2010 Board Member Institute: September 13-15, 2010
Purpose
Board members of AmeriCorps State and National grantees (i.e., state service commissions and national parent organizations) will convene together for the first time ever at the AmeriCorps Grantee Meeting to discuss the exciting new opportunities to engage more Americans to answer the President’s Call to Service and to learn how board leaders of both AmeriCorps State Service Commissions and National grantees can incorporate the new elements of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act into strategies that will enhance your missions. The Institute is designed to provide attendees a working knowledge of the upcoming changes and expansion, share best practices and insights, develop new strategies for service as a solution, and further strengthen relationships between State and National grantees.
Goals
As a result of participating in this Institute, commissioners and board members will:
- Better understand the current National Service landscape and role of CNCS and transform that information into new strategies to support service;
- Know how to more effectively utilize service as a solution to address local needs and issues;
- Understand the implications of the rapid growth of AmeriCorps including the need for stewardship and new ways of collaborating;
- Understand the assets and value AmeriCorps*State and National each bring to collaborative work at the state level;
- Clarify how to deepen and maximize win/win collaborations between state service commissions and national programs tapping in to the assets of each to address local needs;
- Begin to integrate institute learning into an immediate and long-term strategy for their respective organizations; and
- Strengthen the peer network for dialogue, resource sharing, and exchange.
View notes from the Institute (pdf)
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2010
10:00 am - Welcome and Overview of Agenda
10:15 am - National Service and the Corporation for National and Community Service
This overview session will provide a foundation for board members as we kick off the 2010 Institute on topics to include: an overview of the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) and the National Service programs it funds, the AmeriCorps State and National Office, and basic grantee board/program roles and responsibilities.
10:40 am - Who Are We and What are Our Unique Assets?
State Service Commissions and AmeriCorps*State
National Parent Organizations and AmeriCorps*National
Are you familiar with AmeriCorps National programs and how they work? How about state service commissions? This is a great opportunity to learn more! The Serve America Act has changed the ways that state service commissions and national AmeriCorps programs engage with each other. The increased communication and collaboration now required offers significant benefits while at the same time affects the operations of both types of CNCS grantee organizations. This session presents an overview of both types of organizations and their key differences while pointing out the areas of commonality, as well.
Learn more about the unique assets of State and National grantees. Hear from your peers and get your questions answered so you can better understand the many opportunities for enhanced collaboration moving forward.
11:40 am - Getting the Most Out of the Afternoon
This session is designed as a “heads up” on the key information to be listening for during the AmeriCorps Meeting Plenary from the frame of how it will impact your future board work. For example, what are the 4 pillars? What does the SAA mean to me and how will it impact our organization and its work? What will we have to do differently?
1:00 pm - AmeriCorps Meeting: Opening Plenary
This is a great opportunity to join all the grantee staff from AmeriCorps State and National to hear from the CNCS leadership about current topics of interest that affect your board work as well as the ongoing work of your staff. Fulfilling the promise of the Serve America Act has been and remains a top priority for the Corporation. These are both exciting and challenging times and the directions set and priorities established will have a significant impact. CNCS leadership will address the current state and anticipated directions and priorities. Discussion will cover the national level as well as the specific AmeriCorps State and National updates.
3:30 pm - Grantee Meeting: Small Group Work
Small group reflection on plenary information to deepen the discussion. Talk with others about the implications for your own organization.
4:30 pm - Exhibit Review – AmeriCorps State
Come learn more about this impressive community and the many resources that your organization can tap into for future collaboration. This is the first of two scheduled review times. During this time, the AmeriCorps State grantees will host their exhibits. During the session on Tuesday, the AmeriCorps National grantees will host their exhibits.
4:30 pm - Leadership Dialogue
Grantee leadership (EDs, CEOs, Board Chairs, or the most senior staff in attendance) in dialogue with John Gomperts, Patrick Corvington, Lois Nembhard and Rob Glazier. This is an opportunity to provide the questions and information data generated during the small group discussions to CNCS leadership.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2010
8:00 am - Opening Plenary
8:30 am - Opening Plenary: Stewardship
Stewardship is a mindset and way of thinking that helps board members be more effective leaders of their mission-driven organizations. In this session, you will learn the key elements of good stewardship and the implications for funding and board member roles.
View the presentation (ppt) or (pdf)
10:00 am - Beyond Rules and Regs to Strategy for Adaptive Change
Board members play an essential role in developing appropriate and timely strategies to help their organizations accomplish their mission while positioning their organizations for success during times of change. This session will provide an overview of strategy and the strategy-related documents frequently employed by national service grantee organizations. Through a case study exercise and food for thought offered by a peer resources panel sharing best practices in portfolio expansion, operational grants, and legislative education, you will gain new ideas to share in your board’s future strategic dialogues.
12:00 pm - Reflection, AmeriCorps Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Lunch with former AmeriCorps Directors Deb Jospin, Rosie Mauk and Kristin McSwain
2:00 pm - Hot Topics Plenary: Spreading the Word: Strategies for Enhanced Communication and Outreach
AmeriCorps National programs and state service commissions and their program portfolios too often remain “a well kept secret.” The Serve America Act and the commitment of the current Administration both are synergizing and increased visibility of National Service and volunteerism. However, to best take advantage of this current national focus, you need to be able to effectively spread the word about who you are and the impact of your work in local communities. Each of your organizations is uniquely positioned to be able to demonstrate the effectiveness of using service as a solution to critical community needs. This session offers the opportunity for sharing best practices and innovative ideas for how to better market and brand your organization’s work to increase your visibility and leverage support.
2:50 pm - Hot Topics Plenary: Program Development through Leveraging Data
Under the Serve America Act, the Corporation has a deepened focus on demonstrating and measuring the impact of the programs it funds. However, the data collected by your programs and sites is also useful for decision-making and program improvement. In this session, you will learn about the new national performance measures for AmeriCorps programs and discuss ways you can effectively use data for program development and in funding decisions.
4:00 pm - Hot Topics Plenary: Building Leadership and Sustainability
This session will highlight effective strategies for how AmeriCorps grantee organizations can build leadership and organizational capacity to insure long-term sustainability.
4:30 pm - Exhibit Review – AmeriCorps National
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2010
8:30 am - Hot Topics Plenary: Catalytic Philanthropy
More than ever, we need to insure that scarce resources are leveraged to make the greatest difference possible. This session will give you food for thought on current trends in philanthropy and grant making and present the four distinct practices of “catalytic philanthropy”: (1) having the ambition to change the world and the courage to accept responsibility for achieving the results you seek; (2) engaging others in a compelling campaign, empowering stakeholders and creating the conditions for collaboration and innovation; (3) using all of the tools that are available to create change, including unconventional ones from outside the nonprofit sector; and (4) creating actionable knowledge to improve your effectiveness and to influence the behavior of others.
9:00 am - Taking It Back
As either the sole representative attending from your organization or one of a small handful, it can be challenging to take all the great learning from the Institute back to your own organization. How can you create enough energy to motivate your peers to discuss and fine tune for the future? In this session, small groups will pool their notes and impressions to prepare talking points and food for thought for one of the major sessions from the Institute. Notes from each group will be compiled and given to you as a comprehensive resource to assist you in your future work with your board.
facilitated by: Sally Prouty, President and CEO, The Corps Network
10:15 am - World Café, Commitments
As you think about going back home, you will have the opportunity to share with other attendees your key learnings, ideas you are taking back for enhancements to your organization, and the best practices you see as having the greatest promise for your future board work.
facilitated by: Lisa Keyne, Commissioner, North Carolina State Commission
