Eastern Oregon Nonprofit Conference

Creating Vital Communities

With the encouragement and support of the John and Linda Shelk Foundation of Prineville and Grantmakers of Oregon and SW Washington, a local committee has formed to plan an Eastern Oregon nonprofit conference to be held in Ontario, Oregon in September 2012.

The conference, Creating Vital Communities, will be held on Friday, September 14 at the Four Rivers Cultural Center at 676 SW 5th Avenue, with a reception on the evening of Thursday, September 13. Thursday night's event will be a social meet and greet in the beautiful Japanese Garden at the Four Rivers Cultural Center for everyone arriving the evening before the conference begins on Friday morning. It will be a fun, relaxing evening with good food and conversation!

Registration

Online registration for the conference is now closed, but registration will be available at the door on Thursday evening and on Friday morning. For more information, please contact Kelly Poe at the Commission on Children & Families at 541-889-4317 or kelly.poe@malheurco.org

Thursday, September 13

6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. - Reception at the Japanese Garden at Four Rivers Cultural Center 

• This reception will be an opportunity to get to know visiting funders, network with attendees from other nonprofit organizations, and relax, as we shift from busy work-week mode to strategic planning and working collectively to have the greatest possible impact on our rural communities.

Friday, September 14

Click here for detailed session descriptions. 

9:00 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. - Opening Plenary

• Keynote Speaker, Fay Hanleybrown, FSG
  Creating Vital Communities Through Collective Impact

 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon - Breakout Sessions

• Elements of Collective Impact, Fay Hanleybrown, FSG. How does a collective impact approach work in a rural community? Participants will dive deep into the experience of catalyzing a collective impact effort, understand the tensions and challenges faced in undertaking these efforts, and discuss the realities of taking a collective impact approach in a rural context.
   
• Planning for Sustainability: Clarifying and Strengthening Your Business Model, Carol M. Ford, Nonprofit Association of Oregon. This session presents concepts from the book Nonprofit Sustainability: Making Strategic Decisions for Financial Viability to help nonprofit board and staff leaders do just what the name implies: Make strategic decisions that foster both programmatic and financial sustainability.
   
• Taking the Fear Out of Fundraising, Sharon Bosserman-Benson, Director of Planned Giving, Lewis & Clark College. Overcome your fear of asking people for money by focusing on the mission of your organization and by sharing stories of how you are changing lives.
   
• Measuring Efficiency: Nonprofit "Must Have" Technology Tools and Tricks, Ash Shepherd, Minds On Design Lab. This session will focus on highlighting a wide range of free and low cost technology solutions that your organization can use to improve your ability to communicate, collaborate, and connect.
   
• Grantseeking: The Process and Tools for Success, C. Davis Parchment, The Foundation Center. Learn how to become a better grantseeker!
   

12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m. - Lunch Plenary: Funders Forum

• Meyer Memorial Trust, The Ford Family Foundation, The Collins Foundation, Oregon Community Foundation, Swigert Foundation, Bank of the Cascades

2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. - Breakout Sessions

• Regional Uplift: Thriving Rural Communities, Sayer Jones, MMT; Amanda Hoey, MCEDD; Janet Hamada, Next Door, Inc.; Nancy White, MCEDD. Hear from community leaders who helped conceive and test this organizing tool during the early stages of development. Regional Uplift is the next wave in how communities think about economic development, not as discrete projects but as a system.
   
• Economic Impact of Oregon Nonprofits, Carol M. Ford, NAO; Bruce Sorte, OSU Community Economist. In 2010, nonprofit organizations in Oregon provided 166,130 jobs, representing 13% of Oregon’s private sector employment. This panel will present current information and data on the economic status and relevance of the nonprofit sector in Oregon with specific highlights on eastern Oregon.
   
• Courageous Leadership: Identifying and Tackling Strategic Issues Facing Your Organization, Vernita Ediger, Rural Development Initiatives. This session will present a simple process by which organizational leaders can engage board and staff in identifying issues of strategic importance, clarifying vital next steps, and enhancing unity within the organization.
   
• Doing Good While Staying Out of Trouble with the IRS: A Primer for Board Members, David Atkin, Nonprofit Support Services. This workshop will explain the legal duties, responsibilities and organizational role expected of nonprofit board members and how they can best serve their organizations.
   
• The Rural Community Endowment: Is This a Resource for Your Future?, Lisa Dawson and Sara Miller, NEOEDD. Learn why and how rural communities are setting up endowments, assess the potential for wealth transfer in your county, and complete a game plan for starting an endowment in your community.
   
• Regional Collaboration and Federal Resources as Essential Tools to Support Collective Impact: Models That Work, Kathy Ingram; Joyce Akse. This session will present an analysis of the characteristics that differentiate and sustain effective rural collaborative efforts in federal grant-seeking, identify federal grant programs for FY 2013 that are ripe for rural harvest; and showcase efforts that are afoot at the Ford Institute for Community Building to enhance the efforts of rural communities to leverage federal financial assistance in support of self-determined regional collective impact.

3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. - Wrap-Up

• It’s our time to say Thank You and Goodbye to wonderful colleagues and friends, while celebrating a day of connections, collaboration, and education. Did we mention there’ll also be prizes?
  
  Beyond that, we’ll also be pondering the question: What do Oregon Food Bank, The Oregon Food Bank Network, Eastern Oregon, Portland Metro, the Ontario Region, a small produce stand owner, your local grocer, a large scale onion packing operation, a meat processor, a City Manager, "big box" retailers, Chambers of Commerce, faith based organizations, an area hospital, the County Economic Development Director, school district, community college, the City Council, a state legislator, restaurants, a pediatrician, the Cattlemen’s Association, community gardens, district health office, emergency food pantries, Boys and Girls Club, farmer's markets, DHS, and hundreds of volunteers have to do with Collective Impact and with one another? As it turns out, quite a bit! You see, knowingly or not, they're all part of our food system, and all of them play a role in the way we learn about, access, share, and support the food and other resources around us.
  
  Learn how the ideals of Collective Impact are directly applied, at both a macro and a micro level, to the ongoing work of emergency food supply and the progression towards a broader Community Foods perspective in one rural area . We’ll talk intentional “silo busting” (diplomacy and engagement through “pleasant persistence”) as we explore the transformation of a community known primarily for its poverty to one recognized for its resiliency-even in the face of major socioeconomic barriers. We’ll also be sharing information about the local foods of our region while giving you some tools to connect to those resources and opportunities in your own back yard.

Registration

Online registration for the conference is now closed, but registration will be available at the door on Thursday evening and on Friday morning. For more information, please contact Kelly Poe at the Commission on Children & Families at 541-889-4317 or kelly.poe@malheurco.org
 

• Friday Only: $65
• Thursday’s Reception and Friday's Programs: $75
  

Note: The early bird registration deadline of Friday, August 31 has passed.