Nonprofit Leaders Get Help at Conference
Southern Maryland Regional Director for the Small Business Development Center Ellen Flowers-Fields, left, speaks about leadership in the nonprofit community, sitting with fellow panelists and nonprofit leaders at the Jumpstart Your Leadership! conference, from left, founder of Farming 4 Hunger Bernie Fowler Jr., CEO of Walden/Sierra Dr. Kathy O’Brien, US Navy veteran and veteran advocate Bill Buffington, and Director of Hospice of St. Mary’s Kathy Franzen.
Brandy Blackstone, communications manager for Bay Community Support Services, listens to a speaker at the Nonprofit Institute’s annual conference, Jumpstart Your Leadership! on April 28 at the College of Southern Maryland’s La Plata Campus.
Nonprofit leaders and the people who support them came to the College of Southern Maryland Nonprofit Institute Conference at the College of Southern Maryland on April 28, 2017. The conference attracted more than 150 people to hear from local experts on the issues faced by nonprofits and community leaders.
“This year’s Nonprofit Institute Conference, Jumpstart Leadership, was a great success,” said Barbara Ives, CSM’s director of the Office of Strategic Partnerships. “This conference focused on refreshing leadership skills, board development and branding importance. Events like this provide the nonprofit organization board members, executive directors and staff members opportunities to network, collaborate with other nonprofits and share best practices. The panel discussion this year was especially enlightening with five recognized nonprofit community leaders sharing insights on leadership, some of their leadership challenges and how they overcame them and their greatest successes. It was truly a great learning and sharing day for all that attended.”
Attendees of the conference chose from several workshops, including social media analytics, content marketing, unemployment insurance, mission-driven branding, a board’s role in advancement and development, fundraising development, building diversity, nonprofit financial literacy, strategic planning, board recruitment, how to be an effective board member, leadership during a crisis, and cultivating staff and volunteers for leadership roles.
After lunch, the conference culminated with a panel discussion on leadership in the nonprofit community which featured Director of Hospice of St. Mary’s Kathy Franzen, US Navy veteran and veteran advocate Bill Buffington, CEO of Walden/Sierra Dr. Kathy O’Brien, Southern Maryland Regional Director for the Small Business Development Center Ellen Flowers-Fields, and the founder of Farming 4 Hunger Bernie Fowler Jr. The video can be viewed on the college’s YouTube channel.
Next year’s conference is already in the planning stages. Feedback from this year’s event showed that a later winter date would fit better with the schedules of many nonprofits, so the 2018 event will be held in late February rather than April.
CSM’s Nonprofit Institute was created to help nonprofit organizations in the region to enhance their effectiveness and achieve success in fulfilling their missions. For information about programs sponsored by the Nonprofit Institute, visit CSM’s website.
To view a gallery of photos from the event, visit the College’s photo sharing site.
For more about the College of Southern Maryland, visit their Leader member page.
