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SPARKING THE MOVEMENT ONE COURSE AT A TIME

Whether you’re working towards a Meals on Wheels Leadership Certificate, have already completed one or are just looking to gain new knowledge and insights, Leadership Academy Conference courses provide everyone with the opportunity to work in the major areas and disciplines that make our programs run successfully.

Explore the subject areas available by clicking each circle:

  • THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

    Extending your mastery over the big-picture emerging and strategic issues that most impact our field.
  • MANAGEMENT

    Learning to effectively lead or direct people and organize resources to effectively accomplish your program’s goals and objectives.
  • DEVELOPMENT AND FUNDRAISING

    Helping you build sustainable revenue streams for your organization.
  • COMMUNICATIONS

    Includes all strategic activities around fostering relationships, crafting messages, building a brand and spreading the word. 
  • NUTRITION

    Mastering a broad range of topics related to senior nutrition and food service operations.
  • VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT

    Managing all aspects of running a volunteer program.
  • FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

    Developing the skills needed to monitor your organization’s financial condition and to ensure the practice of good financial management.

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

MONDAY, AUGUST 31

1:30 p.m. to 4:45 p.m. − Pre-Conference Intensive Workshop (Registration required)

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Business Acumen: Positioning Your Program in the Healthcare Market – An Interactive, Skill Building Workshop

 
Hosts: The National Resource Center on Nutrition and Aging and Meals on Wheels America 
Presenters: Holly Greuling, Sharon Williams, Erik Rasmussen, Linda Netterville, Tim McNeill, Kathy Vesley, Timothy Stewart and Jackie Hamm
Competency: Organizational Planning
Concentration: Management 

The Affordable Care Act provides exciting growth opportunities for senior nutrition programs to become part of the integrated healthcare solution for older adults and people with disabilities. This intensive workshop will enable you to assess your readiness for such collaborations and help you build the skills necessary to effectively position your organization as a viable partner for healthcare entities, either directly or by delivering parts of a bundle of services.

Experts in the field will walk you through the difference between providing nutrition services under the Older Americans Act versus negotiating contracts to provide those same services to a Managed Care Plan, Accountable Care Organization or health insurance company. You’ll gain a better understanding of who your clients, potential funders and key stakeholders could be so that your organization can become a successful part of a comprehensive, coordinated care system. And, an open-forum environment will generate constructive conversations about which strategies have been working for your peers and which have not.

 


TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1

10:15 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. – Concurrent Sessions

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The Challenges and Opportunities for Nutrition Programs in Healthcare Integration

Presenter: Tim McNeill
Competency: Planning for the Future
Concentration: Thought Leadership

Bundled Payment care models and accountable care models supported by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Medicare Access and the CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) are causing healthcare providers to seek supportive services that will improve health outcomes. This shift means that Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) must define their role in the new healthcare delivery system. This session will explain the impact of bundled payment and value-based payment models on the role of CBOs in the healthcare landscape. You will also be provided with the essential tools that all CBOs must develop and maintain in order to become a viable provider in a healthcare system as the nation moves from a fee-for-service healthcare market to a pay-for-performance delivery system. 

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Open the Floodgates to Sustainability: 7 Nonprofit Income Sources

Presenter: Karen Eber Davis
Competency: Revenue Development
Concentration: Development & Fundraising 

Money. It is what keeps nonprofi t leaders up at night. How will you grow revenues this year? Even if obtaining money is not the #1 challenge you face, it’s likely you wish for more revenue. In this interactive session, Karen Eber Davis uses the book, 7 Nonprofit Income Streams: Open the Floodgates to Sustainability, to identify the seven key funding streams—from the viewpoint of the people who provide the income. She will share a big picture approach to creating a sustainability strategy and stimulate your thinking about income streams. You’ll leave with a picture of the income strategy you have now and create one to sustain your program in the future.

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Improving our Diverse and Changing Customers’ Food and Dining Satisfaction Levels: The Baby Boomers and Beyond

Presenter: Janet McKee
Competency: Food Service Knowledge
Concentration: Nutrition

As the Baby Boomers age, the senior nutrition landscape must adapt to keep up with the changing dietary wants and needs of this population. This session will focus on the challenges and opportunities involved in meeting the evolving aging population’s desires related to their dining experience and, in doing so, discuss how to improve their satisfaction and participation levels. You will learn essential strategies to address the changing demographics, attitudes and priorities of this group―and how they can be applied to the unique Meals on Wheels environment.

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Rise and Shine: How to "Google Proof" your Fundraising...Before Anyone Else Wakes Up!     

Presenter: Katharine Coles
Competency: Relationship Building
Concentration: Communications

Google standards have changed from Panda to Penguin and beyond, and while that may mean little to your organization, the impact is predicted to be the biggest change in marketing to occur in a decade. Google has gone out of its way to make SEO less effective and, at the same time, has shifted to rewarding organizations that practice “good, old-fashioned marketing.” The winners in this new equation will be the organizations that focus on audience (talking to your constituents in a meaningful way) and authorship (creating lots of good content and connecting with other credible organizations). This session is designed to give every organization a competitive advantage!

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Using Your Form 990 to Benchmark Against the Competition    

Presenter: Bob Kollar
Competency: Fiscal Responsibility
Concentration: Financial Management

While the Form 990 is designed to provide the IRS with an overview of the organization’s activities, governance and detailed financial information, it can also be a valuable tool for your nonprofit. This session will include an overview of this form and its requirements, and explore how nonprofit organizations can utilize the Form 990 to benchmark and measure their performance and governance practices compared to similar organizations. You will also leave with information on the appropriate steps to take after completing your evaluation.

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Leveraging Goodwill: Inspiring Deeper Engagement in Short-Term Skilled Volunteers

Presenter: Tobi Johnson
Competency: Organizational Planning
Concentration: Volunteer Management

Nonprofits are involving volunteers in new and exciting ways, and skilled volunteers are increasingly part of the solution to complex mission-based challenges. Learn how to cultivate and grow the continued support of highly skilled, project-based volunteers — including corporate volunteers and service-learning students — for sustained, long-term commitment. In this hands-on session, we’ll map the volunteer journey from initial onboarding and beyond. We’ll unearth key motivational needs at each step that will ignite a deeper connection with your organization.


TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1

1:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. – Concurrent Sessions

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Redesigning Consumer-Centric Care Through Digital Health Technology and Quality Improvement

Presenter: Andrey Ostrovsky
Competency: Organizational Planning
Concentration: Thought Leadership

Big data, mobile apps and wearable technology are redefining the traditional relationships among providers and consumers. With a flood of digital health technology, it can be overwhelming for providers to know all about the apps that exist and how they can benefit consumers. This session will identify the ways in which technology is upsetting the status quo of Long Term Services and Supports (LTSS) delivery and explore tools and methods that organizations can use to redesign care experiences with technology.

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Gender Marketing and Fundraising: Boost Revenue through Better Gender Intelligence

Presenters: Allan Pressel and Katharine Coles
Competency: Revenue Development
Concentration: Development & Fundraising

In collaboration with bestselling author Michael Gurian, a leading expert in applying gender research to solving challenges for organizations, presenters Allan Pressel and Katharine Coles will help you harness the organizational advantages of mobilizing the unique skills and capabilities that women and men each bring to the table. In this session we will discuss Gurian’s groundbreaking scientific research on the differences between male and female brains (there are over 100!) and explore these state-of-the-art findings on how men and women think, make decisions, buy and donate. This session will enable you to use those differences to generate more and better leads, conversions and donations.

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Panel: Meeting the Needs of the Congregate Participants                                                   

Facilitator: Holly Greuling 
Presenters: Stacy Hammer, Beverly Hougland and Suzanne Washington
Competency: Food Service Knowledge
Concentration: Nutrition

Congregate centers are evolving with the needs of the new senior. They are becoming centers where people come to socialize, exercise, dance, take art classes or go on field trips and outings and get a nutritious meal. For American Indian and Alaska Native people, who experience a far lower health status when compared to other Americans, they are important places to be educated about the need for diet and lifestyle transformation. Get an overview of the history of Native foods and common diets enjoyed by American Indian people before Colonization and reservation life. Recipe resources and sample menus tailored specifically to the needs of seniors will be shared. Hear from your peers who run ethnically diverse congregate centers or a Title VI congregate center about how they have changed their centers and how they enhance the lives of the seniors they serve.

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Leverage Your Most Under-Leveraged Asset: Your Brand                                                     

Presenters: Susan Waldman and Jenny Bertolette
Competency: Relationship Building
Concentration: Communications

All great brands achieve that status by following a short list of guiding branding principles. And, the Meals on Wheels brand has everything it takes to become one of the nation’s great brands. Staff from Meals on Wheels America’s Communications and Marketing team will discuss what makes great brands great and how we can all work together to increase the value of our shared brand to generate greater support for our seniors. This session will also explore how to identify messages that convey your program’s brand story and how to keep that messaging on track to build your brand’s power.

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Together with Your Board Identify Red Flags in Nonprofit Financial Management: Part 1

Presenter: Bob Kollar
Competency: Fiscal Responsibility
Concentration: Financial Management

Operating a financially successful nonprofit organization in the current environment requires managers, directors and board members to be knowledgeable of the internal and external factors that can be financially detrimental to an organization. This two-part session will explore the financial indicators and “red flags” that can provide early warning signals to organizations, enabling them to react proactively before financial disaster occurs. Additionally you will review tools to improve your organizational profitability.

Part 2 of this session is offered on Tuesday, September 1 from 4:15 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

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Big Shifts That Will Spark the Volunteers of the Future                                         

Presenter: Tobi Johnson
Competency: Planning for the Future
Concentration: Volunteer Management

Over the past decade, we have experienced monumental shifts fueled by technological advances, economic impacts and demographic changes that have revolutionized how we go about our daily lives. As society evolves, so too does volunteerism. How will today’s cultural shifts influence the needs and desires of your volunteer supporters? In this session, we’ll present thought-provoking cultural and scientific trends that will transform how we operate. Through small group discussions, you’ll have time to digest and share new ideas that will make your program stronger and better.


TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1

4:15 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. – Concurrent Sessions

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Engaging Your Board in Strategic Thinking                        

Presenter: Marla Bobowick
Competency: Planning for the Future
Concentration: Thought Leadership

In today’s environment, where the only constant is change, CEOs need a board that can think strategically about the future. In this session, we will explore ways to engage your board in making sense of complex issues, identifying new opportunities and focusing on the big picture. This is not easy work, and it requires new and different ways of setting the boardroom table. The way forward requires a constructive partnership between the CEO and the board, as well as courage, creativity and commitment.

icons_nutrition2 SMALL How to Incorporate Spatial Data into Your Future Plans                                                    

Presenter: Jessica Tice
Competency: Food Service Knowledge
Concentration: Nutrition 

Valuable public data that tracks key subsets of the population is readily available. In this session we will explore how to utilize these spatial data resources, along with free software tools, to see where your service populations exist, map your organization’s activities and plan for the future. Discussion will focus on the development of the Elder Needs Index Maps by the Florida Department of Elder Affairs. It will also showcase the many ways these maps are being used for planning across the agency and aging network and provide an example of how you can use these in your agency or program.

icons_communications2 SMALL Panel: More Than a Meal - What's Next?                                                                    

Presenters: Linda Netterville, Erika Kelly and Eve Anthony
Competency: Organizational Planning
Concentration: Communications

The More Than a Meal Pilot Research Study released in March 2015 suggests that the value of Meals on Wheels does not lie solely in the meal served, but also in the social contact and safety check provided to seniors through the in-person delivery process. This panel presentation will provide an overview of the study and supportive resources available, translate the findings into efforts that programs can act upon, and share how to message these results to important stakeholders.

icons_development2 SMALL Crass Commercialism? Partnering With For-Profits      

Presenter: Karen Eber Davis
Competency: Revenue Development
Concentration: Development & Fundraising

Although corporate funding currently represents the smallest nonprofit income stream, it provides the most exciting and innovative opportunities for Meals on Wheels programs. Along with valuable revenue, you can also gain community recognition and more. After exploring what’s new with this income stream, this hands-on session delves into identifying the value programs can offer and criteria to use to select business partners. By the end of this session, you’ll be practicing calls, meetings and proposal development so that you’re ready to take action.

icons_finance2 SMALL Together with Your Board Identify Red Flags in Nonprofit Financial Management: Part 2

Presenter: Bob Kollar
Competency: Fiscal Responsibility
Concentration: Financial Management

Operating a financially successful nonprofit organization in the current environment requires managers, directors and board members to be knowledgeable of the internal and external factors that can be financially detrimental to an organization. This two-part session will explore the financial indicators and “red flags” that can provide early warning signals to organizations, enabling them to react proactively before financial disaster occurs. Additionally you will review tools to improve your organizational profitability.

Part 1 of this session is offered on Tuesday, September 1 from 1:30 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.

icons_management2 SMALL Unidentified Community Assets                                                           

Presenter: Mary Beth Harrington
Competency: Relationship Building
Concentration: Management

Every community has potential leaders. This session highlights the diversity of people with leadership potential, and will provide you with an understanding and appreciation of the assets model for community change pioneered by John Kretzmann and John McKnight. You will have the opportunity to train your eyes on the leadership assets in your community and brainstorm about how these assets can be mobilized for change.

This session is complemented by Building Strategic Partnerships which is offered on Wednesday, September 2 from 1:45 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. You are encouraged to attend both sessions.


WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2

8:30 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. – Intensive Workshops

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Leading While Governed                                                  

Presenter: Marla Bobowick
Competency: Planning for the Future
Concentration: Thought Leadership

Even the most talented executives worry they will end up with an underinformed and over-involved board that constrains their leadership and complicates their lives. In this intensive workshop, we will explore a framework for understanding and responding to the challenges of leading alongside an engaged board. Using governance as a leadership jumping off point for discussions, we will delve into the challenges of board/CEO relations from the CEO’s perspective and identify new mindsets and practices for tackling them.

icons_development2 SMALL YouTube for Nonprofits: 25 Strategies to Attract Donors

Presenters: Allan Pressel and Katherine Coles
Competency: Revenue Development
Concentration: Development & Fundraising 

Is your program posting videos on YouTube? Online videos are an effective way to connect with existing donors, build awareness, raise money and recruit volunteers. This intensive workshop will examine how to create, post, embed and drive traffic to videos — and photos — on YouTube and other social media sites all for free or at low cost. Through interesting case studies and examples, you’ll learn what kinds of videos and photos to post and how they can help you grow your online communities and spawn viral marketing.

icons_nutrition2 SMALL Dining with Panache:  How to Entice Today's Clients at Meal Sites with Restaurant Quality Cuisine

Presenter: Erin Bettinger 
Competency: Food Service Knowledge
Concentration: Nutrition

Enter the minds, hearts and appetites of your seniors more effectively by serving restaurant quality foods with an infinite array of ancient grains, homemade desserts and mouthwatering entrees. In this workshop, we will walk through the steps to successfully implement a high quality, healthy and amazingly tasty menu for both homebound and mobile clients. We will share foods, recipes, menu analysis and marketing techniques, as well as discuss how to handle those who do not embrace change. Is your food system ripe for an overhaul?

icons_communications2 SMALL Using Stories to Raise More Money During Year-End Fundraising                                   

Presenter: Vanessa Chase 
Competency: Relationship Building
Concentration: Communications

Did you know that over 40% of fundraising dollars are received during year-end fundraising season? Your program can stand out from the millions of nonprofits that are also fundraising during this time through stories! Stories are by far the most powerful way you can communicate with your donors to engage their hearts and wallets. They create an emotional connection with donors in a way that allows them to feel connected to their impact. This workshop will explore storytelling essentials and helpful examples (including one that raised $75k) and even provide you the opportunity to start working on your own year-end fundraising letters.

icons_management2 SMALL Supporting LGBT Identified Constituents, Staff and Volunteers                

Presenter: Tim Johnston
Competency: Organizational Planning
Concentration: Management

During this interactive workshop you will learn how to welcome and affirm LGBT-identified constituents, volunteers and staff. Tim will provide a basic introduction to LGBT terminology and aging issues, as well as strategies for explaining these concepts to seniors. Through roleplay and facilitated conversation, this workshop will train you on how to ask questions related to sexual orientation and gender identity in a safe and affirming way. You will walk away with best practices for responding to instances of conflict, discrimination or bias between constituents, volunteers and staff, as well as different ways to engage the LGBT community in Meals on Wheels.

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From Surviving to Thriving: A Research-based Volunteer Capacity Building Model 

Presenters: Tom Endres and Edmina Bradshaw
Competency: Organizational Planning
Concentration: Volunteer Management 

The Aging Network Volunteer Capacity Building Model aims to reduce, if not eliminate, barriers to significantly expanding volunteer engagement. For more than four years, the Aging Network’s Volunteer Resource Center has piloted and demonstrated a new model for engaging today’s volunteers based on insights gained from literature reviews, interviews, focus groups and surveys. Like anything worthwhile, initial start-up is never easy, but this model leads to unbeatable results and return on investment. Through this intensive workshop, you will learn the theories, principles and set of practices that result in an efficient and effective Aging Network model.


WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2

1:45 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. – Concurrent Sessions

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Collaboration, Consolidation, Regionalization: A Structured Discussion for Large Program Executives

 
Presenter: Andy Hoffman
Competency: Planning for the Future
Concentration: Thought Leadership 
*Limit 60 people

This networking session is designed to bring together executives and leaders of large programs from across the country, those with budgets for nutrition services of over $5M and/or that serve more than 3,000 home-delivered meals per day. This interactive workshop will consider collaboration, consolidation and regionalization to meet the demands of an evolving marketplace. Facilitator Andy Hoffman will guide discussion around plans for change, strategic choices and how best to keep client needs foremost amidst organizational changes. Let’s compare notes!

icons_nutrition2 SMALL Cross Sector Partnerships and Initiatives                                                          

Presenters: Peggy Miller, Mark Adler, Peggy Coleman and Mary Penet 
Competency: Food Service Knowledge
Concentration: Nutrition

In today’s environment, many Meals on Wheels programs collaborate with other Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) to make additional services available to seniors that allow them to age in place. This discussion will focus on the nuts and bolts of creating these valuable partnerships in your own community. The panel will share their experiences forming a summer meals program for children to create additional revenue streams and incorporating innovative grocery program models into their service offerings.

icons_development2 SMALL Inbound Marketing: The Latest Techniques to Attract More Donors
 

Presenter: Allan Pressel
Competency: Revenue Development
Concentration: Development & Fundraising

Our efforts to find supporters are rapidly being supplanted by the need for supporters to easily find us. This session will explore specific, lowcost marketing and fundraising techniques that will drive more traffic to you online, and increase your “conversion rate” so more of them become donors, event attendees and other supporters. We’ll examine how to implement inbound marketing through search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click, blogs, articles, websites, landing pages, calls to action, links and social media to promote and leverage your content in a way that will lead to measurable results.

icons_communications2 SMALL Track Today, Metrics Tomorrow: The Key to Better Marketing Plans                              

Presenter: Katharine Coles
Competency:  Organizational Planning
Concentration: Communications

Measuring and monitoring your marketing efforts is key to improving search, social media and overall outcomes. During this session, we will discuss what “baseline” measurements to establish during the planning process, what you should track, and how to develop an overall “score” of how well you are doing online, including traffic, and backlinks and keywords. This will enable you to thoroughly evaluate the success of your marketing strategies. These tools are the key to your long-term marketing success and organizational growth.

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Seven Essential Building Blocks for Successful Volunteer Management Programs                  

Presenter: Lynn Ivey
Competency:  Relationship Building
Concentration: Management

An effective and robust volunteer program is essential to accomplishing our work, given that volunteers are the driving force behind our mission. What you do during the recruitment, selection and training process is just the beginning of the management challenge. It is often what you do once the volunteers are “on the job” that can determine whether they will enhance your efforts, or whether you will always be recruiting new volunteers due to retention problems. In this session we will explore a number of volunteer management tools and practices that successful programs use, and demonstrate how to protect your program’s future now through volunteers.


THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3

9:00 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. – Concurrent Sessions

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Collaboration, Consolidation, Regionalization: A Structured Discussion for Small and Medium Program Executives

 
Presenter: Andy Hoffman
Competency: Planning for the Future 
Concentration: Thought Leadership
*Limit 60 people

This networking session is designed to bring together executives and leaders of programs from across the country to explore collaboration, consolidation and regionalization to meet the demands of an evolving marketplace. For the purposes of this session, small programs are those that serve less than 1,000 home-delivered meals per day and/or have a budget for nutrition services of less than $1M, while medium-sized programs are those who serve between 1,000 and 3,000 home-delivered meals per day and/or have a budget for nutrition services between $1M and $5M. Facilitator Andy Hoffman will guide discussion around plans for change, strategic choices and how best to keep client needs foremost amidst organizational changes. Let’s compare notes!

icons_nutrition2 SMALL Food Fitness, Food Spirals and More                                                                           

Presenter: Pam Thompson 
Competency: Food Service Knowledge 
Concentration: Nutrition

As seniors expect more diverse and specific menu options, now is the time to get smart on how to tailor or classify your offerings as “healthy,” “diabetic,” “carb counting” and “low sodium” using the FOOD SPIRAL®s. Translating and understanding food labels is just the beginning! This session will enable you to classify foods into three categories: Green for Go, Yellow for Caution and Red for Stop. You’ll walk away with a better understanding of how to meet the nutritional needs of your diverse client base.

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Building Strategic Partnerships                                                   

Presenter: Mary Beth Harrington 
Competency: Relationship Building
Concentration: Management

There’s no question that real change makers use vital leadership skills to solve community problems. This session will focus on group development and dynamics, techniques for managing meetings, dealing with confl ict, developing partnerships and project implementation skills. You will learn how to engage more effectively in partnerships as you strive to marshal the community’s resources, talents and assets for change. By identifying each stakeholder’s own self-interests, you’ll be able to build and sustain long-lasting strategic partnerships.

This session is complemented by Unidentifi ed Community Assets on Tuesday, September 1, from 4:15 p.m.- 5:30 p.m. You are encouraged to attend both sessions.

icons_volunteer2 SMALL Measuring Impact and Success: Using Data to Enhance your Storytelling  

Presenter: Lynn Ivey
Competency: Organizational Planning
Concentration: Volunteer Management

Accurate and up-to-date data about how volunteers contribute to our programs demonstrates our accountability and value — to our clients, community, stakeholders and funding sources. However, designing a systematic evaluation process, collecting data and understanding the outcomes can be daunting. This session will explore practical and adaptable strategies to measure the impact of your volunteers and how to use this information to enhance your ability to demonstrate the success of your program through storytelling.


 

OUR SPONSORS

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PLATINUM
Bateman Senior Meals
Gallo Family Vineyards
Premier, Inc.
GOLD
Mutual of America
Oliver Packaging & Equipment Co.
Valley Services, Inc.
SILVER
AARP Foundation
Delivery Concepts, Inc. 
Kellogg Company 25 Year Fund
Morgan Stanley
BRONZE
Diversified Foods, Inc.
FSMax Software
GA Foods
Meals on Wheels Fundraising Co-Op
Sysco Corporation