2017 Annual Conference Agenda

Legal & Ethics Session: Unexpected Legal Issues in Challenging Times:

From natural disasters to economic challenges, your foundation and corporate giving may encounter unique legal issues. If you are asking, “How do we handle this in a proper legal and ethical fashion?”, this two-hours seminar approved for MCLE and CPE credits is the program for any attorney, trustee/board member, or staff member of a foundation or corporate giving program.   We begin with a presentation by attorney Zac Kester of Charitable Allies discussing unique legal issues for grantmaking foundations/corporations. Mr. Kester’s talk will be followed by a panel of experts. Our panelists include attorneys: Zac Kester, JD; Elaine Wilson, JD of WVU College of Law; and Melissa Watkins of Steptoe & Johnson Law Firm who will discuss handling unexpected and complex issues around disaster grantmaking, social enterprises, impact investing, and more.  Approved 120 minutes of MCLE Credits

A New Vision for Comprehensive Capacity Building delivered by Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO):

Do the nonprofits you support have what they need to thrive and produce results?
Nonprofits have consistently struggled with retaining strong staff, fundraising effectively, and achieving long-term sustainability.  Now, more than ever, funders need to ensure that nonprofits are strong enough to provide sustainable support to our most vulnerable communities.  Join GEO as they present a two-hour power packed session that tackles the essential issues that drive the design of effective capacity building support.  Philanthropy WV members will share their capacity building work as well.

Education Track: Creative Education with Entrepreneur Development:

Launching and Advancing entrepreneurship is a very meaningful action for so many of West Virginia’s communities to create a new economic resurgence. This quarterly meeting of Education Affinity Group will explore some of the major entrepreneur training and launching programs. Presenters for this session:

• Gene Coulson, Executive Director of EntreEd: Entre Ed champions entrepreneurship education and provides advocacy, leadership, networking, technical assistance, and resources nationally across all levels and disciplines of education, promoting quality practices and programs.
• Melinda Walls, WVU Assistant Vice President of Entrepreneurship & Innovation: Melinda will be speaking on  Trends  in Entrepreneurship Education in Higher Ed with a focus on the WVU IDEA Ecosystem supporting Entrepreneurs in WV.

Community Foundations Mini-Bootcamp Grantmaking Basics   

What are the core elements of a sound grantmaking program? From initial design to assessing of proposals to understanding the legal nuances of certain unique grant types (special awareness around grants to individuals, grants requiring expenditure responsibility, and economic development grants), come prepared for a quick but thorough program on the basic elements of grantmaking and the importance of sound practices around the funds with which we are entrusted.

Presenter: Judy Sjostedt, Parkersburg Area Community Foundation

• Learning: “Maximizing Funder Impact through Policy Advocacy”: True community, culture, and social change requires not only grantmaking into programs that deliver services, but also working on public policy advocacy.  This session will provide foundations of any size with the ethical best practices to maximize funder impact while including policy advocacy.  Join Philanthropy Ohio’s Senior Vice President of Communication & Public Policy, Claudia Herrold and The Nord Family Foundation’s Executive Director, John Mullaney for an interactive presentation to develop a comfort level and know the best practices in the critical area of public policy advocacy.  Approved 75 minutes of MCLE Credits
• Leveraging Partnerships in Funding & Impact: You’ve asked for three years that Philanthropy WV assist you as members to leverage partnerships and your impact. This year we are bringing you some great partners and concepts to learn, network, and put into action. This session will feature a panel of dynamic leaders from philanthropy, government, and business to share specific strategies and approaches to leverage your investments to have a greater impact.  This panel presentation includes:
  • Mary Hunt, Program Director for the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation discussing her work impacting Community & Economic Development
  • Hilary Heishman, Senior Program Officer for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation highlighting her expertise in a variety of topics, with special attention to improving and connecting systems that enable people to be healthy.
  • Mark Doak, Board Member for the Tucker Community Foundation will discuss the work of the Foundation around impact investing in their region to leverage their grantmaking and endowments investment strategy.
• Leading and Investing Locally: Community and neighborhood revitalization requires partnerships and leadership among philanthropy, government, nonprofits, local businesses, and the general public. Join us to learn from Charleston’s “West Invest Project” which is bringing unique partners together to restore pride and civic energy block by block. This panel presentation will share lessons learned that can be applied in your work. Panelists include Susie Salisbury, Vice President of Community Development at the Charleston Area Alliance; Corporal Errol Randle, Strategic Planning Officer with the Charleston Police Department; and Ron Butlin, Director of the Charleston Urban Renewal Authority.  These inspiring leaders will spark ideas and actions for you to apply in your community.
• Wildly Successful Giving Days: What our data and experience reveals about best practices that drastically up your results: If you are wanting to advance your online giving, and start a more advance giving day, join us for a great introduction of services and opportunities with GiveGab.  We are excited to have GiveGab join us and share their expertise, so that your Community Foundation and your nonprofit partners can get a leg up in the online giving world.  We welcome Charlie Mulligan, Founder/Owner of GiveGab, who will provide an overview of their tools that your community foundation will find useful.