2016 Conference Sessions, Keynotes, and Agenda

Agenda

Morning Session Descriptions and Materials

Afternoon Discussion Notes and Conclusions

Keynotes

Table Centerpieces

Agenda

Download the Conference Program Booklet

Morning Breakout Sessions

What does it mean to "engage the many voices of Maine" in our work?

The 2016 Philanthropy Partners Conference included six break-out sessions to help attendees understand how inclusion (or lack of it) is manifesting itself in Maine and our work. We'll be posting resources and materials from the sessions here over the coming weeks.

1. Why Equity and Inclusion?

Marshall Point Veranda

We often hear about “equity” or “inclusion” in the funding and nonprofit world these days. What do these words really mean? Should we try to make equity and inclusion a part of our work? If so, how? In this session we will focus on equity and how it is related to inclusion. We will talk about how equity affects all of us and how inclusion can make our work and communities stronger. Our discussion will use participants’ experiences and perspectives. Our goal will be to increase understanding of these key concepts for everyone, whether you are brand new to the topic or have been exploring it for some time.

Presenters:

• Lisa Sockabasin, Elmina B. Sewall Foundation
• Fatuma Hussein, United Somali Women of Maine
• Kathy Vezina, Hanley Center for Health Leadership
• Kristi Ricker, Wabanaki Public Health
• Barbara Ginley, Maine Migrant Health Program

2. Who Do We Think We Are?

Ducktrap Room

What do we know about Maine demographics and trends? How do these trends impact the work of nonprofits and funders? Together, we’ll develop a shared understanding of Maine’s current demographics, highlighting the trends and shifts in the state. Hear your colleagues’ responses and have the opportunity to share your own experiences about how a changing Maine relates to your work.

Marybeth J. Mattingly / Andrew Schaefer, Carsey School of Public Policy, University of New Hampshire

Download a PDF of Beth and Andrew's powerpoint presentation

3. Speaking of Capacity Building…

Group A: Marshall Point Room
Group B: The Pavilion

Nonprofits need to be strong to do their work well, and building their capacity is often a goal for both funders and nonprofits. But do funders and nonprofits have the same idea of what ‘capacity building’ means? Where does each see the need? How does each imagine the solution? This is an opportunity to have an open conversation about what’s needed and how funders and nonprofits can work together to build the capacity of Maine’s nonprofit sector.

Facilitated by Carole Martin, Complex Community Change Consultant and Carol Kelly, Pivot Point, Inc.

4. The Power of Perspectives: Engaging Many Voices for Community Change

Grindle Point Room

How do you bring together a wide range of people and perspectives to make community change? If you do, will your results be different? Many community goals—tackling poverty, improving health, fostering a culture of education—are too big, or too complicated, or simply too challenging for any one organization to address on their own. It takes a broad-based group of players with sometimes widely different interests to create a shared solution. But this can be hard. What have other groups done? What was their process? What challenges arose?

Download a PDF of the session handout

Presenters:

• Julia Sleeper, Tree Street Youth
• Charley Martin-Berry, Community Caring Collaborative
• Marjorie Withers, Community Caring Collaborative
• Delilah Poupore, Heart of Biddeford

5. Engaging New Actors in Maine’s Economic Future

Seal Harbor Room

Join us for an active discussion of the shifting dynamics in Maine’s economy and communities. How can we boldly respond to these changes by bringing together new voices and stakeholders to build on Maine’s assets? What roles are nonprofits, funders, entrepreneurs, investors, and workers playing in this shift? This session will explore innovative ways to make the most of our natural, cultural, and human resources and build thriving economies and resilient communities. Explore the challenges and opportunities for involving new participants in Maine’s future.

• Martha Bentley, Maine Accelerates Growth
• Rob Brown, Cooperative Development Institute
• Tae Chong, Coastal Enterprises Inc.
• John Dorrer, Jobs for the Future
• Charles Rudelitch, Sunrise County Economic Council

6. Candid Conversations Between Funders and Nonprofits: Trading Places to Enhance Understanding

Grindle Point Veranda

Back by Popular Demand! Join Tory Dietel Hopps and Mark Swann as they guide participants through a fun grantmaking exercise. Participants will take on new roles, playing the parts of funders and grant applicants. This session will help you to better understand potential barriers, whether perceived or real, that get in the way of partnerships between funders and nonprofits. We promise you will laugh and leave with tools and suggestions.

Because of space limitations, if you attended this session in 2014, we ask that you choose a different session this year.

• Tory Dietel Hopps, Managing Partner, Dietel Partners
• Mark Swann, Executive Director, Preble Street

Afternoon Breakout Sessions - Moving into Action

Click on each title to see the results of that session's work

Arts and Culture

Community and Economic Development

Education

Environment, Recreation and Agriculture

Health

Human Services

Keynotes

We were thrilled to have two spectacular keynote speakers for the 2016 Conference!

Akaya Windwood, President of Rockwood Leadership Institute

Leadership often asks us to reach across differences—crossing boundaries of sector, race, class, political beliefs, age, and ideology. Working toward the common good, creating strong communities and organizations, requires us to engage with others. How can we listen more deeply to each other to do this work? How do we handle the challenges that so often emerge when we confront difference and/or step out of our comfort zones? What do we stand to gain when we make these leaps?

Akaya Windwood is president of Rockwood Leadership Institute, the nation’s largest provider of transformative leadership trainings for nonprofit and philanthropic organizations. Windwood leads trainings nationally and internationally and has been a featured speaker at the Stanford Social Innovation Review, the Independent Sector Conference, and Grantmakers for Effective Organizations. She is the recipient of an Ella Award from the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and a Transformative Leadership Award from the Seasons Fund for Social Transformation. She currently serves on the advisory board of Destiny Arts Center and the advisory board for the National Progressive Leadership Campus.

Read more from Akaya:

• "What Can Change When We Learn to See Each Other," Yes! Magazine
• "From Anguish to Balance:19 ways to turn your struggling nonprofit around," Stanford Social Innovation Review
• Follow her on twitter at @akayawindwood

Vu Le, author of the Nonprofit with Balls blog and Executive Director of Rainier Valley Corps

Amid humor, Game of Thrones references, and photos of baby animals, Vu Le will discuss how funders and nonprofits perpetuate inequity. In what ways are grant applications increasing the divide between the haves and have nots? Is trickle-down community engagement any more successful than trickle-down economics? And finally, what awesome things are nonprofits and funders doing to engage diverse voices that we should all be excited about?

Vu Le is a writer, speaker, vegan, Pisces, and the Executive Director of Rainier Valley Corps, a nonprofit in Seattle with the mission of bringing more leaders of color in to the nonprofit sector. He is the writer behind the humor blog nonprofitwithballs.com and the humor writer for Blue Avocado. He was recently recognized by the Chronicle of Philanthropy as a “Writer with Attitude.”

Check out the last "takeaway" slides from Vu's presentation, with the things nonprofits need to do, funders need to do, and what we all need to do. 

Read more from Vu:

• Funders, your grant application process may be perpetuating inequity
• Are you or your org guilty of Trickle-Down Community Engagement?
• Why Equality is actively harmful to Equity
• Follow him on Twitter at @nonprofitwithballs

Slideshow of Table Centerpieces

Thank you to everyone who made a centerpiece for the breakfast and lunch tables!