Past Piper Academies
Generating Immediate Revenue for Nonprofits: Earned Income
This interactive workshop, by MissionWise on creating new earned income provided real-life examples, exercises and dialogue. Each nonprofit executive weighed organizational strengths and assets as building blocks to identifying short-term earned income opportunities and long-term business strategies to advance mission and increase revenue. A power idea session focused the audience’s attention on brainstorming revenue-generation ideas for four organizations represented in the audience.
April 2010
Recession Fundamentals Workshop
Nonprofit Finance Fund designed the session to help nonprofit leaders develop and use financial information to make better decisions and communicate more effectively with supporters. Participants learned about the interplay between financial risk, revenue reliability and fixed costs, and how this information can be used to enhance planning and decision making during recession.
February 2010
Getting Ready for the Next Decade
National fundraising expert Kay Sprinkel Grace reprised her March 2007 Piper Academy with a focus on getting ready for a new decade. The academy covered end-of-year messaging and stewardship strategies, individual donor planning and ideas for fundraising during economic crisis. Working with ASU Lodestar Center on Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation, the Trust offered a six-month webinar program with Kay Sprinkel Grace and local consultants for a group of nonprofit agencies who attended the academy.
October 2009
What Nonprofits Should Know about Real Estate
A leading Phoenix commercial real estate specialist, Craig Coppola, presented a Piper Academy on the benefits and drawbacks of owning versus leasing office space.
June 2009
Web 2.0, Social Media & Storytelling for Nonprofits
Victor d'Allant, executive director of Skoll Foundation's worldwide online community Social Edge, spoke to nonprofit leaders about how nonprofits can use the web 2.0 toolkit to tell their stories even better. His advice: Use social media for its intended use, building relationships, not PR; social media is not a one-size-fits-all solution so decide what you want to achieve first; connect with your audiences by telling great stories; and talk about the challenges in your work—it builds trust. See the d'Allant presentation.
May 2009
Nonprofit Leadership in Good Times and Bad
Dr. Reynold Levy, a distinguished nonprofit leader and president of the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts in New York, gave an upbeat presentation to nonprofit leaders. He began, "Today is an unusual day; it is 9:30 in the morning, and I haven't asked anyone for money!" Dr. Levy gave tips on fundraising and working with boards of directors. Each participant received his book, Yours for the Asking: An Indispensable Guide to Fundraising and Management.
April 2009
Switch: Changing Things When Change Is Hard
Change is hard. Nonprofits know that. What if those of us in the nonprofit field could look at change as something to accept and use to our advantage? Chip Heath, author of the best-selling book Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die, presented a Piper Academy to discuss concepts for a new book that he and his brother were writing on change. Some 40 executive directors attended the session.
October 2008
It's Not What You Saw—It's What People Hear
Dr. Frank Luntz presented a communications workshop based on his book, Words that Work. The speaker is a student of the art and science of language, and he examined how the simple choice of words can change history. The "Instant Response" focus group technique that he pioneered was profiles on CBS "60 Minutes." See the Luntz presentation.
October 2007
Build the Relationship and the Money Will Come
Kay Sprinkel Grace, a noted fundraiser and fundraising consultant to the vast PBS television network of stations, presented a fundraising workshop that included her fundamental approach to successful fundraising: understanding mission, vision and values; creating board and staff partnerships; marketing development efforts; building a stewardship program; and positioning your organization for the 21st Century.
March 2007
How Nonprofits Can Incorporate World-class Customer Service
The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center presented a Piper Academy on the legendary service at The Ritz-Carlton hotels and how nonprofits can take customer service to a new level. Representatives talked about a system to train employees in the finer points of customer service and how to implement such a program.
November 2006
What Baby Boomers Can Do for You
Organizational development consultant Maureen Curley made a presentation on the burgeoning talent pool of over-55 individuals. The workshop offered tools for attracting and retaining this highly skilled, motivated workforce. Arizona has lots of Boomers: some 650,000 people will be 60 in the 20-teens.
August 2006
Governance, Transparency and Accountability
Diane Aviv, president and CEO of Independent Sector, the national leadership forum for charities, foundation and corporate giving programs, presented The Panel of the Nonprofit Sector's "Report to Congress and the Nonprofit Sector on Governance, Transparency, and Accountability." Following the release of this report and its presentation, the Piper Trust board of trustees adopted Eight Best Practices for Nonprofits that grantees must demonstrate they have incorporated in their practices to receive a grant.
January 2006
Storytelling as Best Practice
Communications consultant Andy Goodman gave a presentation on "how stories strengthen your organization, engage your audience and advance your mission." Teams of participants submitted stories from their nonprofits to enhance the interactive experience. A great quote: "Even if you have reams of evidence on your side, remember: numbers numb, jargon jars, and nobody ever marched on Washington because of a pie chart. If you want to connect with your audience, tell a story."
September 2005
Building a Learning Community
Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of Learning Organizations and founder of the society for organizational learning, presented a unique five-day course on building community learning, collaboration and organization capacity in the nonprofit sector. The course was designed for organizational leadership teams of three-to-seven people from a single organization.
May 2004
Spend a Day with Jerry Panas
One of the nation's most highly regarded consultants in fund development and trustee governance, Jerry Panas presented a daylong seminar for nonprofit executives and development officers. The morning session also included nonprofit board members.
December 2003