The CharityUniversity™ Project

The CharityUniversity project was created by veteran CharityChannel colleagues to provide a cost-effective means to take 90-minute live teleclasses as well as recorded classes over the Internet. Classes are taught by members of the CharityChannel professional community, and may be taken by anyone who wants to improve professional competency in a cost-effective, time-effecient manner.

Here are three upcoming classes listed on the CharityUniversity site:

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Organizational Development: Are You Grant-Ready?

This class offers the beginning to advanced grant professional essential tools and techniques to prepare your organization in getting started, building capacity and becoming grant-ready by addressing:

• the "3Rs of grant seeking" as fundraising; 

• a "CHECKLIST FOR SUCCESS" that provides a process to engage prospects/organizations, and offers results-oriented products; 

• a strategic planning approach to involve staff and board; and 

• a process, tips and steps to deal with infrastructure issues such as information gathering, budget development and funding research.

This practical presentation is aligned with the conference skill tracks of: 

• Organizational development; 

• Program and project development; and 

• Communication skills/relationship building.

Presentation Objectives include: 

• Learn the 3 Rs of grant seeking as fundraising 

• Understand a professional, ethical process to engage prospects/organizations to become grant-ready and offer results-oriented products 

• Learn the value of strategic planning that includes the roles of staff and board with focus on building relationships aligned to grant seeking 

• Share stories and successful/best-practice models regarding organizational development 

• Emphasize crucial skills and resources to implement information gathering, budget development and funding research.

Benefits to grant professionals are: 

• All workshop objectives are beneficial to grant professionals of all levels, especially learning capacity building skills whether they are staff or consultants 

• Learn from an experienced grant consultant so that participants can identify skills, utilize resources, renew, network and energize!

About the Instructor

Linda Gatten Butler, MSW, ACSW, LISW, has her Masters in Social Work from the Ohio State University with emphasis on planning and administration, is an member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers, Founder and Past President of the Miami Valley Ohio Chapter of AAGP, national AAGP board member, and a Licensed Independent Social Worker. She is a senior fundraising consultant and President of Butler Consulting for 14 years, specializing in grants seeking and managing services, with more than 35 years of clinical, administrative and fundraising experience in both the private and public sectors of health, mental health, education, environment, arts, faith-based, housing and human services for over 100 non-profit and public organizations in the Miami Valley of Ohio.

_________

Monday, September 15, 2008

The Development Plan - Foundation for Success

Is your organization stuck in the special event mode? Does your board refuse to accept their fundraising responsibility? Does the rest of your organization’s staff wonder what the development office actually does all day? Is your organization dependent on grants as its sole source of funding? Have you wondered why your development plans do not get implemented?

If so, this workshop is for you. In this session, we will discuss the reasons a development plan can help assure success in your fundraising efforts; how to involve your organization's leadership, both staff and volunteers, in the process; how to assure that the plan will be implemented; and how to evaluate success.

Learning Objectives:

• Develop a plan to involve board, staff and volunteers in the planning process

• Outline the components of the development plan

• Develop an evaluation system for the plan

• Develop preliminary goals for the development plan

Agenda:

• Why a Development Plan

  • What Happens When There is No Plan?

• How the Plan Fits in with the Organization’s Strategic Plan

• How Often Does the Plan Need to Be Updated?

• Who Should Be Involved in the Planning Process?

  • The Role of Development Staff

  • Involving Non-Development Staff

  • The Role of the Board and the Development Committee

• The Process and the Product—Developing the Plan

  • How and When Do You Start the Planning Process?

  • How Long Will It Take?

  • What Does the Planning Document Look Like?

  • Setting Goals, Objectives and Strategies

  • Establishing Timelines, Budgets and Areas of Responsibility

• Keeping the Plan Alive

  • Setting Reasonable Goals

  • Involving the Right People

  • Evaluating Success

About the Instructor

Linda is one of only 81 professionals worldwide to hold the Advanced Certified Fund Raising Executive designation. In her fifteen years as a philanthropic consultant, she has managed capital campaigns; helped dozens of nonprofit organizations achieve their development goals, and has trained more than 10,000 professionals in Mexico, Canada, Egypt and most of the fifty United States, in all aspects of development.  

Linda is a graduate of AFP’s Faculty Training Academy and serves on the board of the AFP Foundation for Philanthropy. She has received two AFP research grants. She is also a prolific writer and is currently working on two more books for the profession. Linda has received the Outstanding Fundraising Executive award from both the Eastern PA and the Las Vegas chapters of AFP (Association of Fundraising Professionals) and in 2006 was recognized internationally in Atlanta, GA with the Barbara Marion Award for Outstanding Service to AFP.  

Current Professional Affiliations & Volunteer Leadership

• Board Member; AFP Foundation for Philanthropy, AFP International

• Member; Professional Advancement Division, AFP International

• Board Member; Las Vegas, NV Chapter of Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP)

• Board Member; Las Vegas, Sierra (NV) Chapter of Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP)

Selected Training/Public Speaking

• Speaker at the international AFP conference since 1993, the Hemispheric Conference in Mexico, and at more than two dozen regional and local AFP chapters throughout North America.

• Various state wide associations including Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations (PANO), Ohio Association of Nonprofit Organizations (OANO), Utah Nonprofit Association (UNA) and Nonprofit Management Centers in Nashville, TN and Wichita Falls, TX.

• Numerous national and international association conferences including Variety International, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Junior Achievement, US Tennis Association, and the National Community Service Conference by Points of Light Foundation.

• A variety of educational conferences sponsored by Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), the Association of Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP), Association of Lutheran Development Officers (ALDE) and Club Managers Association (CMA) and Association for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB).

• Numerous audioconferences and webinars for CharityChannel, The Philanthropy Journal, Affinity Seminars, national Coalition for Homeless Veterans and AFP.

Selected Research and Publications

Full Length Books:

Recruiting and Training Fundraising Volunteers, Wiley Press Essentials of Fundraising Series, published in June 2005, The Development Plan, Wiley Press Essentials of Fundraising Series, published in March 2007, The Fundraising Feasibility Study, contributing author, Wiley Press, published in March 2007

AFP Ready Reference Books:

Establishing Your Development Office, translated into Spanish and French, Getting Ready for a Capital Campaign, translated into Spanish, Building an Effective Board of Directors, translated into Spanish.

Numerous other Publications including International Journal of Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Marketing, Contributions, Advancing Philanthropy, Opera America, Associations Now, California Grants Guide, CASE Currents, Major Gifts Report, Who Cares, Grant Station, New Directions in Philanthropy, PANO Keynotes, The Friend Raiser, Mountain Plains Museum Association—The Newsgram, Charity Channel, Non Profit Central and more.

_________

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Crossing the Bridge to Federal Grant Proposal Writing

Is your organization ready to enter a new realm of grant seeking? Federal grants typically require longer, more detailed proposals and have much shorter deadlines than foundation and corporate grants. Plus, federal grant-speak is a unique language, and many federal opportunities focus on your response to pre-defined goals and methods. Find out how to read between the lines and evaluate your chances of success in seeking federal dollars. 

If you have some grants experience and are considering seeking federal funding, this workshop is for you! Understand how the federal granting process works, learn how to navigate the confusing application process, and develop strategies for preparing high scoring proposals. 

This workshop assumes you have experience with writing foundation or other grant proposals. It will not cover the beginning basics of grant development, but focuses on what’s different about federal government grants.

Learn how to:

• Research federal grant opportunities

• Read between the lines on federal RFP’s to develop winning proposals

• www.grants.gov required federal forms

• Use the federal online application system on

• Complete required federal forms

• Prepare budget info for federal applications

About the Instructor

 Michael Wells, GPC, CFRE, owns the consulting firm Grants Northwest and edits CharityChannel’s Grants and Foundation Review. Michael teaches grantwriting at Portland State University, is a past board member of the American Association of Grant Professionals and the Grant Professionals Certification Institute, and is the author of the Grantwriting Beyond The Basics books: Proven Strategies, Understanding Nonprofit Finances, and Successful Program Evaluation.