GMN REGIONAL UPDATES
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Our Regional Chapters meet regularly and provide sessions on a wide variety of topics. Below are some highlights of our 2008 Regional Chapter activities:

Delaware Valley – The May meeting was focused on "Presentation Software and Strategies for Sharing Information."  Speakers included: Kristin Kuipers, Founder and Treasurer of Pangea Foundation, an organization that consults with and provides visual analytic services to nonprofits around the country, and Carla Falkenstein, a Pangea client, who is with the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency.  Additionally, the group is actively reaching out to other grantmaking organizations in their region, such as the Council of New Jersey Grantmakers, to seek collaborative opportunities.

Midwest – The Midwest GMN Chapter has not met since last November due to the work of the host committee around the Annual Conference.  The group is looking forward to its Summer 2008 meeting on July 18 at the Woods Fund of Chicago where they will be discussing Project Streamline and grants that have gone bad.

Minnesota – The group held meetings in March, May, and June.  Topics included: “GIFTS Procedure Manuals and Training for Foundation Staff and Employees,” which was a GIFTS Users Group convening; “Preparing Board Books: Processes and Practices” and “The Seven R’s of Grant Management: Receive, Route, Review, Record, Respond, Remit, Reflect,” which included guest presenter, Mikal Nilsen from MicroEdge.  Future meetings will take place in August and September.

New York – In March, there was a joint GIFTS for Windows Users Group (GFWUG)/GMN-NY Conference:  The State of Grants Management Software.  There were representatives from MicroEdge and Solpath, which was founded in 2005 to “make the collaboration between foundations, nonprofits and their stakeholders more efficient and painless."  Since the March meeting, the GMN-NY board met and established an IT Committee and International Committee, as well as a model Speakers Bureau.

Ohio - The recently expanded Ohio Grants Managers Network Regional Chapter has been busy organizing meetings in various parts of the state.  Currently the Steering Committee is working hard on its strategic plan and programming around the state.  The most exciting news is a grants management track will be hosted for the first time ever at the Ohio Grantmakers Forum conference in October 2008.

Rocky Mountain – In February, Karen Leaffer, Attorney with Faegre & Benson LLP, provided a grants manager's operational strategic application on Supporting Organizations and the legal/administrative issues surrounding this topic.  Members were informed that Denver was selected as the site for the 2009 Annual Grants Managers Network Conference.  Several members volunteered for the host committee.

Southeastern – The Southeastern Chapter of GMN welcomed several new members to their meeting April 15.  They enjoyed a discussion of the GMN conference and shared ideas on professional development.  They will be continuing their series on grant-tracking software on July 15 at the Community Foundation of Atlanta.  They will take a closer look at Foundation Source by having a demonstration from the company and a current user feedback session.  They would be happy to have any GMN member join them via the web or phone.  (Contact Leland or Kecia for details - leland@lelandmckeithan.com or kchaggin@southernco.com).