Executive Director Forums are a low-effort, low-cost, and high-impact way to gather with your executive director peers and learn from each other. Each forum gives you the chance to participate in three roundtable discussions led by an experienced executive director. Participants share problems and solutions and trade tips and resources. All sessions will occur via Zoom.

For more than a decade, ED Forum participants consistently report that they left with actionable information and an extra bounce in their step from networking with others in our sector.

Email nancy@501commons.org if you are interested in being a discussion leader or if there's a topic you'd like to see covered.

Upcoming ED Forums:

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Our Board Leadership Series offers more than a dozen well-reviewed sessions about governance and board development for staff and board members. Every class is taught by expert nonprofit professionals who bring years of experience working with and consulting to nonprofit organizations like yours.

All sessions will be held via Zoom. When you register through Eventbrite, we will send you the Zoom link before the day of the training. Cost is $45 per person and $40 for organizations that are 501 Commons members. Organizations with budgets under $1 million receive a $20 discount.

Please direct your questions to Greg Scully at greg@501commons.org.

Upcoming Board Trainings:

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Technology is a crucial component for the success of nonprofits to serve their missions. 501 Talks Tech is a series of educational sessions that provide information on free and low-cost technology tools that are readily available to nonprofit organizations of all sizes.

Held online as a webinar, topics discussed at 501 Talks Tech include website maintenance, Google AdWords, social media, databases, search engine optimization, project management and collaboration tools, security & privacy, mobile, e-mail, and more. Our trainers are technology experts who bring years of practical experience using these tools for social good.

Upcoming workshops:

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Affordable in-depth classes designed to build up your professional skills and leadership capabilities are available through the 501 Commons Staff Development Coalition. These workshops improve how staff and executive directors work with each other and the communities they serve.

Sessions cover topics such as staff retention, diversity and inclusion, cultivating empathy and emotional intelligence, building leadership skills, improving communication, and handling difficult conversations.

Upcoming workshops:

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Attention all volunteer managers! Thanks to support from United Way of King County, you can attend these informative volunteer management webinars for free. Please forward these training opportunities to those in your network who might want to attend.

Creating and Maintaining an Inclusive Volunteer Program – Wednesday, May 24, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Engaging, Equipping, and Retaining Volunteers – June 9, 16, & 23, 11:00 a.m. to noon

Increasing pay rates to align them with similar sectors like government, philanthropy, and education will require major systems change and changes in how organizations operate. It will be very hard to do.

But by using competitive salary information and having a clear compensation philosophy and approach, you can improve internal pay equity and employee satisfaction. 501 Commons invites you to this free presentation where Nancy Long (executive director) and Danielle Lyda (HR Program Manager) where we will talk about how you can evaluate and adjust pay levels to improve internal pay equity and how you can improve employee satisfaction by being transparent about your approach to compensation.

Walking the Talk: Internal Pay Equity and Staff Engagement – Tuesday, May 23, 1:30 to 3:00 p.m.