Board Leadership Workshops - Rochester only

Boards truly make a difference. The workshop series, which is offered in Rochester, is designed to provide nonprofit board leaders, board members, and executive staff the ideas and tools to enable their boards to function more effectively in today’s increasingly challenging environment.

Upcoming Workshops:

• Planning and Performance Oversight: The Board’s Role (May 29, 2008)

Past Workshops:

• The ABCs of Building a Great Board ( November 27, 2007)


• The Changing Role of Finance and Audit Committees: The New Spotlight (January 22, 2008)


• Volunteer Fundraising Is Not Just Signing a Letter: A Primer for Resource Development Committee Chairs (February 26, 2008)


• Board and CEO: The Critical Partnership (March 4, 2008)


• Succession Management: From a Good to Great Organization ( April 1, 2008)


• Political Literacy for Nonprofits: How to Be Effective in Albany and Washington – April 29, 2008

All workshops meet from 8:30 – 11:00 a.m. in the Hughes Rotunda at St. John Fisher College, 3690 East Avenue. Parking is available.

Fee: $35/person includes continental breakfast and parking. Please send completed registration form and check made payable to Partnership for Nonprofit Enterprise Excellence to Lisa Moore, Partnership for Nonprofit Enterprise Excellence, 165 Court Street, Rochester, NY 14647.

For more information and to register, contact:

Lisa Moore, Board Leadership Programs Coordinator
165 Court Street
Rochester, NY 14647
Phone: 585-327-6527
Fax: 585-238-4202
Email: lisa.a.moore@excellus.com

Workshop Descriptions

The ABCs of Building a Great Board
Date: November 27, 2007
Faculty: Howard Berman and Thomas Toole, Partnership for Nonprofit Enterprise Excellence

Great boards do not just happen. They are the result of explicit, systematic management policies and processes. Board leaders will understand the specifics of the systems they need to build and maintain. Topics covered will include:

• Board member recruitment: finding and getting the right members
• Maintaining board focus
• Assessment of both the board and its members
• Board member development and continuing education
• Renewing and refreshing the board

The Changing Role of the Finance and Audit Committees: The New Spotlight
Date: January 22, 2008
Faculty: Nancy Snyder, Partner, The Bonadio Group

Committee chairs will understand their overall responsibilities as well as their increased accountability for assuring the organization is meeting changing financial standards and expectations. Topics covered will include:

• The Attorney General’s new requirements for nonprofits
• Need for checks and balances
• The role of the independent auditor; how to manage this relationship
• Identifying and heading off financial issues
• Regulatory reporting requirements
• Public reporting opportunities
• Who has to sign what and what it means

Volunteer Fundraising Is Not Just Signing a Letter: A Primer for Resource Development Committee Chairs
Date: February 26, 2008
Faculty: Dan Meyers, CEO, Al Sigl Center

The importance of developing and executing a strategy for creating capital, both from internally generated operating surpluses and fundraising efforts, will be addressed. As part of this discussion, the role of the board and individual board members in fundraising—both annual and endowment giving—will be explored. Also, the general strategies for managing endowment investments will be outlined. Topics covered will include:

• Board members and other volunteers as fundraisers
• Roles of board leadership versus staff
• Some can’t, some won’t—matching the right volunteer with the job
• Giving volunteers the tools they need
• Special fundraising activities, e.g., annual giving, endowment
• Communications strategies and support
• Developing annual and long-range plans
• Monitoring, assessing, and improving performance
• When is a consultant appropriate?

Board and CEO: The Critical Partnership
Date: March 4, 2008
Faculty: Howard Berman and Thomas Toole, Partnership for Nonprofit Enterprise Excellence

Hiring and working with the CEO is one of the board’s most important functions and critical to the success of the organization. Board leaders will understand the best practices for managing the board-CEO relationship. Topics covered will include:

• Recruiting and hiring
• Clarifying roles and responsibilities
• Supervising the CEO: Who does what and how
• Evaluation: It begins with a plan
• Compensation
• What to do if the relationship turns sour
• What to do if board leaders or members step beyond the line

Succession Management: From a Good to Great Organization
(This workshop is co-sponsored by and developed in collaboration with the Council of Agency Executives.)
Date: April 1, 2008
Faculty: Howard Berman and Thomas Toole, Partnership for Nonprofit Enterprise Excellence

Great organizations are in large part the result of successful transitions in leadership. Assuring such transitions—that is, succession management—is one of a nonprofit board’s most important responsibilities. This seminar will focus on developing and implementing a succession management plan and program. Topics will include:

• Roles and accountabilities
• Designing and implementing the system and its components
• CEO succession and transition
• Emergency succession and interim leadership
• Special needs of small- to medium- size organizations

Political Literacy for Nonprofits: How to be Effective in Albany and Washington
Date: April 29, 2008
Faculty: Fran Weisberg, Executive Director, Finger Lakes Health Systems Agency

Do you know what a member item or an earmark is? Do you know when to talk with a legislator, when to talk with staff? Most important, do your legislators know who you are and what you do? Whether your interest is funding, regulation, or public policy, what happens in Albany and Washington has a great impact on your organization and you should be involved in shaping it. Topics will include:

• How things get done in Albany and Washington
• Building relationships with both public officials and staff
• Framing your public policy objectives and making your strongest case
• Developing alliances
• Roles of board members and executives
• When hiring a professional lobbyist makes sense

Planning and Performance Oversight: The Board’s Role
Date: May 29, 2008
Faculty: Howard Berman and Thomas Toole, Partnership for Nonprofit Enterprise Excellence

It is the board’s responsibility to ensure that the organization is functioning in accord with strategic, operating, and financial plans. It is the CEO’s job to implement them. This workshop clarifies how these types of plans differ and looks at the board’s role in developing each type ofplan, supporting it with adequate resources, and holding management accountable for performance. Special attention is given to the function of metrics as a tool for accountability and continuous improvement. Topics will include:

• Importance of good strategies
• Board and CEO roles in strategic planning
• Monitoring the strategic plan
• Board and CEO roles in operational planning
• Monitoring the operational plan
• Dashboards and scorecards

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