Below are my some of my highlights from CompassPoint's Nonprofit Day 2010: Sharing Our Stories, Creating Our Future on Tuesday, August 31.

Keynote (Peter Bratt):

• Miho Kim of Data Center - http://bit.ly/cbtnpA
• Keynote starts with prayer & clips from La Mission & Follow Me Home – powerful, life transforming stories
• jdeancoffey: A new, old (native) way of thinking about success: measure the depth and breadth of your relationships
• Learn to respect & love yourself = revolutionary act; changes the story
• Aspire to rediscover & reclaim stories that have been dismissed by dominant cultures
• Listen to stories from elders & spiritual leaders and re-tell them in your own way
• Fund! RT @hollyminch The results that last are the ones that may take generations to manifest. Nonprofits, persist!

Volunteerism (Jeanne Bell, Karen Baker, Bobbi Silten, Peter York):

• Check out http://www.californiavolunteers.org/index.php
• Proactive volunteer management systems within the org's capacity – build as you can, ask for what you need (be bold)
• But be selective & have capacity first. RT @fitz350 unemployed recent college grads' unpaid labor is sweeet honey for nonprofits
• fitz350: Orgs that engage at least 10 vols are ='ly effective as peers w/out vols, but at almost half the median budget

Stories (Abby Lesnick):

• MissionM: From @stories4good: "They may not remember what you had to say, but they'll remember the way you made them feel."
  
• nonprofitsrule: StoryCorps recording these six nonprofit stories today http://ow.ly/2xxhs
• StoryCorps – http://storycorps.org/ at Nonprofit Day (recorded > 30,000 stories)
• StoryCorps story re adoption – http://bit.ly/aIGEvD
• Judge Olly Neal's story on StoryCorps – don't miss this – guaranteed to inspire – http://bit.ly/9pSklX

Tax Policy (Kim Klein):

• I'm at Show Me the Money: changing the inequalities in California tax policy – http://bit.ly/bMC7xv – attend when it goes on the road
• Why focus on tax policy? Informed self-empowerment.
• We all benefit from products of our taxes, but we don't take control of this
• Tax policy reflects our community and its priorities (California has the 4th biggest prison system in the world)
• California is only state with two 2/3 majority rules – to pass budget & to increase tax revenues (Kim Klein) (understand our crisis)
• Tax policy – we have the resources to change it & nonprofits can (and should) lead the way (make policy reflect OUR priorities)
• Share your stories, don't be afraid to be provocative, promote civil discourse
• Nonprofit sector has tremendous economic impact but our potential for shaping policy has not been effectively tapped

Outcomes and Effectiveness (Ingvild Bjornvold):

• Much of fundraising is driven by relationships and stories, not results. That's not an excuse for not measuring results.
• Know the difference between performance management vs. evaluation: (e.g., internal-external; ongoing-once; timing; data use)

It was also wonderful to see some highly respected colleagues (including Tiela Chalmers and Andrea Fitanides of the Volunteer Legal Services Program,Heather Carpenter of Nonprofit Leadership 601, Richard Pon and Roger Bulosan of Lautze & Lautze, Zach Hochstadt and Jennie Winton of Mission Minded, and Melissa Mikesell of the Alliance for Justice) and meet some new friends.

You can follow CompassPoint's live website here.

 

CompassPoint Nonprofit Services is a consulting, research, and training organization providing nonprofits with management tools, strategies, and resources to lead change in their communities.