Concurrent Sessions Round C

Concurrent Sessions Round C – Monday, March 15, 2010
3:30 pm – 5:00 pm

Beyond the Recycling Bin: Greening Practices of Grantmakers
(Emerging Issues/Special Topics)
In 2009, GMN surveyed the membership to understand the ways in which organizations consider the environment in their policies and practices. The resulting report has helped us identify, through the GMN membership, current practices, barriers, opportunities, and perceptions toward sustainable practices in philanthropy. This session will focus on how to use the report as a tool to evaluate your organization’s greening practices and policies and provide participants with a first look at the results. We also will highlight accessible, cost-efficient, and flexible ways to “go green,” including innovative practices and sustainable processes that can be done regardless of your organization’s type or size or if you own or rent your space. Going green can be good for the environment and assist in achieving your organization’s mission!
Presenters:  Sarah Heaton, Grants Manager, Johnson Family Foundation; Yolanda Morris, Grants Manager, Wilburforce Foundation

How to Present with Impact and Persuade with Ease
(Professional Development)
Learn the top 5 tools to keep your audiences on the edge of their seats and persuade them to take your next desired step. Whether speaking to an audience of 1 or 1000, you will pick up tools to hook your listeners into your presentation from your very first words and motivate and influence your audience to take action when you are finished. Learn how to craft, deliver, and sell your message effectively; present in a confident, assured, and engaging manner; make your message memorable; and breathe life into your presentations to bring your audience to you! This is one interactive workshop you can’t afford to miss. Build your confidence and your competence and have lots of fun in the process!
Presenter: Craig Valentine, 1999 World Champion of Public Speaking

International Grantmaking and the NGOsource Centralized Repository
(GM: Basics and Beyond)
Attendees at this session will be provided with an overview of Equivalency Determination and Expenditure Responsibility, the two IRS-approved ways of qualifying a non-U.S. based NGO to receive a grant. This will be followed by a presentation on the establishment of NGOsource, TechSoup Global's new centralized repository of Equivalency Determination information that, pending IRS approval, can be shared by U.S. grantmakers. This repository will eliminate duplicated efforts by international grantmakers and make it much easier to qualify non-U.S. NGOs.
Presenters:  Martin Schneiderman, President, Information Age Associates, Inc.; Sheila Warren, Director, TechSoup Global NGOsource; Cristina Yoon, Grants Manager, Skoll Foundation

Relieving the Burden of Budgets and Financial Reporting
(Streamlining Grantmaking Practices)
How many ways can nonprofits slice-and-dice their financial information? Did you know foundations are the cause of much of the chopping and the resulting errors and misrepresentation? Project Streamline has taken a hard look at what financial information grantmakers require of applicants and grantees and the maze of templates, formats, time periods, and terminology. Hear how to both relieve the burden on grantees and ensure that your foundation is getting financial information with real integrity. Share your stories, questions, and thoughts on how to make sense of the numbers game.
Presenters: Byron Stuck, Director of Grants Management and Inquiry, Legal, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Jane Ward, Grants Manager, Eugene & Agnes E. Meyer Foundation

Common Grant Application - The Next Generation of Grantmaking
(Exhibitor Session)
The nonprofit world has entered challenging times. Grantmakers are pulling back on their giving, and nonprofits and NGOs are seeing increasing demand for their services. Grantmakers are looking for ways to save time and money, be more efficient and transparent about their grantmaking, improve their ability to communicate within their organization, and improve the ability to collaborate with their grantseekers and other grantmakers.

The Common Grant Application® is an online grant management system for grantmakers. Grantmakers can receive, track, review, evaluate, and manage online and paper-based LOIs, grant applications, grants, and grant reports. During this session we’ll review the features, capabilities, and pricing, as well as discuss the benefits of CGA.
Presenter: Jeff Lawrence, President, Common Grant Application