Welcome to MNN’s Nonprofit Trainings and Events Calendar! Here you’ll find trainings and events across the state to help you network, learn & give back. Browse the full calendar below or use the categories and tags to filter by region or event type.
To submit an event, click the button below.
All submissions will be approved by MNN staff prior to being posted (typically within 24 hours). You must be an MNN nonprofit or affiliate member to submit an event. Not a member yet? Annual membership starts as low as $75 and includes unlimited job postings and many other year-round benefits. Click to learn more and join.
For questions concerning MNN’s Nonprofit Trainings and Events Calendar please contact events@massnonprofitnet.org.
Having regular and consistent donors making regular gifts to your organization – it’s the dream of every nonprofit! Getting to that point takes thoughtful relationship-building, donor-centered education and continual communication. In other words, it’s a lot of work! In this workshop we’ll explore the motivation, interests and needs of a variety of donors, with tips on ways to invite them in, build philanthropy partnerships and encourage them to give even more.
Presenter: Jerry Cohen, Partner, Burns & Levinson LLP and Access to Justice Fellow
Many nonprofits have intellectual property assets and don’t know if they need to protect them or could generate income from them. The intellectual property assets a nonprofit may have include their name / trademarks-service marks-certification marks, copyright in their project materials such as studies/reports/books/film-video, performances, training manuals and materials in writing or in any other medium. Also, various forms of proprietary know-how (trade secrets) and inventions protectable by utility, design or plan patents. In this fast evolving digital age, it is very easy to copy someone’s protected materials. Would you like to protect your nonprofit’s assets? Could these assets possibly generate fees from licensing? Revenues subject to UBIT or not? Or are you willing to share them with anyone in the spirit of open source? If so, would this approach ensure your permanent access to these assets? Are you inadvertently infringing other parties’ rights and creating liability and costs of defense for your nonprofit? Come learn about the parameters of various types of intellectual properties, and options such assets present to your nonprofit (and pitfalls).
This seminar is a joint project of the Lawyers Clearinghouse and Boston Private Community Investment Series.
Agenda
Day One
What is organizing? How it differs from other strategies for social change, (including: service, mobilizing, advocacy, community development, and education).
The role of the organizer: Developing leaders and building the organization: What is the place of race?
Recruiting: Telling your story: The role of race, culture, gender, sexual orientation and other differences Who are you? Why are you doing what you do? Practice presenting your story. Small group presentations and feed-back
How to do one on one relationship building meetings: How do we respect and communicate across differences in race and other differences? Demonstration and practice one on ones.
Building a powerful community organization: values, mission, vision, culture, structure, membership requirements, accountability, roles, responsibilities and communication across difference
Short presentation and small group and personal exercise — using worksheets from BPCO book.
Power: Where does power come from? How does power differ from influence and authority? Reflection exercise.
Day Two
The role of the organizer: Hang-ups of organizers, relationships between paid staff and leaders and members. The “iron rule of organizing” Staff organizers and members across race, gender, and other differences.
Understanding ourselves as combinations of historically included and historically excluded people. Presentation and personal reflection
How to plan and win a community campaign: Strategy and tactics: How to research and identify “decision-makers” How to identify allies and self-interest across race and other differences. Using a strategy chart. Small group exercise of campaign development.
Day Three
Leadership development: how to identify potential leaders: The place of race and other differences How to make a leadership plan for yourself and others.
Building multi-racial, multi-cultural organizations: The influence of “modern racism”
Self–care: Working for the long haul
Tech Networks of Boston, Third Sector New England, and Essential Partners are co-hosting a very special dialogue series. It will bring together grant makers and nonprofit grant recipients to talk about data and evaluation. The first dialogue session will be on June 20th.
Our highly distinguished dialogue facilitator is Dave Joseph of Essential Partners, whose experience includes creating post-genocide dialogues in Burundi. His goal is to create a safe enough space to allow grant makers and nonprofit grant recipients to engage in candid discussion about their differences and their common ground about an increasingly fraught topic.
If you are a grant maker who is interested in participating, please follow this link:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/first-grant-makergrant-recipient-dialogue-on-nonprofit-data-and-evaluation-registration-34039354626?aff=mnncalendar
If you are a nonprofit professional who is interested in participating, please follow this link:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/first-grant-makergrant-recipient-dialogue-on-nonprofit-data-evaluation-registration-34516365378?aff=mnncalendar
YNPN Boston is turning 10! Yes, we’ve finally hit double-digits and we want to celebrate with all of you.
Join us on October 18th for a special evening with delicious food and drinks, the chance to connect with dedicated young nonprofit professionals, and a great line-up of speakers.
As we celebrate ten years of YNPN Boston, we’ll look forward to the future of the nonprofit sector and how young professionals can prepare to lead:
- Opportunity in Change – Jennifer Aronson, Associate Vice President of Programming at The Boston Foundation, will highlight opportunities for action stemming from the upcoming leadership transition in the sector.
- Preparing Young Professionals to Lead – A panel of nonprofit leaders will explore how young professionals can prepare to lead in the face of the coming leadership transition. More information about the panelists coming soon!
- Where Leaders Grow – Learn what YNPN Boston has planned for the start of its second decade in supporting Boston’s emerging nonprofit leaders.
Ticket purchase includes hearty appetizers, desserts, and beverages (2 alcoholic drinks per person). Pre-registration is required. Proceeds from this event will support YNPN Boston in providing networking and career development opportunities for young professionals in the local nonprofit community.
Discounted Early Bird Tickets available through 10/1!
Nearest MBTA stop: South Station on the Red Line.
Wind your clock back to the Gilded Age at the gentleman farm of railroad tycoon T.W. Peirce for an unforgettable night!
Come dressed in your favorite steampunk gear and dance the night away with Commonwealth Vintage Dancers. Strike a pose in our Victorian themed photo booth sponsored by the Topsfield Fair. Signature cocktails (one included per guest) devised and donated by Deacon Giles Distillery. Cash bar (beer & wine).
Get your tickets before time runs out!
Essex Heritage Member: $40
Non-Member:$50
This is a fun friend-raiser for Essex Heritage, now celebrating 20 years of preserving and enhancing the unique natural, cultural, and historic places of the region for the benefit of all who live, work, and visit.
Nonprofit organizations often seek grant support but fall short in receiving an award. Competition for grants continue to grow as government funding dwindles. Learn how to present your case for support no matter the type or size of grant you are requesting. This session will sharpen your grant-seeking skills by making your proposal more competitive.
From logic models to making your case for support using 2,000 or less characters, this workshop will help you prepare successful paper and paperless proposal narratives including those to the different levels of government. There will be a discussion on the use of Gantt and PERT charts and other visual aids to help reviewers quickly understand the intent of your proposed project. You will also learn techniques to use when preparing proposals to obtain grants for capacity-building projects and capital campaigns.
The intended learning goals are as follows:
– Understand the current giving trends of foundations, corporations, and government agencies
– Analyze request for proposals (RFPs) to determine a fit with your proposed project
– Prepare reviewer friendly proposals
– Formulate strategies to develop proposals for special projects, capacity-building efforts, and capital campaigns
– Learn techniques to apply for a multi-year or million-dollar grant
This workshop provides learning opportunities for intermediate to advanced (10+ years) grant seekers. The ideal participants will be those with two or more years of experience preparing grant proposals who have an understanding how to develop a strong needs statement, goals and outcomes, evaluation strategies, and the budget and justification for the project/program they propose.
Presenter
Diane Gedeon-Martin is a nationally recognized grants consultant, instructor, and lecturer in the area of grants and grant seeking for nonprofit organizations. For more than 25 years, she has trained over 20,000 people through her grant-seeking workshops and conference sessions. Her dedication to the field is evident in the way she speaks about the grant seeking process; her enthusiasm is contagious!
For 13 years, she was a member of the faculty of the former Connecticut Association of Nonprofits (CT Nonprofits, now renamed The Alliance after a merger) where she conducted several grant-seeking workshops annually including the popular two-day, semi-annual Grant Proposal Certificate Series. In 2015, she retired from the her position as an adjunct faculty member of The Fund Raising School (TFRS) at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University where she not only taught for 14 years but also co-developed the curriculum for the Preparing Successful Grant Proposals course.
Diane is a certified Master Trainer through the Faculty Training Academy of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) International. She is a frequent presenter at regional, national, and international conferences including six consecutive AFP International Conferences, an AFP International Audioconference, and several Grant Professionals Association (GPA) regional and national conferences. In 2017, she was the keynote speaker at the New England (NE) GPA regional conference.
