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 CoCreative, explore how the stories we have about the world shape how we see and respond to challenges, and how understanding this can help us shift our quality of life for the better. Content will include examining wellbeing frameworks, assessing your own wellbeing, and looking at ways we can enhance our wellbeing, together. No cost associated.
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by Volunteer Fairfax, learn how to define opportunities and welcome and support people with disabilities to make volunteering a meaningful and fulfilling experience, including addressing the responsibilities of host organizations, how to make reasonable accommodations, and how you can be a most effective host and supervisor. No cost associated.
Time: 3:00 pm
Time: 10:00 am
Offered by TSNE, review and reflect on a typical supervisor job description, identify your preferred supervisory style, learn how to identify what individual staff need around various aspects of their jobs and their particular challenges, and understand the importance of adapting your supervisory approach and communication style in support of staff success, and how to put that into practice. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Offered by Rotary Charities, join us for a transformative virtual workshop designed to empower nonprofit leaders to communicate their missions with clarity and impact, including crafting a simple and effect messages to build your messaging deck and creating a content calendar that aligns with your messaging. Participation in this workshop includes a commitment to prep work, workshop attendance, and an optional (but encouraged) coaching call with Rob. Participants must be associated with a nonprofit organization, unit of government, Native nation, or initiative serving Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska or Leelanau Counties. Capacity for this workshop is limited to 20 people. No cost associated.
Time: 10:00 am
Offered by Unity Effect, explore how a regenerative approach to Theories of Change can create new insights and foster a deeper understanding of your project and work, and learn about the Impact Garden model and how you can apply it to a project, idea or your work in general. No cost associated.
Time: 1:00 pm
Offered by ZingTrain, explore the correlation between effective self-management and personal / organizational success and learn new tools and techniques to live and lead more intentionally. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 1:00 pm
Offered by the Collective Impact Forum, learn about multiple tools for seeing the system in which they work, identifying key partners to engage from this system, and assessing how your collaborative work is unfolding across phases of collaborative evolution. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 12:30 pm
Offered by Compass Point, this 2-part series will explore the distinction between a change and a transition and the impact they have on people in your organization, learn about the Margin to Center framework as a way to identify solutions to challenges, and how to distinguish between adaptive challenges and technical fixes. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by Candid Learning, learn 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. No cost associated.
Time: 10:00 am
Offered by Propel Nonprofits, learn how to read nonprofit financial reports including the income statement (statement of activities) and balance sheet (statement of financial position) and gain an understanding of nonprofit finance terminology, financial statements, and staff and board roles and responsibilities. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by Candid Learning, learn the basics of shifting focus from your nonprofit’s activities to its outcomes including how to draft SMART objectives for a program and identify the parts of a logic model. No cost associated.
Time: 4:30 pm
Offered by NMC Extended Ed, in this 2-part workshop you will be introduced to the design thinking process, practice the Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, and Test phases of design thinking, and leave the series with insights into how to understand stakeholder needs, brainstorm a solution, and develop a prototype to test your new concept. 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. No cost associated.
Time: 10:00 am
Offered by TSNE, understand the importance of soliciting feedback and learn approaches to building this into your supervisory practice, discover the barriers to receiving constructive feedback and ways to manage reactions which support your effectiveness as a supervisor, explore the conditions that make giving feedback valuable and practice adaptive approaches to providing constructive and positive feedback, and learn how to hold one-on-one meetings that strengthen communication, trust, and staff effectiveness. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 10:00 am
Offered by Ideo U, this 5-week, self-paced course will explore how to look at problems through different perspectives, refine your instincts into actionable and innovative solutions, learn how to de-risk and experiment to build resilient strategies, and balance creative thinking and rigor to get to breakthrough ideas and sustainable solutions. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 10:00 am
Offered by Ideo U, this 5-week, self-paced course will explore a strategic problem that your organization faces, frame it as a question, and brainstorm possibilities to solve it, surface and pick the conditions that would need to be true to make the possibility a winning strategy, and build and conduct different types of tests to help you choose among your possibilities. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 1:00 pm
Offered by Propel Nonprofits, explore the connections between organizational strategy and service impacts, and gain an understanding of the nine gears of effective nonprofits, strategy planning frameworks, and the practical application of outcomes development. No cost associated.
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by Candid Learning, explore the different types of corporate giving, what motivates corporations to give, and how to find potential corporate partners. No cost associated.
Time: 3:00 pm
Offered by Title Track, this full weekend immersion experience is dedicated to fostering inclusive spaces and promoting healing and racial equity for people of color through deep understanding, meaningful action, and sustained change. This includes blending historical context with contemporary insights, providing participants with a robust understanding of racial equity and its implications in our society and our everyday lives, through a mix of presentation, discussion, and interactive activities, participants will explore the complexities of racial identities, histories, and structures of power, and how to facilitate culturally connected healing on personal and organizational levels. Register by November 6. Cost associated. Rotary Charities is offsetting the cost of this program through grant funding and is not eligible for the Learning Fund.
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by CoCreative, in this 3-part series you will learn how to co-create at the highest levels of stakeholder engagement, advance the four agendas of collaborative innovation: aligning, connecting, learning, and making, align diverse interests around a powerful shared intent, and prototype powerful ideas and testing them in the real world. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by Candid Learning, learn 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. No cost associated.
Time: 10:00 am
Offered by the Center for Nonprofit Management, explore the difference between language-driven and culture-driven approaches, how to define cultural expectations of a target audience, and how to establish key pillars to drive a successful communication strategy. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 10:00 am
Offered by TSNE, understand key concepts of strategic planning, facilitation, and community engagement for nonprofit organizations, gain insight to methodology and framework for analyzing data to develop strategy, learn how strategic planning fits within the governance and management roles and responsibilities, understand the role of those in authority positions and those without authority in guiding the strategic planning process, and recognize how to engage the community to achieve social change. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 1:00 pm
Offered by Nonprofit Quarterly, learn how to align your budgeting process with your mission and strategic priorities, clearly explain to all staff how budget decisions will be made, share power by involving more staff in budget drafting and review, and create a realistic budget development timeline and process. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by Candid Learning, learn the basic steps for developing a fundraising plan, including tips on: making your case for support, diversifying your organization's fundraising base, and creating a plan of action. No cost associated.
Time: 1:00 pm
Offered by ZingTrain, explore how to recognize and better handle interpersonal workplace conflict and learn tools for preparing yourself before diving into the steps for engaging in the conversation. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 10:00 am
Offered by Propel Nonprofits, learn to use budgeting as another tool for you to tell the story of your organization’s plans, priorities, and aspirations using a 10-step budgeting process that will also highlight ways to engage your board as well as staff across the organization. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 10:00 am
Offered by TSNE, explore the ways that adaptive communication and feedback contribute to supporting, developing, and managing successful employees, understand the dynamic continuum of employee performance, and learn a model of performance management that focuses on adaptive communication and feedback strategies. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by Stanford Social Innovation Review, learn how to utilize data to enhance the giving experience and achieve fundraising goals, analyze past giving behavior to inform future fundraising strategies, balance the tradeoffs between higher and lower default donation amounts, and discover the power of personalization for all nonprofits. No cost associated.
Time: 10:00 am
Offered by MNA and CMF, this one-day, in-person event will build on critical conversations we are having in the charitable sector about the importance of centering community voices and ensuring a healthy democracy where all can participate. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund (travel and accommodations not eligible).
Time: 11:00 am
Offered by ZingTrain, learn what Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are and why they are important for your organization, when to use different types of SOPs, and how to use the Four Steps to Writing an SOP to begin documenting a system, procedure, or task. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 10:00 am
Offered by TSNE, gain advanced knowledge in budget management, be equipped with practical tools and strategies to develop, monitor, and present budgets effectively within your nonprofit organization, and be empowered to drive financial sustainability, align budgets with strategic priorities, and navigate the budgeting process with increased confidence. 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. Participants will receive Propel’s Nonprofit Board Governance workbook and the workshop is designed for those new to serving on a board or those who are contemplating joining a board. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 1:00 pm
Offered by the Tamarack Institute, gain an understanding of the foundations and principles of ABCD, including new and improved processes, and how to center community in your programs and activities. This workshop is an introductory session for those who are new to ABCD or want a refresher as ABCD has changed a lot over the past 10 years. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 5:00 pm
Offered by NMC Extended Ed in partnership with Rotary Charities, the 6-week course is designed to review, discuss, and apply fundraising fundamentals to existing scenarios and/or situations currently being experienced by your organization. Content will be customized based on the topics most useful to cohort participants, but will include: prospecting, long-term relationship building, solicitations, board engagement, stewardship, communication flow, time management, and writing compelling case statements. Course begins Beginning January 7, 2025, and every Tuesday thereafter through February 11, 2025. Applications are due by November 25. This course is subsidized by Rotary Charities and is not eligible for the Learning Fund.
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by Candid Learning, explore the different types of corporate giving, what motivates corporations to give, and how to find potential corporate partners. No cost associated.
Time: 1:00 pm
Offered by the Tamarack Institute, gain an understanding of sensemaking - a collaborative process that helps groups interpret information and identify patterns to drive action - to identify patterns, connect diverse perspectives, and transform insights into actionable solutions. Cost associated. Eligible for support through Rotary Charities Learning Fund.
Time: 1:00 pm
Offered by Propel Nonprofits, learn about the important phases of preparing for an audit and gain an understanding of the audit process, understanding of how your financial processes and procedures will help you prepare, tips for building a good relationship with your auditor, and what roles & responsibilities you’ll have during the audit process. No cost associated.
Time: 2:00 pm
Offered by Nonprofit Quarterly, explore a set of frameworks, practices, and skills to help organizations shift away from individual, team, and system-level tensions that distract from and impede meaningful work by building stronger relationships, increasing organizational cohesion, and aligning organizational functioning with mission, vision, and values. 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. No cost associated.