Meet the St. Louis Donors in December

Two special sessions this month from the Gateway Center for Giving:

1. Keeping the Arts Alive in Tough Times, Friday, Dec. 18, 8:30- 10am, Regional Arts Commission
2. What Donors Want When Dollars are Down- Part II, Monday, Dec. 21, 8:30-10am, The Boeing Co.

Cost $30 each; contact www.centerforgiving.org for more information or to register.

Coming Here in 2010

The G&FC special events focus for the first part of 2010 is on helping nonprofits learn more about working together to adapt to the changing world of philanthropic economics. For details about all the events listed on our blog calendar (scroll down, right), call or e-mail us.

Thanks also to the specific speakers who have agreed to present: These include Les Johnson and Gail Dickson from ARCHS; Marilyn Sheperd, Fontbonne VP of Institutional Advancement, for AFP; Sue Greenberg from VLAA, and Dan Sise from NPML.

Many thanks to the partner organizations for making these substantive sessions available to you at no charge. For more information about these acronymed organizations, click on their website links at right.

Grantsmanship Training Available Jan. 4-8

The Salvation Army in St. Louis will once again be the site for The Grantsmanship Center's week-long course in the complete grant development process - tuition$895. (We hosted this excellent program at the library in 2004.) For more information or to register, go to www.tgci.com or call 1-800-421-9512.

Fall Learning Opportunities Coming SOON

Business Edge Workshop for Individual Artists: "Octopus Online Marketing," Nov. 16, 7-9:30 pm $10 in advance, $15 at the door, from Volunteer Lawyers & Accountants for the Arts, call 314.863-6930 to register.

How Nonprofit Arts Can Survive in Tough Economic Times, Nov. 17, Sheldon Concert Hall, Michael M. Kaiser speaker, free, Missouri Arts Council event, Register in advance: www.artsincrisis.eventbrite.com

Meet the Donor Afterschool Programs, Nov. 19, , 8:30 - 10, $30, contact www.centerforgiving.org for more information or to register.

Improving an Organization's Bench Strength: Creating a Culture of Leadership Enhancement, Dec. 2, 3-6 pm, NPML at UMSL, instructor: Richard I. Goldbaum, call 314-516-6713 to enroll or for more information.

Build a Balanced Nonprofit Board Workshop Nov. 12

The best boards are composed of people who bring a variety of skills, perspectives, backgrounds and resources to address the challenges confronting nonprofit organizations. Amy Ondr, BoardLinkStL exec. director, will show how to take a closer look at the composition of your board and define what diversity means for your organization on Thurs. Nov. 12 here at Central Library from 4-5:30 pm. She'll identify many underused and promising board candidate pools and give tips for improving your recruitment strategies. The event is free, but registration is required; e-mail me or call 314.539-0357 to sign up.

Useful Free E-Newsletters

I've subscribed to a few regular free e-newsletters which provide helpful background and/or updated information whether or not you purchase the company business products or services. They include:

• Board Cafe for nonprofit board members comes from CompassPoint Nonprofit Services; sign up at http://www.blueavocado.org/.
• Fundraising Well and Nonprofit Fiscal Fitness from http://www.blackbaud.com/ --scroll down to resources-newsletters to sign up.
• Convio Connection at www.convio.com/our-research/newsletter/.
• By the Cup info and comments about nonprofit technology comes weekly from www. TechSoup.org

Got any comments or other titles to recommend?

And e-mail me if you'd like to receive the G&FC News e-mail listing our new resources and upcoming workshops.

Doing Good Well Together in Bad Times

Two (imho) truly helpful programs here in St. Louis last week (see postings from 10/8 and 10/5 below) included discussions with local organizations who have strategically focused on surviving and growing in these difficult financial times and succeeded. One approach these groups seemed to share was to deliberately and creatively choose collaboration partners.
Some how-to's, what-not-to's and who-t0-withs of nonprofit collaborations and partnerships is the theme of G&FC programming now being planned for early 2010; watch this blog in November for dates and times. Many thanks to our partners -- see their websites at right--for providing the expertise for these programs.
In the meantime, check out one of our books about nonprofit collaboration or one written by Friday's speaker, Dr. Paul Light. We also have the title he recommended, Forces for Good by Leslie R. Crutchfield.