Art Unites Us — Cause Collaborative 2017
Art unites us.
Through art, cultural indifferences are removed, geographical barriers are erased and connections among people are created. How do you feel art unites us?
Join the conversation June 2nd at Columbus College of Art & Design for our sixth annual Cause Collaborative conference where we’ll explore themes of art, diversity, and strategies for growing your nonprofit organization.
2017 Schedule
8:00 am: Registration and breakfast, compliments of Cafe Brioso
9:00 am: It’s Not You, It’s Me — Understanding the National Stage
Having a global view is rooted in a strong connection to place. That connection can often be through the arts and culture of a community. Ruby Lopez Harper, Director of Local Arts Services for Americans for the Arts, will share ideas of connecting to and embracing a national perspective in your work to grow and expand your organization in her opening keynote session.
10:15 am: So, Now That You’re on a Nonprofit Board
Now what!? Whether organization is an emerging nonprofit or if you’re joining a nonprofit board for the first time you you won’t want to miss this interactive workshop with Christie Vargo. As a consultant and seasoned facilitator of board development programs through United Way of Central Ohio’s Neighborhood Best Practices Program, Christie brings over 20 years of experience to share with us this at Cause Collaborative. This board development 101-style workshop will dive deep into a board’s selection process, orientation and training, terms, evaluation, committee, and structure. Don’t forget to bring a copy of your nonprofit’s bylaws!
*Those who stick around for happy hour will also receive the opportunity to network with United Way staff members–we encourage you to mingle, ask more questions, and even identify any potential board opportunities among those you meet.
11:30 am: Breakout Sessions: Choose between two interactive breakout sessions just before we break for lunch at 12:30pm.
- Building Leaders from Where You Are
Conventional wisdom often portrays leadership as an innate quality that only a few possess. In reality, leadership is a skill that can be learned and cultivated. How do you grow your leadership skills and create leaders in your organization? How do you do this with a lean budget and in fast-paced environment? Jamison Pack will frame a conversation on leadership with background on popular leadership theories and share straightforward best practices in cultivating leadership and nurturing leaders at your organization.
2. Grow Your Fundraising Panel Discussion
Let’s face it, raising funds for your nonprofit has always been a challenge, right? And now the challenge for fundraising is even more difficult for arts organizations as we see major federal funding programs like the National Endowment for the Arts lose funding. How can your arts organization continue to leverage support for programming and operations? Join us as we explore tactics for grantwriting, individual donors, events, and social impact investing. Ask questions and learn innovative tips to maintain the necessary funds to support your mission.
12:30 pm: Break for lunch with sandwiches from Freedom A La Cart and dessert by Let’s Bake Cakes.
1:30 pm: A Better World — Growing In Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity
A Better World is fundamentally about what happens when we engage each other in culturally incompetent, disrespectful, or offensive ways. We all share varying degrees of comfort and discomfort when interacting with others. As trainers, Dan Houston and Jim White have come to understand a process by which we can increase our level of comfort with those who are different. Their goal for training, speaking, and writing is to increase the comfort level when people and organizations from various cultures interact. As co-authors of A Better World: Understanding How Your Personal Operating System Affects Culture, Diversity & Engagement, Dan and Jim chose not to indict anyone’s inability to transcend diverse human characteristics such as race, gender, age, or sexual orientation, but to successfully understand, appreciate and coach within the cultural engagement process. Join them for an intriguing journey into A Better World.
3:00 pm: Strong Strategic Planning to Grow Your Organization
Columbus College of Art & Design (CCAD) President, Dr. Melanie Corn will discuss the importance of effective strategic planning for nonprofit organizations, using CCAD’s new strategic plan as an example. Dr. Corn will share her experiences, from building buy-in to creating a living, breathing document that helps guide day-to-day decisions. She’ll also discuss the value of mission statements, vision statements and institutional values — and how to incorporate a completed document into daily planning (without feeling handcuffed to a monstrosity of a document)and the best ways to share the vision with stakeholders and community members.
4:15 pm: Happy Hour!
First drink is on us! Stick around for happy hour as we kick our collaboration into high gear. We are welcoming staff members from United Way of Central Ohio to mingle, answer questions, and maybe even help fill some gaps on your nonprofit’s board.
Hope to see you there!
Cause Collaborative is a conversational event to connect nonprofit and social entrepreneur professionals with industry experts for a day of interactive discussion and networking. Established in 2011 with partner, Community Shares of Mid Ohio.
