parking or free shuttle from hotel to conference center
- Opportunities to buy books written by speakers and get them signed
- Certificates of completion at the end of the conference
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You will also enjoy delicious, primarily organic and locally grown food:
- Welcoming poolside reception at the Sheraton hotel the night before the conference opens
- Networking reception in Ford Gardens at the conference center after the first day
- Breakfast both conference days
- Delicious lunches in the outside garden
Conference Facilities and Location
The program will be held at the Frances C. Arrillaga Alumni Center, a state-of-the-art facility located on Stanford University's campus. Lunches, breaks, and the September 27 networking reception are held in the beautiful Ford Gardens behind the conference center. The Alumni Center serves locally grown organic food.
More information about the Frances C. Arrillada Alumni Center—including public transportation, directions, and parking—is available here.
Stanford is located between San Francisco and San Jose in the heart of Silicon Valley. The campus' 8,100 acres reach from the rural foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains to the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto. Stanford is conveniently located between two major airports—25 miles south of San Francisco International Airport and 20 miles north of San Jose International Airport.
The campus and surrounding areas offer a myriad of opportunities for recreation and sightseeing. World-class shopping and dining are located only a mile away. A half hour drive north brings you to San Francisco. A two hour drive south brings you to Carmel, where you can take in breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean. To find out more, visit Stanford’s Visitor Information Services.
Lodging
The Nonprofit Management Institute has reserved a block of rooms for attendees at The Sheraton Palo Alto for September 25-28. Rooms are available at discounted rates of $179 (standard room) and $219 ("view" room) per night until September 9. After September 9, you may still book a room, but the discounted conference rates are not guaranteed. To reserve a room, please click here. The Sheraton Palo Alto is conveniently located at a Caltrain stop. The Arrillaga Alumni Center is a 20 minute walk or a short, free shuttle ride away.
Please click here for a list of other nearby lodging with a variety of price ranges. We do not have room blocks at these locations.
Nonprofit Management Institute Registration
Rates
For the fourth year in a row, we have kept our rates flat. This year we are also offering a “partner special” (see below).
Early Bird Rates extended through August 31, 2011!
$795: Special rate if you are a Stanford Social Innovation Review subscriber* or an AFP member
$995: Special rate PLUS become an AFP member
$1,195 Standard rate (if you are not an SSIR subscriber or an AFP member)
Regular Rates (Effective September 1, 2011)
$995: Special rate if you are a Stanford Social Innovation Review subscriber* or an AFP member
$1,195: Special rate to attend PLUS become an AFP member
$1,395 Standard rate (if you are not an SSIR subscriber or an AFP member)
*A US/Canada Print PLUS Digital subscription to the Stanford Social Innovation Review is $49.95. To qualify for the discounted subscriber rate to the Nonprofit Management Institute, you must be a print subscriber with a current, paid subscription. If you are not yet a subscriber, or if your subscription has recently expired, you can qualify for the $400 discount if you subscribe or renew now at the web rate of just $49.95 ($69.95 International) for one year at www.ssireview.org/subscribe. If you are not sure if your subscription is up to date, you can check by going to www.ssireview.org/subscribe and clicking on “manage my subscription.”
Partner Special!
Bring a work colleague—or two colleagues—from your organization and each of you will get $100 off your registration. Note: you must register at the same time.
We also offer group discounts. Register three people from your organization and the fourth person attends for free. To register a group, please email emiller@afpnet.org or call (703) 519-8465.
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Important Registration Dates
August 31, 2011: Early Bird registration closes
September 23, 2011: Last day of online registration. If you need to register after September 23, please register on-site.
Cancellation policy: A refund charge of twenty percent of the registration fee will be assessed for any cancellations received by September 12. Effective September 13, there will be no refunds for cancellation.
Contact Information
If you have questions about the program or logistics:
Email: pogorelc@stanford.edu
Phone: (650) 724-3309
If you have questions about registration:
Email: emiller@afpnet.org
Phone: (703) 519-8465
About AFP and SSIR
The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) represents 30,000 members in 222 chapters throughout the world, working to advance philanthropy through advocacy, research, education and certification programs. The association fosters development and growth of fundraising professionals and promotes high ethical standards in the fundraising profession. For more information or to join the world's largest association of fundraising professionals, visit www.afpnet.org.
Stanford Social Innovation Review (SSIR), published at the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society (PACS), is an award-winning magazine and website that covers cross-sector solutions to global problems. SSIR is written for and by social change leaders in the nonprofit, business, and government sectors who view collaboration as key to solving environmental, social, and economic justice issues. SSIR bridges academic theory and practice with ideas about achieving social change. SSIR also hosts webinars on important, cutting-edge topics in the field of social change.
