Meyer Announces Free Workshops for Grantees

The Meyer Foundation announces several convenings exclusively offered to its grantees in 2010. The workshops are in content areas that grantees frequently identify as those in which they would like more technical assistance: fundraising, communications, and coaching.

Introduction to Coaching for Executive Directors

Wednesday, May 5, 2010, 3:30-5 p.m.

Over the past five years, a growing number of nonprofit executive directors have begun working with executive coaches as a way to strengthen and focus their own leadership and to improve the performance of their organizations. To build awareness of executive coaching, the Meyer Foundation is hosting an introduction to coaching for executive directors who have never worked with a coach.

Featuring Michelle Gislason, Senior Project Director at CompassPoint Nonprofit Services and co-author of Coaching and Philanthropy: An Action Guide for Nonprofits, this event will address the following questions:

• What is coaching?
• How can coaching contribute to my development as a leader?
• How can coaching benefit my organization?
• How do I know if I’m ready for coaching?

Participants will also hear from several nonprofit executives who have worked successfully with coaches.

Presented in partnership with CompassPoint Nonprofit Services and the Management Assistance Group.

Participants should be executive directors of groups that have received Meyer Foundation grants since January 2009. Limited enrollment. To register, click here.

Writing Successful Opinion Editorials

Friday, June 18, 2010, 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m.

Opportunities to get your message out have exploded with the Internet – are you taking advantage of them?  Opinion editorials are an excellent way for nonprofit leaders to contribute their expertise to the public debate, influence policymaking, attract supporters and move their organizations’ agendas.

This free day-long workshop will show you how to write and place opinion editorials and shape public opinion through the media.  Through a series of hands-on writing exercises, participants will finish the day with a first draft of a piece they can polish and publish.

Topics covered will include: writing effective leads, anticipating the news cycle, marshalling evidence in support of a position, honing a call to action and conclusion, placing op-eds in print and online, and amplifying the impact of op-eds through social media. We will discuss considerations such as choosing the right messenger and recruiting “unlikely allies” as by-liners and co-authors to add credibility and attract attention to issues and other aspects of shaping public opinion through the media, including writing and placing letters to the editor, pitching column ideas to columnists and bloggers, and working with editorial boards. The workshop will be led by Margot Friedman, principal of Dupont Circle Communications, who has drafted opinion editorials for The New York Times, The Washington Post, and many other media outlets.

This free workshop is intended for executive directors or senior-level staff of organizations that have received a Meyer Foundation grant since June 2008. Limited enrollment. To register, click here.

Creating Sustainable Funding in Economically Challenging Times

Tuesday, July 13, 2010, 1-2:30 p.m.

This session is an introduction to the Benevon fundraising model, a tested system for identifying and cultivating individual donors who love your organization’s mission—and who will give for operations, capital, and endowment even during challenging economic times. Benevon founder Terry Axelrod will provide an overview of Benevon’s mission-driven system for identifying, cultivating, and engaging individual donors–a system that several Meyer grantees have used successfully. Even for organizations that choose not to work with Benevon, the session will emphasize principles of stewardship and engagement that can help any organization strengthen its individual giving program.

We strongly suggest that you register at least two people from your organization—preferably the executive director and key fundraising staff or board members—and participant groups must have received a Meyer Foundation grant since January 2009. Seating is limited, and preference will be given to organizations that register teams that include a board member. To register, click here.