Join the Wyoming Nonprofit Network team to learn how to build your organization's outreach strategy for WyoGives and have the opportunity to develop video and photo content. 

The Connection Imperative: A New Paradigm for Growth and Impact, Mallory Erickson

In a time where the craving for meaningful connections intersects with the rise of digital interaction, Mallory Erickson's keynote shines a light on the pivotal role of genuine relationships in both personal growth and organizational success. She delves into the scientific underpinnings of our need for connection during crucial moments in our and our communities' journeys, highlighting how connections with ourselves, our teams, within the nonprofit sector's ecosystem, and with our community of supporters, not only intertwine but also amplify each other's impact.

Fostering Authentic Connections: Crafting Experiences That Engage All Supporters, Mallory Erickson

What do your supporters REALLY need? Amidst the myriad opinions on how to attract, engage, and retain the diverse array of individuals who back your cause—from donors to volunteers—it can feel overwhelming to discern what truly matters. In this session, Mallory will demystify the core desires of your supporters and reveal the specific strategies for creating communications and experiences that build genuine relationships. When supporters feel genuinely valued and see their efforts aligning with your mission, their engagement deepens, their commitment strengthens, and your organization’s impact dramatically widens. Discover how to enhance the supporter experience across the board, ensuring every touchpoint contributes to a more vibrant, committed community around your cause. 

From Dead Heads to Swifties: Using Anthropology to Cultivate Your Multigenerational Audience, Stacy Stebner

This presentation will help nonprofit leaders find innovative, and culturally-specific ways to connect with their audience to become more relevant and enhance community impact using tools from cultural anthropology. In the small, geographically isolated communities that dominate Wyoming, it can be futile to develop very specific target demographics for programming and outreach because our populations are often too small. We find ourselves pursuing a diverse audience representing different generations and subcultures in an effort to promote participation and philanthropy. Stacy will discuss concepts in anthropology that can be applied to cultivating your multigenerational audience providing examples of my successes and blunders over the years as an academic anthropologist turned nonprofit leader.

Your Annual Appeal Plan, Bekah Smith Hazelton and Madeline Zimmer

Attendees will learn the basics of creating an annual appeal plan to raise funds for operations and receive tips on writing an annual appeal letter. Bekah and Madeline will discuss everything from the voice you use to connect to donors to the back-of-house tasks like data retrieval. They will cover how the WYCF and the WYWF use annual appeals and industry data and advice. Come away with your first annual appeal plan or use the time to refine your existing strategy! Materials required: Participants should bring a laptop or tablet, and a digital copy of your annual appeal donor list if possible.

The Basics of Planned Giving: Guidance from a Fundraiser and a Professional Advisor, Jerrica Becken and Brett Befus

Join the Wyoming Women’s Foundation staff for the release of their brand-new report, The Self-Sufficiency Standard for Wyoming 2024. The Self-Sufficiency Standard is a calculation of income is required for a family to meet its basic needs without public or private assistance. Explore the report and the Self-Sufficiency Calculator, which provides data specific to family composition and county of residence in Wyoming. Learn about changes since the report’s last release in 2020 and how you can use this data tool in your work as a nonprofit organization. 

Program Highlight: Building Trust - Leveraging BBB's FREE Accreditation to Elevate Support For Your Nonprofit, Jennifer Hahnke 

Only one in five Americans report a high level of trust in charities. In today's competitive funding landscape, trust is paramount for the success of any nonprofit organization. As donors become more discerning and seek reliable information before contributing, it is crucial for local nonprofits to prioritize transparent and ethical practices. Your local Better Business Bureau (BBB) offers a valuable tool in this pursuit – the (free) Charity Accreditation Evaluation.

This compelling presentation aims to guide nonprofit leaders through the essential elements of nonprofit management, focusing on governance and financial responsibility. By delving into BBB's 20 Standards for Charity Accountability, participants will discover how this accreditation can be a powerful asset in elevating their organization's mission, amplifying their nonprofit brand, and signaling trust to new and engaged supporters and funders.

Under The Influence... of Stress, Corey Ciocchetti 

Corey’s motivating and intellectually-driven speech on stress is perfect for you and your team.  Corey’s speech helps you figure out your current stress level. After determining your stress score, the group then evaluates twenty ways to decrease the minor stressors in your life. Once you lower your stress score, you can focus and, hopefully, eliminate your major stressors and more effectively chase an authentic life. Feeling stressed? This talk is for you . . . and everyone really! 

Short-Form Video Content, Laura Dale and Alex Shannon

Whether we like it or not, social media has become an essential marketing & communications tool with short form content leading the way on platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels. Short form videos can be used to showcase a service, share a message, or provide entertainment to your audience. The key is to keep it simple, engaging, and on-brand. Join Laura and Alex as they dive into what this video content is, and why it's valuable. 

Wyoming Self-Sufficiency Standard Report and Calculator, Rebekah Smith Hazelton

Join the Wyoming Women’s Foundation staff for the release of their brand-new report, The Self-Sufficiency Standard for Wyoming 2024. The Self-Sufficiency Standard is a calculation of income is required for a family to meet its basic needs without public or private assistance. Explore the report and the Self-Sufficiency Calculator, which provides data specific to family composition and county of residence in Wyoming. Learn about changes since the report’s last release in 2020 and how you can use this data tool in your work as a nonprofit organization. 

Death and Grief in Fundraising Relationships: How to Communicate Compassionately, Madeline Zimmer and Rachel McPherson

Authentic connection in fundraising relationships is beneficial for both parties and can help to ensure longstanding partnership. Understanding how to navigate situations of grief and death gracefully provides confidence in the fundraiser and comfort to the donor.  Madeline and Rachel's presentation will cover two topics:  when a donor loses a loved one and when a donor passes away. Attendees will gain understanding of good language to use surrounding grief as well as etiquette and techniques for supporting those experiencing loss. This will cover how important this skill is in the field of fundraising. Attendees will have the opportunity to better understand the nuances of navigating relationships with the families of donors prior to, during, and after their passing. 

Due Diligence of Accepting Gifts and Bequests, Misty Gehle

For most nonprofits, gift acceptance policies cover general guidelines for what gifts the organization will and will not accept, but few address what due diligence may be required when you receive a planned gift.  Navigating the complexities of being a beneficiary and ensuring that the funds received are used effectively in accordance with the donor's wishes and legal requirements, can be overwhelming.  What risks may exist - both direct and indirect - when you are the beneficiary of a trust or estate?  We will discuss these things and more.

Program Highlight: Collaborating for a Healthier Wyoming: A Lens into Wyoming Community Information Exchange Program, Amy Spieker

CommuniCare is Wyoming’s community information exchange (CIE) program, or coordinated care network, consisting of healthcare and human services organizations (government, nonprofit and other organizations) who commit to sharing information and coordinating client/patient care with each other. Partners can access a variety of tools to identify client needs, close the loop on referrals, communicate with others working with shared clients, and better identify available resources. Shared clients have more efficient access to the services, care, and support they need to improve their health, functioning, and quality of life. In this session, participants will learn about the origin and expansion of CIE programs across the nation, and how each program is being adapted to different situations and needs. We will go into the history of CommuniCare, the intended benefits of such a program, and how providers and individuals can benefit from being a part of this program.

Spirit of Philanthropy Award, Wyoming Community Foundation

Inspire Integrity: Chase an Authentic Life, Corey Ciocchetti

Corey’s most popular keynote on ethics encourages audiences to chase the truly important things in life such as a solid character, strong personal relationships and a sense of contentment. These “real rabbits” are compared and contrasted to more fleeting worldly success such as excessive wealth, popularity, and prestige. Audience members leave with a better sense of what it takes to develop integrity, set priorities, gain a big-picture perspective, and chase an authentic life. By the end, Corey promises that this will be one of the most powerful and motivational speeches you have ever heard. 

The Donor Path - Best Practices to Attract and Retain Donors, Kari Anderson 

So, you’ve got a donor base (or do you, really)?  Maybe it’s a list of donors on a spreadsheet, maybe your donors are tucked into a CRM.  What to do with them?  Spend a couple of hours with Kari Anderson, recovering nonprofit exec and current nonprofit border collie.  We’ll spend time discussing how to build a donor base (using special events as your gateway).  We’ll work to define your donor path based on your current campaign opportunities.  We’ll identify whom (may) be major gift prospects.  We’ll brainstorm easy donor stewardship ideas for you to begin implementing when you leave the conference.  Bottom line:  nonprofit execs need to both recruit and keep donors in order to successfully fundraise for your organization. You’ll leave this session with additional tips and tools to accomplish both. 

Achieving Objectives: Cracking Strategic Prospection with the Actor's Formula, Anne Mason

What the future would look like if your organization achieved all its goals? How would the world be different as a result? How do we get there? And where do we even start? Leaning into this big picture visioning can unlock brave new worlds of impactful possibilities but can also sometimes trigger halting waves of overwhelm. It’s tricky to define or enact your organization's strategy or direction when faced with complex obstacles and circumstances. But boundaries and constraints inspire creative problem solving - and applied theatre skills can open the door to a whole new way of tackling challenges. Utilizing the actor’s formula will hone your purpose and vision, improve navigation of complexity, inspire creative ideation, plan execution strategies, and so much more. Acquire the foundational acting skills of objectives, obstacles, strategies, and tactics to discover a fun and effective means of nonprofit prospection.

Trust, Transparency and Teamwork: Strengthening Board Chair/Executive Director Partnerships, Tiffany Comer Cook

This interactive workshop delves into the critical relationship between Board Chairs and Executive Directors (EDs). We will cover 1) roles and responsibilities, 2) how to build and maintain trust, 3) communication, communication, communication, and 4) work styles and preferences. Board Chairs and EDs are welcome to attend together or separately. Either way, participants will engage in various activities and discussions, leaving the workshop with a concrete action plan to improve leadership collaborations.

Strengthening Emotional Intelligence in Yourself and in  Those You Lead, Kate Hayes

In today’s dynamic and diverse workplace, EQ (Emotional Intelligence) will help you make a true impact on those you lead. Learn some techniques that will help you to become that emotionally intelligent leader, from the inside, out. outcomes for the first half of session: Understanding of emotional intelligence, how to improve your EQ, and creation of your "manual".  The second portion of the workshop will help you discover the WHY behind what those you lead do what they do. Why they don’t do what they say they will and how to help them become the emotionally intelligent giant themselves. We dive deep into current sociology/psychology of the modern workforce and provide cutting edge techniques to not only get the most out of your team, but also give them the gift of knowing themselves better than ever. Outcomes: understanding the key to emotionally engage your team, tips to get talented individuals to perform at their best, put skills into use in a fun and engaging exercise. 

Program Evaluation, Dr. Gabel Taggart 

In general, there are two approaches for evaluating nonprofits: 1. Outcomes-based assessment, and 2. Internal accountability for things like financial ratios, transparency, and leadership best practices.  But what might there be beyond these two approaches? In this session, we will examine the philosophical roots of these two approaches, and then use that philosophy to explore possible practical alternatives or complements to these two approaches. Granters who are looking for alternative approaches for assessing grantees, or nonprofits who are looking for new ways to demonstrate their value may find this workshop illuminating.

Program Highlight (part one): Wyoming National Services Programs and Resources, Shelly McAlpin and Julie Nash

Participants in these programs address community needs in disaster services, economic opportunity, education, the environment, health, youth and veterans and military families. ServeWyoming is the Governor’s Commission on Volunteerism and National Service. We bring people together through service and award Wyoming AmeriCorps grants. Participants will learn about what AmeriCorps funding opportunities exist, the grant process, what AmeriCorps members do, and how they can utilize these resources to further your work.

Program Highlight (part two): Service Learning, Sarah Roberts and Noelle Kron

Serve Wyoming will demonstrate how we utilize knowledgeable and skilled volunteers to serve as mentors in Service-Learning at the community level. Participants in this session will learn how AmeriCorps Seniors play a vital role in cross stream/co-generational national service projects and Service-Learning. As a National Service Hub, Serve Wyoming strives to engage differing national service programs across the generations to build a pathway for a lifetime of service across AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps Seniors programing.

 Wyoming's Wealth Transfer and What it Means to You, Samin Dadelahi and Vickery Fales Hall

As part of the Wyoming Community Foundation’s celebration of its 35th anniversary, WYCF will be releasing the Wyoming Wealth Transfer Report in July of 2024. This report will update data last collected in 2003 regarding the generational transfer of wealth in Wyoming. This presentation will offer attendees a sneak peek at the data and report before it is released to the general public, and they will be given guidance and insight as to how this information is relevant to their organization. Attendees will leave with an understanding of the impact this wealth transfer will have on nonprofit fundraising in the years to come, specifically individual giving, donor relations, and planned giving. 

9:00 am - 9:15 am: Break

9:15 am - 11: 15 am:

Facilitated Learning Forum, Telling Our Collective Story, Facilitators: Amy Albrecht and Tess Mittelstadt  

Through a facilitated discussion format, attendees will have the opportunity to collaborate with peers to further develop the story of their organization, the story of their support area and provide direction for the Wyoming Nonprofit Network to amplify the voice of the nonprofit sector.

11:15 am - 11:30 am: Closing Remarks and Care/Travel Packages