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From Surviving to Thriving:
A Collaborative Summit for Nonprofit Leaders
May 25, 2005, 8:30-4:00
Nile Hall, Preservation Park,
668 13th St., Oakland, CA
What is a Collaborative Summit?
A collaborative summit is a forum for nonprofits to share and learn from each others’ successes in a designated topic area, in this case, “From Surviving to Thriving.” Participants will share and learn from each others’ successes in turning the challenges of difficult times into opportunities to thrive. You’ll generate best practices, identify innovative possibilities for your organization, and identify next steps for realizing them. You’ll also identify opportunities to leverage your resources by collaborating with others. In the process, you’ll renew your hope and passion for your work and return to your organization recharged and refocused to create inspiring results.
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How is a Collaborative Summit different from a conference or workshop?
In a conference or workshop, learning occurs largely through expert presentations and (hopefully) participatory activities that allow you to explore the subject. In the Collaborative Summit, YOU are the expert. Nobody knows better than you what’s working well in your organization and what kind of future you want to create. You learn from the experience and wisdom of nonprofit leaders like you – other experts. You share your success stories with each other, identify best practices, and commit to action based on what has worked in your own and other organizations.
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What is the need for this particular Collaborative Summit?
Nonprofits are under increasing pressure on many fronts – need for their services is growing, budgets are being cut, new accountability requirements mean increased administrative costs, and the media are increasing their scrutiny of programs and services. The need for each nonprofit to excel at delivering quality services in an efficient and effective way has never been greater. Nor has the need for collaboration among agencies to meet community needs ever been so apparent. In this environment, a growing number of nonprofit leaders realize that we need to learn from and work with other organizations to achieve the results we seek in our communities and our world.
While businesses spend millions studying other companies and benchmarking their performance, nonprofits often narrow their vision to focus on very specific programs and problems. As a result, they may be missing opportunities for innovation and collaboration that could launch them to a new level of success. A team of experts with years of experience working in and consulting with nonprofits has created this collaborative summit to build the capacity of individual organizations and to promote collaboration among organizations. top of page
What are the purposes of this Collaborative Summit?
This collaborative summit supports participants to:
- Create thriving nonprofits able to provide quality services and fulfill their missions.
- Identify collaborative partnerships for addressing community needs.
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What will happen during the Collaborative Summit?
You will join with other nonprofit leaders to appreciate the best in your organizations and to inquire together into new possibilities for the future. Facilitators guide the group through a series of structured discussions that support meaningful conversation and learning about ways to shift from surviving to thriving. You will be invited to explore questions such as:
- When has your organization been at its best? What successes make you the most proud of your organization?
- What strengths made those successes possible?
- What are your most inspiring and hopeful images of your organization’s future? What would you get truly passionate about creating?
- How can you build on your strengths to create that ideal future?
- What actions will you take to create a thriving organization?
This process of building on strengths to move toward the future you most want to create is called Appreciative Inquiry (AI). Organizations of all sizes are using AI to achieve breakthrough successes in client service, fund development, employee and volunteer retention and other key areas. The Collaborative Summit brings together leaders from a variety of non-profit organizations and taps into the collective wisdom of those present to develop strategies which can quickly transform an organization that is struggling into one that is thriving.
To learn more about Appreciative Inquiry, please see the “About Appreciative Inquiry” section of this website.
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What outcomes or results can I expect…
...for my organization?
You can expect to leave the Collaborative Summit prepared to:
- Take bold new steps toward creating a vibrant future for your organization.
- Generate and maintain inspired passion for your organization’s mission by focusing on individual and collective strengths.
- Identify ways to leverage your resources through collaborative partnerships.
…for myself?
As a leader and an individual, you will leave the Collaborative Summit with:
- New tools and innovative ideas, immediately applicable in your leadership and your life as a whole.
- Renewed appreciation for your own and your colleagues’ strengths and gifts.
- An infusion of energy from connecting with colleagues in mutually empowering ways.
- Renewed hope for creating a vibrant future for your organization.
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Who should come?
The Collaborative Summit is most powerful when a range of nonprofit stakeholders attend to share their different perspectives and experiences. These might include formal leaders (such as Executive Directors; Board Members; Program, Development, and Administrative Directors or Managers), informal leaders (such as respected staff, volunteers, clients), and outside stakeholders (such as funders, community partners, businesses). A team of three or more from the same organization is ideal, and a price break is available to encourage team participation.
You will especially benefit if you:
- Wish you had more resources to carry out your mission
- Feel trapped in the day to day needs of your organization or position
- Are losing sight of the greater purpose that drew you to your job
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Why do you encourage a team of participants from the same organization to attend together?
Having a team of at least three stakeholders attend together greatly enhances the likelihood and ease of making successful change in the organization after the Collaborative Summit. When a single individual has the responsibility for implementing change in addition to their normal job responsibilities, it can quickly become overwhelming. And it’s easier to get buy-in for change from others in the organization when they see an energized team working together.
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What follow-up can I expect after the Collaborative Summit?
We are committed to supporting real change from the summit. All participants will receive proceedings documenting the process and outcomes of the summit. We are also working on providing electronic vehicles for participants to stay in contact afterwards for mutual support.
The form of any additional follow-up will be determined by participants’ interests, and could include follow-up meetings, future summits on new topics, consultation with individual organizations, and support to budding collaborative partnerships. We will offer our services at a special rate to support participants in implementing desired changes after the summit.
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What is the cost for the Collaborative Summit?
The summit is $125 for the first person from an organization and $75 for each additional person from the same organization until the registration deadline of May 18; after that date, the fee will be $150/$100 if space is still available. The break for additional people is to encourage teams to participate together. A continental breakfast and lunch are included.
What is the registration deadline, and how do we register?
Advance registration is necessary, and the deadline is Wednesday, May 18. You may call after that date (see contact info below) to see if space is still available.
There are three options for registering:
- Register on-line with a credit card by clicking here.
- Go to a registration form you can print and mail with your check by clicking here.
- Contact Nancy Ogilvie of Inspiring Results, the sponsor of the Collaborative Summit, at 510-690-0467 or nancy@inspiring-results.com.
Nancy will also be happy to answer any additional questions you may have.
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Who is convening and facilitating the Collaborative Summit?
A team of experts with extensive experience working in and consulting to nonprofit organizations. This team has been assembled by Nancy Ogilvie of Inspiring Results, whose 30 years of nonprofit experience includes strategic planning, meeting facilitation, adult learning, diversity training, and developing volunteer programs. She founded Inspiring Results in February 2004 to support nonprofits in transforming their operations in ways that enable them to better fulfill their missions. You can learn more about Nancy by going to the “About Inspiring Results” section of our website, or see case studies of her work in the “Client Stories” section.
The primary facilitators for the Collaborative Summit will be Nancy and Stefan Fuegi, a nonprofit development consultant who specializes in building positive relationships between agencies and their donors. He has helped agencies double and triple donations by focusing and building on the best in organizations and their donors. Stef has experience as a philanthropist, donor, board member and fundraiser. You can learn more about his work at www.fuegi.com.
The additional team members who are bringing their expertise to creating the summit are:
Diana Bracy, M.A. is a learning consultant, facilitator and coach who designs and delivers customized experiential programs to support purposeful action. She combines somatic, expressive arts, and transpersonal approaches along with Appreciative Inquiry. Her background includes 20 years of experience as an administrator, trainer, facilitator, and mediator in nonprofit, spiritual, educational and prison settings in the United States, Latin America and Canada, specializing in communication and diversity.
Jennifer Crystal Chien is a nonprofit consultant and coach. She has conducted training, coaching, and planning activities with social services, youth, and community development agencies for the past ten years. Her volunteer experiences include serving on multicultural boards of emerging organizations to assist with leadership development and cross-cultural communications. She also co-founded the New Nonprofit Nexus, an organization that helps people of color to lead and manage new nonprofits. Her website is: www.honoryourspirit.com.
Dalya F. Massachi, M.A., founder of Writing for Community Success, is a widely published writer and consultant who has worked with nonprofits for over 13 years. She has also taught writing techniques to over 300 workshop participants, and will soon publish Writing for Community Success: 50 Ways to Use the Written Word to Advance Your Mission. From 2000-2004 she served as Founding Director of Bay Area International Development Organizations (BAIDO), and now sits on that board. Her website is: www.dfmassachi.net.
Nettie Pardue has been engaging corporate, community, student, and nonprofit groups to facilitate processes of growth and change for over 8 years with organizations such as Outward Bound, the United World College, corporate and community groups. A veteran of team building and ropes course activities, Nettie is experienced in using effective combinations of activities and facilitation to see positive results. Nettie is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Applied Behavioral Science in Coaching and Consulting at the Leadership Institute of Seattle. Her website is http://nettiepardue.com.
Gary Shepard has spent nearly 30 years working in the field of communications. His experience includes being an independent producer of videotapes and films, a peer counselor for people facing life-threatening illness, a manager of a national training institute and a facilitator/trainer for numerous workshops and conferences held throughout the country. His work as a consultant has focused on a values-based approach to program development for nonprofit organizations as well as capacity building through positive change.
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Have there been other successful Collaborative Summits?
Large numbers of summits like this one using Appreciative Inquiry have been conducted within a single organization over the last 20 years, generating dramatic results in bottom-line measures such as quality of service, employee and volunteer retention, and funding. The concept of a collaborative summit involving multiple organizations is not as widespread, but they have also generated powerful results.
For example, the Santa Cruz County Mental Health Coalition (SCCMHC) held a summit to address mental health issues in the county. Attendees included doctors, hospital representatives, patients, local government, law enforcement, clergy and others. Immediate results were achieved without any additional budget or funding. For example, law enforcement agencies identified the need for training of their personnel to deal with mental health emergencies. Doctors and agencies collaborated to train county law officers within existing budgets. Studies are pending to determine whether this training results in less violence and less incarcerations—we believe that it will!
In another case, the Lutheran Foundation of St. Louis sponsored a collaborative summit for six agencies it funds. Using Appreciative Inquiry, they engaged over two hundred stakeholders from the six agencies to define the roles constructive collaboration could play in encouraging organizational and inter-organizational effectiveness. The immediate outcomes of the summit were understanding the strengths of each agency, creating a shared mission and purpose to benefit the community, strengthening of relationships among agency leaders, creating a continuum of possibilities for collaboration, and the identification of areas for collaboration. As a result of the summit, three of the agencies are now actively collaborating in funding opportunities, volunteers, and public awareness, and a governing tribunal is outlining a model to continue moving collaborative efforts forward.
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What have participants at other collaborative summits said?
- This (Appreciative Inquiry) process was incredibly powerful…. I've never left one of these meetings feeling so positive or hopeful!"
- “It exceeded my expectations. People…really started to get engaged and talking.”
- "I never realized before that we all want the same things. We really have a shared vision!"
- "It was so wonderful to hear what we’ve succeeded at, what we're good at, since we often hear only the complaints about us."
- “We left with a clear direction and a unified focus. The four innovation teams we created were a crucial asset to our organization and an incredible gift.”
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