Save The Date

The Nonprofit Advisory Group returns to Harford County on May 5th, 2023!

Sign Up

Our event is taking place Friday, May 5th, 2022 at the EpiCenter of Aberdeen — 21 Aberdeen Shopping Plaza, Aberdeen, MD 21001

This event is free to attend, but we ask that attendees make a donation to our featured charity, Harford Community Action Agency, below to save your seat.

 

Schedule

Our event is taking place Friday, May 5th, 2022 at the EpiCenter of Aberdeen — 21 Aberdeen Shopping Plaza, Aberdeen, MD 21001

The schedule below is subject to change without notice.

11:30AM – 12:30PM

Check In
Lunch will be provided by Sunny Day Cafe and will consist of:

  • Build Your Own Taco Bar (Beef & Chicken)
  • Grilled Chicken and Avocado Burritos
  • Mexican Corn Salad
  • Chili
  • Guacamole with Chips
  • Assorted Non-Alcoholic Beverages

Remember, no food is allowed in the actual main hall – please make sure you get to the event on time so that you do not miss lunch!

12:30PM – 12:45PM

Opening Remarks
We will kick off the Nonprofit Advisory Group with welcoming remarks from our team!

12:45PM – 1:15PM

Shallow Dive into Understanding Diversity (DEI)
Michael Haynie, President – Global Training Centers, LLC

In this session, attendees can expect the following learning objectives and outcomes:

  • Define and Understand Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI)
  • The Benefits of DEI in the Business and Personal Life Model
  • Beginning the Process of Evaluating DEI in Our Organizations and/or Lives

1:15PM – 1:45PM

Roundtable Discussions
Attendees will have the opportunity to select a roundtable discussion of their choosing, led by industry experts.

The topics will include:

  • “Employment Issues” (Beacon Staffing)
  • “Financial Wellness Platform” (APGFCU)
  • “Five to Thrive” (Jonita Shoaff, President – Triford Consulting)
  • “Google Grants Program” (P.J. Chambers, President – WebIXI)
  • “Grant Research” (Natalie Shaw, Harford Community College)

1:45PM – 2:00PM

Break
We will have a short break in the program so that attendees may stretch, catch up on phone calls / emails, run to the rest room and visit the various vendor booths!

2:00PM – 2:45PM

Stop Cringing About Your Board & Start Leveraging It!
Tom Brush, Owner – Advancement Designs

  • “They are not engaged”
  • “They never take initiative”
  • “I can’t find them”
  • “They don’t do the easiest things they are asked to do”

What should the next agenda look like?

How often have you said these things or something like it about your board?

One of the challenges nonprofit leaders face is identifying, recruiting, and managing their board. They are great people and really want to help and yet so often you get frustrated with them or just don’t know what to do with them. That is if you can find them in the first place. This workshop will explore all of those topics and more.

  • We will discuss the three common boards and help you figure out if you have the appropriate board for where your organization currently is and where it wants to go.
  • Strategies to set them up for success and truly leverage them and their resources

You can turn them into your greatest advocates!

Even if your board seems great, I promise you will walk away with at least one tip or strategy that will add value. You can also share your experience so others feel like it is possible to leverage your board.

Bring your questions, thoughts, and worries.

It is time to change the narrative around your nonprofit board.

2:45PM – 3:00PM

Harford Helps Demonstration
Alicia Hamilton, Founder – Social Progress Solutions

Harford Helps is a free, online public directory that provides visitors with hundreds of nonprofits, organizations, services, and programs in Harford County, Maryland.  Users can filter listings by cause, category, name, or zip code, making searching a snap and connecting a breeze. Visitors can also check out local news sponsored by Harford County Living or learn more about upcoming events on our community calendar.

Whether you’re looking to donate, volunteer or find resources in Harford County, MD, Harford Helps can help you find the place you are looking for!  Thank you for choosing to join in on this mission with us to SUPPORT LOCAL!

3:00PM – 3:45PM

Marketing A.I.:  Embracing a New ‘A’ to Save Your Old ‘A’
P.J. Chambers, President – WebIXI

As a dedicated and mission-driven nonprofit organization, you understand the importance of effective marketing to reach your goals and maximize your impact. With the rise of AI technology in recent years, there are now more powerful tools than ever to help you achieve your marketing objectives.

That’s why we would like to invite you to attend an educational session on the benefits of Marketing AI. This session will be hosted by experts in the field who have years of experience working with nonprofits like yours.

During this session, you will learn:

  • An overview of what Marketing AI is (Including Popular Tools such as ChatGPT and Best Practices for Prompts)
  • How Marketing AI can help you improve your outreach and engagement with donors, volunteers, and supporters
  • How to use Marketing AI tools to optimize your social media strategy, email marketing, and website content
  • How Marketing AI can help you personalize your communication with donors and increase donor retention
  • Best practices and case studies of how nonprofits have successfully implemented Marketing AI in their campaigns

By attending this session, you will gain a deeper understanding of how Marketing AI can benefit your organization and how you can start incorporating these tools into your marketing strategy.

We believe that Marketing AI has the potential to revolutionize the way nonprofits approach marketing, and we are excited to share our knowledge with you.

3:45PM – 4:30PM

Now is a Good Time to Apply the “Oxygen Mask Rule”
Jennifer Redding, Klein’s Family Harford Crisis Center

Now more than ever, those of us in the non-profit arena are experiencing fatigue and not just regular, “tired” fatigue, but full-on body and mind fatigue! During our time together we will explore the challenges of navigating non-profit service and leadership (formal and informal) while surviving a 3 year pandemic. Areas of focus will center on the importance of understanding how “trauma” impacts our brains & bodies and what to do about it. Tips and tricks to assist your brains (and bodies) recover, along with resiliency-building strategies to help you continue to help those you serve will be shared and identified.

4:45PM – 5:00PM

Announcements & Closing Remarks
Attendees will have the opportunity to announce upcoming events, services and news items for their Nonprofit Organization to the group.

Speaker Bios

Learn more about our speakers!
Tom-Brush-Headshot-1-1-200x200 (1)

Tom Brush

CEO, Advancement Designs


Do you ever feel lonely as a leader? Leadership loneliness is a real thing.

Tom Brush has been in those shoes and as a consultant/coach he is driven to help small business owners, entrepreneurs, and organizational and nonprofit leaders to design strategies to help them avoid overwhelm, frustration, and loneliness.

He has helped:

  • Nonprofit leaders further engage with their constituencies, effectively manage volunteers and boards, increase donations from individuals, corporations, and foundations, and creatively steward donors.   
  • Small Business Owners figure out how to prioritize their efforts, manage their time, and communicate their message to their staff, customers, and clients.
  • Entrepreneurs not feel so alone in decision-making, figure out their next step and how to remain focused on their top priorities, flexible enough to pivot when necessary, have the freedom to do things the way they want to, and maintain the fun in their work they have always desired.  

After a 25 year career in the nonprofit sector, Tom set out to share the knowledge, experience, and perspective he gained in the nonprofit world through his company Advancement Designs.

In 2020, along with Bob Graham, he co-founded the Renegade Success Network realizing that they wanted to help people find their own unique pathway to success.  The two also host a daily podcast, Today’s Antidote, where they share their insight into a business-related topic and then provide their one thing to help others who may be facing that issue in their lives.

Tom holds a Bachelor’s degree from Hamilton College, an MBA, and has served as president of two nonprofit boards.  

Outside of his passion for consulting and coaching leaders and organizations, Tom loves to network, connect with other professionals and officiate girls and women’s lacrosse. Tom and his wife, Liz, have three amazing adult children and two dogs.

pj-chambers-headshot-200x200 (2)

P.J. Chambers

President, WebIXI


More information coming soon!

AliciaHamilton-200x200

Alicia Hamilton

Executive Director, Social Progress Solutions


Alicia is the Executive Director and Founding Member of Found in Faith Ministries, soon to be Fresh Start Furnishings, a 501(c)3 nonprofit offering furniture and home goods at no cost to Harford residents in need.  She is also the CEO and CoFounder of Social Progress Solutions, a start-up software company with the mission of unlocking human potential that’s suffocating under the weight of financial insecurity.

Once a social service recipient herself, Alicia now Vice Chairs the Department of Social Services Advisory Board and serves on the Continuum of Care Case Management Committee and the Ready by 21 Transitioning Foster Youth Committee.  She has a BA from Towson University in Family and Human Services and brings two decades of lived experience to her work as a resilient and resourceful single mother.

Alicia is a 2018 graduate of the Harford Leadership Academy and a 2019 graduate of the Towson Professional Leadership Program for Women.  She was a winner in the 2021 United Way Changemaker Challenge, a top-five finalist for the 2023 Athena Leadership Award, and is the 2023 winner of the Champion of Life Award presented by the Building for God Community Foundation.  When not out trying to save the world, Alicia finds joy in taking care of her health through yoga, muay thai and functional fitness. She enjoys spending quality time with family and friends and going on long hikes with her fluffy pup, Gracie.

Michael-Haynie-200x200 (1)

Michael Haynie

President, Global Training Centers, LLC


Michael Haynie has devoted his entire professional career to the lodging and hospitality industry. After attending Northeastern University in Boston, MA. He took on various positions before rising through the ranks to the executive level positions he has held for more than 40 years. Mr. Haynie has experience in every facet of hotel operation and has served in leadership capacities in hotels ranging from economy to luxury.

Mr. Haynie has also served as a General Manager with Hilton and Intercontinental Hotels in Baltimore, Boston, and Hartford, as well as a General Manager with independent and branded hotels in Charlotte, Hartford, Boston and Washington, DC.

In 2012, he founded the Maryland Center for Hospitality Training (MCHT), which prepares Marylanders with customer service, safety, soft and social skills, and technical training for successful transition into the workplace. In 2020, a COVID-19 protocol training and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion consultation and training was added to assist their clients to reopen and operate their business in a safe environment. The MCHT is one of the leading work force and COVID-19 safety training providers in the region. For more information, visit www.marylandcenterforhospitalitytraining.com

Currently, Mr. Haynie serves as President of Global Training Center LLC, a Florida company devoted to training initiatives and workforce development serving all industries. Global has subsidiaries in Maryland, North Carolina, and Nairobi, Kenya. For more information visit: https://globaltrainingcentersllc.com. Recently, two weeks ago, Mr. Haynie added another subsidiary to Global, called Staffing Solutions which allows resumes to get uploaded and accessible to various companies look for qualified employees.

Mr. Haynie was honored by the Maryland Hotel & Lodging Industry in 2007 as the state’s “Hotelier of the Year” and in 2009 as the “Office of Tourism Development as the “Mentor of the Year.”

Mr. Haynie also served on the Task Force which studied a Post Labor Day School Start as an appointee of the Governor of the State of Maryland.

Mr. Haynie was named the “Tourism Person of the Year” for the State of Maryland by the Maryland Tourism Coalition in 2019.

Mr. Haynie was recently awarded The Most Admired CEO’s in the State of Maryland, by The Daily Record news publication for his business acumen as well his community outreach work.

The Maryland Center for Hospitality Training, was awarded The Greater Baltimore Committee, Bridging The Gap Award, Successful Minority Owned firm (2020) for its leadership in business and the development of a vital training program which teaches employees in the workforce how to stay safe at work

November 2021, The Maryland Center for Hospitality Training was awarded The Visionary Impact Award at the Maryland Tourism and Travel Summit.

Mr. Haynie serves on the Governor of Maryland’s Reopen Maryland Task Force, and the Restaurant Reopen Task Force for the Mayor of Baltimore, both in 2020.

Mr. Haynie currently serves or has served on the board of directors for each of the following professional organizations:

  • The Maryland Tourism Development Board ▪ Visit Baltimore Board of Directors
  • Charles Street Development Corporation
  • The Downtown Management Authority
  • Downtown Partnership Board of Director
  • Hospitality Advisory Board for the Morgan State University School of Hospitality ▪ The Maryland Hotel and Lodging Association
  • President of the Waverly Main Street Organization
  • Northwestern High School Advisory Board
  • College Bound Foundation Board of Directors
  • Maryland Tourism Coalition

Mr. Haynie is a strong advocate for public school education and highly active in his community. While developing his extensive professional portfolio, he also holds numerous community service leadership roles in the Baltimore area.

color-200x200

Jennifer Redding, LCSW-C

Executive Director of Behavioral Health Services, UM – Upper Chesapeake / Klein Family Harford Crisis Center


Jennifer Redding, LCSW-C has been working as a licensed clinical social worker in the fields of mental health and addiction for 25+ years. Jennifer joined the University of Maryland-Upper Chesapeake Health team in late June 2020 as the Executive Director of Behavioral Health and provides clinical and administrative oversight of the Behavioral Health Department in both community hospitals and the Klein Family Harford Crisis Center. Jennifer is an ACE Interface Master Presenter in the state of Maryland and a Certified HOPE facilitator.  Jennifer is a nationally recognized presenter and facilitator who specializes in the provision of training and consultation for organizations interested in utilizing a trauma- and asset- informed approach. Jennifer is passionate about creating a safe place and the tools for individuals and families to live their best lives, while strengthening resilience.

N.Shaw-Headshot-03_17_2023-200x200 (1)

Natalie Shaw

Director for Grants, Harford Community College


Natalie Shaw joined Harford Community College in June 2021 as the Director for Grants in the Office of Institutional Advancement. Natalie graduated from Harford in Spring 2010 and has a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of Baltimore and a J.D. from the University of Richmond School of Law.

She has seven years of grants experience, working on federal, state, local and business and foundation grants. Prior to working in the grants field, Natalie worked in admissions at the University of Richmond School of Law for three years.

Jonita-Shoaff-200x200

Jonita Shoaff

President, Triford Consulting


Jonita is a seeker of universal truths: truths that apply everywhere and in every situation.  Five to Thrive is one of her three favorite universal truths.  If 5 areas are aligned in a company or a team or a person success at hand.  If a company or a team or a person is struggling, the Five to Thrive can be used to identify where the problem is.

Mo-Headshot-200x200

Monica Worrell

Business Development Director – Harford County, APGFCU


Monica Worrell is the APGFCU Business Development Director for Harford County.   As a representative of APGFCU, she has worked with local businesses and community organizations since 2018 to provide the benefits of credit union membership.  She also manages APGFCU’s sponsorship program in Harford County and APG.

Monica began her career in the hotel and restaurant industry working in the field for over 25 years.  Making a career change in her early forties,  she served as the Chief Spokesperson for Harford County Sheriff’s Office from 2007 until 2012 and an elected official for the City of Havre de Grace while working at a local medical practice as their Operations Manager and Marketing Director.

Active in the community for over 30 years, she serves on a myriad of local boards and committees to include:  UM UCH Foundation, Harford County Chamber of Commerce, Harford Community College Foundation, Harford County Sheriff’s Foundation, The Discovery Center at Water’s Edge, and the Women’s Giving Circle.  Just to name a few.

She has two grown sons.   She and her husband live in Belcamp with their rescue beagle mix, Brandy.

Sponsors

Thank you to our sponsors!

Apply To Become A Vendor

Thank you for your support!

Harford Community Action Agency

Helping People. Changing Lives.

About Harford Community Action Agency

As Harford County’s designated Community Action Agency, the HCAA’s mission is to help all Harford County individuals and families who are experiencing financial hardships in meeting their housing, food, energy/heating, and/or budget and family counseling needs. We support and encourage them on their path to self-sufficiency.

We accomplish this purpose through a diverse offering of programs and services. Current programs include:

We also partner with many organizations to provide additional services such as workforce preparation and development, pre-GED classes, and financial management classes.

For more information about the types of assistance we offer, please check out our Programs.