BLUEPRINT

SERIES
BUILDING NONPROFITS BY DESIGN
BLUEPRINT SERIES
BUILDING NONPROFITS BY DESIGN

Could your nonprofit organization benefit from increased

effectiveness and accountability? Attend the BluePrint Series and
learn how to capitalize on the resources around you. Sessions are
designed so participants can brainstorm and create plans, processes
and tools for putting strategies into action in their organization.

SESSIONS PRICING
Creating Change $375 Series
Build a Framework for Package includes
Success All 7 sessions ($75 savings)
January 27 1 seat in each session
Different individuals can
Mission Versus Money attend each session
Financial Leadership
February 24 Single Session

Social Media Creating Change

Leveraging Connections Build a Framework
For Your Organization for Success
March 31 January 27, $150 per person
Full-day session
Roundtable Discussions
Trends and Techniques Individual Half-day
Exchange sessions
April 28 $50 per person

Measuring Results
Are You Making a Difference? MORE
September 29 INFORMATION
Marcy Luter,
Strategic Planning Meridian Technology Center
What Would You Have If You 405.377.3333, ext. 297
Got What You Wanted?
October 27 To Enroll
405.377.3333, ext. 232
Conflict
Can’t We All Just Get Along?
November 17
SESSIONS

CREATING CHANGE
Build a Framework for Success
Presented by Sandra LeVan, MBA;
Monica Swink, CPA and Jeri Towler, JD
January 27, 9 am to 4 pm
Together Sandra LeVan, Jeri Towler and Monica Swink
will help you create a framework for change. You will
receive a diagnostic tool to evaluate and assess your
organization using best practice principles and case
studies and then discuss why and how those principles
may or may not be of importance for your nonprofit.

Sandra LeVan will focus on the board as a capital asset

for the organization and discuss how to develop the best
board possible. Beginning with an examination of best
practice principles, participants will identify areas of
concern and develop strategies to address those areas.

Monica Swink will discuss the importance of complete,

accurate and readable financial statements and the role
of internal controls in a well-run nonprofit organization.
She will answer the following questions, as well as some
you might not have thought about before: What is the
role of management and the board in ensuring the safety
of donations and the trust of our donors? What questions
should the board be asking and how often? What key
policies in the financial area should each nonprofit have
in place to comply with greater scrutiny by the IRS and
the public?

Jeri Towler will cover the government’s history of change

in regulating charitable organizations with an emphasis
on current federal and state laws and regulations. Learn
why the duties of care, obedience and loyalty are
important to your organization in addition to ways to
protect your board members when conflict of interest or
public disclosure issues arise.
MISSION VERSUS MONEY
Financial Leadership Presented by Monica Swink, CPA
February 24, 9 am to noon
Climb the mountain of financial leadership this year with one of the
most important topics for nonprofits. This session will clarify the
important interaction between mission and money and how you
can reach a balance between the two. Monica Swink will lead you
through an action-packed session including best accounting practices,
internal controls, financial planning, effective communications and the
importance of an annual report.

SOCIAL MEDIA
Leveraging Connections For Your Organization
Presented by Dr. Bobbi Kay Lewis and Dr. Jeretta Nord
March 31, 9 am to noon
Social media sites are a dream for nonprofits trying to reach out to
donors and volunteers, but just because you launched your website and
now have Twitter followers and Facebook fans doesn’t necessarily mean
you are leveraging social media as a strategic tool for your nonprofit.
Whether your group has jumped on the social media bandwagon or you
are new to using this medium, you will gain valuable tips, insights and
resources for making social media a powerful tool to connect,
rally support, engage volunteers and even raise money.

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS
Trends and Techniques Exchange
April 28, 9 am to noon
• Format is a 10-minute best practice explained
by the moderator, followed by a 35-minute
group discussion

• Participants choose 3 of the 5 topics and rotate

throughout the morning

Topics to be addressed include grant writing,

fundraising ideas, making your marketing efforts count,
effectively utilizing volunteers and interns, and more. Look
for ideas to be exchanged during these rotating roundtable
discussions facilitated by experts from different fields of nonprofit
management. Each table leader will share information about the
topic and then facilitate a question and answer time. Participants
will round out the discussions by sharing their own practices on
each of the issues covered during the BluePrint Series, as well
as other areas of interest to nonprofit organizations.
MEASURING RESULTS
Are You Making a Difference?
Presented by Dr. Denise Caudill
September 29, 9 am to noon
Learn how to assess the outcomes of your organization’s programs and the
benefits or changes in the lives of people you serve that occur as a result
of the work you do. In a fun and fast participatory process, participants
will develop logic models for their programs and gain knowledge of steps
to take to develop a system for measuring program outcomes.

STRATEGIC PLANNING
What Would You Have If You Got What You Wanted?
Presented by Sandra LeVan
October 27, 9 am to noon
What are we going to do? Why are we going to do it? How are we going
to do it? How will we measure the success or failure of our organization
and our programs? The goal of this strategic planning session is to
assist participants in pursuing purposeful planning. Creating a useful,
practical and mission-driven strategic plan for your organization is a
critical component for success. This interactive session is designed
to enable participants to create a strategic framework for
their organization by exploring current trends, traditional
thought, and best practices. Attendees will learn how
to use applicable corporate concepts, such as an
environmental scan, to develop their plan.

MANAGING CONFLICT
Can’t We All Just Get Along?
Presented by Diana Hartley
November 17, 9 am to noon
Conflict happens, and you and your
organization can become better as a
result of it. Everyone approaches conflict in
different ways, but there are effective ways
to manage it. Take a fresh look at different
approaches for handling conflict, identifying
which style you use, the styles used by those you’re
in close contact with, and how to best communicate
with others.
PRESENTERS

Diana Hartley
Diana Hartley, APR, holds bachelors and master’s degrees in
public relations from the University of Oklahoma. She spent the
first few years of her career working in journalism as a newspaper
reporter, and then worked for 18 years in school and community
public relations. She started working with Sarkeys Foundation in
2006. She a member of the Leadership Oklahoma Class XXIV and
serves on the boards of the Norman Public School Foundation,
the Norman Chamber of Commerce, United Way and Bridges,
a nonprofit organization that provides housing and support for
homeless high school students.

Sandra LeVan, MBA

Sandra Walling LeVan holds a BS in History and an MBA from
Oklahoma City University. She began her career in the nonprofit
sector working in development in several capacities at Oklahoma
City University and the Oklahoma Arts Institute. In 1991, she
established Non-Profit Planners. She also returned to Oklahoma
City University as an adjunct faculty member teaching Strategic
Management and Marketing and Essentials of Management
and Managing the Nonprofit Organization. Since 2002, LeVan
has developed, presented and facilitated training sessions and
workshops on a wide variety of topics.

Dr. Bobbi Kay Lewis

Bobbi Kay Lewis, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of Media and
Strategic Communications at Oklahoma State University. She has
research and teaching experience in media sales and marketing,
advertising media and markets, and social media. Lewis also has
10 years of experience in advertising. In 2009, she received the
Outstanding Faculty Advisor for the Association of Women in
Communications.

Dr. Jeretta Nord

Jeretta Horn Nord, Ed.D., is a professor of Management Science and
Information Systems in the Spears School of Business at Oklahoma
State University. Dr. Nord has conducted research in leveraging
social media as a business tool. She was a Senior Fulbright Scholar
in Slovenia and served as a Visiting Scholar at UCLA and the
University of Southern Queensland. Dr. Nord is the founder of A
Cup of Cappuccino for the Entrepreneur’s Spirit book series.
Monica Swink, CPA
Monica Swink obtained her Certified Public Accountant
license in 1988. In 1996, after a successful career in
the for-profit sector, Swink accepted a position as
Senior Tax Manager in the Exempt Organizations Tax
Practice at KPMG, LLP, in Oklahoma City. In 2001,
Swink opened her own firm, specializing in nonprofit
financial issues. With board consultant training from
Board Source, Swink broadened her practice to include
conducting board retreats, strategic planning meetings
and board development training. Swink conducts
workshops for the Center for Nonprofit Management,
the Oklahoma Institute for Nonprofit Leadership and
the Southwest Regional Leadership Forum.

Jeri Towler, JD
Jeri Towler is an avid volunteer for the underprivileged,
including for her younger sister who was born
mentally handicapped. While in law school Towler
received mediation training and volunteered as a
mediator for Small Claims Court. Immediately after law
school Towler took the position of general counsel
for a privately held for-profit corporation. In 2004,
Towler incorporated her law practice and today she
limits her practice to not-for-profit law. Projects have
included separating not-for-profit organizations from
governmental agencies, assisting organizations in
attaining/maintaining tax exempt status, managing
issues surrounding embezzlement and merging or
dissolving organizations.

Dr. Denise Caudill

Workshop facilitator Dr. Denise Caudill, an independent
consultant doing business as The Outcome Zone™,
has trained and worked with hundreds of nonprofit
agencies across Oklahoma. She is a skilled trainer,
facilitator and coach in strategic planning, program
planning, monitoring and evaluation, including
extensive expertise in outcomes measurement and
nonprofit capacity building.
LET THE BLUEPRINT SERIES
BE THE CORNERSTONE
TO YOUR SUCCESS

REGISTER NOW!
Marcy Luter
405-377-3333, ext. 297
marcyl@meridiantech.edu
To Enroll
405-377-3333, ext. 232