Specially Crafted Workshops, and A Vision for the Sector
Karen's workshops are specifically designed to help small nonprofits and charities build the awareness and support required to achieve their missions.Tens of thousands of small nonprofits and charities across Canada are doing amazing work with minimal resources.
Because the majority of these organizations struggle to find a budget for marketing and communications staff or consulting contracts, Karen’s workshops are specifically designed to help small nonprofits with big vision build the awareness and support they need to achieve their mission.
Her workshops are based on years of experience leading marketing and communications for local, national, and international nonprofits and charities. She offers workshops on a wide range of topics. They all include ways to build strong relationships and a larger network, so you aren’t doing all the heavy lifting yourself.
In these sessions, Karen takes you from big picture thinking to practical checklists, tools, templates, and lists of free or low-cost resources – what you need to really put those big ideas into practice and get it all done.
Karen is passionate about delivering high quality education and professional development.
In recent years, she has worked with approximately 800 college students, coaching clients, and participants in webinars, seminars, and workshops. Here is what some of them had to say in thank you messages and evaluation forms:
“Karen was excellent.”
“Very inspiring and full of real-world practical advice. Thanks!”
“Thanks for a wonderful presentation Karen. We enjoyed it immensely.”
“I found Karen to be an engaging presenter, open to discussion and questions and offering insightful and useful answers and advice.”
“Very useful information. Well delivered presentation, excellent discussion and practical information.”
“Karen’s specifics were great.”
“Great ideas. Looking forward to using the tools.”
“Excellent session. Best one I’ve attended to date!! Thank you!”
New, Helpful, and Fun for Frantic Fundraisers:
Where did October Go, and Can I Still Put Out a Great Fundraising Appeal?
Around this time of year, many small organizations find themselves marveling at how quickly the year has gone by and how soon they need to send out a fundraising appeal for their annual campaign. If this all-important fundraising season snuck up on you, get tips and templates now to help you put together a great appeal fast! Karen will share the major components of a good fundraising letter, the tone and type of language to use, the different types of stories you can tell in your letter, different phrases that work well in each part of the letter, and more. You’ll even get some tips for finding the right stories to tell if nobody has stepped forward to share theirs yet.
Some of Karen’s Most Popular Sessions to Date:
The Button Soup Model of Cause Marketing: Cooking Up Fame and Fortune for Small Nonprofits with Big Vision
Explore the art of the possible in this workshop focused on a proven four-partner model for rallying a community around your cause. You’ll learn one of the most effective recipes for creating a transformational level of awareness and financial support – a level that you probably didn’t think was possible for a small organization like yours. Expanded workshop outline.
Annual Reports: Why You Need One and How to Make Yours Rock!
Annual reports are no longer one-size fits all. There are many ways you can ensure your volunteers and donors are updated about the good work they make possible and the impact it’s having on the world. In this workshop we’ll look at how a great annual report can help you keep supporters, and sometimes even gain new ones. We’ll also give you the knowledgeand tools to make sure your annual report is one of the great ones. Expanded workshop outline.
Email Newsletters and the Path to Donor Happiness!
How do you get your emails opened and read? What should you include to keep your volunteers and donors feeling loved and essential to your cause? How does your email newsletter fit into your larger online communications plan? What can a great email newsletter really do for your organization, and how can you make that happen even if you don’t have a huge subscriber list or you don’t know all the latest technology? Get these answers and more! Email is still an incredibly effective tool, when done right. Karen will show you what “done right” means.
Painless Planning for Powerful Communications
The lack of a communications roadmap is one of the biggest reasons so many nonprofits struggle with a lack of awareness and support. If that sounds like your organization, the problem isn’t your people – it’s that you don’t have enough people to stop fighting fires and think strategically about the communications function. In this workshop, Karen helps you accelerate that process and kick-start your strategic communications plan. She not only gives you a planning framework to use, but she also gives you a series of simple tools to get the input you need, get a draft plan done, and start reaping the benefits. Leave the session knowing how to draft a simple campaign communications plan or a full annual strategic communications plan for your small nonprofit. Get your communications roadmap in place, and see how much easier it becomes to make the magic happen!