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In partnership with the Mennonite Health Services Association, Lutheran Services in America is able to offer this workshop on planned giving, co-sponsored by Everence and MHS Association. This webinar is free to all attendees.

The workshop is led by fundraising expert Bryan Clontz, founder and president of Charitable Solutions, LLC. Bryan is well known in fundraising circles and Charitable Solutions is one of the go-to leaders in continuing education.

In part 2 of our two-part series on artificial intelligence and fundraising, we take a deep dive into the ongoing journey of AI integration within organizations, particularly focusing on its implications and opportunities in the fundraising sector. Join us to discuss the evolution of AI technologies like predictive and generative AI, with an emphasis on their potential to enhance donor experiences through precision, personalization, and efficiency. Additionally, we will address common concerns and questions regarding AI, such as privacy, ethical considerations, and the fear of job displacement, reassuring attendees that AI’s role is to augment rather than replace human capabilities.

The session aims to equip attendees with practical insights on leveraging AI responsibly to optimize and innovate in their operational and strategic endeavors, ultimately driving more informed and effective fundraising practices. The webinar aims to equip attendees with practical insights on leveraging AI responsibly to optimize and innovate in their operational and strategic endeavors, ultimately driving more informed and effective fundraising practices.

• Learn more about Part 1

Join us for part 1 of a two-part webinar where we will outline the critical role of AI in shaping the future of nonprofit fundraising and societal well-being. During this webinar, we’ll explore the urgent need for innovation in the sector, driven by the increasing competition not only for funds but for meaningful connections in a digitally saturated environment.

We’ll address the “Generosity Crisis,” highlighting how AI’s influence on societal behaviors like decreased civic engagement and trust can adversely affect charitable giving. Learn about the need for a shift towards responsible and beneficial AI, with a focus on ethical practices that prioritize long-term human and societal welfare over immediate technological advancements. The presentation calls for nonprofits to lead in establishing frameworks for AI that are ethical, transparent, and ultimately beneficial, urging the sector to adopt AI governance policies that reinforce trust and accountability.

This two-part webinar features renowned AI expert Nathan Chappell, one of the world’s foremost experts on the intersection between artificial intelligence and philanthropy. Nathan serves as Senior Vice President of DonorSearch AI, where he leads AI deployments for some of the nation’s largest nonprofit organizations.

• Learn more about Part 2

A four-part Strength & Service Series virtual workshop.

You are invited: Join us for a new four-part series hosted through the Faith, Families and Community Partnerships Initiative — a collaboration between Lutheran Services in America and ELCA World Hunger. Built on the seminal work of scholar and practitioner Dr. Shawn Ginwright, our expert facilitators, Dr. Denicia Carlay and Shannon Scott, will guide us through the practice of healing-centered engagement. The workshop series is designed to support the application of the practice through the four dimensions or “pivots” necessary in our work to improve outcomes for children, youth, families and communities.

Who Should Attend and Why?

This workshop series is designed to support staff at any level of leadership in applying healing-centered engagement in their work. In the words of Dr. Ginwright, it takes practitioners beyond trauma-informed care responses to a “more holistic approach to fostering well-being.” Additionally, it recognizes the ways in which “trauma and healing are experienced collectively” to support improved well-being for families and communities.

Series Overview 

Each workshop will address one of the “Four Pivots” and will include interactive activities that strengthen the ability to apply the practice in our respective work and efforts, through a safe and collegial peer-to-peer environment. The workshops will also include group reflection, along with the engagement of outside experts and perspectives. The Four Pivots include:

• Pivot 1—Presence: Cultivating mindfulness and intentionality in your actions and interactions.
• Pivot 2—Awareness: Fostering self-awareness and reflection to better understand yourself and others.
• Pivot 3—Vision: Embracing possibility, unleashing creativity, and innovation.
• Pivot 4—Connection: Moving to transformative relationships that foster growth and empowerment.

Register Today!

Register today for each workshop session and join peers on this journey to understanding and applying healing-centered engagement!

Session #1: Presence

Held on Wednesday, March 20, 2024 (recording available below)

Session #2: Awareness (feat. the National Indian Child Welfare Association)

Held on Wednesday, July 24, 2024 (recording available below)

Most non-American Indian / Alaska Native people educated in the United States are not familiar with the overt government policy goals and practices that formed the basis of the hundreds of years of forced assimilation of Native peoples, including systemic, widespread removal of Native children from their families and communities. Corporations and the nonprofit sector were also contributors to and active participants in colonization and the implementation of federal Indian policy.

Learning about the strategic intent and milestones of these policies and their impacts on Native children, their families, and tribal nations is an important step towards understanding the structural change necessary to truly embrace tribal sovereignty, honor tribal self-determination, and support community healing. Beyond employing this structural analysis lens, “mirror work” will also allow us to “get underneath the hood” as Dr. Shawn Ginwright says, “and explore our motivations, fears, dreams, and insecurities with a sense of curiosity.”

Session #3: Vision (feat. the Frameworks Institute)

1:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET, Wednesday, September 18, 2024 

Session #4: Connection

1:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET, Wednesday, December 11, 2024 

Workshop Series Facilitators

Dr. Denicia Carlay currently serves as co-founder and co-CEO of Village is Possible. Denicia is a community healer, complex trauma survivor, scholar, practitioner, and village keeper. Denicia roots her practice in love and restoration of inner light. She specializes in embodied, healing centered engagement with children, youth, and families. Denicia has served foster care and juvenile justice impacted youth in various capacities as a social worker, consultant, clinician, and facilitator in the field of child welfare for 16 years. She holds a doctorate in educational leadership in social justice, licensure in clinical social work, and pupil personnel services credential, but with all these degrees and things Denicia just hopes to someday be the “hood mama” for her entire village and anyone in need of community.

Shannon Scott is the founder of Our Lived Experience (OLE) and J8 Consulting. Her experience includes both U.S.-based and international not-for-profits. Shannon began her career in education as a teacher with Teach For America and continued her work in education reform in the Teach For All network. She was the founding Leadership Development Officer at Teach For Malaysia and launched the first leadership development continuum for Teach For America’s work in the Mississippi Delta. For the last six years, she’s run a national leadership development fellowship in child welfare, working in 15 different states, DC, and Puerto Rico. Shannon deeply values adult learning and leadership development.

Recordings

Session #1: Presence

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Session #2: Awareness

Wednesday, July 24, 2024