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The California Central Coast Chapter of The Wildlife Society Annual Wildlife Symposium is intended to bring together local professionals and students from the Central Coast together to share ideas, professional knowledge, and information on projects, and on-going research.

Description:

The stories we tell shape the world we live in and the future we’re building. As funding becomes harder to secure and competition for awards grows, the ability to communicate your nonprofit’s impact with clarity, emotion, and purpose is no longer optional — it’s essential. This workshop gives nonprofit leaders the tools and confidence to craft stories that stand out and inspire action.

Learning Objectives:
- Explain the strategic value of storytelling as a tool for advancing their nonprofit mission, building trust, and influencing key audiences — including funders, advocates, and partners.
- Identify and shape compelling narratives that authentically reflect their mission, values, and impact.
- Apply practical storytelling tools and techniques to craft stories that inspire action, deepen engagement, and drive change.
- Design and implement a storytelling process within their organizations, including effective methods for sourcing, curating, and sharing authentic narratives.
- Develop and uphold responsible storytelling practices that ensure respect, dignity, and agency for the people and communities represented.
- Discover and surface powerful stories in unexpected places, expanding their organization’s capacity to capture and communicate impact.

Workshop with Terry Kang and Pamela Perkins-Dwyer.

Effective stewardship demonstrates to donors that you value their individual support and see them as an integral part of your community, growing their loyalty and trust in your nonprofit over time. Securing donors’ long-term support is critical for your nonprofit to continually fund its mission-driven initiatives. This workshop will empower development professionals, nonprofit leaders, and board members to strengthen donor relationships through stewardship strategies.

Participants will learn how to turn stewardship theory into everyday practice, creating personalized, mission-driven experiences that deepen donor engagement year-round. The workshop emphasizes building trust through transparency, gratitude, and storytelling while showcasing meaningful engagement opportunities such as behind-the-scenes access, intimate gatherings, and customized communications that highlight donor impact. Attendees will hear about real-world examples to assist in enhance their own donor relations programs.

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to craft a stewardship plan that fosters a culture of appreciation, improves donor retention, inspires greater giving, and contributes to long-term organizational success.

Hiring the right people—and helping them thrive—can make or break your nonprofit’s success. This interactive workshop series walks you through effective interviewing techniques, collaborative problem-solving around common hiring challenges, and proven onboarding strategies to set new staff up for long-term success. You’ll leave with practical tools to attract, select, and retain talent that strengthens your mission and culture. Join your peers in this hands-on learning experience to sharpen your hiring and onboarding practices from start to finish.

Workshop Design

Morning Session – Effective Interviewing

Who you hire is a direct reflection of you and your organization. During this portion of the workshop, we will explore and role-play helpful tips and tools to improve your interviewing skills and ensure you hire the right candidate that your budget can afford every time. Focus areas will include defining your ideal candidate, proper interview preparation, and proper interview execution.

Brainstorming Lunch – Recruitment Challenges

Leveraging the peer knowledge in the room, we will surface the key challenges we all face in recruiting and retaining talent in the nonprofit sector. We will then seek to brainstorm as a group around solutions and best practices for addressing these difficulties.

Afternoon Session – Effective Onboarding

Phasing new employees into their roles with structured onboarding to set them up for success has always proven to be more effective than the very common “throw them into the frying pan,” or “figure your own job out” schools of learning. During this section of the workshop, we will examine and discuss tips and best practices to help new employees assimilate quickly and accelerate their speed to proficiency resulting in more productive, satisfied, engaged, and tenured employees.

Who Should Attend:

Nonprofit leaders and managers charged with hiring and building high performing staff teams. Organizations are encouraged to attend as a leadership group.

Uncertainty is inevitable—but strategic action is a choice. Nonprofit leadership today requires navigating a world of constant change—shifting funding streams, political pressures, rising community needs, and managing agile teams. Too often, this means pressure to operate in constant rapid-response mode, leaving little time to step back and plan with intention.

This interactive workshop offers a practical real-time framework for strategic and scenario planning that helps you stay anchored in your mission and values, even when circumstances are uncertain. Together, we’ll explore:

-How to identify and fiercely protect your organization’s core work and values during times of uncertainty.
-Tools for mapping financial and programmatic scenarios—from best case to worst case—and planning clear -responses.
-Strategies for aligning executive staff and board members so efforts are aligned to core values and priorities.

Gain expert insight into leading through uncertainty and be equipped with scenario planning approaches and a template to focus you and your team's planning and strategic response.

Workshop with Julie Ha Truong.

Nonprofit bylaws are not only necessary under the California Nonprofit Law, but also essential to obtaining and maintaining tax-exempt status. Aside from the legal and tax requirements, bylaws serve as an important roadmap to guide board governance, operations and decision-making. However, just mention the need to revisit or revise this important document, and most nonprofit board and staff members will shudder! Join us for this engaging discussion with Roy Schneider, Esq. and Jessica Villar, Esq., who will address bylaw basics, required provisions, and the process of taking on bylaw changes, then explore best practice approaches for streamline your governance practices.

Topics will include:

Why Bylaws Matter!
What is required by California law?
Key components of effective bylaws -- what should (and shouldn’t) be in the bylaws
The difference between bylaws and policies
Best practices for revising, amending and/or restating your organization’s bylaws, whether you are a membership or non-membership organization
Resources and checklists to help you navigate this process

Attendees are encouraged to bring a copy of their current bylaws and submit confidential questions for Roy to address during the workshop session.

With Katie Deutschman

Perfect for expanding your grant writing skills, this intermediate workshop dives into the art of proposal writing by exploring the planning phases and each component of a winning proposal. This hands-on workshop will give you the opportunity to learn about how proposals relate to strategic and program planning, grant writing terminology and the basic components of a proposal. You will apply your new knowledge right away as you develop a draft proposal.

Come prepared to write! Please bring copies of your organization’s mission statement, project descriptions, and background materials. Please also bring paper and pen/pencil or a laptop.

Note: This workshop is designed for individuals who have had at least some experience writing and submitting grant proposals. Please register here: https://www.callutheran.edu/centers/nonprofit/workshops/event/2026-01-20-intermediate-proposal-writing-three-module-series

Part I: Tuesday, January 20, 2026 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Part II: Tuesday, January 27, 2026 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Part III: Tuesday, February 3, 2026 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Will your organization have enough cash to cover payroll next month? How about an unbudgeted expense or a fabulous new opportunity? Financial statements are important for board members and leadership to analyze the organization’s historical performance, but cash management is critical for day-to-day financial operations. In this class, we will learn how to develop a cash projection spreadsheet that can be updated regularly so you can successfully plan ahead and avoid surprises. Learning about cash projections is also a wonderful method to get familiar and comfortable with financials, because cash projections tend to be a more intuitive way of looking at financial information.

Learning Objectives:
-Discover 3 methods of projecting future cash flows: mind dump, budget conversion, and hybrid
-Analyze common differences between an accrual-based budget and a cash projection
-Identity strategies for handling shortfall and windfalls

Audience: This workshop is great for Executive Directors, fund development professionals, program managers, board members, and anyone else doing budgeting for nonprofit organizations.

This hands-on workshop is designed to help nonprofits strengthen financial resilience and build sustainable funding. In this session, we will guide participants in understanding their funding options, aligning revenue strategies with mission and capacity, and developing a clear, actionable and diversified annual development plan. In addition, attendees will have access to dedicated “office hours” with the instructors in the weeks following the workshop to review their plans, troubleshoot challenges, and strengthen implementation.

During this workshop, participants will:

- Explore the universe of funding sources available to nonprofits and their strategic implications
- Determine the right mix of revenue drivers that align with your mission, staffing, volunteer capacity, and donor fit
- Begin drafting a balanced 12-month development plan that integrates multiple funding sources into a cohesive strategy
- Start on an implementation roadmap that outlines your organization’s goals, activities, role accountability, and timelines
- Access follow-up “office hours” for personalized guidance and problem-solving

Target Audience: Executive directors, development directors and their staff, Board members and development committee volunteers engaged in fundraising and resource acquisition

Nonprofit bylaws are not only necessary under the California Nonprofit Law, but also essential to obtaining and maintaining tax-exempt status. Aside from the legal and tax requirements, bylaws serve as an important roadmap to guide board governance, operations and decision-making. However, just mention the need to revisit or revise this important document, and most nonprofit board and staff members will shudder! Join us for this engaging discussion with Roy Schneider, Esq. and Jessica Villar, Esq., who will address bylaw basics, required provisions, and the process of taking on bylaw changes, then explore best practice approaches for streamline your governance practices.

Topics will include:

Why Bylaws Matter!
What is required by California law?
Key components of effective bylaws -- what should (and shouldn’t) be in the bylaws
The difference between bylaws and policies
Best practices for revising, amending and/or restating your organization’s bylaws, whether you are a membership or non-membership organization
Resources and checklists to help you navigate this process

Attendees are encouraged to bring a copy of their current bylaws and submit confidential questions for Roy to address during the workshop session.