The Nonprofit Center of Northeast Florida's annual Nonprofit Works conference will take place at the Florida Blue Conference Center located in Jacksonville, Florida on September 14, 2023. This event will bring together nonprofit staff and Board members of all sizes and mission areas to challenge thinking, explore new ideas, and provide nonprofits with the tools and connections they need to strengthen their impact in the community. 
 
The theme this year is INSPIRE — join us as we inspire the nonprofit sector, our partners, and supporters to invest in the people that drive missions forward.

Our keynote speaker is Rusty Stahl, Founder, President, and CEO of Fund the People. Their mission is clear, to maximize investment in America’s nonprofit workforce. Rusty believes that when nonprofit leaders have the support to not just survive, but to thrive, our entire ecosystem benefits. Rusty’s keynote will address the key pillars of Fund the People’s Funding that Works framework and help us to shift the narrative away from a longstanding sector myth that there is a deficit of talent. Investment in the nonprofit workforce increases performance and creates impact that ripples across sector boundaries.

The Nonprofit Center is seeking proposals from qualified and engaging presenters for breakout sessions. Presentations should cover a variety of skill levels, from beginner to advanced, and be designed for nonprofit professionals, executive leadership, and/or Board members. Submissions will be evaluated on how innovative they are, their grounding in research, as well as how closely the proposal aligns with our themes for the conference, the Nonprofit Center's commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and our Stronger Nonprofits Framework.
 
Proposals will be accepted on a rolling basis until 5 p.m. on June 30, 2023. Our team will be in contact with all applicants by July 14, 2023. 
 
For any additional information or questions, please contact Senior Director of Programs, Callan Brown, at CBrown@nonprofitctr.org. 

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* 1. Please complete the following information:

Demographic Profile
The Nonprofit Center celebrates the uniqueness of all individuals because we know that our vision of a more vibrant and inclusive Northeast Florida means that everyone has access and a seat at our table. One of our primary goals is to recruit a diverse pool of speakers to present at the Nonprofit Works conference. The following demographic questions will help the Nonprofit Center to support a more equitable and representative day of learning. No personal data will be shared, and aggregate data will be reported only for the purpose of internal benchmarking.

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* 2. What are your preferred pronouns?

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* 3. What is your race? (Select all that apply)

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* 4. What is your ethnicity?

Guiding Themes - Stronger Nonprofits Framework
  • Access to Capital - Ensuring adequate resources for our work requires a strong understanding of our business model and building collaborative relationships with our partners and supporters. What role does technology and innovation play in the nonprofit sector, forcing us to think beyond our traditional business structures? How do we confront traditional power dynamics with funders to support out of the box thinking and breakdown misconceptions around overhead? This theme is designed to push against traditional best practices in fund development and to move us away from that scarcity mindset to one that centers on possibilities and potential. 
  • Advocacy - Advocacy is a powerful tool that helps us to more effectively advance our missions. Sessions in this theme are intended for staff and volunteers who want to learn how to develop and share clear messaging that not only increases awareness of their mission work, but highlights the interconnectedness of the sector. As we confront a layering of economic pressures and ineffective policy, how can we give voice to the sector and tackle systems change as a unified front?  Strong advocacy requires tangible calls to action that bring people together through strategic partnerships and collaborations. 
  • Equity - We have long been aware of the inequities that exist in our sector so what is it that our organizations truly need to advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging work? What are the tools and practices that need to be implemented for concrete improvements? This theme aligns with our keynotes' focus on talent investment as a critical element of building a more inclusive, qualified, and vibrant leadership pipeline. 
  • Leadership - What skills, tools, and knowledge will be needed on nonprofit teams of the future to improve the effectiveness of our mission-driven work? Everyone on our leadership team - including the board - plays a role in shaping the future of the sector; this theme is intended to address issues from board engagement in governance work to cultivating the kinds of leadership expertise necessary for organizations to thrive. 
  • Learning & Impact - What does it mean to build an organization’s capacity for measuring impact? What will the future of nonprofit communications and evaluation look like in an increasingly digital world with tools like ChatGPT at the helm? Sessions in this theme should guide participants to think more strategically about the future of program design and measurement and how we can continue to nurture organizational cultures that thrive on learning. 

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      * 5. Please select the theme(s) that best fit your proposal. 
      (If you are interested in presenting more than 1 topic, please complete a separate proposal for each potential training)

      Session Type 

      Workshops (55 - 75 minutes)
      Training participants on a topic that falls into one of our track themes, we are looking for workshops that challenge the status quo and have practical take-aways. 

      Peer Sharing and Collaboration (30 - 55 minutes)
      Pick a critical topic for the sector and lead a high-energy, small group discussion about challenges, lessons learned, and new solutions. 

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      * 6. Session Type (select one)

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      * 7. Who is the ideal audience for your presentation?

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      * 8. Content Level (select one)

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      * 9. Session Title

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      * 10. Please outline your session. Include the learning objectives and any additional information that would be important for our team to understand about your content. Please be specific - this will be used to create a description for your session on the Nonprofit Works website and event materials.

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      * 11. Please share at least two takeaways for participants:

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      * 12. Please share the optimal time for your session based on the guidelines (30 - 75 minutes).

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      * 13. Please include a brief bio, including any specific qualifications or experience that may relate to your ability to present on the selected topic.

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      * 14. Presenter Names (Please list all)

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      * 15. How will you present the material to participants? Please specify (for example, a panel discussion, small group interaction, activity-based, presentation, etc.)

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      * 16. Please provide one reference for your teaching/facilitation skills.

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      * 17. Would you request a stipend or fee to present?

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