Nonprofits continue to struggle with reduced funding and budget cuts.  GroundWork group has assembled a strong program focusing on "Sustainability through Technology" to help nonprofits stay in business to fulfill their missions of meeting the needs of Central Ohio's residents.  Keynote Paul King, CEO, Process Experts, a nationally-based nonprofit organization, will discuss the relationship between technology and sustainability.  Microsoft Director Mike Brevard will talk about how Microsoft can save you money.  Our slate of workshops features service opportunities with the Governor's Office and Connect Ohio to funding opportunities to tips on increasing hits to your website and lowering costs.

Increased demands for services coupled with continuously shrinking sources of funding have challenged nonprofits in ways that have not been seen for decades.  "Sustainability through Technology" is designed to assist nonprofits in the search for unique solutions to address needs in the current business climate.

We have a tremendous day planned as we bring together all our constituents: nonprofits, volunteers, IT and Business professionals, Funders and Community Leaders for a quality conference providing up-to-date topics from sharing technology resources to building partnerships to maximizing service delivery.

We kick off the day with keynote speaker Mike Brevard, Director of Microsoft Specialists Technical Unit for Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, presenting "How Microsoft Can Save Customers Money in Tough Economic Times" which will include a report on the giving efforts and other community investments that Microsoft has made throughout the year.  Paul King, CEO, Process Experts (and formerly Director of IT with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) will be our afternoon keynote, presenting "How to be Sustainable through Technology."  GroundWork group met with Paul in his previous position with the Gates Foundation, and we are extremely excited to have him speak to our constituents.  We are certain that he will capture your attention as he shares his IT expertise and his ideas on how technology can help sustain your organization through the struggles within the economy.

This year's breakout sessions have an added twist -- evaluations from past conferences have consistently requested that we present the same sessions in the am and pm.  The quality of our breakout sessions has made it difficult for participants to decide which to take, so this year we are featuring four breakout sessions that will be offered in each of the two time periods. 

• "How the Ohio Governor's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives works with nonprofits and an introduction to GOFBCI's Ohio Social Entrepreneurship Initiative." Presenter: Greg Landsman, Director, the Ohio Governor's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. This session will include how attendees can get involved and descriptions of all of the GOFBCI's 2010 initiatives. 
• "Broadband adoption and application State-wide." Presenter:  Tom Fritz, Executive Director, Connect Ohio.   Connect Ohio is a comprehensive initiative that will blanket Ohio with broadband Internet access and dramatically improve the use of related technology. The program is the result of a partnership between the State of Ohio and Connected Nation, a national nonprofit organization that specializes in increasing technology access and literacy. 
• "Effective Ways to Direct Traffic to your Website." Presenter: Steve Clark, VP of Business Development, People to My Site. 
• "Doing More with Less: IT Planning & Prioritization." Presenter: TBD

The GroundWork group Team and Education Committee are looking forward to another high quality program with informative, timely topics that will engage you in productive discussions and allow you to listen, learn, participate, network and take away important information on making technology the key in maximizing your dollars and staff time to deliver services in these tough economic times. 

GroundWork group has been working with Pelotonia since October 2008 and has built and supports their entire technology and fundraising infrastructure. We are fortunate to have been involved with Pelotonia from the beginning, and the work we have done with them has enabled us to grow our internal capabilities, so we can better serve other nonprofit organizations with similar initiatives.  The GroundWork group Team has volunteered to participate in the Pelotonia 09 bike tour not only to support the fight against cancer, but also because we are proud of the positive impact that we have had on this special event.

We all know someone who has been affected by cancer.  By supporting Pelotonia and the GroundWork group Team, you will help improve lives through innovations in research with the ultimate goal of winning the war against cancer.  We would love to have your support in this inaugural year.  Thanks to NetJets' transformational gift, 100% of every donation will fund essential research at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute.

Click here to follow the link to the GroundWork group Team profile and a simple, secure way to make any size donation you wish.  Think of this as a donation not to the GroundWork group Team or Pelotonia, but directly to The James. 

Nonprofit IT Forum - Topics: Video Conferencing and NAC
Tuesday, August 11 - Noon to 1:30 p.m.
Jewish Family Services, 1070 College Ave., Columbus, 43209

Education Committee member Tina Rowe will kick off our discussion of free and fee-based video conferencing solutions from DimDim and TelSpan.  For the techies, we will be discussing network access control (NAC).  Time permitting, we will also follow-up on Social Networking and any other recent topics of interest to the group.

Lunch will be provided courtesy of the Tony R. Wells Foundation.  Please RSVP by Monday, August 10 to Stephanie Neighbarger: sneighbarger@groundworkgroup.org or 614-884-7780, ext. 108.

Business Productivity Classes - Microsoft Office
Platform Lab, 1275 Kinnear Rd., Columbus, 43212

Monday, August 31
Microsoft Excel 2003 Intermediate Level, 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Microsoft Word 2003 Intermediate Level, 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Look for a special Education Blast Email from GroundWork group for more details.

Cost for each session: $30 for Full Members; $40 for Associate Members; $50 for Non-Members.
Please RSVP by Friday, August 28 to Brenda Grosse: bgrosse@groundworkgroup.org or 614-884-7780, ext. 101.

September - date to be determined – stay tuned for email updates
Microsoft Outlook 2007 Intermediate Level
Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 Intermediate Level

GroundWork group Fourth Annual Conference – "Sustainability through Technology"
Friday, October 2
OSU Fawcett Center, 2400 Olentangy River Rd., Columbus, 43210