Serving Nonprofits. Strengthening West Virginia

FREE WVNPA Webinar: Learn More About a Potential WVNPA Health Insurance Program (Session 1)
2019-03-18 14:00 - 14:30 (America/New_York)
*Note: This webinar and the Session 2 on March 29th will share the same information, so please register to attend the session that best fits your schedule.
In 2017, President Trump signed an executive order that directed the Department of Labor (DOL) to consider issuing regulations that would permit more employers to form Association Health Plans (AHPs) as a way to expand access to more affordable health coverage. Last year, the DOL released a final rule that gives small businesses more freedom to join together as a single group to purchase health insurance in the large group market through AHPs. This webinar is the first step in exploring the opportunity to formulate an Assocation Health Plan for the WVNPA and to gauge interest of our members and potential members. We hope you will join us along with Joseph Stanton of Thornburg Insurance Agency to give you an introduction to this idea and talk about next steps. Register below to attend this webinar or join us for Session 2 on March 29th.

FREE Webinar: What's My Role as a Nonprofit Board Member? from Propel Nonprofits
2019-03-27 13:00 - 14:00
NOTE: This webinar begins at 12:00 PM Central/1:00 PM Eastern
You’re at the table – now what? Learn to participate in board meetings and other engagements with more confidence and knowledge about your role as a board member. We’ll cover board responsibilities and how you can be a strong resource for a nonprofit organization.
About the Presenter: Jenny Kramm
As a Strategic Services Consultant at Propel Nonprofits, Jenny supports boards of directors development with organizations like Neighborhood House, Urban Boat Builders, Art Shanty Project, Aynah as well as corporate volunteers from General Mills. Jenny currently serves as the co-chair of the Twin Cities Social Enterprise Alliance and is leading strategy for The Corporate Volunteers Council of the Twin Cities as a board member. Jennifer graduated from St. Olaf College with a B.A. in Biology.
REGISTER HERE

FREE WVNPA Webinar: Learn More About a Potential WVNPA Health Insurance Program (Session 2)
2019-03-29 14:00 - 14:30
*Note: This webinar and the Session 1 on March 18th will share the same information, so please register to attend the session that best fits your schedule.
In 2017, President Trump signed an executive order that directed the Department of Labor (DOL) to consider issuing regulations that would permit more employers to form Association Health Plans (AHPs) as a way to expand access to more affordable health coverage. Last year, the DOL released a final rule that gives small businesses more freedom to join together as a single group to purchase health insurance in the large group market through AHPs. This webinar is the first step in exploring the opportunity to formulate an Assocation Health Plan for the WVNPA and to gauge interest of our members and potential members. We hope you will join us along with Joseph Stanton of Thornburg Insurance Agency to give you an introduction to this idea and talk about next steps. Register below to attend this webinar or join us for Session 1 on March 18th.

The Nonprofit Social Media Toolkit from Idealware
2019-04-03 13:00 - 14:30
Six 90-minute webinars, Wednesdays, April 3 – May 8
Regular Price: $255
WVNPA Member Price: $215 (email ashley@dev.wvnpa.org for discount code)
Register: https://www.idealware.org/training/sm_toolkit_2019/

You’re on social media. Now what? Don’t just be on social media. Be successful on social media. Join us for The Nonprofit Social Media Toolkit and, over five weeks, learn how to get real value from your efforts and convert “likes” into engagement, information sharing, activism, and donations. We’ll explore using social media for branding, deep engagement, and fundraising. We’ll also outline how you can integrate and manage social media within a campaign, and then discuss how to measure your social media impact. Sound policies will also be important to your social media strategy—we’ll show you how to clearly articulate what content is acceptable and how you should communicate with constituents through social platforms.
Through participation in this course, you will:

Create and reinforce your organizations’ brands using social media.
Learn about strategies for engaging supporters and motivating them to act.
Learn how social media tools can work together to create an integrated campaign that promotes brands and causes through multiple channels.
Begin the process of creating a social media policy for your organization.
Learn how to use social media for fundraising.
Discover tools to measure social media efforts, and learn to make this task effective and manageable.
Design a social media strategy.

Toolkit Schedule
April 3: Branding Through Social Media
We’ll kick off with the concept of branding through the lens of social media. We’ll take a detailed look at creating, refining, and managing your brand message and personality. This session will also explore how what you say and how you say it affects how your organization is perceived by others.
April 10: Getting Beyond the Like: Using Social Media to Cultivate Deeper Commitment
People “like” you on Facebook, but what is that actually doing to support your organization’s bottom line? We’ll talk critically about how to move constituents up the engagement ladder from a simple “like” to tangible results, such as signing petitions, attending events, joining movements, and even donating. Armed with case studies, industry research, and plain old common sense and experience, we’ll show you how to get more value from social media and use it to cultivate deeper commitments.
April 17: Integrating Social Media Channels (and Other Communications)
Communications don’t exist in a vacuum. You need to consider not only how your different social media channels work together, but also how messaging stays consistent across other online channels, such as email and websites, and offline channels such as direct mail, general press, and advertisements. Which channels are best for which kind of communication? Which channels encourage action? We’ll provide a decision-making structure to help you define what makes sense for you and a model to articulate your own communications strategy.
April 24: Getting Started with Social Media Fundraising
Social media may be good for sharing photos or important new stories, but can it really help you raise money? We’ll outline how social media can bolster your fundraising efforts and look at a few organizations that have had success fundraising through social media.
May 1: Measuring Your Social Media Efforts
What happens when your posts go out? How do you know that the time you’re putting into social media is worth it? We’ll walk through the basic social media stats. We’ll also discuss the tools that can help you gather data, analyze your strategy, strengthen what works, and change what doesn’t.
May 8: Creating a Social Media Policy
Your social media channels are your organization’s public voice. As transparency and two-way conversations become the norm, many organizations are racing to develop social media policies that govern who does what, what’s OK to say, and how to handle sticky situations. Even more than simply legislating these details, the process of creating such a policy can help your organization engage in important discussions that will strengthen your culture and better position you to take advantage of tools and opportunities. We’ll explore why the process (not just the product) is so important, how to make these conversations productive and strategic, and why a social media policy is an important milestone of digital maturity.
About Your Trainer
Chris Tuttle provides online engagement strategies for nonprofit charity organizations by combining his experience as a community organizer with a background in technology and website development to offer a unique expertise in constituent relationship building, marketing and online technologies. With over 15 years experience, he’s helped more than 100 local, national, and international nonprofits develop online engagement strategies involving social media engagement, website development, email communications, integrated fundraising, advocacy campaigns, marketing/advertising, content development and search engine optimization.
Other Info
Every session and demo will be recorded and available to individuals who have registered for the course. A weekly email will include access information for the recordings collected that week. Please register with the email address where you would like to receive the access code and dial-in information for the online seminar. Also, be sure to add info@idealware.org to your contacts to ensure meeting details do not get caught in your spam folder. All registered participants are granted access to the recordings of each session. Participants who cannot attend any of the sessions due to scheduling conflicts will still have access to the toolkit presentation decks and handouts.
Register: https://www.idealware.org/training/sm_toolkit_2019/ (WVNPA Members: Don’t forget to email us for the discount code)

FREE Webinar: Is Social Enterprise Right for You? from Propel Nonprofits
2019-04-24 13:00 - 14:00
NOTE: This webinar begins at 12:00 PM Central/1:00 PM Eastern
Starting a social enterprise can be a great way for your organization to achieve the double bottom line: mission impact and a new unrestricted revenue stream. Join us as we define social enterprise and look at the four areas you should research as you evaluate this option for your organization.
About the Presenter: Glyn Northington
Glyn has spent his career fostering relationships while working either for or with nonprofit organizations. He began as a marketing college professor at two liberal arts colleges in Iowa and Missouri before moving to the Twin Cities. Here he got to feed his passion for performing arts by marketing the Guthrie Theater and the Minnesota Opera, and then marketed Target’s support of nonprofits across the country before managing Target’s Foundation and its national arts and food philanthropic portfolios. Becoming part of the Propel Nonprofits team has allowed him to combine his passions in nonprofits, relationship development, and teaching/training into one position as he partners with nonprofit organizations as they add such incredible vitality to our communities.
REGISTER HERE

Grant Writing Training from Volunteer WV (Discount for WVNPA Members)
2019-05-02 09:00 - 2019-05-03 16:00 | Blessed Sacrament Church, 305 E Street, South Charleston, WV, 25303, United States
About

Volunteer WV’s two-day Grant Writing training is intended to help build new capacity for nonprofit organizations. This intensive, hands-on training will help aspiring and experienced grant writers approach grant writing with increased confidence. At the end of the training, participants will understand all the components of a grant application and have a new way of looking at what works in their organization and community.

The workshop will help participants:

Understand what funders are looking for in grant applications;
Use a Program Planning Framework to develop grant proposals that tell a coherent and compelling story;
Infuse their strengths into proposal to develop strong, competitive applications; and
Understand how to find grant opportunities.

When & Where
Grant Writing Training will take place May 2nd-3rd, 2019 at Blessed Sacrament Church in South Charleston.

Training Times

• Day 1 – Thursday, May 2, 2019: 9:00 am-4:00 pm

• Day 2 – Friday, May 3, 2019: 9:00 am-4:00 pm

Cost
Registration is $200 per person. This fee covers all materials, lunch on Thursday and Friday, and breaks
each day. Member organizations of the West Virginia Nonprofit Association are eligible to send two (2)
people at a discounted rate of $175.

Scholarships
With the support of a Flex-E-Grant from the Appalachian Regional Commission through the West
Virginia Development Office, a limited number of scholarships are available to staff of nonprofit and
community-serving organizations. Scholarship recipients are asked to contribute $50 towards the cost of
the training. Scholarship recipients and their organizations must be from one of the following counties:
Boone, Braxton, Calhoun, Clay, Fayette, Gilmer, Lincoln, Logan, McDowell, Mingo, Roane, Summers,
Webster, Wetzel, and Wyoming.

Registration & Learn More

Click here for registration form. ***If the form does not load, please check your pop up settings.
Learn more here
Questions? Contact Moya Doneghy, 304-558-0111.

About the Instructor

Alice Ruhnke is the founder and owner of The Grant Advantage, progressive, innovative consulting business devoted to helping nonprofit organizations unleash their strengths to embrace tomorrow’s opportunities. Located in Charleston, West Virginia, The Grant Advantage’s services include grant writing; funding searches; qualitative evaluation; capacity building assistance; and learning opportunities through trainings, workshops, webinars, and manuals.

Alice has raised over $27 million writing federal, state, foundation, and corporate grants and has managed the sub-granting and monitoring of federal capacity-building funds to nonprofit organizations throughout West Virginia. If Alice is not at her computer writing, she can usually be found facilitating trainings for individuals and organizations. Alice is also the author of Mapping the Course: A Practical Approach to Grant Writing, a practical, step-by-step manual that walks through an entire grant proposal from start to finish.

Ask An Expert With First Nonprofit
2019-05-08 13:00 - 16:00
Last year, we started a new program just for our members: Ask an Expert. Similar to ‘the doctor is in’ or ‘office hours’, this member benefit offers our members an opportunity to connect with WVNPA business consultant members with ‘nonprofit know-how.’ Participants will be able to ask questions and receive clarification in areas such as insurance, law, communications, IT issues, organizational management, leadership, fundraising, and more via phone consultation.
Your Expert: Marshall Whitey of First Nonprofit. Nonprofits paying into the state unemployment tax pool for unemployment insurance are being grouped with all other employers in West Virginia, paying higher costs to help offset costs for those other employers. First Nonprofit specializes in helping West Virginia’s nonprofits learn more about how they can take control of their unemployment insurance costs through alternative programs. To learn more, schedule your one-on-one consultation.
In his role of Regional Sales Director with First Nonprofit, Marshall works directly with our program partners, insurance brokers, members, and prospective members around the country. Prior to joining First Nonprofit in 2010, he had a background in sales, sales management, and project management. Marshall also maintains Property & Casualty insurance licenses and utilizes his experience in the insurance industry to introduce the value of risk transfer alternatives. He travels extensively educating our insurance agent & broker network, presenting seminars and meeting with individual employers and their representatives about the options available in managing their unemployment insurance obligations.
Register: There are six 25-minute conference call “appointments” available with Marshall on May 8 from 1 PM – 4 PM. These are only available to our members and there is no cost. Registration is first come, first serve. To sign up, email ashley@dev.wvnpa.org or call 304-419-0465.
In registering for this event, you are consenting to appear in photographs and videos recorded at the event and consenting for these photos and videos to potentially be used in future marketing efforts. You are also consenting for your evaluation responses to be used in future marketing efforts.

Quickbooks Training Webinar Series (Desktop Version)
2019-05-14 14:00 - 2019-05-16 16:00
https://quickbooksmadeeasy.com/seminar/webinar-may-dt/
Sponsored by: Quickbooks Made Easy
When: 3 Part Training Webinar Series for Quickbooks Desktop:
Day 1: Tuesday, May 14th
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. EST
Day 2: Wednesday, May 15th
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. EST
Day 3: Thursday, May 16th
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. EST
Price: $100 Per Day or $199 for all three days
*WVNPA Members save $20! Email ashley@dev.wvnpa.org for discount code*
Email: support@QuickBooksMadeEasy.com

Day 1 Topics Include:
The material will cover the basics of setting up and entering transactions specifically for Nonprofits, an overview of the software updates included in the QuickBooks® 2018 Desktop Edition, as well as advanced topics including:

Welcome to QuickBooks Desktop – The different choices and which version is right for you
What’s new in version 2017 that you may need
Getting used to the screens and navigating around
A lesson in accounting QuickBooks style!
Setting up the correct Accounts
Entering Your Programs
Adding Your Annual Budget
Cutting and Pasting from Excel into QuickBooks
Entering Your Donors, Members or Students

Day 2:

Entering Your Income – Two Methods
Entering Donations and Grants
Entering Membership Dues and Tuition
Entering Program Service Revenue
How to get the most out of Items
Entering and Paying Bills
Spreading Costs to Programs/Grants
Essential Reports for the Board/Auditor
Attaching Scan Documents for free

Day 3:

Entering Credit Card activity
Tracking Pledges
Tracking Restricted Grants
Tracking Special Fundraising Events
Printing personalized Donor Thank-You Letters directly from QuickBooks®
Two Ways to get year-end donor- Acknowledgements
Recording In-Kind Contributions
Advanced method of Auto-Allocating Expenses to Programs/Grants
And More!

*Topics are subject to change.*
Register: https://quickbooksmadeeasy.com/seminar/webinar-may-dt/

Executive Director Roundtables: Beckley
2019-05-21 10:00 - 14:00 | Country Inn & Suites – Beckley (Appalachian Room), 2120 Harper Road, Beckley, 25801, United States
This year, our Spring Regional Meetings are changing. We want to get to know nonprofit CEOs and Executive Directors better and bring you training and discussion on a sometimes overlooked topic: Human Resources. Whether your organization has 30 employees or 3, you’ll want to attend this dynamic session which will include the chance to workshop some of your HR issues and take home an action plan to move forward.
One of the most important aspects of this new program is the opportunity to network with, learn from, and be inspired by a support system of other Executive Directors. In this forum, you’ll benefit from working through your HR challenges with your peers while also learning from a bona fide expert on the following topics:

Employee Benefits That Don’t Cost a Fortune
Hiring and Retaining Good Employees
How to Deliver Constructive Feedback
Alternatives to Performance Evaluations,
Conflict Resolution
Dealing With Difficult Employees
Minimizing Negativity in the Workplace
And more!

Click Here for a Full Agenda
Register below and get your HR questions ready!
About the Presenter:

John Finlayson joined AlignHR in 2019 as their Professional Development Strategist after a 34 year career in banking. He has diverse experience in many areas including corporate training and development, commercial lending, small business, general HR support, and relationship management. John is well known as an instructor at the WV School of Banking and for his integrated approach to helping people at all levels develop their potential. John retired from the West Virginia Air National Guard after 41 years at the rank of Chief Master Sergeant and holding the position of Training Manager at State Headquarters. John graduated from the University of Charleston with both BA & MBA degrees. He is also an adjunct faculty member at the University of Charleston in their MBA program where he works with graduate students with limited work experience to enhance their personal and professional development.
For those registering online, we apply an 8.5% convenience fee to cover the processing cost of providing this service to you. If you wish to pay by check to avoid this fee, please download this form and send in payment for this event in advance.
In registering for this event, you are consenting to appear in photographs and videos recorded at the event and consenting for these photos and videos to potentially be used in future marketing efforts. You are also consenting for your evaluation responses to be used in future marketing efforts.

Quickbooks Training Webinar Series (Online Version)
2019-05-21 14:00 - 2019-05-23 16:00
https://quickbooksmadeeasy.com/seminar/webinar-may-online/
Sponsored by: Quickbooks Made Easy
When: 3 Part Training Webinar Series for Quickbooks Online:
Day 1: Tuesday, May 21st
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. EST
Day 2: Wednesday, May 22nd
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. EST
Day 3: Thursday, May 23rd
2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. EST
Email: support@QuickBooksMadeEasy.com
Price: $100 Per Day or $199 for all three days!
*WVNPA Members save $20! Email ashley@dev.wvnpa.org for discount code*

Day 1 Topics Include:The material will cover the basics of setting up and entering transactions specifically for Nonprofits, an overview of the software updates included in the QuickBooks® Online Edition, as well as advanced topics including:

Welcome to QuickBooks Online – The different choices and which version is right for you
What’s new in version 2018 that you may need
Getting used to the screens and navigating around
A lesson in accounting QuickBooks style!
Setting up the correct Accounts
Entering Your Programs
Adding Your Annual Budget
Entering Your Donors, Members or Students

Day 2 Topics Include: This section will cover advanced material to really help you do some helpful and amazing things.

Entering Your Income – Two Methods
Entering Donations and Grants
Entering Membership Dues and Tuition
Entering Program Service Revenue
How to get the most out of Product/Service Items
Entering and Paying Bills
Spreading Costs to Programs/Grants
Essential Reports for the Board/Auditor

Day 3 Topics Include: This section will cover advanced material to really help you do some helpful and amazing things.

Entering Credit Card Activity
Tracking Pledges
Tracking Restricted Grants
Tracking Special Fundraising Events
Printing personalized Donor Thank-You Letters directly from QuickBooks®
Two Ways to get year-end donor- Acknowledgments
Recording In-Kind Contributions
Attaching Scan Documents for free
And More!

*Topics are subject to change.*
Register: https://quickbooksmadeeasy.com/seminar/webinar-may-online/

Executive Director Roundtables: Charleston
2019-05-22 10:00 - 14:00 | Charleston Area Alliance – Large Conference Room, 1116 Smith Street, Charleston, WV, 25301, United States
This year, our Spring Regional Meetings are changing. We want to get to know nonprofit CEOs and Executive Directors better and bring you training and discussion on a sometimes overlooked topic: Human Resources. Whether your organization has 30 employees or 3, you’ll want to attend this dynamic session which will include the chance to workshop some of your HR issues and take home an action plan to move forward.
One of the most important aspects of this new program is the opportunity to network with, learn from, and be inspired by a support system of other Executive Directors. In this forum, you’ll benefit from working through your HR challenges with your peers while also learning from a bona fide expert on the following topics:

Employee Benefits That Don’t Cost a Fortune
Hiring and Retaining Good Employees
How to Deliver Constructive Feedback
Alternatives to Performance Evaluations,
Conflict Resolution
Dealing With Difficult Employees
Minimizing Negativity in the Workplace
And more!

Click Here for a Full Agenda
Register below and get your HR questions ready!
About the Presenter:

John Finlayson joined AlignHR in 2019 as their Professional Development Strategist after a 34 year career in banking. He has diverse experience in many areas including corporate training and development, commercial lending, small business, general HR support, and relationship management. John is well known as an instructor at the WV School of Banking and for his integrated approach to helping people at all levels develop their potential. John retired from the West Virginia Air National Guard after 41 years at the rank of Chief Master Sergeant and holding the position of Training Manager at State Headquarters. John graduated from the University of Charleston with both BA & MBA degrees. He is also an adjunct faculty member at the University of Charleston in their MBA program where he works with graduate students with limited work experience to enhance their personal and professional development.
In registering for this event, you are consenting to appear in photographs and videos recorded at the event and consenting for these photos and videos to potentially be used in future marketing efforts. You are also consenting for your evaluation responses to be used in future marketing efforts.
For those registering online, we apply an 8.5% convenience fee to cover the processing cost of providing this service to you. If you wish to pay by check to avoid this fee, please download this form and send in payment for this event in advance.

Webinar Series: What's White Got to Do With It? Part 1 from the North Carolina Center for Nonprofits
2019-05-22 12:00 - 13:30
Join the North Carolina Center for Nonprofits for the 2-part webinar,
What’s White Got To Do With It? Disrupting Race-Based Inequities in Well-Intentioned Nonprofits.
*You must register for each webinar separately.
May 22, 12-1:30 pm
PART 1 – Register Here: Key moments in United States history have established whiteness as the default, the norm, the supreme culture. This webinar will explore the socio-political and historical contexts of whiteness and how the white dominant culture by which most nonprofits operate was constructed and has been upheld through policy, legal decisions, and Eurocentric cultural values. Participants will have a chance to explore their own roles as gatekeepers within their organizations and how they can disrupt race-based inequity by leveraging their own individual and collective power.
June 5, 12-1:30 pm
Part 2 – Register Here: Take a deeper dive into the extent that white dominant cultural tendencies have been internalized and operationalized within our nonprofits and the role that gatekeepers have in perpetuating or disrupting non-inclusive practices and policies. We’ll explore tactics that unite your staff and board in prioritizing equity and looking at the organization’s work and culture through a racial equity lens.
$35 for WVNPA Members, $50 for nonmembers
REGISTER! (WVNPA Members: Enter “West Virginia” as your referrer in the box labeled “How did you hear about this webinar?”)
Don’t forget to register for each webinar separately.
This webinar is part of the Center’s initiative, Walking the Talk: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in North Carolina Nonprofits, to address racial and generational leadership gaps in the nonprofit sector and the policies, practices, and culture that exacerbate them.
About the Presenter
Courtney Parker West (she/her/hers/ella) is a consultant, writer, community organizer, and educator. She serves as National Managing Director, Leadership Development Strategy with Teach for America, co-leads the Multiracial, Multiethnic, and Jewish resource groups on staff, and is a DEI (diversity, equity, & inclusiveness) practitioner. She began her career with TFA teaching middle school language arts in Vance County, and was a founding member of the Eastern North Carolina chapter of The Collective, TFA’s alumni of color association. She then joined the staff on the Eastern NC regional team as a teacher coach during which time she leveraged an anti-oppression, liberatory consciousness framework, and interactive learning experiences for prompting reflection and leadership development in novice educators. Courtney then became Director of Alumni Impact – Racial Equity & Values-based Leadership in the region, launching the Wake County Equity Coalition, relaunching the regional chapter of The Collective and Prism (the organization’s LGBTQ advocacy organization), and organizing the first-ever multiregional gathering for alumni of color in North and South Carolina.
Courtney is a board member for Safe Schools NC, and a writer whose work has been featured in Daily Dot, Catalogue Magazine, and Huffington Post. She is also a diversity, equity, and inclusiveness consultant for both Dimensions Educational Consulting and her own consulting organization, Racial Equity & Community, which she co-founded in 2016. A Leichtag grant recipient and alum of the Selah fellowship, she often engages in intersectional antiracist organizing for and with Jews of Color around issues of equity, power, inclusiveness, and colonization.
Courtney graduated as a first-generation college student from the University of Iowa where she triple-majored in religion studies, creative writing, and English (with a minor in African American studies). She lives in Zebulon with her spouse who is a school leader and community organizer with the Racial Equity Institute. She is the proud auntie of nine nieces and nephews, loves Star Trek, and Afro-futurism, and cannot wait for Avengers: End Game to come out.

FREE Webinar: How to Be a Great Board Chair from Propel Nonprofits
2019-05-22 13:00 - 14:00
NOTE: This webinar begins at 12:00 PM Central/1:00 PM Eastern
The board chair is the highest officer of the nonprofit board of directors. This governance training prepares the board chair for governance responsibilities, leadership responsibilities, and best practices. We’ll cover how to maximize the relationship between the board and staff, design a meeting that nets results, and provide fundraising leadership.
About the Presenter: Sara Wessling
Sara is Propel Nonprofits’ training manager. She has a passion for nonprofits and enjoys developing training to help organizations grow and thrive. She’s worked as a program manager for a national child care association, a state support organization for Habitat for Humanity, and an association of leaders of volunteers. Over the past 15 years, she’s had the opportunity to work with nonprofit organizations across the state of Minnesota delivering training, technical assistance and consulting support in areas ranging from volunteer engagement to program evaluation. Sara has a Master’s Degree in Nonprofit Management from Hamline University and an undergraduate degree in psychology and sociology.
REGISTER HERE

Webinar Series: Generational Giving Strategies from Washington Nonprofits
2019-06-04 15:00 - 16:00
The WVNPA has partnered with Washington Nonprofits to offer some of their programming to our members for a discount. WVNPA Members only pay $30 for this webinar series! Email ashley@dev.wvnpa.org for the discount code.
*NOTE: This webinar series takes place from 3:00 – 4:00 PM EST on each date. (The 12:00 – 1:00 PM time is PST)
Two 60-minute webinars, Tuesdays, June 4 and June 11, 2019.
REGISTER HERE
Fundraising is about getting to know your donors’ values, beliefs, and experiences. Knowing and understanding their generational tendencies (i.e. Matures, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, and Generation Z) is one way to help build stronger relationships. Learn the characteristic differences between each generation and how to build upon those in your development and communications plan implementation. Develop your events to target audiences and segment your appeals to speak the language of your donors. For example, why send a direct mail piece to a Millennial, if they don’t have a checkbook? We will talk about social media platforms too, and how to effectively boost your donor engagement. Our world keeps changing and as nonprofit organizations we need to be nimble and continue to adjust our approach, staying true to the fundamental rule of fundraising: it’s all about the people.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
You will leave this workshop with:

Knowledge about each of the five generations and their tendencies to apply to your own donor data
Fundraising strategies to address each generation in a targeted way
New ideas on how to engage your audience through different social media platforms, with a generational lens
Reasons why personalizing and segmenting your donor development and communications activities by generation will yield deeper relationships with your donors.

All sessions take place Tuesdays from 12:00pm to 1:00pm Pacific Time. All sessions will be recorded and the recordings will be made available to all registered participants. Participants who are unable to attend one or more of the sessions will still have access to all course materials.
ABOUT THE PRESENTER:
Rebecca Zanatta, Partner & Vice President, Ostara Group
Rebecca loves philanthropy. She has spent her career in nonprofit management teaching people the value of relationships. Her philosophy focuses on people and putting the why first. Spending time with family and seeking adventure through travel is where you will find her when she isn’t trying to better the world through the power of philanthropy. Participating in community is an important value of Rebecca’s work. She is a past President of Northwest Development Officers Association (NDOA), now AFP – Advancement Northwest, the largest professional association of fundraisers in Washington State. Recently Rebecca joined the faculty at Seattle University in the Master in Nonprofit Leadership program. She is a graduate of the Leadership Tomorrow program in Seattle, serves on the WSU Foundation Board of Trustees and is a sustaining member of the Junior League of Seattle.
REGISTER HERE (Don’t forget to email ashley@dev.wvnpa.org for the WVNPA Member discount code!)

Webinar Series: What's White Got to Do With It? Part 2 from the North Carolina Center for Nonprofits
2019-06-05 12:00 - 13:30

Executive Director Roundtables: Bridgeport
2019-06-11 10:00 - 14:00 | Steptoe & Johnson – Bridgeport, 400 White Oaks Boulevard, Bridgeport, WV, 26330, United States

Executive Director Roundtables: Elkins - CANCELED
2019-06-12 10:00 - 14:00 | Randolph County Development Authority, 10 Eleventh Street, Elkins, WV, 26241, United States
NOTE: THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO LOW NUMBER OF REGISTRATIONS. THERE IS STILL TIME TO REGISTER FOR THE ROUNDTABLE IN BRIDGEPORT ON 6-11-2019.
This year, our Spring Regional Meetings are changing. We want to get to know nonprofit CEOs and Executive Directors better and bring you training and discussion on a sometimes overlooked topic: Human Resources. Whether your organization has 30 employees or 3, you’ll want to attend this dynamic session which will include the chance to workshop some of your HR issues and take home an action plan to move forward.
One of the most important aspects of this new program is the opportunity to network with, learn from, and be inspired by a support system of other Executive Directors. In this forum, you’ll benefit from working through your HR challenges with your peers while also learning from a bona fide expert on the following topics:

Employee Benefits That Don’t Cost a Fortune
Hiring and Retaining Good Employees
How to Deliver Constructive Feedback
Alternatives to Performance Evaluations,
Conflict Resolution
Dealing With Difficult Employees
Minimizing Negativity in the Workplace
And more!

Click Here for a Full Agenda
Register below and get your HR questions ready!
About the Presenter:

John Finlayson joined AlignHR in 2019 as their Professional Development Strategist after a 34 year career in banking. He has diverse experience in many areas including corporate training and development, commercial lending, small business, general HR support, and relationship management. John is well known as an instructor at the WV School of Banking and for his integrated approach to helping people at all levels develop their potential. John retired from the West Virginia Air National Guard after 41 years at the rank of Chief Master Sergeant and holding the position of Training Manager at State Headquarters. John graduated from the University of Charleston with both BA & MBA degrees. He is also an adjunct faculty member at the University of Charleston in their MBA program where he works with graduate students with limited work experience to enhance their personal and professional development.

FREE Webinar: 6 Reasons Why Infographics Matter from Idealware
2019-06-20 13:00 - 14:00
People love infographics—but should your nonprofit love them enough to create them? Join us as we discuss the role infographics play in a healthy communications mix. In this webinar, you’ll learn about the benefits of using infographics to visualize your data, the resources available to create them, and what types of organization goals they can aid.
REGISTER HERE
Meet Our Expert Trainer, Laura Quinn

Laura Quinn is an independent consultant, specializing in research for the philanthropic sector and building the capacity of nonprofit networks. Prior to her consulting work, Laura founded Idealware and served as the Executive Director for nine years. Under her leadership, Idealware partnered with dozens of national organizations, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Legal Services Corporation, and many more to conduct research into technology topics, from tactical interview-based articles to rigorously researched software comparisons to ecosystem level infrastructural analyses. She has also created internet strategy, selected software, designed interfaces, and conducted user research for multimillion-dollar software and website implementations with such companies as Accenture, iXL and L.L.Bean. Laura is a frequent speaker and writer on nonprofit technology topics.
Important Information

Please register with the email address where you would like to receive the access code and dial-in information for the online seminar.
Please add training@idealware.org to your contacts to ensure meeting details do not get caught in your spam folder.
If you do not receive a confirmation email within a day of registration, please let us know.

Please manually update your calendar to account for the correct time of each session (1 PM Eastern).
All registered participants are granted access to the recordings of each session. Participants who cannot attend any of the sessions due to scheduling conflicts will still have access to the course presentation decks and handouts.

About Idealware
Idealware is a program of the nonprofit Tech Impact. We are the authoritative source for independent, thoroughly-researched technology resources for the social sector. Our publications, assessments, and training can save you time and money by providing impartial guidance that gives you the knowledge and confidence you need to decide what’s best for your organization. Browse our archives, sign up for our mailing list, or learn more at www.idealware.org
REGISTER HERE

FREE Webinar: 10-Step Budgeting Process from Propel Nonprofits
2019-06-26 13:00 - 14:00
NOTE: This webinar begins at 12:00 PM Central/1:00 PM Eastern
The success and usefulness of your budget largely depends on the process used to create it. You will walk away from this webinar with a proven 10-step budget process that will get everyone involved and ensure that your budget reflects your organization’s mission, strategic plan, and programmatic priorities.
About the Presenter: Phil Hatlie
Phil has spent most of his career in the Minnesota nonprofit sector. Although his degree is in liberal arts, he’s spent 15 years directing the finances at nonprofits including the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches, TC Habitat for Humanity, and HECUA. He’s been with Propel Nonprofits for more than 10 years as a financial trainer and lender, working with nonprofits in areas ranging from education and social services to the arts to chemical dependency and community health.
REGISTER HERE

Ask An Expert With S.R. Snodgrass
2019-06-28 10:00 - 12:00
Last year, we started a new program just for our members: Ask an Expert. Similar to ‘the doctor is in’ or ‘office hours’, this member benefit offers our members an opportunity to connect with WVNPA business consultant members with ‘nonprofit know-how.’ Participants will be able to ask questions and receive clarification in areas such as insurance, law, communications, IT issues, organizational management, leadership, fundraising, and more via phone consultation.
Your Expert: Brian Bender of S.R. Snodgrass. If your organization is facing accounting and tax challenges such as applying new accounting standards (financial reporting, leases, revenue recognition), functional expense reporting and allocations, unrelated business income, uncertainty in income tax assessment and disclosures, charitable solicitation filings, endowment accounting, donated services and in-kind contributions, agency transactions, fiscal sponsorships, and creating benchmarking reports and comparative analysis, this is your opportunity for one-one consultation with accountant expert Brian Bender of S.R. Snodgrass.
Brian is a Senior Manager and Co-Chair of the S.R. Snodgrass Nonprofit Practice Group. He has dedicated nearly 15 years of his professional experience to serving trade associations, membership organizations, social clubs, foundations, charities, and numerous other nonprofit entities. With a decade of experience in public accounting, and 5 years serving as a financial executive for several large trade associations and an international membership organization in Washington, DC, he has perspective from both sides of the table. He has presented at various industry events, including the annual American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Not-for-Profit Industry Conference and recently completed a three-year term on the AICPA Not-for-Profit Entities Expert Panel, during which he served as an instructor in the AICPA’s Nonprofit Certificate Program. He has extensive knowledge of internal controls best practices, policy and procedure development, financial budgeting and reporting requirements, Statements on Standards for Accounting and Review Services (SSARS), agreed-upon procedures, U.S. Department of Labor Regulations and ERISA requirements as they relate to audits of employee benefit plans, and the IRS Form 990/990T. Brian is a Certified Public Accountant with a bachelor’s degree in accounting from West Virginia University. He also earned a Master of Business Administration degree, with a concentration in entrepreneurship, from Suffolk University’s Sawyer Business School. Brian is a member of several professional organizations, including the AICPA, the Greater Washington Society of Certified Public Accountants (GWSCPA), the Pennsylvania Institute of Certified Public Accountants (PICPA), and the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).
Register: There are four 25-minute conference call “appointments” available with Brian on June 28 from 10 AM – 12 PM. These are only available to our members and there is no cost. Registration is first come, first serve. To sign up, email ashley@dev.wvnpa.org or call 304-419-0465.
In registering for this event, you are consenting to appear in photographs and videos recorded at the event and consenting for these photos and videos to potentially be used in future marketing efforts. You are also consenting for your evaluation responses to be used in future marketing efforts.

Cyber Security 101: Practical Ways to Protect Your Nonprofit from Idealware
2019-07-11 13:00 - 14:30
Three 90-minute webinars, Thursdays, July 11 – July 25, 1 to 2:30 PM Eastern
Regular Price: $135
WVNPA Member Price: $115 (email ashley@dev.wvnpa.org for discount code)
Register: https://www.idealware.org/training/cybersecurity
Cyber security is an increasingly important issue to the nonprofit community. Financially motivated cyber-attacks are increasing in frequency and nonprofit organizations are now a specific target due to their lack of policies and security training.
This webinar series will explore the mechanisms of cyber-attacks and how to protect against them at the organizational level, steps individual staff members can take to help reduce threats, and how to assess and plan for improvements in your organization. Designed for small- to medium-sized organizations, this course will focus on simple, practical solutions. Finally, we’ll cap things off with an “ask the expert” session where you can try to stump Tech Impact’s highly experienced consulting team with your security questions. Participants do not need any previous cyber or technical experience to benefit from this course. It’s designed for people with zero years of experience.
Course Schedule
All sessions take place on Thursdays at 1 PM Eastern and last for 90 minutes.
July 11: How Vulnerable Are You?
Cyber-attacks are on the rise. Though they can take a number of different forms, what they all have in common is the devastating financial and reputational effect they can have on an organization. How vulnerable is yours? In this session, we’ll focus on identifying the variety of threats nonprofits are facing and look at common habits and practices that make your organization vulnerable to attacks. We will explore how much a security breach can cost your nonprofit and share ways to assess your current risk and exposure.
July 18: Keeping Your Organization Secure
Now that we have an idea of what kinds of attacks you could be facing, we’ll move toward keeping your organization secure. In this session, we will share tips and tricks to boost security using existing software like Microsoft Office, how to establish security policies, and the best ways to train your staff about security issues. Depending on the results of your organization’s risk assessment, it may be worth investing in stronger security measures—we’ll share some of the tools and professional assessment and monitoring services available to help you make the best decision for your needs.
July 25: Ask the Expert
Perfect security is not attainable—and different organizations will have different needs. In this session, we’ll offer the chance for you to ask a team of cyber-security experts and consultants specific questions, and to benefit from their expertise.
About Your Trainer
As Tech Impact’s Director of Client Solutions and Education, Linda Widdop manages all aspects of client relations, including educating nonprofits about technology solutions. She works with local, regional, and national partners to provide the nonprofit community with increased knowledge of technology through speaking engagements, individual consultations, and digital content delivery. She has worked in the computer industry for over 30 years in a variety of roles, including manufacturing, retail sales, and extensive technology training experience, and holds a Masters of Education degree from Arcadia University.
Other Info
Every session and demo will be recorded and available to individuals who have registered for the course. A weekly email will include access information for the recordings collected that week. Please register with the email address where you would like to receive the access code and dial-in information for the online seminar. Also, be sure to add info@idealware.org to your contacts to ensure meeting details do not get caught in your spam folder. All registered participants are granted access to the recordings of each session. Participants who cannot attend any of the sessions due to scheduling conflicts will still have access to the toolkit presentation decks and handouts.
Register: https://www.idealware.org/training/cybersecurity (WVNPA Members: Don’t forget to email us for the discount code)

Nonprofit Lifecycles and Succession Planning: Martinsburg
2019-07-17 10:00 - 15:00 | Holiday Inn – Martinsburg, 301 Foxcroft Ave , Martinsburg, WV, 25401
Missed the registration cut-off date? Call 304-667-2248 for last minute registration options.
Growing pains. It’s likely that your organization has them whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been around a long time, whether you’re a staff of one or a staff of 100. This workshop on Nonprofit Lifecycles ™ will help you strengthen your organizational capacity in practical ways by analyzing where you are in your Lifecycle and helping you maximize organizational capacity in the areas of management, governance, financial resources, and administrative systems. (Only then can you do your best planning to progress positively to the next development stage.) You’ll also learn how succession planning can ensure your organization remains viable during transitions
About the Presenter:
With 15+ years of consulting practice and 25+ years of career experience in the nonprofit and public administration fields, Maria L. Fibiger brings a wealth of knowledge to her work. As President/ Senior Consultant of Three Dog Consulting, Inc., a deep passion and understanding of the importance of nonprofit organizations and a community’s socio-economic stability and growth are the inspiration and stimulus for Three Dog Consulting’s business development, and more particularly, Maria’s interest in cultivating methods to successfully assist nonprofit organizations. Maria has held top-level nonprofit management positions in numerous nonprofit & government organizations and as such, her view of the day-to-day challenges faced by so many nonprofit organizations is realistic and down-to-earth. As a nonprofit consultant, Maria has worked with a diverse selection of agencies and organizations. In addition to her career experience, Maria holds a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration with an additional Certification in Nonprofit Management & Organizational Development from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is also a certified Master Consultant of the Nonprofit Lifecycles Institute (NLI), having successfully completed intense training classes and facilitated numerous projects utilizing the Nonprofit Lifecycles™ capacity assessment model of NLI founder, Dr. Susan Kenny Stevens.
In registering for this event, you are consenting to appear in photographs and videos recorded at the event and consenting for these photos and videos to potentially be used in future marketing efforts. You are also consenting for your evaluation responses to be used in future marketing efforts.
For those registering online, we apply an 8.5% convenience fee to cover the processing cost of providing this service to you. If you wish to pay by check to avoid this fee, please download this form and send in payment for this event in advance.

Nonprofit Lifecycles and Succession Planning: Flatwoods
2019-07-18 10:00 - 15:00 | Days Inn Conference Center, 350 Days Drive, Sutton, WV, 26601, United States

Webinar Series: The Nonprofit Software Implementation Toolkit from Idealware
2019-08-22 13:00 - 14:30
Three 90-minute webinars, Thursdays, August 22 – September 5, 1 – 2:30pm Eastern
Regular Price: $135
WVNPA Member Price: $115 (email ashley@dev.wvnpa.org for discount code)
Register: http://bit.ly/Softwareimp

It doesn’t matter how much time, effort, and expense you put into selecting the right software for your organization—if you don’t plan all the steps necessary to ensure a successful implementation, you’re wasting your precious resources. Implementation involves a number of elements, including getting buy-in from the people who will be using the system and those who lead the organization, making plans to migrate data and integrate the new software with your other systems, and training staff on procedures and best practices for using the new software.
We designed this new course to help you with each step. We will show you how to make sure you are including all the right people throughout the process. We will help you determine whether you need outside help—and how to work effectively with consultants or vendors. And we’ll identify common mistakes and show you how to avoid them. This course includes “homework” after each session to help you put these lessons into practice, as well as additional resources for you to take with you to help with your own implementation projects.
During this course you will learn:

What a typical implementation project looks like.
Who is involved.
How to adjust for common scenarios.
How to keep the project on time and scope, including best practices for project management and avoiding common bottlenecks.
How to work with vendors and consultants.
What common mistakes to expect, and how to avoid them.
Best practices for change management and user adoption.

Course Schedule
All sessions take place at 1 pm Eastern and last for 90 minutes.
August 19: Planning Your Implementation Project
During this opening session, we’ll define what typical implementation projects look like—and what successful ones look like. We will review key software selection techniques to apply, identify the steps of an implementation project and who should be involved in and outside of your organization, consider timelines and budgets, discuss project scope, and address the process of migrating data from your existing systems.
August 29: Keeping the Project on Track
In this session, we’ll look at examples of common challenges nonprofits face that cause projects to fail, and introduce project management basics to help you plan your implementation and see it through on time and on budget. We’ll also address relationships with consultants and vendors and how to make sure you’re getting what you need out of them, and explain how to evaluate an implementation project after completion to make sure everyone involved learns from the experience.
September 5: Fostering User Adoption
After reviewing the first two sessions, we’ll discuss the critical role user adoption plays in a successful implementation project and introduce the idea of change management to help ensure your success. We will also look at the importance of training and cultural shifts in user adoption.
Other Info
This course includes weekly homework assignments. Please register with the email address where you would like to receive the access code and dial-in information for the online seminar. Also, be sure to add training@idealware.org to your contacts to ensure meeting details do not get caught in your spam folder. All registered participants are granted access to the recordings of each session. Participants who cannot attend any of the sessions due to scheduling conflicts will still have access to the toolkit presentation decks and handouts.
About the Presenters
Eric Leland, Idealware Expert Trainer: Eric has spent two decades working with progressive organizations and businesses tackling online and offline technology challenges. He’s a founding partner of FivePaths (fivepaths.com), a technology firm that offers strategic technology consulting, information architecture, and web CMS and CRM platform development expertise to each project. Eric is very active in nonprofit, philanthropy, and technology circles, having served as co-chair to the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network in San Francisco, on the National Advisory Board for the Addiction Technology Transfer Center, and as a member of NTEN and the Tech Underground.

FREE Webinar: Technology for Recruiting Volunteers from Idealware
2019-09-12 13:00 - 14:00
In this FREE webinar, based on Idealware’s impartial research, you will learn about services that help you recruit volunteers from a pool of people who have already confirmed their interest, opportunities to get professional guidance to support your volunteer search and ways to help you design productive volunteer engagements.
We will help you think through when it makes sense to use these technology-based platforms compared to handling volunteer recruitment in house. Whether you are seeking a large group of volunteers for a one-time project, or individuals to make an ongoing volunteer commitment, digital tools can help you find them—but you need to be choose the right tools for your task.
Registration link: http://bit.ly/techforvolunteers

A Groundwater Approach to Racial Equity from the Racial Equity Institute (Pre-Conference Workshop)
2019-09-24 09:00 - 16:00
Sponsored by The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation and Volunteer West Virginia
Deadline to Register: Sept. 17!

Note: This workshop is separate from the Nonprofit Leadership Summit. Even if you have already registered for the Summit, you must register for this event separately. Learn More About the Summit Here
*The Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation is sponsoring this workshop for their grantees and Volunteer West Virginia is sponsoring this workshop for National Service Staff.
A Groundwater Approach to Racial Equity illuminates the nature and impact of structural racism and what it looks like across institutions. In this day-long workshop, trainers from the Racial Equity Institute (REI) will examine narratives around racial disproportionality and make use of compelling research data to illustrate the systemic nature of racism and the fallacy of typical explanations like poverty, education, social class, individual behavior, or cultural attributes that often get associated with particular racial groups. Before addressing racial inequity or perceived acts of discrimination or oppression it is critical to understand what institutional racism looks like and the devastating impact it wields on our nation’s people, economy and social institutions.
In the morning, trainers from the Racial Equity Institute will give a presentation on the pervasiveness of systemic racism and describe why a “groundwater” approach is needed. In the afternoon, after a break for lunch (included in your registration fee), we’ll have facilitated discussions to process the morning’s presentation, examining the relevance to our work and possible next steps. Click Here to Learn More About the Racial Equity Institute
This presentation/discussion is open to anyone who wishes to attend:

Nonprofit and foundation staff, board members, and volunteers
Municipal departments and employees
Students
Clergy
For profit business leaders/teams
Individuals who wish to learn more about this topic
Etc.

WHICH TICKET TYPE SHOULD I BUY?

Please scroll through all available ticket types before making your ticket selection and hitting the Order Now button.
If you have a question about ticket types or whether you should register, contact Ashley Adams at ashley@dev.wvnpa.org.
Attending the Summit? If you want to attend this workshop, you still need to register below.

WOULD YOU RATHER SEND A CHECK?
For those registering online, we apply an 8.5% convenience fee to cover the processing cost of providing this service to you. We still accept standard registrations by check. To do so, click here to download the mail-in registration form and send in payment for this event in advance. Note: Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation Grantees, National Service Program Staff, and RCDI Grant Organizations must register online.
PHOTO RELEASE
In registering for this event, you are consenting to appear in photographs and videos recorded at the event and consenting for these photos and videos to potentially be used in future marketing efforts. You are also consenting for your evaluation responses to be used in future marketing efforts.

*No refunds.

2019 WV Nonprofit Leadership Summit
2019-09-25 - 2019-09-26
In partnership with Volunteer West Virginia and the Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation

Scroll down to register
OR
Learn All About the Summit HERE
WHICH TICKET TYPE SHOULD I BUY?
Please scroll through all available ticket types before making your ticket selection and hitting the Order Now button. You must register separately for the Pre-Conference Workshop. If you have a question about ticket types, contact Ashley Adams at ashley@dev.wvnpa.org.
CANCELLATION & REFUND POLICY
Should your circumstances change and you are unable to attend the Summit, a cancellation fee of $45 will apply to cover costs incurred in relation to your registration. Should you cancel less than 8 days prior to the event (after Sept. 17, 2019), no refund will be issued.
WOULD YOU RATHER SEND A CHECK?
For those registering online, we apply an 8.5% convenience fee to cover the processing cost of providing this service to you. We still accept standard registrations by check. To do so, click here download the mail-in registration form and send in payment for this event in advance. Note: Greater Kanawha Valley Foundation Grantees and National Service Program Staff must register online.
PHOTO RELEASE
In registering for this event, you are consenting to appear in photographs and videos recorded at the event and consenting for these photos and videos to potentially be used in future marketing efforts. You are also consenting for your evaluation responses to be used in future marketing efforts.

From Audit to Redesign: The Complete Nonprofit Website Toolkit
2019-10-03 13:00 - 14:30
Five 90-minute webinars, Thursdays Oct. 3 – 31
Regular Price: $235
WVNPA Member Price: $188 (email ashley@dev.wvnpa.org for discount code)
Register: http://bit.ly/WebsiteToolkit2019
Your website is the face of your organization—but like any familiar face, you stop seeing it the way others see it. Maybe it’s time to take a fresh look at your site to understand whether your audience and your staff members are getting what they need from it. Over five sessions, Idealware will help you think through how to develop a more useful and engaging website. We’ll walk you through website basics, how to lead a redesign project, best practices for accessibility, mobile optimization, content management systems, technical details, and online branding. We’ll also talk about how website content works alongside email, direct mail, and social media efforts to create an organization’s communications mix.
During this course you’ll:

Audit your site against a core set of questions.
Define goals for how your website will serve your audience.
Learn best practices for designing an accessible, usable, and polished website.
Think through your content strategy and approach to your site’s design.
Dig into website analytics and how you can use metrics to optimize the user experience for your site visitors.
Review the technical side of developing and managing your website.
Synthesize your research, ideas, and strategies into a vision that you can share across your organization.
Create an action plan and prioritize the steps you will need to take.

Course Schedule
All sessions take place on Thursdays at 1 pm Eastern and last for 90 minutes.
October 3: Starting the Audit Process
We’ll kick off the course by helping you define your priorities and set goals. Then we’ll cover how to lead a hands-on website audit while applying web design best practices. We’ll also review strategies for user interviews and surveys so you can see through other people’s eyes what’s working on your website and what needs improvement. And then we’ll spend a substantial amount of time discussing how to synthesize your research, ideas, and strategies into a vision that you can share across your organization.
October 10: Defining Your Design and Content Strategy
A website needs content before it can be useful to your constituents. In this session, you’ll learn how to define your content strategy, starting with your homepage. What content should be on it? Who will create it? What content matters most? The design of your site is just as important as the content. We’ll talk about how to assess your graphic design and site navigation and walk you through, step by step, how to look at your own site with a critical eye. We’ll also introduce wireframing—a method for visualizing and organizing the structure of your website.
October 17: Fleshing Out an Accessible and Usable Website
In this session, we’ll take a look at the goals and best practices behind core web pages. We’ll also cover website analytics to help you identify what’s working and what isn’t, search engine optimization (SEO) to ensure that your site can be found on Google and other sites, and user testing. You’ll also receive a checklist for best practices for usability and accessibility.
October 24: Let’s Get Technical
With your strategy and goals defined, it’s time to get under the hood. In this session, we’ll cover the technical side of website design, starting with an overview of content management systems (CMSs), which make it easier for nontechnical staff members to create or update website content themselves. We’ll also talk about responsive design and other practices for building mobile-friendly websites. Finally, we’ll end with a discussion on integrating your website with your database, online payment tool, and other systems.
October 31: Defining Your Priorities and Moving Forward
Now that your strategy is in place, and you have an understanding of the tools involved, it’s time to put your plan into action. We’ll start with an overview of the typical website development process, then talk through how to know whether you need a whole new site, or just an update to your existing one. If you just need to make updates, we’ll define a process to map out what updates should go in a first phase, and then what should come next. We’ll also talk through what you can do yourself and what tasks are best left to a consultant. By the end of this session, you’ll walk away with an action plan for “quick hits” and an outline for a more substantial project.
About Your Trainer
Kathleen Pequeno
Kathleen has been working with justice movements since the 1980s, often working at the point of intersection between storytelling and technology. She has volunteered, worked and consulted with well over a hundred organizations across the United states on issues including racial and gender justice, family violence, queer liberation, education justice, immigration justice, the overuse of prisons and jails, and economic justice for farmworkers. She has built (and rebuilt) scores of websites, CRMs and email systems as well as supported organizations with media planning and communications strategy. You can read her advice on social justice communications and technology at www.kathleenpequeno.com.
Other Info
Participants will be given optional homework assignments. You can expect to spend one to two hours each week on these assignments. Please register with the email address where you would like to receive the access and dial-in information for the online seminar. All registered participants are granted access to the recordings of each session. Participants who cannot attend any of the sessions due to scheduling conflicts will still have access to all the content of the toolkit.
Register: http://bit.ly/WebsiteToolkit2019 (Members: Don’t forget to email ashley@dev.wvnpa.org for discount code)

Grant Writing 101 Workshop (Discount for WVNPA Members)
2019-11-04 08:30 - 12:00 | Wood County Society, 317 8th Street, Parkersburg, WV, United States
Featuring Alice Ruhnke with The Grant Advantage and Stacey Varner with Parkersburg and Wood County Public Library
Continental Breakfast and Registration Begins at 8:30 a.m. Program Begins at 9:00 a.m.
Join us for a Grant Writing 101 workshop where you will learn how to use a Program Planning Framework to plan your grant applications so that they tell a strong, consistent story. As we go through the Program Planning Framework, we’ll highlight each section of a typical grant application with information on what funders are looking for and tips on how to write that section. By the time the session is over, you will:

Understand what funders are looking for in grant applications.
Be able to decipher confusing grant-related terminology.
Have a usable system to connect all the pieces of an application.
Have strategies to infuse your organization’s strengths in your proposal to make it strong and competitive.

You will also learn about the new grantseeking research resources available at the Parkersburg and Wood County Library. These resources are free and can help you identify potential funding sources for your projects. Stacey Varner, librarian at the Parkersburg and Wood County Public Library, will lead a demonstration and show you how to use these tools to identify funding sources.
WVNPA Members: $15/person
Nonmembers: $20/person
REGISTER HERE by Oct. 31
Alice Ruhnke is the founder and owner of The Grant Advantage, a progressive, innovative consulting business devoted to helping nonprofit organizations unleash their strengths to embrace tomorrow’s opportunities. Located in Charleston, West Virginia, The Grant Advantage’s services include grant writing; funding searches; outcome measurement systems; capacity building assistance; and learning opportunities through trainings, workshops, webinars, and manuals. Alice has raised over $32 million writing federal, state, foundation, and corporate grants and has been in charge of awarding and monitoring federal funds to nonprofit organizations throughout West Virginia. If Alice is not at her computer writing, she can usually be found facilitating trainings for individuals and organizations. Alice is also the author of Mapping the Course: A Practical Approach to Grant Writing.

Grant Writing Training from Volunteer WV (Discount for WVNPA Members)
2019-11-06 09:00 - 2019-11-07 16:00 | South Branch Inn, US-50, Romney, WV, 26757, United States
About

This two-day Grant Writing training is intended to help build new capacity for nonprofit organizations. This intensive, hands-on training will help aspiring and experienced grant writers approach grant writing with increased confidence. At the end of the training, participants will understand all the components of a grant application and have a new way of looking at what works in their organization and community.

The workshop will help participants:

Understand what funders are looking for in grant applications;
Use a Program Planning Framework to develop grant proposals that tell a coherent and compelling story;
Infuse their strengths into proposals to develop strong, competitive applications; and
Understand how to find grant opportunities.

When & Where
Grant Writing Training will take place November 6th-7th, 2019 at South Branch Inn in Romney.

Training Times

• Day 1 – Wednesday, November 6th, 2019: 9:00 am-4:00 pm

• Day 2 – Thursday, November 7th, 2019: 9:00 am-4:00 pm

Cost
Registration is $200 per person. This fee covers all materials, lunch on Wednesday and Thursday, and breaks
each day. Member organizations of the West Virginia Nonprofit Association are eligible to send two (2)
people at a discounted rate of $175.

Registration & Learn More

Click here for registration form. ***If the form does not load, please check your pop up settings.
Click here for fillable registration form. (Word Doc) ***If the form does not load, please check your pop up settings.
Learn More Here
Questions? Contact Moya Doneghy, 304-558-0111.

About the Instructor

Alice Ruhnke is the founder and owner of The Grant Advantage, progressive, innovative consulting business devoted to helping nonprofit organizations unleash their strengths to embrace tomorrow’s opportunities. Located in Charleston, West Virginia, The Grant Advantage’s services include grant writing; funding searches; qualitative evaluation; capacity building assistance; and learning opportunities through trainings, workshops, webinars, and manuals.

Alice has raised over $27 million writing federal, state, foundation, and corporate grants and has managed the sub-granting and monitoring of federal capacity-building funds to nonprofit organizations throughout West Virginia. If Alice is not at her computer writing, she can usually be found facilitating trainings for individuals and organizations. Alice is also the author of Mapping the Course: A Practical Approach to Grant Writing, a practical, step-by-step manual that walks through an entire grant proposal from start to finish.
