Better United
2023 United Way Nonprofit Summit
in partnership with Rochester Area Community Foundation
Thank you to all those who attended the Nonprofit Summit last week! We enjoyed engaging and learning with hundreds of nonprofit professionals and community leaders from across our region. We hope you gained insight, created connections, and received helpful resources to bring back to your nonprofit organization.
If you haven't already, please take two minutes to share your event experience. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and will help us improve future events and opportunities.
The Nonprofit Summit is brought to you by a collaboration between:
Thank you to our Headline Sponsor
Thank you to our Supporting Sponsor
Taking Your Organization Green
Jim Morris - Catholic Charities Family & Community Services, VP for Family Prosperity
Andre Primus - Climate Solutions Accelerator of the Genesee-Finger Lakes Region, Manager of Organizational Programs
This workshop will provide an overview of a nonprofit organization's decision to "Go Green" and the journey to incorporate regenerative concepts in culture, operations, and practice. The presenting organization, Catholic Charities Family & Community Services (CCFCS), began its own journey with the guidance of the Climate Solutions Accelerator of the Genesee-Finger Lakes Region in January of 2023 as part of their inaugural "Color Your Organization Green" cohort. This workshop will provide perspective from both CCFCS and the Climate Solutions Accelerator on why and how CCFCS decided to confront their own carbon footprint, the challenges and opportunities presented so far, and how other organizations can begin to take their own action toward contributing to a more regenerative community in the face of climate change.
Identifying, Cultivating, and Enhancing Organizational Culture: An Adaptable Framework from a Case Study
Carrie Carl - Villa of Hope, Chief Operating & Compliance Officer
Wynndy Turner - Villa of Hope, Chief of Organizational Culture
Organizational culture can be described as the "personality" of a company. Alignment of mission, vision, and values with the desired organizational culture is critical to the success of the business. This requires strategic efforts to identify the desired culture, cultivate it, and over time, evolve and enhance it. In 2012, Villa of Hope chose a trauma informed organizational culture model called the Sanctuary Model. Implementation required support from the Board of Directors, full immersion by the President/CEO, structural support by embedding responsibility for implementation in a senior leadership position, and the formulation of a "core team" which still exists today. This workshop will share strategies and tactics for building and sustaining desired organizational culture over time, which can largely be customized to "fit" your agency.
What if Nonprofits Marketed Their Brand Like Amazon or Starbucks?
Greg Kamp - Mary Cariola Center, Director, Marketing & Communications
Alexis Ross - Mary Cariola Center, Project Manager
Sure, nonprofits don't have the marketing budgets that Amazon or Starbucks have, but there is no reason they can't market like the big brands. This session will discuss the ways that nonprofits can take advantage of marketing tactics that are tried and true and can become "monster brands" within their community.
Grants - Planning, Organizing, and Communicating Value
Chad Rieflin - Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Rochester, Director of Programs and Grants
Over the past 10 years, CCCS of Rochester has grown its grant-funded initiatives by more than 100-fold. This presentation will draw upon that experience to help listeners understand practices and strategies that have been proven to be effective in creating strong grant proposals that communicate high-value programs and projects. Additionally, participants will be given tools and resources for planning and organizing their grant writing efforts in order to be efficient, effective, and successful!
Introduction to TogetherNow
Sara Volz-Rogers - TogetherNow, Senior Community Engagement Lead
If you've ever navigated the social care system, you know how complicated it can be. Community members, service providers, and local organizations are coming together to connect resources in a single online tool for navigating care and putting people and their families at the center, where they should be. TogetherNow believes in a human-centered approach that ensures the community has a voice in designing the solutions that will drive change. We facilitate an integrated social care network, partnering to improve outcomes across health, education, and human services for our community. To increase the efficiency of the TogetherNow Network, we built MyWayfinder, which is an online platform that allows individuals and service providers to interact and coordinate care. This session will provide an overview of TogetherNow, Systems Integration, and MyWayfinder, and also provide information on how you can partner to improve outcomes in our communities.
Secondary Traumatic Stress: Understanding the impact on professionals in community-based organizations.
Robin Sturm - Mt. Hope Family Center, Clinical Coordinator
Jessica Luciano-Bath - Mt. Hope Family Center, Senior Social Worker
This workshop will share information to broaden the general awareness of the impact of trauma on the children and families we serve in our community. Participants will gain an understanding of the importance of embedding a trauma-informed care and trauma-responsiveness approach to the work we do. A focus will also be on the impact of this stress and trauma on providers as they try and support and work with clients. Information provided will include definitions, signs, and assessments of Secondary Traumatic Stress, Vicarious Trauma, Compassion Fatigue, Burnout, and Compassion Satisfaction; self-care and shared supports for wellness; and strategies for building a more resilient organization and workforce.
Providing trauma-responsive care includes realizing the impact of trauma, recognizing how trauma affects individuals, organizations, and systems, responding in sensitive ways, and resisting re-traumatizing affected individuals. Preventing Secondary Traumatic Stress includes both individual and organizational approaches to mitigate risks and support the workforce. We can all incorporate CARE principles (Curiosity, Attuned listening, Respect, and Empathy) to support individuals, families, and our colleagues.
Recognition and Retention - How to build an employee success pipeline
Michael Doyle -SUNY Brockport School of Business & Management, Interim Dean
Wendy Wright - SUNY Brockport Department of Public Administration, Chair
Nonprofits face unprecedented problems related to employee retention in a post-Covid world. This workshop focuses on specific action steps leaders can take to create a positive work environment and a shared sense of mission, while providing individualized understanding, support, and recognition that improves employee engagement and retention.
Who is ALICE?
Kari Buch - United Way of Greater Rochester and the Finger Lakes, Regional Director
Essential, Working, Struggling
For a growing number of U.S. households, financial stability is nothing more than a pipe dream, no matter how hard their members work. These households are ALICE – Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed – earning above the Federal Poverty Level yet struggling to afford basic expenses. ALICE may be your relative, friend, colleague, or neighbor, or you might be ALICE. ALICE may also be your health care provider, teacher, retail clerk, sanitation worker, and others. ALICE workers are the backbone of our economy, with the pandemic making it crystal clear just how much we need them.
Appreciation at Work
Cathy Lovejoy - Lakeview Health Services, Chief Program Officer
Ashley Kise - Lakeview Health Services, Program Director
We know that when team members truly feel valued and appreciated, good things happen. However, when staff do not feel valued, tardiness increases; people call in "sick" more often; productivity decreases; policies and procedures are not regularly followed; more conflict occurs; people become more irritable; consumer complaints increase; the ability to problem-solve declines; internal theft rises; turnover increases. If your organization is experiencing any of these, join us to find out how we are developing a culture in which staff feel truly valued through authentic appreciation, given in the way that is most meaningful to them. We will review our work to train the "languages of appreciation" to all staff and to, ultimately, identify their own language as well as the languages of their colleagues.
There are different ways to demonstrate communication of appreciation to others. An individual will value a certain "language" more than another. The most effective communication of appreciation occurs when the message is sent in the language of appreciation most valued by the receiver.
The Ethics of Change: Balancing Innovation and Stability in Your Organization
Kate McCaffrey - Paradigm Twist Executive Coaching and Consulting LLC., CEO
There are many ways to create and sustain innovative and productive organizations. This session will explore aspects of change, including the human side of change, different approaches in leading and managing change and creating environments to create and sustain stable environments while undergoing change initiatives. The balance of innovation and change can be challenging to address in organizations given the current climate, change fatigue, talent management and future planning. Participants will walk away with new strategies for personally leading and managing change, an understanding of how to create readiness for change, and one or more action items they can utilize right away toward a change initiative.
Collaboration ARCH: Place-Based & Person Centered
Jay Roscup - Wayne County Community Schools, Community Schools Director
The Collaboration ARCH is a whole-person model for organizing cross-sector efforts. Rather than stopping at our expertise, the Collaboration ARCH moves us to consider how we meet the social, emotional, cognitive, and physical needs of people. Used effectively in Wayne County and Onondaga County schools to organize initiatives, the Collaboration ARCH can help us visualize how each service sector meets the need of a person. Too often, our funding streams and contract deliverables divide us. The Collaboration ARCH is a way to unite us in a common effort to meet the needs of the people we serve together.
The Leader's Toolkit
Shenequa Ravaliere - GLOW YMCA, Child Care Director
If you want to be an effective leader, you have two choices: run a tight ship with little to no input or develop connections and build trust over a mutual purpose. Successful leaders aren't those who manage their team and programs better, they're the ones who advocate, promote, and listen better.
Embedding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusive Justice within Human Services
Dr. Ashley N. Campbell - United Way of Greater Rochester and the Finger Lakes, Chief Impact Officer
In the wake of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI), organizations are quickly attempting to develop solutions for systemic issues that have existed for years. Organizations have endeavored to create diversity programs, participate in social activism, craft statements, and more while fulfilling their mission and vision. But ultimately, true embrace of DEI is how it is embedded within the policies, practices, and procedures of an organization. This session will explore how to embed meaningful and purposeful DEI justice within the human service non-profit organizations.
Community Schools
Jay Roscup - Wayne County Community Schools, Community Schools Director
Joseph Fantigrossi - Seneca County Community Schools, Director
Katie Flowers - Center for Community Engagement & Service Learning, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Director
Kari Buch - United Way of Greater Rochester and the Finger Lakes, Regional Director
Community Schools is a local engagement strategy that creates and coordinates opportunities with its public school to accelerate student success. It serves as a vehicle for hyper-local decision-making that responds to the unique needs of each community. Hear from two active Community School initiatives and learn about other efforts in Ontario and surrounding counties.
For any questions, please contact Kari Buch