Events

Partnering with other DC-area and New York City business leaders, OAI holds several workshops and seminars each year as a way to share our expertise, experience and best practices with clients and colleagues.

New Approaches to Strategic Planning

November 9, 2011
Bank of America / Merrill Lynch
Washington, DC

It is clear that during a time of economic uncertainty, the need for strategic planning and implementation strategies is greater than ever before.  On Wednesday, November 9, 2011, OAI co-hosted an event with Leadership Greater Washington, sponsored by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.  Entitled New Approaches to Strategic Planning, over 60 nonprofit staff and board members gathered to hear nonprofit CEOs, executive directors, and consultants reveal cutting edge approaches to strategic planning.

The event featured a keynote presentation by John Bauser, Department Head of Strategy at OAI who discussed the fall and rise of strategic planning. Following the keynote, breakout sessions were led by experts in their respective fields:

• Turning Your Vision Into Reality: A Guide to Implementing Your Strategic Plan, led by Dick Walker, Managing Director, OAI
• Strategic Plan Essentials: Six Components Every Strategic Plan Should Include, led by Sarah Sullivan, Director, OAI
• Avoiding Strategic Planning Pitfalls: How to Plan for Your Next Strategic Plan, led by John Bauser, Department Head of Strategy, OAI

The event concluded with a panel discussion on nonprofit strategic planning experiences facilitated by Tim Kime, President and CEO of Leadership Greater Washington. Panelists included:

• George Jones, Executive Director, Bread for the City
• Linda Mathes, CEO, American Red Cross in the National Capital Area
• Steve Orr, Founder and Executive Director, Youth, I.N.C.
• Tamara Smith, CEO, YWCA National Capital Area

On behalf of OAI and Leadership Greater Washington, we would like to thank Bank of America Merrill Lynch for their generous sponsorship and all those who joined us for a successful and enlightening event.

To learn more about OAI’s upcoming forums and events, contact us today.  

 OAI and the Philanthropic Community

July 13, 2011
The World Bank
Washington, DC

More than 60 Washington-area non-profit leaders learned about the pitfalls and pluses of current philanthropy at a seminar hosted in early July by Orr Associates, Inc. (OAI).

The session was titled  “The R3 Conference: Recovery + Response=Revenue.” The main message was:

There is opportunity in down times, but only if non-profits manage wisely and only if they assign a larger role to strategic planning.

OAI Managing Director John Wm. Thomas conducted a breakout session on capital campaigns. Thomas stressed that campaigns can succeed despite the continuing after-effects of the recession. But he urged board chairs and development leaders to plan better before a campaign begins and to expect campaigns to run longer in order to meet their goals.

OAI Managing Director Dick Walker led another session on board development. Walker suggested veering away from conventional board candidates. He said many boards are doing more than asking members to attend a certain number of meetings a year. They are assigning specific responsibilities to members so the members remain involved.

John Bauser, OAI’s department head of strategy and development, ran a third session on strategic planning. Bauser called it “the indispensable piece” of any successful fund-raising campaign. He said that non-profit organizations have begun to do more strategic planning—and have begun to do it better—than many for-profit companies.

Former D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty—now a Senior Consultant at OAI—headlined a panel discussion that offered specific advice on how and where to seek funds. Fenty said that, despite government budget cutbacks, non-profits can and should still seek partnerships with local mayors and councils.

Panelist Roger West, Managing Director at Price Waterhouse Coopers, said that long-term relationships—and not premature donation requests--are the key to winning his company’s support. West said that inviting a company such as PWC to donate employees’ time, rather than corporate money, is the best way to forge long-term cooperation.

Rose Ann Cleveland, Executive Director of The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, said Cafritz would continue to offer more than minimum levels of basic operating support to local non-profits--even though other foundations are doing the opposite. She noted that many foundations stepped up giving to basic human services during the worst of the recession, both in the Washington area and elsewhere.

The R3 Conference was developed in partnership with Leadership Greater Washington and Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington and was sponsored by M & T Bank.  OAI officials and sponsors said a similar program is being planned for July, 2012.   

 Additional past events and speaking engagements have included: 

• Second Annual CEO Healthcare Forum:  On November 1, 2010 OAI hosted an evening exclusively designed for hospital CEOs to discuss critical managerial issues facing every hospital, including healthcare reform issues, the economic environment and philanthropic challenges, in an intimate and confidential setting.  Presented by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the forum  featured keynote speakers Robert Musslewhite, CEO of The Advisory Board Company, Dr. Robert Kocher of McKinsey and Company and moderator Edwin K. Zechman, Jr., CEO of Children's National Medical Center. 
• The Nonprofit Conference on Fundraising Development:  On September 23, 2010, OAI's Managing Director, Dick Walker, and Department Head of Strategy and Development, John Bauser, led the Executive Directors Forum which focused on the Executive Director's important role in providing the resources necessary to fund the organization's missions. 
• A breakfast at The World Bank featuring keynote speaker Alice Rivlin of the Brookings Institution.  Co-hosted by OAI, Leadership Greater Washington and The Center for Nonprofit Advancement and sponsored by BB&T Bank, the event addressed the challenges nonprofits face in this uncertain economic environment. 
• A dinner forum sponsored by Goldman, Sachs & Co. at Café Milano in Georgetown.  The evening focused on effective strategies and tactics in attracting and securing major donors in the hospital space, and featured guest speaker Evan Jones of jVen Capital, LLC and moderator Edwin Zechman of Children’s National Medical Center.
• A presentation with Leadership Greater Washington focused on how to manage a nonprofit organization in a difficult time at Leadership Greater Washington.
• A luncheon meeting discussing what works and what to avoid for special events and fundraising at the Association Foundation Group.
• A breakfast presentation co-sponsored by Merrill Lynch and Evergreen Investments on the impact of hosting an annivesary event at the Four Seasons Hotel.
• A presentation with Mylestone Plans outlining the reporting requirements for nonprofit retirement savings plans, or 403(b) at the Four Seasons Hotel.
• A breakfast presentation with Argy, Wilts & Robinson, P.C. on new reporting requirements resulting from the newest version of the IRS 990 form.
• A presentation with Leadership Greater Washington on Board Development and Board Management at Leadership Greater Washington.
• A presentation with WashingtonFirst Bank and John Thomas, CEO of John Wm. Thomas Consulting, LLC, on Capital Campaigns at the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown.
• A presentation with Trammell Crow Company and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman focused on understanding and responding to stepped up IRS enforcement efforts under Sarbanes-Oxley at the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown.