Regional nonprofit leaders gather for conference
Workshops, networking part of College of Southern Maryland institute’s annual event
More than 150 nonprofit executive directors, board members and volunteers came together late last month to learn how to improve the quality of services that their organizations offer to communities in need throughout Southern Maryland.
The eighth annual Nonprofit Institute conference, which took place Thursday, Feb. 22, at the College of Southern Maryland’s La Plata campus, featured sessions covering topics of perennial interest to charity directors such as effective fundraising, email marketing, project management
and strategic planning. Other sessions covered complex and timely issues such as developing relationships with elected officials and fostering workplace diversity.
“I really enjoyed the conference, and I got a lot out of it as well,” said Janice Wilson, president of the Charles County chapter of the NAACP and the newly appointed board president of the Tri-County Youth Services Bureau. “It was my first time attending the conference, and I wish I had attended years ago.”
“The information that I gained was very valuable in the work that I do,” Wilson said. “I came away from the conference with lessons that I can apply right away.”
Wilson praised the institute for providing a broad range of programs for people of all levels within a nonprofit organization, not just leaders.
The theme of this year’s conference was “Fostering Relationships.” Wilson said that she came away from the conference with new connections that could lead to partnerships and new programs.
“In the sessions I attended, we had really good conversations about how to build, nurture and maintain relationships,” Wilson said. “That, to my mind, is everything, no matter where you are.”
The conference featured tables for vendors that offer services to nonprofits, including health care providers, information technology support, and marketing and communications.
Shelita Lawrence, center manager for MedExpress, an urgent care facility that opened in Waldorf last June, decided to set up a vendor table at the conference as a way to connect with nonprofits that offer health care coverage to employees.
“I’ve been talking with a lot of the businesses here today,” Lawrence said. “It’s been a great way for us to introduce ourselves to the community.”
The mission of the Nonprofit Institute is to assist nonprofit organizations in Southern Maryland to become more effective at managing their internal operations as well as their external programs. It offers free training courses and workshops throughout the year and hosts a variety of affinity groups for particular specialties such as faith-based organizations and nonprofit marketing staff.
Barbara Ives, CSM’s strategic partnership director and the head of the Nonprofit Institute, said that this year’s conference incorporated a number of elements that had been requested by attendees of previous conferences. For example, the date of the conference was moved from April to February because many nonprofits are busy gearing up for summer fundraising campaigns as well as preparing their taxes in April.
This year’s conference was the first held under the leadership of CSM’s new president, Maureen Murphy, who offered this year’s opening remarks. Murphy’s predecessor, Bradley Gottfried, was the driving force behind the creation of the Nonprofit Institute.
“Brad and his wife Linda, their middle name is ‘nonprofit,’” Ives said. “They made sure to train us well so that we would be able to carry on once they left the college.”
Both of the Gottfrieds participated in workshops and panel sessions at previous conferences, but this year they opted not to.
“Normally, we would have them as speakers, but this year Brad didn’t want to do that. He told us that he wanted to wait a full year before doing anything at the college, in order to allow Dr. Murphy the time and space she needed to get firmly established.”
“We’ll definitely be putting them back on the speaker’s list for next year, though,” Ives said.