Once again, the Bush School’s Nonprofit Management Forum has garnered praise from participating staff, board members, volunteers, and students. This year’s event on April 4 at the Annenberg Conference Center brought together academic researchers, consultants, industry professionals, and aspiring leaders in a program geared toward improving the effectiveness of nonprofits.
Dr. Will Brown, director of the Bush School’s Certificate in Nonprofit Management program, opened the conference with a presentation on how strategic leadership can transform an organization’s management practices. He was followed by the conference keynote speaker, Flip Flippen, a leadership expert. Workshops were provided on various nonprofits topics. Rachel Muir led a workshop on fundraising, and TyAnn Osborn of the Osborn Consulting Group spoke on performance management. Katy Avenson and Kara Hamann, both accountants, discussed strategic financial management, while Suzanne Smith of Social Impact Architects covered the concept of nonprofits as a social enterprise. Tiffany Galligan, Too Good Strategy, discussed how nonprofits can develop their mission into a brand; and Michael Wilson, Small World Labs, offered tactics for building and nurturing online communities.
“Each of these speakers addressed an issue that nonprofit staff and volunteers face regularly,” said Brown. “We’re pleased to be able to bring well-known experts together in a forum that not only educates but also allows time for participants to network and learn from each other,” he added. In post-session evaluations, participants gave the Forum high marks.
“We appreciate the compliments and use the information in those evaluations to continue to improve the Forum,” Brown said.
More than 100 people attended this year, representing local nonprofits as well as organizations from other cities in Texas. The Forum was sponsored by a number of community partners: Arts Council of the Brazos Valley, Project Unity, Texas Association for Nonprofit Organizations (TANO), and United Way of the Brazos Valley.
