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Training & Facilitation

support for nonprofit organizations

My workshops and coaching provide support to nonprofit professionals who love their organization’s mission or their team, but are struggling with organizational challenges, limited resources, or new ways of working. I help individuals, teams, and organizations take charge of their work, their leadership, and their strengths.

 

I work with non-profit teams to strengthen skills and increase impact. I enjoy working with people at all levels of an organization: direct service folks, managers, leaders, emerging leaders, and board members. I offer both in-person trainings and virtual learning experiences that are highly engaging and interactive. I also design and facilitate retreats for staff or board teams.

I strive to be conscious and thoughtful about race, class, privilege, and power dynamics in my interactions with individuals and in the development of my trainings for organizations. You can learn more about my commitment to equity here.

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Nonprofit Clients

I’ve provided professional development to leaders and emerging leaders at organizations like:

What It’s Like

When I first meet with a nonprofit client, I help you articulate what problem you are facing and what outcomes you’re looking for. Then, I provide coaching, training or facilitation or some combination of those—whichever mode and strategies will best target your area of concern. My coaching often focuses on supervision issues, team development and strengthening management and leadership skills. My trainings cover a wide range of topics (see the list below). I can customize an existing training for your organization or design a workshop for you from the ground up. 

What It Costs

Pricing depends on your organization and project, with flexible rates depending on the size and budget of the organization. I am committed to making my fees affordable and accessible. Please schedule an initial consultation so I can learn more about your needs and develop a proposal.

Possible trainings

The following list includes trainings I have offered in the past and topics I can customize for your organization:

Developing Leadership

  • NEW:  Self-Care for Nonprofit Professionals

  • Giving Effective Feedback

  • Emotional Intelligence: A Tool for Effective Managers and Teams

  • Your Leadership Point of View: A Powerful Framework for Leading Teams

  • Managing Transitions and Leading through Change

  • The Gift of Failure: What Have You Learned?

Supervision/Management

  • NEW: Leading Remotely: Best Practices for Managers working with Virtual Teams

  • Supervision Basics for New Managers

  • Responding to Performance Challenges

  • Effective Performance Reviews: Key Lessons for New Managers

  • Coaching Skills for Managers: The GROW Model

  • Situational Leadership—A Model for Effective Supervision Relationships

Strengths

  • The Power of Strengths: An Introduction to CliftonStrengths

  • Strengths for Stronger and More Connected Teams

  • Use Your Strengths for Good! How to Leverage Your Strengths as a Leader

Training & Program Design

  • NEW: Design Thinking for Nonprofit Organizations

  • Training for Trainers: Designing Successful Workshops

  • Take Charge of Your Professional Development!

  • Evaluating Youth Programs: Beyond Surveys

Volunteers

  • Designing a Successful Volunteer Program

  • Best Practices for Working with Volunteers

Boards & Fundraising

  • NEW: Strong Partners, Clear Roles, Nonprofit Boards and EDs: Who Does What?

  • Intro to Fundraising

  • Communicating in an Age of Sound Bites: What’s Your One-Minute Message?

  • Intro to Grant Writing

Youth Development

  • Introduction to Youth Development

  • Compassion Fatigue and Youth Work

  • Trauma-Informed Youth Development

  • CPS Reporting

  • How to Integrate Growth Mindset Practices into Your Youth Programs

What My Clients Say

Testimonials

Whitney facilitated workshops for my former organization, Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits, and she was so easy to work with! She was reliable, responsive, and very flexible when it came time to addressing the different needs of the community we served. People who attended her workshops such as Self-Care for Nonprofit Professionals, Human-Centered Design, and Messaging for Nonprofits, couldn't stop talking about how helpful she was, and how clear the content she presented was. I would definitely work with her again!

Jennifer Torai, Nonprofit Leader

Whitney’s workshop with our board was the first step to understanding how a partnership with a new Executive Director (me!) might look. Her extensive knowledge and years of experience as a leader in non-profit work served to inform my board members of their roles and responsibilities in relationship to me and the organization. As a facilitator, Whitney created a safe and relaxed space to ask questions and to learn. One of the most interesting responses from board members was that having Whitney work with us gave them a sense of pride and legitimacy to their role. Whitney’s workshop supported the idea that a board mattered – that THEY matter.

Nicki Guard, Executive Director, Friends of Sharon Art Studio

I hired Whitney to facilitate Board and staff retreats and train staff at two different nonprofit organizations over the last five years. She is incredibly well-organized, does her background homework to ensure she understands the mission, vision, and culture of the organization, and excels at incorporating interactive activities that foster trust, engage, and inspire teams. She masterfully facilitated a Board retreat designed to determine different possible futures of the organization. She led us through a complex discussion around expansion, mergers, restructuring, and more. The Board left feeling like all options were considered, their ideas had been included, and that the organization was ready to act on any of the potential scenario plans.

Tanya Stevenson, CEO, Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation

Whitney’s thought partnership in developing and delivering a leadership development program for our high potential contributors was integral as demand for our social services increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and we experienced unprecedented growth. Our staff were able to rise to the challenges that 2020 brought, in no small part due to the tools that Whitney provided our team. Her training and facilitation skills combined with her calm, thoughtful demeanor engenders trust, and her coaching style is balanced and non-judgmental.

Marcy, HR Director, Nonprofit

FAQs

What do you do?

I offer professional development for staff, leaders and teams working in grassroots organizations as well as larger nonprofits. I enjoy working with people at all levels of an organization: direct service folks, managers, leaders, emerging leaders, and board members. In addition to providing workshops, I can design and facilitate staff meetings or retreats for staff or board teams. I offer both in-person trainings and virtual learning experiences that are highly engaging and interactive.

Who Do You Work With?

I provide trainings for nonprofit organizations across the Bay Area. I can design and deliver workshops for teams, departments, or for your whole organization. Past and current clients include: Alameda County Community Food Bank, Silicon Valley Coalition of Nonprofits, Breathe California Golden Gate, Friends of Sharon Art Studio, Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation, Center for Nonprofit Excellence-The Community Foundation of Monterey, West Valley Community Services, and YWCA Golden Gate Silicon Valley.

What can you offer us?

Many of my workshops focus on training new supervisors or developing the skills of experienced managers and leaders of nonprofit teams. Popular workshops I offer include: Self-Care for Nonprofit Professionals; Giving Effective Feedback; Design Thinking for Nonprofit Organizations; Leading Remotely: Best Practices for Managers Working with Virtual Teams; Supervision Basics for New Managers; Responding to Performance Challenges; Strengths for Stronger and More Connected Teams; Communicating in an Age of Sounds Bites: What’s Your One-Minute Message?; Trauma-Informed Youth Development; and Strong Partners, Clear Roles: Nonprofit Boards and Executive Directors.

In addition to adapting my existing workshops for your organization, I can also develop a workshop or series of workshops for you from the ground up. I facilitate staff or board meetings and retreats, and I provide coaching for individuals and teams.

How do you approach diversity, equity, and inclusion?

I strive to be conscious and thoughtful about race, class, privilege, and power dynamics in my interactions with individuals and in the development of my trainings and workshops. I am actively working to be anti-racist. I engage in workshops, reading, discussions, and every learning experience I can to learn more and do better. In my work with groups, I am experimenting with new ways of decentering whiteness and creating spaces that are truly inclusive, welcoming, and that invite everyone to belong. I am happy to engage in conversations about what it means to be a white cis-woman facilitator for groups where BIPOC folks are participating, and how I hold space for everyone in learning environments.

What are the results?

My clients appreciate that I am reliable, flexible and responsive to the needs of their communities. Participants leave my workshops with new tools and skills to advance the work of their organizations.

Testimonials

Whitney facilitated workshops for my former organization, Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits, and she was so easy to work with! She was reliable, responsive, and very flexible when it came time to addressing the different needs of the community we served. People who attended her workshops such as Self-Care for Nonprofit Professionals, Human-Centered Design, and Messaging for Nonprofits, couldn't stop talking about how helpful she was, and how clear the content she presented was. I would definitely work with her again!

Jennifer Torai, Nonprofit Leader

I hired Whitney to facilitate Board and staff retreats and train staff at two different nonprofit organizations over the last five years. She is incredibly well-organized, does her background homework to ensure she understands the mission, vision, and culture of the organization, and excels at incorporating interactive activities that foster trust, engage, and inspire teams. She masterfully facilitated a Board retreat designed to determine different possible futures of the organization. She led us through a complex discussion around expansion, mergers, restructuring, and more. The Board left feeling like all options were considered, their ideas had been included, and that the organization was ready to act on any of the potential scenario plans.

Tanya Stevenson, CEO, Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation

Whitney’s thought partnership in developing and delivering a leadership development program for our high potential contributors was integral as demand for our social services increased during the COVID-19 pandemic and we experienced unprecedented growth. Our staff were able to rise to the challenges that 2020 brought, in no small part due to the tools that Whitney provided our team. Her training and facilitation skills combined with her calm, thoughtful demeanor engenders trust, and her coaching style is balanced and non-judgmental.

Marcy, HR Director, Nonprofit

What are your qualifications?

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I have more than 25 years of experience facilitating learning for adults and youth in nonprofit organizations. My work has focused largely on youth development, girls and women’s empowerment, and food insecurity.

As the former Senior Director of Learning and Service Programs at Girls Inc. of Alameda County, I coordinated professional development and learning for a staff of 100 youth workers, managers and leaders for 10 years. In my nearly two decades with the organization, I also developed and managed STEM programs, created and managed the volunteer program, provided oversight for a federally funded AmeriCorps literacy program, and served on the senior leadership team.

I have a MA in Education from Stanford and a BA in Political Science from Pomona College.

In addition to training, I coach women and nonprofit staff and leaders, groups that often face complex mental, emotional, and professional loads and are typically holding work and family demands that feel too heavy, while trying to “do more with less.” I partner with my clients to find connections, identify strengths, and take action. I am an Associate Certified Coach with the International Coaches Federation.

Can we afford to work with you?

I believe people working in the nonprofit sector deserve full access to the support, solutions, and learning that quality professional development can provide. I am committed to making my fees affordable and reasonable for all my clients. I maintain a sliding scale of fees for individuals and my hourly fees for work with nonprofit organizations are adjusted in relationship to their budgets and resources.

How can I learn more?

Please contact me or directly schedule a conversation to discuss the needs of your organization. I’d be delighted to explore what working together might look like.

 

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