October 21, 2004

Alliance Conference Focuses on Empowering the Sector

By William H. Woodwell, Jr.

 

Banquet DinnerFor four days in August, nonprofit capacity builders and other leaders in the sector descended on Washington, DC, and immersed themselves in a wide-ranging dialogue about how to strengthen nonprofit management for greater impact on today’s urgent issues. 

The 2004 Alliance Annual Conference, “Empowering the Nonprofit Sector,” attracted 500 nonprofit professionals – including technical assistance providers, grantmakers, researchers and managers.  The program included more than 40 sessions and 16 full- and half-day workshops for in-depth learning, in addition to ample opportunities for networking and peer-to-peer exchange. 

In welcoming remarks, Washington Mayor Anthony Williams paid tribute to the work of nonprofit capacity builders and the sector as a whole.  “I want to commend you for your work in improving the quality of nonprofit management and enhancing the bench strength… of the nonprofit sector at all levels,” the mayor said.  

 

Envisioning “A Nation of Nonprofits”

WendyThe nonprofit sector is a dynamic arena whose leadership can influence the course of history, according to keynote speaker Wendy Puriefoy, president of the Public Education Network.  Puriefoy noted the nonprofit sector’s role in many critical social advances—including making school integration the law 50 years ago in the Brown v. Board of Education case—and asked participants to envision the sector as “a nation of nonprofits.” 

“As a nation, we have managed to do some pretty impressive things,” she said.  “We employ over 11 million people and have annual expenditures of over $1.3 trillion, and in terms of the gross national product, that makes us the seventh largest nation in the world.”

But Puriefoy also noted that the “nonprofit nation” faces significant challenges – including reluctance to “act collectively for the public good.”  She called on participants to pay tribute to the nonprofit tradition by renewing the fight “for justice, for equity, and for fairness”—in part by helping people participate in the democratic process.

POC Meeting“There are some wonderful organizations working hard to preserve the voting rights of each and every American, but something this vital to our country can't be left to a few organizations,” Puriefoy said.  “It's got to become the work of every nonprofit organization in this country, and we have got to work at the laws that prevent us from being able to do that kind of work.”

Puriefoy’s remarks were affirmed by a resolution adopted by the Alliance People of Color Affinity Group at its annual pre-conference gathering.  Read during the opening plenary of the conference, the resolution stated that the group “resolves to work with our constituents and grantees to register, mobilize and get voters to the polls with the goal of increasing civic engagement for social change.”  The POC invited all Alliance members to take a stand in voter empowerment and mobilization by taking such steps as: encouraging nonprofit clients and grantees to include in their websites information on voter registration; and engaging constituents in understanding and changing policy. 

 

An Emphasis on Empowerment

The empowerment theme echoed through many of the conference sessions and workshops.  For example:

· Interaction Institute for Social Change offered undefinedtools and techniques for building consensus around goals for community and social change.  “People say coalitions don’t work, but you look at why, and you see that we haven’t constructed a way for them to work where people feel they are respected and where you can have a constructive conversation,” said the Institute’s Courtney Bourns.

· Frances Kunreuther, director of the Building Movement In(to) the Nonprofit Sector project, joined Rick Cohen of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy in leading a lively breakfast roundtable.  An important focus of the discussion:  how to move beyond building organizational capacity to building a social justice movement.  

· Liz Baumgarten of Charity Lobbying in the Public Interest (CLPI) presented research results from the Strengthening Nonprofit Advocacy Project (SNAP) in a session on nonprofits and public policy advocacy.  The research showed that the majority of nonprofits that lobby do so infrequently – and that nonprofits are hindered in their advocacy efforts by confusion about the law, a lack of funding and other barriers. 

· One answer to the SNAP survey’s findings, as suggested by undefinedpresenter Vernetta Walker of the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations, is leadership development.  With funding from the Open Society Institute and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the association’s Advocacy Leaders Program provides skills training and other support for nonprofit board members and staff so they can effectively engage in advocacy work.

· Frank J. Omowale Satterwhite of the National Community Development Institute led a session outlining a “culturally based” approach to building capacity for social change.  Satterwhite engaged participants in a discussion of four phases of capacity building, starting with listening and honoring the expertise of the community.  “Remind participants that they have centuries of love, knowledge and understanding at the table,” he advised the group.  “The consultant has, at best, two or three decades.”

Other sessions during the conference addressed a wide range of issues, including: cultural competency in capacity building; developing tomorrow’s nonprofit leaders; capacity building with faith-based organizations; the expanding universe of nonprofit capacity builders; and much, much more.  (See the members’ area of the Alliance website for more information and conference handouts.  For a username/password reminder, go to http://www.allianceonline.org/forgot_password).

 

Getting Real About Money

Kim KleinIn the conference’s second keynote address, Kim Klein, publisher of Grassroots Fundraising Journal and the inspiration behind the Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training, called on the nonprofit community to “get real” about the costs of running effective organizations.  “The majority of the problems we have in the sector stem from our taboos about money,” including a reluctance to ask for the funds required to make a difference, said Klein.

“We see the lack of funding as a problem but fundraising is not seen as the solution,” said Klein.  She urged nonprofit organizations to shift from a mindset where the first impulse, in the face of funding shortfalls, is to cut the budget.  She challenged capacity builders to instead ask and imagine, “What if cutting were not an option? This makes people think a lot harder about what it is going to take and how to mobilize.”

Klein noted that foundations account for just 10 to 20 percent of funding for nonprofits nationwide but that many groups are almost entirely dependent on foundation funds.  She urged the audience to pay more attention to finding individual donors who share an interest in the goals and work of nonprofits. 

“People need to build a broad base of funders,” Klein said, noting that fundraising is not an end but a means to an end.  Borrowing from Langston Hughes, she said of that end: “America never was America to me, but I make this solemn vow:  America will be.”

 

Follow-Up

Transcripts

Transcripts of the keynote speeches from the conference are available at http://www.allianceonline.org/annual_conference.  In addition, a report on the annual conference will be published online in the coming weeks, written by our talented conference reporter, William H. Woodwell, who also wrote this newsletter piece.

Affinity Groups

All of the Alliance Affinity Groups gathered at the conference for a renewed sense of purpose and fresh momentum.  And, a new affinity group for faith-based capacity builders is in formation as a result of a pre-conference gathering and several sessions on this topic, as well as discussions of a governance affinity group.  Current Alliance affinity groups include:

  • Executive Transitions
  • Management Support Organization Executive Directors
  • People of Color
  • Young and Emerging Nonprofit Professionals

For more information on joining an affinity group or to get involved, write to Heather Iliff at heather@allianceonline.org.  Also, see “Affinity Groups and Committees” in the member area of the Alliance website.

Town Meeting

Participants in the Town Meeting contributed to an "Agenda for Action" by answering two questions: 

  • What are the broad goals that bring you to nonprofit work?
  • What are three actions you can take in the next 6 months to increase the power of nonprofit organizations?

In November, we will release a summary of the responses to these two questions and follow up with participants to check in on their progress on the two action items.

Conference Evaluation

The results of participant feedback were extremely positive, and we also received many good suggestions on areas for improvement.  Click here for a copy of the conference feedback summary.

 


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