Hola from DanceWorks Chicago!

DanceWorks Chicago will be on a plane to Mexico City tomorrow to embark on a three-week adventure, New Avenues/Nuevas Aventuras, supported by the International Connections Fund of the MacArthur Foundation. Cultural exchange makes us all more knowledgeable citizens of the world, better able to contribute to a richer environment. True to our vision for DanceWorks Chicago, both the process and the product will be valued. The exchange of ideas, whether officially through the work or unofficially as visitors in each other’s land, will be the catalyst for continued individual and collective growth, development, and expansion. 

Hasta la vista!

Webinars and more webinars

SMARTies, we hope you're enjoying the Fall season! There are many great upcoming webinars and workshops.

Donor's Forum is hosting a FREE workshop where you'll receive a tutorial on using prospecting databases, which you can access free in the library. You'll also receive an overview of the free reference collection of books and resources on grantwriting, individual fundraising, and nonprofit management, leadership and governance. 

When: Tuesday, November 6, 2012

Time: 12:00 am - 1:15 pm

Where: Donors Forum Library, 208 S. LaSalle, Suite 1540

Fees: Register here

Other Events of Interest

Axelson Center Fall Workshop and Webinar Series

Remember: Nonprofits with an operating budget of $1 million or less receive a 20% discount on Full-Day ($150) Half-Day ($75) workshops, and webinars ($50).

Click here to see a full list of upcoming webinars and workshops

Suggested Webinar:

Wednesday, November 14, 2012 from 12pm-1pm

Making the Ask: The Basic of Major Gift Solicitations

Mary Morten, President, Morten Group

Click here to learn more and to register. 

This webinar will provide participants with an overview of how to make a successful major gift solicitation, including structuring the meeting (who should attend, what on the agenda, flow, etc); building rapport; turning the conversation around (how to overcome objections) and making the ask

New Webinar: Detonating Your Nonprofit Donor Data for Explosive Results

Thursday, November 1, 2012
12:00 p.m - 1:30 p.m
$87.00
Click to register

How well do you know your donors and volunteers? When they talk about your organization what do they say? Why have they been giving for years? How did your donors and volunteers first come to you? Mail? Email? An event? A referral from a friend?

If you haven't considered these questions, you're not alone. Many organizations are not fully leveraging their data tracking system to support their individual fundraising program. In fact, a lot of organizations don't even realize this is something they can and should be doing.

Whether you're using a sophisticated donor database or a simple spreadsheet, this nonprofit webinar will show you how to view and analyze your most important data so you can start using it to raise more money and generate better results year-over-year. 

What you'll learn:

• Basic reminders about the fundamental metrics to track & why you should track them
• How to more effectively use your donor tracking data including: from 'how to calculate your donor retention & acquisition rates' to 'why to integrate all of your data to learn the real story.'

Webinar Includes:

1. The slides from the webinar
2. An Annual Data Review Checklist
3. A step-by-step instruction sheet for figuring out acquisition & retention rates

Presented by Lori L. Jacobwith, who brings 25 years of professional speaking, coaching and training to her work with social profit organizations.

Webinar: R.E.S.P.E.C.T. Your Data

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

2:00-3:00 p.m.
FREE
Click here to Register

Data = Your Donors = Revenue = Ability to Support Your Programs

The top issue for nonprofits today is prioritizing their data needs: customizing, integrating, cleaning, and management. In order to develop a strong fundraising plan, leadership needs to first take an analysis of your current database structures - from within.

• How are your donors being tracked?
• What is being tracked?
• What is being stored?
• How is it being managed?
• Is your data handled manually or automated?
• Is it helping your raise money?

We'll discuss the different ways to analyze and manage your data to ensure your fundraising team has the insight needed to construct targeted, insightful, and successful fundraising campaigns. Although your database is technology-based the output is fundraising-based.

Takeaways: You'll learn what R.E.S.P.E.C.T. really means:

• Steps to ensure your data is managed properly and consistently through staff changes
• Hos to maintain data integrity
• Ways data can enhance your fundraising plans

Presenter: Margaux Pagan, director of strategic fundraising at DonorFuse, a consulting group specializing in fusing innovative technologies with strategic fundraising to help nonprofit organizations grow their mission,

Workshop: Annual Appeals & Digital Campaigns

Are starting to think about end of year asks? Have you been thinking about digital campaigns? Then this workshop if for you! 

The last workshop of the year will focus on how to best utilize Email Marketing tools and Content Strategy techniques to develop effective Fundraising campaigns and End of Year asks. You will hear from an expert in digital media as well as from a panel of arts professionals who have development experience. 

Tuesday, October 23, 2012. 5:30-8:00pm

Columbia College Chicago

623 S Wabash, Hokin Hall, Rm 109

Topics will include:

• How to construct an effective e-mail: content and design
• When and how to send emails
• How to measure impact and improve results
• The Who, What, How and Where of content strategy

Presenter:

Andy Crestodina, Strategic Director, Orbit Media Studios

Panelists:

Kaitlin Allen, Director of Individual Giving, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago

Amanda Delheimer Dimond, Artistic & Executive Director, 2nd Story

Bob Fiedler, Executive Director, People's Music School

Dance Chance: Redux

Join DanceWorks Chicago, in partnership with the Ruth Page Center, for Dance Chance: Redux 4.0, one-night-only at Northeastern Illinois University Auditorium at 8pm this Friday, October 5.

Inspired by the concept of open-mic night, Dance Chance has been introducing talented young choreographers to audiences throughout Chicago in this innovative monthly program designed to offer opportunities for choreographers to show their work informally, create a forum for dialogue among artists, and build audience for dance. Now in its fourth year, Dance Chance: Redux 4.0 brings the best of these choreographers to Northeastern in a program where these dance artists can take their work to the next level of development.

Tickets: $15-$20. Support of new work by young choreographers: priceless! Join the journey on Facebook.

Webinar: LinkedIn Board Connect for Nonprofits

Wednesday, October 10, 2012
12:00 p.m. - 12:45 p.m.
Register to attend the webinar!

With more than 175 million members, LinkedIn is ideally suited to help nonprofits leverage their board's network to search, find, and connect with prospective board members, donors and volunteers.

What you'll learn at the webinar:

• Why LinkedIn is a powerful recruitment platform for nonprofits
• How to get started with the LinkedIn Board Connect program (including Talent Finder promotion code)
• Tips on how to quickly find your next board member

Note: After attending the webcast, you'll be given free access to a Talent Finder account ($1,000 annual value) as well as exclusive access to the LinkedIn Board Connect group.