Speakers
Darla Marburger
Darla Marburger’s passion is amplifying good. As Greater for Good’s founder, she partners with nonprofits to advance their missions using business management principles to work smarter and measure their progress. Because impact measurement is essential to nonprofit development, and many nonprofits lack that in-house expertise, she provides fractional chief impact officer (CIO) services so that small- and mid-size nonprofits can have an impact expert part-time when their budget and workload do not justify the expense of a full-time CIO. She also enjoys designing and facilitating staff retreats to strengthen teams.
Darla launched her career in public service after earning a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Texas A&M University. Her policy work for the Texas Legislature supported the use of education data for greater student achievement. Later, as Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Education, she oversaw 15 nationwide grant programs awarding $20 billion annually. Darla led a team in the landmark achievement of every state having an approved plan to hold schools accountable for student achievement—an honor that earned her a trip to the White House.
Following her career in public service, Darla spent 12 years in corporate consulting before starting Greater for Good in 2019. Her commitment to social change is unwavering, as evidenced by her 10-year service on the board of a small family nonprofit and her role as a trusted adviser providing strategic direction for 25 years.
Darla lives in Austin, Texas, where she enjoys dancing the tango and hiking with her geriatric poodle, Moxy (but not simultaneously).
9:45 am - 11:15 am
Morning Keynote:
Self-Made Success: The Dos and Don’ts of Nonprofit DIY
Kick off your morning with a fun and practical keynote to help you get in a great DIY mindset and make the most of the summit. As a nonprofit leader, you have one head and wear many hats. The work is demanding, fulfilling, and often stretches you as you tackle tasks outside of your wheelhouse that must be done. How do you do it yourself without doing yourself in? We will explore the pitfalls to avoid and the strategies to
employ as you muster the courage, knowledge, and skills to have success as you DIY.
Whether you are a small nonprofit looking to extend your resources or a larger organization aiming to build your in-house talent, this keynote will provide you with valuable insights and actionable advice to know how and when to use DIY to advance your mission.
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Afternoon Session:
Crucial Measures: How & Why to Make Your Nonprofit’s Impact Known
You know your nonprofit is making a positive change in the world, but do you have a consistent and reliable way to measure its impact and show others how great a difference your organization is making? Investing a bit of time, thought, and structure to support impact measurement gives you the data you need to tell your impact story and:
- Secure and maintain grants
- Attract new donors
- Build trust and loyalty with donors
- Engage volunteers
- Fine-tune your programs and operations for continual improvement
In this interactive session, you’ll learn:
- Why it is worth your time and effort to establish a system of impact measurement
- How to create a logic model to aid you in defining the building blocks of impact measurement (situation, input, outputs, and outcomes)
- How to create a plan for defining the impact measures and collecting the data
- Who needs to be involved
- What to do with the results
- Recommended resources to support you in DIY impact measurement
By effectively communicating their impact, nonprofits can build stronger relationships with supporters, secure necessary funding, and ultimately achieve their mission more effectively. Come and learn how it is done!
Liz Deering
My name is Liz Deering. I am the owner of Impact Haven.
I am a facilitator, learning designer, coach, program strategist, and social entrepreneur. I have spent my career holding space and building communities for founders, leaders, and impact makers. I started in tech startups and creative agencies and co-founded several impact organizations, including an incubator for women and other minorities.
It is my greatest joy to be in the room (in person or virtually) facilitating groups of leaders, working in collaboration with teams, connecting people, and watching new concepts come to life.
For the last 10 years, I have served as a coach to founders and leaders. My specialty is supporting women and other minority founders, as they navigate a transition, plan for a new program launch, prepare a business strategy, or prepare to pitch. I also provide facilitation services for existing incubators or accelerator programs.
Impact Haven is my boutique creative agency based in Austin, TX. I lead a team of talented creatives from around the country. Our studio supports organizations that are launching new training programs with full-service support to build, launch, and manage the early seasons of the program. We specialize in implementing custom online training programs and incubators/accelerators designed with experiential learning principles and community
9:45 am - 11:15 am
Morning Session:
- Authentic Storytelling For Your Brand
- Why storytelling? As humans, we are wired for story. We want to identify with the hero and we also often want to BE the hero.
- What will we cover? In this session, we will be unpacking the structure of the hero’s journey and how to apply it to authentic storytelling for your organization.
- Who is this for? This session is for leaders who are facing challenges as they communicate with their various constituents, from partners to donors to those they serve. Perhaps, you are on a small budget or you do not have resources for a full-time communications/marketing team. It matters just as much, that you connect with and engage your audiences.
- What will the outcome be? We will be practicing the principles of story development, you will leave with a new perspective and a template and framework for approaching your next marketing push or fundraising campaign.
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Afternoon Session:
- Design Thinking For New Program Ideation
- What is design thinking? Design thinking is a mindset and approach to problem-solving and innovation anchored around human-centered design. While it can be traced back centuries—and perhaps even longer—it gained traction in the modern business world after Tim Brown, CEO and president of design company IDEO, published an article about it in the Harvard Business Review in 2008.
- What will we cover? In this session, we will be unpacking the human-centered approach to design, and applying it to designing a new program
- Who is this for? This session is for leaders who are facing challenges are they launch new programs or have faced challenges. Perhaps, you are struggling to get alignment across the various parties involved, or the results and impact are hard to define, or measure.
- What will the outcome be? We will be practicing the principles of design thinking, you will leave with a new perspective and a template and framework for approaching your next program design.
Chris Carmona, CPA, Schriver, Carmona & Company PLLC, Co-founding Partner, Assurance Services
Chris Carmona, CPA, is a co-founding partner of Schriver, Carmona & Company and has over twenty years of public accounting experience. Chris’ experience includes leading and supervising the audits of several nonprofit entities, including nonprofits requiring single audits as specified in the Uniform Guidance, governmental entities, employee benefit plans, and commercial entities.
Chris received his BBA in Accounting from the University of Texas at San Antonio (Go Runners!) and is a member of the American Institute of CPAs and the Texas Society of CPAs. He currently serves as chair of the San Antonio regional board of KIPP Texas, as treasurer of The Nonprofit Council, as treasurer of Eva’s Heros, and on the founding board of governors for The Centre Club (formerly The Plaza Club). Chris’s past board experience includes Guide Dogs of Texas, where he served three years as board chair. Chris has chaired the finance council and served on the school council of his parish, St. Matthew Catholic Church. In addition, he also chaired the Annual Archbishop’s Appeal for three years and represented St. Matthew as the parish’s chair for the Archdiocesan Capital Campaign.
Chris and his wife, Ana, will celebrate 20 years of marriage in March and they have been blessed with three children: Sophia (17), Daniel (15) and Michael (8).
9:45 am - 11:15 am
Morning Session:
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Afternoon Breakout:
Speaker TBA
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Afternoon Breakout:
Speaker TBA
9:45 am - 11:15 am
Morning Breakout:
Speaker TBA
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Afternoon Breakout:
Speaker TBA
9:45 am - 11:15 am
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Morning Breakout:
Afternoon Breakout: