March 16, 2023

Hello Nonprofit Leaders and Supporters, 

We talk a lot in this newsletter and at events throughout the state about issues effecting the nonprofit sector as well as what’s happening in nonprofit workplaces across the state. We’ve talked about the importance of building community. We’ve talked about the importance of legislation and its impacts on organizations. We’ve talked about the ways we can show up to work and manage the new-normal as we continue to live through a pandemic and economic uncertainty. These are not new topics and these conversations are continuing and deepening this year. It’s hard to believe that we are already almost at the end of the first quarter of 2023 – I wanted to highlight a few of the themes that NAO is focused on for the remainder of the year (and likely beyond!) as we continue to work to create a better, more sustainable nonprofit sector that in turns creates a better, more sustainable world for our employees, families, and communities. 

Systems Change: Do I wish that the government provided a larger safety net for our communities so there isn’t so much pressure on nonprofits to do the work of the public sector? Absolutely. However, until we can make these structural changes permanent, we need to take steps to make doing our work easier, more efficient and more effective. One of the ways NAO is working on creating systems change is through SB 606. In the simplest terms, the goal of SB 606 is to create structure that improves the partnership between nonprofits and government in order to best serve our communities while taking care of our employees. We want as many nonprofits as possible involved in this effort – we encourage you to sign on to our letter of support by filling out this form. We also have a full advocacy toolkit around SB 606 that includes a social media toolkit, a suggestion box, link to our contracting survey, and more. This toolkit is regularly updated so I hope you bookmark the page and visit it often for more ways to participate with us in this effort.

To read more of SB 606’s core messages, visit here. If you want to read the bill in its entirety, visit here. 

We are also collecting data in order to see where we land as a sector statewide. Our comp and benefits survey is live through March 31. This data and its subsequent report helps inform us all where we are as far as salaries and benefits are concerned statewide – this is an incredibly helpful tool for you to see where your organization compares with other nonprofits across the state. Additionally, we use this resource to advocate for the sector as a whole when we discuss filling in wage gaps, improving benefit options, and more. I hope that one person (an Executive Director, HR Director, or CFO) takes the time to complete the survey for us to share this invaluable data – receiving a robust response helps us create a more complete picture for you as well as gives us more to work with when advocating for nonprofit employees throughout the state. 

Building Community: Showing up for each other and building community within the sector is so important. In the coming months, we have in person conferences, workshops, and cohorts – we hope that you join us for these in-person training events to learn and get to know some of your colleagues at nonprofits across Oregon. Additionally, we are continuing to offer our Salons which allow nonprofit staff, volunteers, and board members the opportunity to just spend time together without facilitation. We are truly stronger together and the more we get to know each other, the better we can all support each other and our communities. 

While we know being with each other, in person, is much needed, we are also working on creating digital spaces for connection. We are working on creating online forums for NAO members and non-members to talk about topics important to them, exchange ideas, and get to know each other. We are also working hard to launch our new website – we hope this new space (coming at the end of 2023!) will allow for more community building online across the sector.

As always, a great way to build community and support your nonprofit colleagues is by becoming an NAO member. We have more members only resources than ever before – including members only events and members only resources. If you aren’t a member, please consider joining.

Wellness: It’s not a secret that nonprofit employees experience high levels of burn-out and there is a lot of staff turnover throughout the sector. Nonprofit employees do highly skilled, highly emotionally taxing, and difficult work often – if nonprofits are understaffed or under-resourced, employees have a hard time taking care of themselves in the necessary ways for their own wellbeing. 

We are continuing to offer trainings on different ways your workplace can incorporate wellness into its ethos as well as different methods that individual employees can try to manage workflow, increase productivity without burning out, build more effective teams, we’ve listed out many upcoming opportunities in this newsletter below – we hope you and your employees will attend. 

Additionally, we are conducting another survey in the coming months around what benefits would be the most valuable to you and your employees at work. Is it free or subsidized childcare? Unlimited vacation time? Stipends for a productivity coach? A weekly happy hour? We want to hear all your thoughts on benefits what would make working in the sector better and what would make a real difference in your life. We know that sustainable wages and a fully staffed workplace are the two biggest drivers in creating employee wellness, but we also know the right benefits and some creative ideas can also positively contribute to both hiring and retention of great employees. We want to hear from nonprofit staff on benefits that they would love to see at their workplace that would help with things like wellness and self-care, so we can share this information with those who are making decisions around policies, benefits, and hiring.

Stay healthy and be safe,

Jim White

NAO Executive Director

Nonprofit News

2023 Compensation and Benefits Survey – Now Open!

Information about employee compensation and benefits is one of the top requests at NAO. We invite all 501(c)(3) organizations in Oregon to participate in our 2023 Compensation & Benefits Survey! Your participation is vital in providing critical compensation and benefits data for Oregon’s nonprofit sector.

We ask that one person (i.e., Executive Director, Finance, Human Resources, etc.) per organization complete the survey. The survey will include questions about job positions, salaries and benefits your organization provides.

As a benefit of participating, you will receive a discount on NAO’s 2023 Compensation & Benefits Report. As a current NAO member, you will also receive an additional discount making this valuable information even more affordable.

This survey is open until March 31, 2023. Please participate and share with your network.

At the State Level

The Joint Ways and Means Committee will be holding public hearings on the state budget. If you’re interested in attending, here is where you can find these hearings near you:

Saturday, April 8 (10:00am - 12:00pm) - Portland

Location: Portland Community College - PAC Auditorium, Sylvania Campus

12000 SW 49th Ave, Portland, OR 97219

Friday, April 14 (5:00 - 7:00pm) - Newport

Location: Newport Performing Arts Center

777 W Olive St, Newport, OR 97365

Friday, April 21 (5:00 - 7:00pm) - Roseburg

Location: Umpqua Community College

1140 Umpqua College Rd, Roseburg, OR 9747

Friday, April 28 (5:00 - 7:00pm) - Ontario

Location: Four Rivers Cultural Center

676 SW 5th Ave, Ontario, OR 97914

Note: Ontario, Oregon is in the Mountain Time Zone

NAO Conferences

Guiding More Good Conference

Save the date: June 24, 2023 in Corvallis

Mark your calendars for NAO’s Guiding More Good (GMG) Conference on Saturday, June 24. This jam-packed conference is the perfect opportunity to connect and re-connect with fellow community-based professionals, learn how to navigate current issues that are top-of-mind today, and create new relationships with others in the nonprofit sector. More details to come!

Nonprofit Learning Cohorts (Five Weekly Sessions via Zoom)

Leading Together: Building Value-Driven and Impactful Leadership Teams 

March 28, April 4, 11, 18, and 25, 9 – 10:15 a.m. | Facilitator: Chris Wallace Caldwell, MA, Catalysis LLC

In this interactive cohort led by leadership coach Chris Wallace Caldwell of Catalysis LLC, we explore what keeps our leadership teams (board or employee-led) from making the impact we envision. We will start by examining some assumptions, barriers, and power issues that leadership teams often face. We will explore navigating these dilemmas through intentional support and team development. Cohort participants will gain leadership team tools and practices, and the sessions will be adapted to address particular issues each is facing as we help each other move closer to the world we want to create. More details and registration information here.

Toolkit for New and Growing Nonprofit Executive Directors

April 10, 17, 24, May 1 and 8, 10 – 11:15 a.m. | Facilitator: Kari Anderson, Incite! Consulting

Are you a new Executive Director? Or, have you been in the sector since pre-COVID times but didn’t receive proper onboarding, board support, or training? Do you lead a nonprofit in a rural market, and isolation is the norm? Join Kari Anderson with Incite! Consulting. While she’s been a nonprofit coach and consultant for almost ten years, Kari worked in the trenches as a nonprofit executive for nearly 25 years in Washington and Colorado. She understands the needs of small nonprofits in smaller towns, and she’s got the manual you didn’t receive for doing your best work in the field. From time management and self-care to staff and volunteer coaching, board development, fundraising, community engagement, and succession planning, you’ll leave this cohort with an entire toolkit of resources that allows you to embrace your leadership role fully. More details and registration information here.

NAO Webinars

The Intersection of HR and Financial Strategy in the New Economy

March 22, 7:30 – 9:30 a.m. | Presenter: Scott Schaffer, Public Interest Management Group

This interactive session gets to the roots of a central challenge of our time: charting a strategy to thrive financially despite inflation, labor shortages, and a potential recession. This decade has brought new challenges for nonprofit leaders, such as a tight labor market, inflation, and a range of staffing issues, all affecting organizations’ financial performance. This session will explore a strategic framework for considering short-term HR management priorities in the context of promoting longer-term financial sustainability. More details and registration information here.

Seeking Fiscal Sponsorship: When, Why, and How Does it Help?

March 22, 12 – 1 p.m. | Presenter: Rosalie Westenskow, Nonprofit Law Northwest, LLC

Many new organizations consider using a fiscal sponsor to accept donations and grants before, or instead of, applying for their own 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. This session describes the ins and outs of fiscal sponsorship agreements (“FSAs”) and will walk you through whether one is suitable for your organization. We will look at the benefits of FSAs and some common pitfalls, different ways to structure this agreement, particular issues that should be addressed, and other avenues to consider. If your organization is considering a fiscal sponsor, this presentation is for you! We'll help you decide whether to move forward and, if you do, give you tools to navigate that relationship better. More details and registration information here.

Board Bright: Engaging Your Board in Fundraising

April 11, 3 – 4:30 p.m. | Presenter: Jenn Clemo, NAO

A well-prepared and passionate board is essential to successful fundraising. This 90-minute addition to the Board Bright series will provide strategies for setting your board up for fundraising success. Learn how to create fundraising expectations from the get-go, increase your board's understanding of the organization's revenue needs, find ways for everyone to play a role, and build board ambassadors for your cause. Free to NAO members! More details and registration here.

The Effective Board Treasurer: Understanding Roles, Responsibilities, and Good Standards

April 12, 7:30 – 9:30 a.m. | Presenter: Erin Zollenkopf, Susan Matlack Jones & Associates

Whether you are a Treasurer, are interested in being a Treasurer, or are staff working with a Treasurer, understanding the responsibilities of this role and how it fits into the structure of an organization is essential for good governance and a sustainable, fiscally responsible nonprofit. Organizations can struggle when a Treasurer is inexperienced, unsupported, or doesn’t understand the unique quirks and challenges in the nonprofit sector. Setting up good systems and standards can help resolve this struggle and create a Treasurer position that is effective and fulfilling for the person serving in that role. More details and registration here.

The New, New Normal – Tools, Strategies, and Innovative Opportunities

April 13, 8:30 – 10:30 a.m. | Presenter: David W. Altman, IPR Group

Events in the last three years have eclipsed recent thinking about nonprofit leadership and financial management strategies as most observers envision dramatic, rapid shifts for what might be termed the New, New Normal. In this session with David Altman, President of IPR Group, participants will explore innovative management strategies in response to changing economic conditions. More details and registration here.

BRAVING Trust: Tangible Solutions for a More Courageous Nonprofit Culture

April 13, 12 – 1 p.m. | Presenter: Kris McRea, McRea Coaching & Consulting

Trust is the glue that holds a team together, but “trust” is highly subjective and ambiguous. When trust is shaky, eroded, or destroyed, making an impact in and for our communities is extremely challenging. Participants will gain a clearer picture of how they trust themselves and then consider how to identify and grow trust behaviors with others. This webinar offers self-reflection opportunities and takeaway tools to help your team become more transparent in building and sustaining a trusting workplace. More details and registration here.

Wired for Connection: How Microaggressions Undermine Psychological Safety

April 19, 8:30 – 10:30 a.m. | Presenter: Amanda Singh Bans, MA, LCSW, Resonance Therapy LLC

In this session with Amanda Singh Bans, Mental Health Therapist, participants will explore how encounters with microaggressions and implicit bias are embodied and how to respond to the repeated traumatization of racialized, gendered/sexed, and other oppressed bodies. Many of us in DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging) work have attempted to broach deep-seated concepts like these from a left-hemisphere-shifted perspective or using our “logic brain.” Taking that work one step further, participants will learn foundational terms regarding the neurobiology (brain + nervous system + behavior) of relationships, identify survival/trauma responses, and reframe microaggressions as threats to our personal and psychological safety. Participants will also be introduced to micro-intervention strategies and safety-building behaviors to support your organization's inclusive culture building. More details and registration here.

OR Nonprofit Modernization Act: Monthly Legislative Coalition Meetings

April 20, 12 – 1 p.m. | Presenter: Phillip Kennedy-Wong, NAO

Join the coalition to pass the most consequential piece of legislation, Senate Bill 606, the Oregon Nonprofit Modernization Act, to the nonprofit sector in decades. Join us every third Thursday of the month until June 15 to get the latest legislative information on Senate Bill 606, ideas on things your nonprofit do to help pass the bill, and an opportunity to learn about how legislative campaigns are organized by being an active participant! Registration is free. More details and registration information here.

The Neurodiverse Workplace: Overcoming the Neurodivide

May 3, 12 – 1 p.m. | Presenter: Jessica Michaels, The Neurodiverse Workplace, LLC

What is neurodiversity? Are you or others you work with neurodivergent? How does this affect you, and how does it affect your organization? Neurodiversity expert and corporate trainer Jessica Michaels answers these questions and more. By sharing her experiences as a late-in-life diagnosed neurodivergent with Autism and ADHD, Jessica will deliver an inspiring session to motivate participants to drive neuroinclusion through no-cost actions easily added to their daily conversations. More details and registration here.

Layered Security for Nonprofits

May 10, 7:30 – 9:30 a.m. | Presenter: Ron Rothstein, SMB Technologies

Nonprofit organizations hold a lot of sensitive information – including financial records – that they need to keep safe and secure. Cyberattacks and breaches happen every day and nonprofits need to be prepared to apply the multi-layered security needed in order to prevent these events. In this session, you will learn about layered security, which is a network security approach that deploys multiple security controls to protect the most vulnerable areas of your technology environment where a breach or cyberattack could occur. More details and registration information here.

The Future of Nonprofit Leadership: Trends to Track and Actions to Take Now

May 11, 8:30 – 10:30 a.m. | Presenter: Kari Anderson, Incite! Consulting

As a new generation of employees makes decisions about the type of work they want to engage in, we have an obligation in the nonprofit sector to assess how business gets done. Now’s the time to look at what’s working—and what’s not—at your shop. Join Kari Anderson with Incite! Consulting to learn more about (not so) unique leadership structures, including co-directorship, flat hierarchies, and different ways to provide governance via your board. We’ll discuss the future of leadership structures and how a person can flex leadership when not in a leadership role. Kari has some immediate takeaways for you as a manager or director—regardless of your career ambitions. All employees and board members can lead in their roles—Kari will share how to do it! More details and registration information here.

So Are You Latinx?: The Complexity of Language and How It Impacts Identity

May 17, 8:30 – 10:30 a.m. | Presenter: Cinthia Manuel, Autentica Consulting LLC

In this session, participants will learn the historical evolution of the terms Hispanics, Latin@s, Latinx, Latine, Chican@. In addition, this session will provide an opportunity to reflect on the various terms and how their evolution is related to oppression among individuals who identify as part of this historically underrepresented group. This training is open to people of all backgrounds who want to learn the historical background and build new vocabulary to have deeper conversations with the communities you serve, including your staff. More details and registration here.

State Legislative Briefing (2) 

May 19, 12 – 1 p.m. | Presenter: Phillip Kennedy-Wong, NAO

Get the latest inside scoop on the 2023 Oregon Legislative Session from NAO’s Public Policy Director Phillip Kennedy-Wong. Bring your questions about the legislature. No question off limits! Topics covered include the state budget, the most recent revenue forecast, the Oregon Nonprofit Modernization Act, bills of interest to the nonprofit sector, political rumors and whole much more. This session is available to NAO members only. More details and registration information here.

Learning Opportunities for Rural Nonprofit (In-person)

Nonprofit Resource Roundups

Nonprofit Resource Roundups are in-person learning and networking opportunities convened by the NAO of Oregon for nonprofit staff, board, and volunteers to connect, meet funders, and learn about valuable tools and resources designed specifically for nonprofits. During this session, we’ll also explore how nonprofits can calculate their ROI and ROM and structure conversations with board and staff about the effectiveness of each event. There is no cost to participate, but registration is required.

May 9: Douglas County Resource Roundup (Roseburg)

May 23: Benton County Resource Roundup (Monroe)

NAO Regional Networks (In-person*)

Want to connect with other nonprofit leaders in your area? Join us at a regional network in Bend, Corvallis, Medford, Portland or Eugene! NAO's regional network sessions are designed for nonprofit leaders, staff, board members, and volunteers. They are open to any nonprofit leader who wants to learn more about best practices while advancing their skills in nonprofit management, financial accountability, equity and inclusion.

Each network typically offers one session per month between September and June. See what’s coming up in a city nearest you, or sign up to receive region-specific promotions here.

Bend

Nonprofit Network of Central Oregon (NNCO)

Corvallis

Mid-Valley Nonprofit Network (MVNN)

Portland Metro – *NAO’s Portland Metro series will be held virtually via Zoom through May 2023. Anyone from across the state may now virtually participate in sessions from any of our three networks below:

Equity and Inclusions Leaders Network (EILN)

Nonprofit Fiscal Managers Network (NFMA)

Nonprofit Leaders Network (NLN)

Medford

Rogue Valley Nonprofit Network (RVNN)

Eugene

Lane County Nonprofit Network (LCNN)