Capacity Building Events

Mapping Your Success: Strategic Communications

Tuesday, January 27, 2026 – 9:00 am - 12:00 pm Pacific
Location: The Nonprofit Partnership 4900 E. Conant Street, Building O2 Long Beach, California 90808
Cost: $130

Once a nonprofit’s overall marketing objectives are created, implementing them strategically requires a well-defined plan for strategic communications. Objective-focused communications are at the heart of such a plan – they can help a nonprofit organization’s leaders to position the organization to attract funders, partners and clients that collectively define a target market. In this three-hour workshop, trainer Leslie A.M. Smith of McCormick L.A. Public Relations will guide participants in a four-step process: (1) Devise multiple ways to map out objectives strategically, (2) Decide whether the strategies that work best for a nonprofit organization are tried and true or completely unique, (3) Create strategies that support objectives and put a nonprofit on the right track, and (4) Monitor and assess strategies used to see which ones have the greatest impact.

Understanding 990s

Thursday, January 29, 2026 – 9:00 am – 12:00 pm Pacific
Location: The Nonprofit Partnership 4900 E. Conant Street, Building O2 Long Beach, California 90808
Cost: $130

This course is focused on providing exempt organization personnel and board members with guidance as well as valuable resources and tools to ensure they possess the requisite knowledge regarding review of IRS Form 990. Content includes both quantitative and qualitative aspects of the Form 990, going beyond the figures to understand the “story” being reported on an exempt organization’s annual information return. Participants will learn how to step out of the numbers and into the message being conveyed to the public regarding the impact that the exempt organization is having on the local community and society as a whole. Ultimately, attendees will not only be able to read and interpret Form 990, but also will be able to translate that into process improvements and potential funding opportunities.

Participatory Decision-Making: When and How to Apply Inclusive Decision-Making Methods

Thursday, January 29, 2026 – 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm Eastern
Location: Online
Cost: $69.00 for the event and 12 months of access to the resources of The Nonprofit Quarterly

Whether the activity is running a project, leading a team or organization, or facilitating a network, effective decision-making is core to the work of nonprofits. Many nonprofit structures still reflect inherited models that are often rooted in strict hierarchy, control, labor, extraction, and urgency. But many justice-centered leaders are reimagining decision-making in ways that are more grounded, participatory, and aligned with participatory values. Led by Niloufar Khonsari, author of the new book The Future Is Collective, this workshop is intended to guide participants through a set of participatory decision-making practices and demonstrate how to apply them. For each method Khonsari will offer participants clear process steps and guidance to avoid potential pitfalls.

Foundation Giving: Family, Independent, and Community Foundations

Monday, February 2, 2026 – 2:00 pm to 2:45 pm Eastern
Location: Online
Cost: $39

A successful grants program requires maximizing the return on investment for nonprofit staff or consultants writing a proposal and managing an award if the proposal is successful. Unfortunately, many nonprofits struggle to distinguish which funders are truly the right fit and how to build relationships that lead to long-term support. In this webinar, facilitator Alice Ruhnke will guide participants through a strategic approach to foundation giving. Activities will include exploring how to pinpoint the funders that align with the nonprofit’s mission, position the organization in ways that resonate, and cultivate meaningful relationships that can increase long-term sustainability. Specific skills highlighted are: (1) how to identify the right foundation partners and save time in the process; (2) identifying what foundation types to prioritize and how to position the applicant organization strategically; (3) how to cultivate meaningful foundation relationships; and (4) learning grantwriting best practices that increase competitiveness.

“Thinking Like a Funder”: What Grantmakers Wish Every Grantseeker Knew – Before Submitting That Proposal!

Tuesday, February 10, 2026 – 2:00 pm – 3:30 pm Eastern
Location: Online
Cost: $69

In this workshop, veteran grantwriter and grantmaker Maryn Boess draws on her 16 years as a grantmaking program officer, and the collective experience of many other private and public grant decision-makers, to give participants a realistic, behind-the-scenes look at how “thinking like a funder” can help sharpen the approach and ultimate success in seeking grants. The session will include pulling back the curtain on the realities of life as a grantmaker — and what a grant proposal is really up against as it makes its way through the review process. The workshop will increase understanding about the reality of challenges that program officers and review teams face as they work toward their final award decisions. And participants will learn what grantmakers love, what makes them grumpy and how grantseekers can be sure their proposals are delivering what they “really, really want,” every time. Participants also will learn (1) what grantmakers want for themselves and for their organizations; (2) the “Four Keys to Persuasive Proposals”—and how each connects with the proposal reader’s own personal sense of purpose; (3) how a proposal makes a good or bad first impression in just a few seconds and why; (4) three Powerhouse Proposal Sections that must pull their own weight for a proposal to work; (5) how to understand the principle of limited mental energy and how it applies to the choices made in crafting grant proposals.

Open Board Search

March 19, 2026 – 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm Eastern
Location: Online
Cost: $69 for the event and 12 months of access to the resources of The Nonprofit Quarterly

Most nonprofit boards recruit new members from their personal networks – a practice that is holding nonprofits back. These overlapping networks do little to attract fresh perspectives, strengths, and strategic thinking that will help the organization evolve and thrive. Unsatisfied with the status quo, an innovative recruitment practice is emerging that is transforming nonprofit boards: an open, competitive application process that is more akin to a public job listing than a reference made behind closed doors. The workshop is led by Daniel Student, Managing Director, board recruiter, and strategist at Potrero Group, with a panel of nonprofit leaders to learn how to build visibility, expand networks, and accelerate the pipeline of Board members.

Center for Nonprofit Management - In Person Seminars

Ongoing – Varies
Location: Varies
Cost: Varies

Center for NonProfit Management provides in-person seminars on a variety of topics for nonprofit Boards, executive directors and staff. In-person seminars are presented on a searchable monthly calendar, with information about content, faculty and cost for each event. In-person seminar topics covered include leadership essentials for nonprofit executives and Board members, financial strategy and management, marketing and communications, fund development and supervision and management.

Access their calendar >

Note: Appearance of activities, publications or organizations in these website listings does not constitute any type of endorsement from the Dwight Stuart Youth Fund. These listings are provided solely for informational purposes.

EVENTS

CAPACITY BUILDING

Other Capacity Building Resources

YOUTH SERVICES

Other Youth Services Resources

We are Fueled by Collaboration

Contact