October STL NPO Learning Event Highlights

 Check out these worthy professional development  opportunities during this busy month:

• Oct.  8 - CSPRC lunch meeting Public Plumbing Meets Public Affairs (MSD's Project Clear) $40 nonmembers, Sheraton Clayton Plaza, www.csprc.org 
• Oct. 9 - AFP webinar,  What's Wrong with Your Fundraising and How You Can Fix It? with Linda Lysakowski and Ellen Bristol, $20 nonmembers,  www.afpstl.org/events/
• Oct. 10 --free seminar - Neighborhood Change in St. Louis Region Since 1970: What Explains Neighborhood Success? 7-8:30 pm Missouri History Museum, UMSL's Community Partnership Project
• Oct. 10 - NSC webinar Get Started with EMail Fundraising, $40, www.nonprofitservices.org
• Oct. 11- deadline for nonprofits to participate in the 2013 Dollars & Sense Capital Campaign Report, www.centerforgiving.org
• Oct. 15 - 3-morning series: Performance Management in Today's Regulatory Environment, $145, nonprofitservices.org
• Oct. 16 - AFP morning seminar for grantwriters, You Be the Trustee, Norwood Hills Country Club, $75, www.afpstl.org
• Oct. 16 - morning Arts Leadership & Management workshop on Organizational Change, $30 nonprofit services.org
• Oct. 16 - Meet the Donor: Updates to Funder Strategy, Gateway Center for Giving/ AFP, $30, Missouri History Museum, 3-5 pm, www.centerforgiving.org
• Oct. 18 - morning lecture Social Workers Make Great Fundraisers:Applying Your Knowledge/Skills to Secure Financial Resources for your Cause, $50, Brown School Professional Development Program,  brownschool.wustl.edu/profdev
• Oct. 24 -NPML class Do's & Don't of Employee Termination in Nonprofits, UMSL 3-5 pm $45, 314-516-5655, www.umsl.edu/npml

Nonprofit Groups Offer Helpful How-to Events

Here's a survey of some St. Louis area Nonprofit meetings coming up to help prepare for the holiday season and new year:

• Nov. 29 -- 11:30 -1, YNPN Lunch Box TalkAddress Stress, Riisa Rawlins from Mental Health America of Eastern Missouri, $10 for nonmembers, Olivette Community Center, www.ynpnstl.org
• Dec. 4 -- 11:30 - 1:30, St. Louis GPA Annual Meeting & 2013 Preview, $11, Central Reform Congregation, www.gpastlouis.org
• Dec. 6 - 9-3, NSC Effective Grantwriting class, Wendy Dyer, $75,  Nonprofit Services Center St. Louis, www.nonprofitservices.org
• Dec. 13--7:30-9:30am, AFP Breakfast meeting w/Seasoned Professionals Roundtables, $40 for nonmembers, St. Louis Zoo, check out www.afpstlouis.org to see the wide variety of roundtable fundraising topics.

Many May Continuing Ed Events

Tues. May 1

Setting Up Social Media Programs-- Hands On, 9-12, $45, NSC, http://www.nonprofitservices.org/
3 New (Funder) CEO's Share Their Views, 11:30 -1:30, $15, GPA, 314-740-5284
What's Really Growing in Community Gardens?, 3-4:30, free, UMSL's Community Partnership Project, ce.umsl.edu/seminarseries

Mon. May 7

Storytelling with Data to Enhance Communication between Grantmakers and Nonprofits, 8:30 - 11, $35, http://www.centerforgiving.org/

Weds. May 9

Communications Planning, 9-12, $30, Arts Leadership & Management Academy, www.KeepArtHappening.org/What/ALMA 

Thurs. May 10

CFRE:What Does This Mean? panel discussion & lunch, 11:45, $30, ALDE Great Rivers Chapter annual meeting, www.alde.org/Chapters/ChapterDirectory/GreatRiversStLouis/tabid/237/Default.aspx by May 8.

Tues. May 15

Plugged In SPECTRUM 2012 conference, 7:30 - 5,  $125, Dr. Robert Archibald keynote, http://www.csprc.org/

Registration deadline to avoid a late fee for NpML's June 4-8 Fundraising Institute, all 8 sessions, $400, See this year's schedule at http://umslce.org/index.php/fundraising-institute

Thurs. May 24

Understanding the Ministerial Exception and Its Impact on Religious Organizations, 2:30 - 5, $20, NpML,  www.umsl.edu/divisions/graduate/ppa/npml/noncredit.html#ministerial

Missouri Budget Forum 2012

Nonprofit Services Center will host its annual Missouri Budget Forum March 2 at 8 am at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. The Missouri State Budget Director and other state officials will be there to discuss the inplications of budget changes affecting nonprofits. The event is free but registraation is required. Contact NSC.

G&FC Programs: Past and Future

We're taking a break from offering G&FC programs here at the library this month. Thank you to all our 2011 program partner organizations --NPML, VLAA, ARCHS, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, AFP, BoardLinkStL, & NSC --as well as to The Foundation Center --for providing information and leadership to the more than 600 attendees (thanks also to each of you who came).
We're delighted to be working with these groups, as well as three new program partners, so far --Nonprofit Missouri, the St. Louis chapter of the Grant Professionals Assn., and the Young Nonprofit Professional's Network, as we put together our 2012 program schedule.
Feel free to contact me about any nonprofit and grants topics you'd like us to include.

Learn from 2 Intermediaries Here in August

This past April, Gateway Center for Giving published a study on The Role of Intermediaries in St. Louis. (see April 8 post below) They reported on 30 local organizations who 'provide essential services" -- ranging from funding, collaborative, training and/or advocacy assistance -- to the regional nonprofit sector. And now, our August schedule of free classes here at the G&FC gives you the opportunity to meet leaders from two of them and find out more about their services. ...

• Aug. 18 --Linda Aitch from the Nonprofit Services Center will talk about Capacity Building for Highly Effective Nonprofits. Funders and donors are now requiring evidence of your organization's effectiveness and financial sustainability after the gift/grant has been used. Linda will describe how to develop your nonprofit's core skills in leadership, management, finance and fundraising, programming and evaluation to meet these requirements. 3-4:30 pm.
  


• Aug. 24 -- Board Chair Matt Matthews and CEO Wendell Kimbrough will head a panel from ARCHS, Area Resources for Community and Human Services, sharing effective ways of Engaging Your Board. They will describe how to discern and use your board's collective experience, expertise and business/social connections to build your organization's effectiveness. ARCHS works in partnership with local organizations to pool time and talent and leverage funding to benefit the St. Louis region. 3-4:30 pm.
  
  Just contact me with questions or to sign up.

CANCELLED -- 'Nonprofit Sustainability' Author Visit

Even though Steve Zimmerman will not be coming this time, the book is still available for check-out.

The book offers a practical framework for measuring current impact/financial performance of your nonprofit core programs and fundraising activities as well as for making business decisions on an as-needed basis. It also presents a guide to various income strategies to help you meet the demand for sustainability plans presently required by most funders. Find out more about this and other sustainability strategies at www.nonprofitservices.org.

NSC's Helpful Consultant Directory Back in Action

Not only has the Nonprofit Services Center moved to a new office, 326 South 21st Street, Suite 301, St. Louis, MO 63103 (Phone, fax and emails remain the same)' their online Consultant Connection™ is again searchable by area of expertise as well as name. If you need a "grant writer", for example, check that box on the search form and take a look at the list your search brings up.

Nonprofit Events Coming in January

From our St. Louis area partners:

• NSC will offer a 2-hr. workshop (the first of it's "Top Ten Things You Need to Know About..." ) on Capacity Building Friday, Jan. 15. For more information or to register, click on the NSC link at right.
• RubinBrown accounting firm's free Not-for-Profit Update presentation on Technical Topics & Best Practices for Today's Challenging Economy will be Jan. 28 - 7:30 - 10am. For details or to register, go to www.rubinbrown.com before Jan. 21st. (Thanks to our NPML co-sponsor, Mary Kay Lofgren and Debra Leible from RubinBrown will again be presenting Financial Basics for Nonprofits here at the library in July, so alert new board or staff members.)
• Librarians love book groups. The St. Louis area's Young Nonprofit Professional Network book club will discuss Three Cups of Tea, Greg Mortenson's account of setting up schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Jan. 28th at 6 pm at Left Bank Books in the Central West End.

Light to Discuss Nonprofits' Future

Hear noted professor and author Dr. Paul C. Light define sector choices in these momentous times and discuss the future of area nonprofits with a panel of experts. The Oct. 23 event is part of the Nonprofit Services Center's Continuing the Dialog series, and costs $30. For more information and to register, link to the NSC website from this blog.

NSC Fund Development Peer Circle: Sept. 9

The Nonprofit Services Center has created a Fund Development Peer Circle to support nonprofit executive directors and fund development staff new to fundraising. The circle will next meet to talk about Year-End Appeals on Sept. 9, from 9-11 at the NSC Office in downtown St. Louis. Donna McGinnis, MBA, CFRE, is facilitator. The session is free but go to the NSC website on this blog to register.