2014 OTC Schedule

Evaluating your organization will strengthening your ability to assist those served, ease unnecessary strain on staff/volunteers and spotlight ways to utilize and/or increase funding. Attendees will leave with materials essential to evaluating their organization.

People come to nonprofits for help, donors support nonprofits and volunteers assist nonprofits all base on your organization's story. Learn to develop your story and its value in attracting others to your cause.

We never know how our next client, volunteer or sponsor will first encounter our organization. Social media's constantly changing nature means it receives a great deal of attention. However, websites should not be ignored. Let's look at other nonprofit websites and see what features you can incorporate in your own.

An organization's board members are often its first volunteers. When an organization grows larger than the founders it sometimes becomes necessary for the board to focus on advocacy instead of day-to-day operations. Learn the various roles of board members as well as how to find and recruit individuals with the strengths you need.

Whether you realize it or not you are marketing. Are you creating content for blogs or social media? That is content marketing. Are you sending emails? That is email marketing. Come learn how to structure what you are already doing into a marketing plan. Formal plans increase the success of reaching your goals.

We constantly encounter national brands on various social media channels with complex campaigns. What is often forgotten is at one time they started small. Starting small, not being afraid to experiment, growing and adapting are how campaigns are created. Let's look at the various social media channels, their strengths & weaknesses and how to get started.

On the surface volunteers are the labor organizations need to operate. Looking beyond the surface reveals that each volunteer fills several roles (i.e. donors, marketing staff and representatives.) Learn how to engage your volunteers and services that can assist with organizing volunteers.

Improving your skills means constantly learning in formal and informal settings. There are many people sharing their knowledge through blogs, social media and podcasts. Come learn who is "out other" and share who you follow.

Predicting with certainty what will happen in the future is impossible. However, some assumptions can be made. Increased adoption of smartphones and tablets mean mobile becomes just as important as websites and social media. We will look at trends in technology and how to develop a foundation that can adapt to changes.

While losing key staffers and volunteers can be difficult on a personal level, if plans are not put into place before their departure organizations also have the potential to lose time and access to important data or services. Learn how to better prepare for staff and volunteer transitions.

When you are small, possibly a team of one, setting prioritize is important. We will discuss aspects that appear small but have a huge impact on your ability to succeed. Topics include: Thank yous, internal communications, segmentation and the importance of images.

Graphic editors, stock photos, project management, email marketing, volunteer management are just some of the tools necessary to operate a nonprofit. Learn about free or low cost tools that will allow you to operate on a small budget.