Workshops.
Leadership for Long-Term Sustainability
Presented by: Debra Thompson, President & CEO, Strategy Solutions, Inc. & Tom Tupitza, Esq., President, Knox McLaughlin Gornall & Sennett, P.C.
Synopsis: To ensure long-term sustainability, organizations must begin to reimagine their leadership and organizational structures. Is your organization:
- In financial crisis or facing future funding cuts?
- Looking for ways to lower costs, improve operations or increase capacity?
- Seeking ways to grow in the future?
- Struggling to recruit or retain staff or board talent?
- Nearing the retirement of the Executive Director without solid strategic and succession
plans that explored partnership options for leadership and organizational sustainability?
If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then a strategic alliance, joint venture or other type of collaboration is an attractive option as part of your long-term strategy. Board leadership includes recognizing that fiduciary responsibility includes sustaining the mission as long as the need exists. Organizations, when facing financial crisis or even dissolution should not operate as they have always done until they run out of money and are forced to close their doors. Instead, they should explore creative ways to ensure that the mission continues. Many nonprofit leaders have shied away from the “M” word (merger) fearing loss of identity, autonomy, control, or their jobs. However, this workshop allows you to explore how successful alliances can achieve outstanding results!
Learning Goals:
- Recognize the value that strategic collaborations and partnerships provide as strategies to ensure long-term sustainability in today’s environment
- Assess current capacity and identify areas where collaboration can bring synergy and successful outcomes
- Explore methods to develop partnership criteria and establish meaningful relationships with other organizations including tools and methods to build trust and address fear and other barriers to collaboration
- Commit to take the next step toward a meaningful collaboration that will produce results
Workshop Details
When: Thursday, October 22,
2:15 – 3:30 pm
Track: Leadership
Target Audience: Executive Leaders, Board Members
Debra Thompson
President & CEO, Strategy Solutions, Inc.
As President of Strategy Solutions, Inc., Debra Thompson serves as project manager and collaborator, enabling clients to “take it to the next level” and achieve their vision and goals. She also helps nonprofits implement best practices in governance and management.
With advanced training in Strategic Planning, Quantitative and Qualitative Market Research, Total Quality Management, Leadership Development, Systems Thinking & Facilitation (through affiliates of MIT), Deb is a licensed consultant, trainer and peer reviewer for the National and Pennsylvania Standards for Excellence®: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector. She serves on the National Standards for Excellence® Council.
Tom Tupitza, Esq.
President, Knox McLaughlin Gornall & Sennett, P.C.
Tom Tupitza is President of the law firm of Knox McLaughlin Gornall & Sennett, P.C., based in Erie and Pittsburgh. A graduate of Harvard Law School, he is a licensed Standards for Excellence® consultant in Pennsylvania and has counseled nonprofit organizations on governance, compliance, and finance matters for over 30 years. He currently serves on the boards of The Erie Community Foundation, The Nonprofit Partnership, the United Way of Erie County, and Westminster College, among others. He is a past board chair of Westminster and of UPMC Hamot.
Check Out More Sessions.
Each day of the virtual conference will feature workshops in the following workshop tracks: Advocacy, Building the Plane While Flying It, Caring for Ourselves & Each Other, Fundraising & Communications, and Leading through Change.