Our learning experiences will help you build collaborative capacity and make greater impact.
Build your capacity to work better together to address our region’s complex problems and create community assets for all. Learn to use systems practice, a process to understand the system you’re working in and identify leverage points for change, and explore a suite of skills and mindsets to help you create the conditions for meaningful collaboration. Filter the list of upcoming learning experiences by the impact areas below, find the path that is right for you and take the next step in strengthening your organization, network and community.
Ready to learn? Let us help! The Learning Fund provides financial support to help local changemakers cover tuition and conference fees for virtual learning experiences offered from partners across the globe.
Upcoming Learning Experiences
Time: 12:00 pm
Offered by Big Waves, this 8-week course will explore awareness of your reactions, triggers and patterns, and how you can create more choices for yourself, build your toolbox of conflict transformation skills such as curious listening, clear communication, and perspective taking, and identify some next steps on your personal journey of developing healthier relationships. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 12:00 pm
Offered by the Center for Creative Leadership, learn the role of leadership purpose, how to cultivate greater leadership purpose, and what drives a sense of purpose and meaning within an organization. No cost.
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by Bolder Advocacy, learn how to continue to advocate for your issues during election years, how you can conduct nonpartisan voter registration and ensure get-out-the-vote efforts are conducted legally, how you can safely support or oppose ballot measures without being partisan. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 8:00 am
Offered by the School of Systems Change, this 6-part series will explore common entry points and stumbling blocks that seem to get in the way of aspiring and committed change initiatives. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 11:00 am
Offered by Real Life Facilitator Program, this 3-day workshop will explore the personal, interpersonal and structural dimensions of systemic change, supporting you to facilitate change with greater awareness, compassion and clarity. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 1:00 pm
Offered by Wellbeing Blueprint, learn about how organizations design programs and initiatives with wellbeing at the center, how they work past barriers, and what this approach has unlocked for themselves and their communities.
Time: 11:00 am
Offered by LifeLabs Learning, learn how to give and receive feedback so that every conversation becomes an opportunity to develop and improve performance, which unlocks a organization's capacity to thrive in changing circumstances. No cost.
Time: 12:00 pm
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by Nonprofit Quarterly, in this 2-part course you will learn how to refine your Chart of Account set-up to efficiently, allocate expenses across programs and grants, track restricted grants, build and manager your annual budget, and tailor reporting for management, board, and funders. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 3:00 pm
Offered by NMC Extended Ed, in this 3-part course you will learn how to identify what makes up your own personal cultural identity, what makes up that of others, and recognize systems that affect how easily someone can perform their culture. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 1:30 pm
Offered by the ABCD Institute at DePaul University, this 5-part workshop will explore how to expand your circle of people working together to realize goals and more actively support the concerns and efforts of local people, learn about the power of co-production, and what it takes to create a healthy community. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 1:00 pm
Offered by ZingTrain, learn how to design interview questions that help identify an applicant's aptitude to match the job requirements, explore tools for building confidence and improve your interview process, and walk away with examples of interview questions that can be adapted for your organization. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 10:00 am
Offered by Propel Nonprofits, learn about nonprofit financial reports including the statement of activities (income statement) and statement of financial position (balance sheet) and gain an understanding of nonprofit finance terminology, accounting rules, roles and responsibilities, and procedures and policies. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 11:30 am
Offered by The Hum, this 4-part workshop will explore how to proactively build and maintain trust, separate tactics from strategy, delegate effectively, and learn from continuous improvement. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 12:30 pm
Offered by Compass Point, this 2-part series will focus on understanding the framework for energy management and strategies and practices for self-care. Cost associated. Eligible for support through the Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 1:00 pm
Offered by Human Systems Dynamics Institute, explore the definition of “resilience” in a way that is both true and useful and practice tools to help you see, understand, and shift particular patterns of resilience for yourself and others. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by CoCreative, learn the process of planning, facilitation and leadership practices to help diverse groups move from goal setting to advancing real work together, building engagement and momentum over time. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by Exponent Philanthropy, explore how to define bias and identify its impact in the workplace, learn how bias influences efforts to foster diversity and inclusion, and discuss techniques for disrupting bias. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 9:00 am
Offered by Greaterthan, in this 8-week, cohort-based course you will explore challenges that networks face regarding attributing value, decisions about money, and developing leadership, including a toolkit of practices, tools, techniques, and templates. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 1:00 pm
Offered by The Culture Lab, gain a deeper understanding of issues that arise when two or more cultures come together, learn frameworks to identify common patterns and ways to break challenging cycles that perpetuate the status quo, develop more confidence in designing cultures of reciprocity, interconnectedness, and creativity, and understand a basic framework for developing thriving human cultures that maximize the contributions and strengths of all its members. No set fee.
Time: 1:00 pm
Offered by Propel Nonprofits, learn what goes into calculating program costs and learn an overview of tools that will help you understand your true program costs and develop realistic budgets.
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by Candid Learning, explore an overview of how to write a standard project proposal to a foundation including the basic elements of a proposal, the "do's" and "don'ts" of writing and submitting a proposal, and how to follow up whether the answer is yes or no.
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, learn how to stay on top of the latest digital strategies and attract new supporters including revising web copy to direct more potential supporters to your website, paying for ads atop search results, creating videos for wider reach, or maximizing social outreach to increase participation in events and campaigns. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 5:30 pm
Time: 1:00 pm
Offered by the Collective Impact Forum, explore 10 challenges that often hinder a collective and learn principles to navigate through them and help set (or reset) your initiative on a path forward including steering away from strategy drift to setting up a culture that encourages accountability. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 10:00 am
Offered by Acumen Academy, this 6-week group course will explore how to share your personal story in a way that better connects with your audience and inspires change, use established storytelling techniques and the “Leadership PRESence” framework to improve your leadership skills, and structure a presentation for maximum impact using the “Audience, Benefit, Goal” framework.
Time: 12:30 pm
Offered by Compass Point, this 2-part series will explore the five Conflict Resolution styles and how they intersect with positional power and social privilege, how you want be your “best self” in conflict, and how to build on your abilities of listening, inquiry, and empathy as skills for working through conflict. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by Candid Learning, learn the importance of individual giving in a nonprofit’s fundraising strategy, identify key steps for a successful individual giving program, and draft a plan to start or improve your annual individual giving program.
Time: 12:00 pm
Offered by Evaluation Cafe, explore how diversity, assessment, inclusion, community engagement, and equity all shape what is possible for evaluation to be meaningful, accessible, and actionable for learning organizations and the communities we love.
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by Stanford Social Innovation Review, this 2-part workshop will explore how to integrate human-centered design into complex social sector work, how to create and articulate a strategy, and how to move a systems lens and a human lens for more effective interventions. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 4:30 pm
Offered by Child & Family Services of NW MI, explore how to define implicit bias, how it operates within individuals and organizations, and identify tools to mitigate it. The NASW-Michigan Social Work Continuing Education Collaborative approves this course (3 CEUs) and is in alignment with Michigan’s LARA Implicit Bias continuing education requirements. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 6:00 pm
Offered by NMC Extended Ed, explore the many resources available to help you to locate and research grant funders potentially interested in your project or program and learn how to search a variety of online resources, as well as strategies to conduct your search and sources for additional guidance. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 1:00 pm
Offered by the Dorothy A. Johnson Center, learn the core functions, legal and other responsibilities of a nonprofit board of directors, understand board governance and how boards are structured, and identify common challenges and related strategies facing nonprofit boards. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 1:00 pm
Offered by the Dorothy A. Johnson Center, explore the core functions, legal and other responsibilities of a nonprofit board of directors, understand board governance and how boards are structured, and identify common challenges and related strategies facing nonprofit boards. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by Bolder Advocacy, learn the different roles of 501(c)(3)s, 501(c)(4)s, unions, and political organizations, explore federal tax rules affecting how these organizations can work together, and the legal separations necessary between affiliated organizations, such as funding and fundraising constraints. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by Candid Learning, learn step-by-step instructions on how to generate a standard project budget for a foundation proposal including the basic components of a project budget including income and expenses, how to estimate the realistic cost of a project, and what other financial documents you may also need to submit with your proposal.
Time: 1:00 pm
Offered by the Tamarack Institute, learn about Tamarack’s 5 Principles & Skillsets of Community and Systems Impact for Changemakers, explore the importance of trust, power, and the inner work of community change, and apply tools and resources designed to mobilize your community for greater impact. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 2:00 pm
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by Bolder Advocacy, learn how 501(c)(3) organization's may support or oppose ballot measures, how ballot measure expenditures apply to a 501(c)(3)'s lobbying limits, and how state ballot measure laws may affect nonprofit involvement in ballot measure campaigns. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.


Offered by Rotary Charities, join us for the second offering in this four-part series to explore the fundamentals of a systems change approach, learn to recognize the six common factors that are at the root of most complex problems we see, practice with two visualization processes using a real world example - spray diagramming and causal loop mapping, discover how you can identify new leverage points where one action can lead to ripple effects through a system, and connect with fellow changemakers who are working on complex issues. There is no cost to the workshop.
Time: 6:30 pm
Offered by NMC Extended Ed, explore steps to creating a digital marketing strategy for your social media business pages to take the guesswork out of posting, and allow you to start reaching your target demographic. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 1:00 pm
Offered by the Collective Impact Forum, explore practices that build and repair trust both interpersonally and among community members and partners with authentic and empathetic relationships, transparent communication, through difficult conversations and problem solving together. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 1:00 pm
Offered by Propel Nonprofits, explore ways to foster collaboration and create engagement among board members in order to harness the collective wisdom of the board and make informed and impactful decisions that advance your mission.
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by Nonprofit Quarterly, learn the three dimensions of effective management for social change: equitable, sustainable, and results-driven, explore concepts of ‘conspire and align’ as a foundation, identify one concrete practice they can start now to be a more effective manager. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, learn how to connect with corporate grant makers, pitch your cause in compelling ways, and cultivate potential new corporate partners as well as creative ways to engage employees and deepen ties with these grant makers. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by LifeLabs Learning, learn how to give and receive feedback so that every conversation becomes an opportunity to develop and improve performance, which unlocks a organization's capacity to thrive in changing circumstances. No cost.
Time: 11:00 am
Offered by The Hum, this 2-part workshop will explore the strengths and pitfalls of various decision methods, how to identify the best tools for the decision, creating group strategies, and continuously learning to improve your decisions. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 12:30 pm
Offered by CompassPoint, this 4-part series will explore the coaching mindset, build communication abilities through 3 key coaching skills, and learn how coaching interrupts dominating behavior and builds power in others. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 1:00 pm
Offered by the Dorothy A. Johnson Center, explore how to use Form 990 as an organizational tool and better understand the information it communicates, learn how 990 data can tell a story and where to find the elements of that story, and discover the power of 990 data as a tool for the philanthropic sector. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 10:00 am
Offered by NMC Extended Ed, in this 3-part course you will learn essential skills for enhancing your vocal sound, communicating effectively, and increasing your confidence and authority as a speaker. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.


Offered by Rotary Charities, join us in welcoming Rob Stennett to learn how to implement a simple, yet effective storytelling framework, inspiration for how to tell your story on every platform (social media, websites, and newsletters), and tools and processes to routinely tell powerful stories. No cost.
Time: 12:00 pm
Offered by Human Systems Dynamics Institute, explore the complex and emergent dynamics of decision making and how the Decision Map can provide a tool to help make the process explicit and reasonable.
Time: 3:00 pm
Offered by NMC Extended Ed, this 3-part series will explore the conceptual framework of intercultural fluency through awareness, intercultural communication, cultural literacy, and intercultural capital. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 1:00 pm
Offered by ZingTrain, learn how to recognize and better handle workplace conflict, gain techniques to engage effectively in a courageous conversation, and experience hands-on practice with these techniques. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 2:00 pm
Time: 9:00 am
Offered by the School of Systems Change, this multi-part course will cover an introduction of systems change frameworks and how to integrate systemic ways of working and collaborating. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 10:00 am
Offered by the Center for Nonprofit Management, learn the key components of the interest-based negotiation model, gain increased awareness and skill identifying the participant’s own negotiation style and the style of others, and find the embodied confidence to address important issues for themselves and their organization that needs to be negotiated. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 1:00 pm
Offered by Collective Impact Forum, this 2-part workshop will focus on building understanding around the key conditions that enable systems-level change, how to think systemically about your work, how to explore what is happening below the surface of issues, and determine how you and your partners can pursue change in a systemic, relational, and holistic manner. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by the Center for Nonprofit Management, explore common language and framework to talk about cultural expectations and underlying competing values, identify gaps in cultural expectations and understand how meaningful differences impact trust and psychological safety, and build awareness of how the cultural tensions can lead to bias. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 10:00 am
Offered by Ideo U, this 5-week course will explore how to unlock your team’s ability to generate new ideas and reach better solutions by tapping into diverse perspectives, establish the cultural conditions that teams need to thrive with thoughtful rituals and agreements, and turn tensions between ideas into opportunities for your biggest leaps forward. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 10:00 am
Offered by Propel Nonprofits, learn about board responsibilities and explore the nuances of board authority and relationships. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 11:00 am
Offered by LifeLabs Learning, explore how uncertainty can often have negative impacts on strategic thinking and decision-making that can impact an organizations alignment and performance and how to build the vocabulary and skills to improve decision-making across your organization. No cost.
Time: 1:00 pm
Offered by ZingTrain, learn about different kinds of SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures), how to document operating systems using a written SOP, and when to use them. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 1:00 pm
Offered by Ideo U, this 5-week cohort will explore techniques for mapping complex systems and identifying the root causes, establish a shared view of the system, and reframe problems from different perspectives to uncover new solutions. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by Candid Learning, learn what Foundation Directory is, identify your needs, research potential grantmakers using a project-based search in Foundation Directory, and evaluate prospects for a strong or weak fit. Access the Foundation Directory for no cost at the Woodmere branch of TADL.
Time: 9:00 am
Offered by the Tamarack Institute, this 2-day event will explore how we can be courageous leaders pushing for bold, inclusive, and equitable climate transitions in our communities and courageously leading with care and love. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.