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CompassPoint
Nonprofit Day Wrap Up
Sep 1st
Nonprofit Day 2010 was the BEST nonprofit conference that I have EVER attended – and I have attended many nonprofit conferences!! I am not just saying this–there was truly something magical about this conference. The awesome theme, networking opportunities, and talented speakers made this event top my charts.
The theme of Nonprofit Day was storytelling. This theme allowed for attendees to briefly pause the busyness of running their nonprofit organizations and learn how to tell REAL stories about the people that we serve, the lives that we touch, and the communities that we impact.
Stories can be shared in many different formats through video, audio, verbal, and text. In fact, a nonprofit organization Storytellers for Good created videos for select nonprofits during the conference and StoryCorps audio recorded nonprofit stories during the event! We definitely need more positive videos (stories) about nonprofits and the amazing work that we do.
Emotions emerged and flowed through the space as a result of the conference theme. There were many instances in which the tears were flowing down the faces of many attendees because of the compelling stories that were shared by the speakers.
There were also many breaks throughout the conference and extended periods of networking. This allowed for conference attendees to spend as much or as little time as they wanted to networking, visiting exhibitors, or catching up on their work. I thoroughly enjoyed the networking time and reconnected with people I hadn’t seen for years and people I had only “met” digitally.
The last piece that made this conference so phenomenal was the speakers. In the sessions that I attended there was much audience participation! We networked and engaged in partner activities.
After the conference ended there were two happy hour events. One, an official part of the conference, was hosted by Eventbrite and the other was hosted by YNPN SFBA.
Many people tweeted about the conference. These tweets can be found on the Nonprofit Day Live page or by using twitter search #npd10. @jdeancoffey @jakenyon @wiserearth @fitz350 @tccgroup @gtak @hollyminch @lisa_sherrill @stories4good @missionm @nonprofitsrule & more tweeted the event.
A few of us also wrote blog posts about the different sessions that we attended.
- From Nonprofit Law Blog — CompassPoint Nonprofit Day 2010 Recap
- From Nonprofit Leadership 601 — My Story about CompassPoint
- From Jara Dean Coffey — Social Change for Service Providers
- From Wiser Earth — Next Generation Leadership
- From John Kenyon — Next Generation Organizations
- From Wiser Earth — Is your Nonprofit Leveraging Volunteers Effectively?
- From Nonprofit Leadership 601 — Reimagining Service/Effective Human Resources Management Practices
- From Nonprofit Leadership 601 — Coaching–a form of supervision
Live Blogging Nonprofit Day 2010: My Story about CompassPoint
Aug 31st
Storytelling is the focus of this year’s Nonprofit Day. Before I get into the notes from the keynote this morning, I want to tell a story about CompassPoint.
Before I moved to San Diego (from the San Francisco Bay Area) I took full advantage of all the amazing professional development resources and trainings that CompassPoint provides. While I was working as a nonprofit manager for Low-Income Families’ Empowerment through Education (LIFETIME) in Oakland, I attended the Fundraising Academy for Communities of Color and learned from some talented fundraisers in the sector: Kim Klein, Robert Weiner, and Madeline Stanionis. I also attended several professional development workshops on creating a nonprofit website, being an accidental techie, and conducting nonprofit bookkeeping and accounting. In addition, I purchased and vigorously read Sue Bennett’s Accidental Techie Book and Jeanne Bell’s Financial Leadership for Nonprofit Executives book. And, I attended numerous Nonprofit Day Conferences.
CompassPoint is continually evolving and sharing best practices that reach nonprofits, nonprofit leaders, and social change agents where we are at.
I was awe and inspired by Peter Bratt, this mornings keynote speaker who discussed the importance of storytelling in our lives and in our nonprofit work. I didn’t realize how much the stories we learn and we share are embedded in how we perceive the cultures within our society. He said “Unlearn some stories that have been imposed over us and reclaim new ones share them with your community. Share ourselves in a new light!! ” As a storyteller and movie producer (see La Mission — wow!) He also opened up the floor for the audience to be able to share their own stories about the nonprofit community. I personally feel that storytelling is a form of nonprofit marketing. When we improve storytelling in our organizations, we improve our marketing efforts and how the community views our organization.
Now that I shared my story about CompassPoint and notes from this mornings keynote, what is your nonprofit story and how will storytelling help your organization?
As a point of clarification I am volunteering for CompassPoint and not getting paid by them to say these nice things about them. 
I just really like the services that they provide and how relevant these professional development opportunities are to the current needs of the nonprofit community.
I’ll be blogging Nonprofit Day 2010
Aug 26th
On Tuesday, August 31st I’ll be live blogging CompassPoint’s Nonprofit Day 2010 in San Francisco. I am super excited to attend this conference and spend time with my nonprofit peeps in the San Francisco Bay Area!!
I’ll be blogging and tweeting (@Heather Carpente) the conference alongside some of my long-time friends and colleagues in the sector including:
- Gene Takagi of the Nonprofit Law Blog (@GTak)
- Curtis Chang of Consulting Within Reach
- Jara Dean-Coffey of To What End (@jdeancoffey)
- John Kenyon, Nonprofit Technology Educator and Strategist (@jakenyon)
- Peggy Duvette of WiserEarth (@wiserearth)
- & Nelson Layag of CompassPoint (@nonprofitsrule)
If you cannot attend the event or want to read about all the sessions, check out the Nonprofit Day 2010 Live page. This page includes a Nonprofit Day blog roll and a compilation of tweets from the event (#npd10).
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