One-Day Summer BootCamp for Emerging Nonprofits

All topics will be tailored to cover the basics so that attendees have a firm foundation on which to build, and leave with a sense of the next steps for building the organization and its capacity. This is a great opportunity for new non profit directors and board members to attend together!

High-level topics to be addressed (not equally):

• Governance (about 40% of the content)
• Staff roles vs board roles
• Insurance 
• Financial management processes
• Legal
• Fundraising/revenue
• Program/Services (a checklist that pertains to all mission areas)
• Ways to stay energized, focused, and connected

Topics will be addressed through a combination of

• Facilitator led instruction
• Interactive discussion 
• Panel
• Small group work
• Outside experts
• Large group review of resources

Attendees will leave with a handbook containing templates, sample descriptions, articles, and other resources to guide them in the coming months. Attending organizations will also have a free hour of consultation with the BootCamp presenter, good anytime in 2017, to help their organization past any hurdles.

About the Presenter:

 Susan Nicholl has served as a management consultant for the  Institute for Nonprofit Development in Central Massachusetts,  where she provided technical assistance to small and medium  nonprofits in the areas of governance, planning, revenue  development, and general management. She was instrumental in launching and establishing the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network (MNN) as its first and sole staff member. She has served as the past chair of the MetroWest Nonprofit Network and as a former editor of massnonprofit.org She currently serves as the Chair of the Leadership MetroWest Board of Directors, and is a member of the Board of Directors of MNN and the 495/MetroWest Partnership. She has worked professionally with boards of directors at three dozen organizations, providing consultation focused on re-energizing, and growing small organizations.

For the past five years, Susan has been serving as the first executive director of the MetroWest Visitors Bureau,(MWVB), a regional economic development nonprofit organization dedicated to stimulating the region’s economy by raising visibility for the area’s cultural, historic, culinary, hospitality, retail, and recreation offerings.  Starting with no funds and no members, the Visitors Bureau, under her leadership, has grown to 300 members, uniting nonprofit, public, and for-profit organizations in 19 municipalities while creating programs and services, establishing a solid governance structure, and tripling the operating budget within three years.  The Visitors Bureau has become a recognized and well-respected voice for the region, and is perhaps best known to the public through its signature event, MetroFest, an annual regional festival attended by thousands of residents and visitors, that has quickly become a regional tradition, showcasing MetroWest’s arts, culture, and commerce.