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.

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.

Upcoming ED Forums

Our King County Board Training Series runs from September to May, offering over a dozen well-reviewed sessions about governance and board development for staff and board members.  

Sessions are always held at Pacific Tower in Seattle but attendees from other counties are welcome! Cost is $45 per person and $40 for organizations that are 501 Commons members. Organizations with budgets under $1 million receive a $20 discount. Direct questions to Kendra Demuth at kendra@501commons.org.

Upcoming Board Training:

Up Your Understanding of Nonprofit Financial Statements – Oct. 29, 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Pacific Tower

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

Held periodically at Pacific Tower or online as a webinar, topics discussed at 501 Talks Tech include website maintenance, Google AdWords, social media, databases, search engine optimization, project management / collaboration tools, security & privacy, mobile, e-mail, and more.

Upcoming workshops:

Measurement for Impact: Google Analytics for Nonprofits – Oct. 24, 12:00 to 1:30 p.m., Pacific Tower

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 are 3-6 hours long and cover topics such as staff retention, diversity and inclusion, cultivating empathy and emotional intelligence, building leadership skills, improving communication, and handling difficult conversations.

Upcoming workshop:

Courageous Conversations on Race – Oct. 30, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Pacific Tower

For a busy nonprofit professional, effectively managing volunteers can seem daunting – even challenging – but with a little time and intention you can go from being solely reactive to highly effective at engaging volunteers. This daylong session presented in partnership with United Way of King County, wit support from Volunteer Generation Fund, will guide you through the critical components of setting a volunteer program up for success.

Life Cycle of Effective Volunteer Management – Nov. 12, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Pacific Tower

Winter is coming, which means school breaks and holiday cheer are right around the corner! This means your organization will have more chances for families to come visit and volunteer.

Explore the benefits of multi-generational engagement, ways to structure mutually beneficial volunteer projects that succeed, mitigating risks, and ideas for fun age appropriate activities.

Overcoming the Barriers to Family Volunteering – Nov. 5, 2:00 to 5:00 p.m., Pacific Tower

The GiveBIG Washington 2020 campaign officially kicks off on Thursday, Oct. 29 when we host our first strategic webinar from 10:30 a.m. to noon (PST).

The Ostara Group will discuss lessons learned from the 2019 campaign and improvements you can make in 2020. CiviCore will inform you about changes to the GiveBIG website and back-end functionality.

We will stream the webinar on Facebook Live and post it later on YouTube. But if you attend it live, you can get your questions answered!