AMPT Up Your Organization Workshops (AUYO)
We facilitates space and time for consultants to lead capacity building workshop on a topic that is most prevalent to organizations through an anti-racist approach.
Recordings of all past workshops and overviews are listed below. All our workshops are available on our Youtube Channel.
*If you attend the workshop, you gain access to our one hour office session to meet with the facilitator and ask questions/receive case-specific advice.
Spring 2024 Ampt Up Your Org Workshops
Amplify Your Government Funding Readiness with Dana Britto
March 26th, 2024
Workshop Objectives:
Assessing the most common risks and costs tied to government funding relative to other revenue sources
Building ongoing practices and frameworks for monitoring and maximizing government funding
Dana Britto is the founder and principal of Cultivar Consulting. Dana serves as an independent consultant that provides financial management capacity building and technical assistance services for nonprofits across the country. Her clients currently include Nonprofit Financial Commons where she supports webinar content development and delivery, discussion forum moderation, and the curation of online resources intended to provide greater access to the information and tools needed for more effective and strategic nonprofit financial management.
Amplify Your Fundraising with Estelle Lozano
April 23rd, 2024
Workshop Objectives:
Tapping into the full value or your owned resources
Activating your base network
Optimizing your relationships.
Estelle Lozano is the AMPT Director of Development. Since leaving the private sector, Estelle worked exclusively with grassroot organizations, creating sustainable funding practices and fostering strategic partnerships. With a decade-long corporate career coupled with her nonprofit experience, Estelle brings AMPT a versatile and solutions-oriented approach, engaging diverse communities and stakeholders at federal, state, and local levels to advance economic, gender, race equity.
Fall 2023 Ampt Up Your Org Workshops
Amplify Your Grants Cultivation with Alberto Morales
November 15th, 2023
Workshop Objectives:
Develop effective grants cultivation best practices
Understand the most critical components of grants sequence to remain competitive and organized
Share resources to begin researching mission-aligned grants
Alberto Morales is the founder and CEO of Morales Consulting. Morales Consulting specializes in strategic planning and implementation, racial equity facilitation, grantmaking, program design and evaluation, capacity building & project management. We are an experienced social sector partner to foundations, individual investors & nonprofits. We strive for a more equitable world by scaling the growth and outcomes of mission-driven organizations through a customized roadmap.
Amplify Your Volunteer Management with Jess Van
October 17th, 2023
Workshop Objectives:
Consider new ways of engaging volunteers, and cultivate champions of your mission
Understand the 3 R’s of Volunteer Management
Explore how to share power effectively with your volunteers
Learn how to build leaders and advocates for your work through your volunteer engagement
Jess Van has spent over 18 years in the Nonprofit sector developing, creating, and building strong and sustainable relationships and effective and quality programming in Education, Youth Development and Social Impact. She has over 10 years' experience as a facilitator and other speaking engagements on local, regional and national stages. Jess will be launching her second season her own podcast Tomfoolery and Shenanigans w/ Jess Vann winter of 2023.
Amplify Your Consultant Relationships with Genita Robinson
September 19th, 2023
Workshop Objectives:
Determine when you might need a consultant and potential referral sources
Identify questions to ask potential consultants and questions that you should be prepared to answer
Explore how to manage your relationship with your selected consultant
Genita Robinson is a lawyer by training with a passion for public and social sectors. She led a nonprofit for 7 years and through nonprofit capacity building experience often works on “both sides of the aisle”. Her clients include nonprofits focused on education, advocacy, and physical, mental, and emotional health. She currently is the Principal of GCR Consulting.
Spring/Summer 2023 Ampt Up Your Org Workshops
Amplify Your Communications with Christopher Paicely
Workshop Objectives:
Assess your revenue strategies by evaluating your input, output, values, goals and relationships.
Identify your most effective revenue streams and learn how to further strengthen those strategies.
Learn of new fundraising strategies and tactics based on community-centered values.
August 30th, 2023
Workshop Objectives:
Discern the difference between marketing and communications
Know and find your audience
Understand the nuts and bolts of a communications strategy
Explore the process of strategic storytelling
Chris Paicely is the founder of StoryPaced, a national visual media production house that serves the video storytelling needs of several non-profit organizations nationwide, including the Surge Institute, Urban Ed Academy, and The Academy for Urban School Leadership. In 2022, Chris stepped decisively into filmmaking, co-founding the film studio Swym Good and producing an award-winning science fiction short called ALUS.
Amplify Your Access To Capital Workshop with Jocelyn Vasquez of IFF
June 13th, 2023
Workshop Objectives:
Demystify debt, and utilize it as a tool to advance your organization’s mission.
Understand the role of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), how they can create economic opportunity for your organization, and how they differ from traditional financial institutions.
Learn what to expect from a CDFI loan origination experience.
IFF is a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) certified by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and its mission is to strengthen nonprofits and the communities they serve by providing leadership, capital, and real estate solutions.
Amplify Your Fundraising Workshop with Más Allá Consulting
May 16th, 2023
Amplify Your Accounting Workshop with Tia Lewis
Workshop Objectives:
Know when to hire an accountant, purchase software, and what to look for
Understand the role and duties of an accountant
Identify practices your organization may need to adopt
April 27th, 2023
Más Allá [mahs ah-yah], spanish for "beyond," is a woman-owned, community-centered, fundraising consulting firm focused on closing funding gaps by raising revenue for and with women and Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) people across the U.S. and practicing how to resource our communities through regenerative strategies.
Tia Lewis is an accounting and tax professional with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting, MBA with a concentration in Human Resources and Enrolled Agent credential. She have twenty-five years of accounting experience in various industries including bank, brokerage, supply chain management and nonprofit. Seven years ago, she started her own booking and tax prep practice, Navier Tax & Accounting LLC. They focus on tax returns for individuals, self-employed, S-corps, and tax-exempt organizations.
Winter 2023 Ampt Up Your Org Workshops
Amplify Your Operations with Lenise Lee
Workshop Objectives:
Understand the essentials of Working ON the Business, not just IN the Business
Examine the Ins and Outs of People Management
Explore practical tools and techniques that encourage efficiency
March 14th, 2023
Amplify Your 501c3 Tax Filing w/ Tia Lewis
Workshop Objectives:
Identify which form to file when filing taxes for your tax-exempt organization
Understand how to prepare for filing your Form 990
Determine when and how to file your organization's Form 990
February 14, 2023
Lenise S. Lee has over a decade of experience in social services and nonprofit management. She currently serves as AMPT’s Director of People & Operations, and is Founder & CEO of Collective Initiatives Inc, a nonprofit focused on economic development and social inclusion for Black and Latinx people and communities. Lenise is also an active member of the Entrepreneurship Committee of the NBMBAA Chicago Chapter, as well as an advocate for holistic health and wellness practices.
Tia Lewis is an accounting and tax professional with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting, MBA with a concentration in Human Resources and Enrolled Agent credential. She have twenty-five years of accounting experience in various industries including bank, brokerage, supply chain management and nonprofit. Seven years ago, she started her own booking and tax prep practice, Navier Tax & Accounting LLC. They focus on tax returns for individuals, self-employed, S-corps, and tax-exempt organizations.
Fall 2022 Ampt Up Your Org Workshops
Amplify Your Evaluations w/ Micheal McElveen
Micheal McElveen established Velma-Jean Studios (VJS) to build tech, consulting, and media enterprises that generate greater access to and activate capital, capacity, and collaboration in communities. He aspires to equip people with the resources to maximize their boldest aspirations.
Learning Objectives:
Explore the “art” and “science” of impact evaluation
Assess your organization’s current impact methodology
Simplify and align your impact methodology and systems
December 6th, 2022
Amplify Your Story w/ Antonio D. Santos
Antonio D. Santos is a queer, first-generation latinx activist and community organizer from the southwest side of Chicago. He is co-founder and Executive Director of the Gage Park Latinx Council, which runs a community cultural center in the neighborhood where he was raised. The work of GPLXC has been recognized nationally for its immense impact on the majority Latino working-class community.
Antonio's work was recently featured in the book, Making Mexican Chicago: From Postwar Settlement to the Age of Gentrification by the University of Chicago Press.
November 8th, 2022
Learning Objectives:
Understanding the importance of identity and culture in storytelling
Understanding the importance of creating a consistent narrative
Practice sharing your organization’s narrative
Amplify Your Rest and Wellness w/ LeShonne Segura
Learning Objectives:
Promote relaxation through deep breathing to reduce stress and restore balance in the nervous system
Improve rest and flexibility by softening into stretches so that tension slowly releases
Heal in community by honoring what your body needs at the moment, moving with ease, and participating in collective restorative practices
LeShonne Segura is a non-profit leader & consultant, teacher, yoga instructor & healing-centered coach.
October 18th, 2022
Amplify Your Program Development w/ Lisa Kim
October 12th, 2022
Learning Objectives:
Take a big idea, and break it down to concrete actions for a program:
Practice articulating your vision and the methods you'll use to get there
Explore processes that encourage iteration and accountability in your programs
Practice new ways to facilitate creative thinking
Lisa Kim is a professional creative experienced in design thinking, project management, and program development. She loves designing learning experiences to help people and organizations get clear and organized on how to effect change in their own communities of practice. She believes that by seriously playing with our connections to each other and ourselves, we can make up cool stuff together. In the past, they’ve worked with dinosaurs, legos, muppets, and local governments. Right now, they help companies think about new ways to use technology.
Amplify Your Government Funding Readiness
October 4th, 2022
Alyson Parham Small is the founder and president of Partec Consulting Group, Inc. (Partec), a management consulting and training firm established in 1994. For more than 25 years, Ms. Parham Small has worked with entities across the country, including faith and community-based organizations, foundations, universities, and government agencies, in providing project management, consulting, and training services.
Learning Objectives:
Exploring common requirements in pursuing government funding
Assessing whether your organization is ready to apply for government funding
Highlighting key factors in preparing a winning grant application
Fall 2022 Ampt Up Your Org Workshops
Amplify Your Mission
Thursday, May 26, 2022
Alberto Morales, Founder of Morales Consulting, will lead participants in a session on increasing the impact of their organization's mission and vision statements. In addition to your questions, participants will leave with a greater understanding of:
The critical components of the mission and vision statements and common mistakes when drafting them
How to pressure test your mission and vision statements with best practices
Gain clarity on how your organization can refine and elevate your vision and vision statements
Amplify Your Impact
Tuesday, March 15, 2022
Kheira Issaoui-Mansouri, Founder of Najam Consulting, leads participants in a session on evaluating program activities and impact. In addition to your questions, participants will leave with a greater understanding of:
What a logic model is and why it might be helpful to have one
Key evaluation terms such as activities, outputs, outcomes, and impact
Amplify Your Grant Writing
Tuesday, February 15th, 2022
Workshop Objectives:
Overview of philanthropic landscape and nonprofit fundraising strategies
Overview of grants writing and grants management
What makes a grant application successful
Grant application review
Jackie Williams joined the African American Arts Alliance (AAAA) in February 2021 as its first Executive Director since 1997. Jackie has spent more than twenty-five years in Chicago’s philanthropic community as a Development Director for several Non-Profit organizations including museums, social services, and academic institutions, including the DuSable Museum of African American History, the South Side Community Art Center, Lincoln Park Zoo, and the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign.
Amplify Your Capacity
May 11th, 2021
Valerie Leonard, nonprofit consultant and founder of Nonprofit Utopia, LLC., shares insights on building the capacity for mission-based sustainability in small nonprofits on May 11th, 2021.
Key topics include:
Understanding what it means for small nonprofits to “build capacity”
Introducing Capacity Building tools and resources, and
Planning for the next steps in your organization’s Capacity Building journey
Steven Rosado is the Director of Engagement & Strategy Praxis Institute. Steven has years of experience in positive youth development, designing and implementing school-based and out of school time programs as well as training and coaching practitioners and organizational leaders. As a leading Racial Healing Practitioner, Steven served as Founder and Co-Director of the Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation Youth Institute that built a community of youth healers. Most recently, Steven has adapted this curriculum to the City Colleges of Chicago where he co-leads the Introduction to Racial Healing Methodology course.
In this session, we will:
Understand why strategic planning is important
Introduce strategic planning framework
Review what a planning process entails and the plan components
July 20, 2021
Amplify Your Programs
Amplify Your Strategy
July 27, 2021
Claudette Baker is the President of Claudette G. Baker & Associates, Inc., a consulting company advising foundations and nonprofits, and delivering training and providing technical assistance to organizations and their leaders through a racial equity lens. Her consulting focuses on board governance and development, organizational development (strategic thinking and planning, program planning and development), project management, annual fundraising, leadership development, and group facilitation.
In this session, we:
Understand why strategic planning is important
Introduce strategic planning framework
Review what a planning process entails and the plan components
Amplify Your Evaluation
August 24, 2021
Vinay Mullick, Managing Director of UpMetrics, will share how data can help nonprofits design programs, fundraise more efficiently, and ultimately drive positive change all through a lens of equity and inclusion.
In addition to your questions, other key topics to be covered include:
Why telling your organization’s story with data is especially important now
How to develop your organization’s impact framework in 4 simple steps
How to combine qualitative and quantitative data to tell compelling stories
How to layer in context that is crucial to understanding your impact and decision-making, including taking steps to eliminate bias and move toward an anti-racist approach to data
Amplify Your Budget
October 12, 2021
Born and raised on the Southside of Chicago, Hadassah began her career at Seaway National Bank. Over the last 15 years, Hadassah has worked with startups, growth stage firms, and nonprofits in business planning, forecasting/financial management, and capital raising. Prior to founding Sitar Group, she served as loan fund portfolio manager for the Women’s Self-Employment Project. Hadassah supports clients in aligning their financial goals with their business model and core business values.
In addition to your questions, the workshop outlines:
Overview of philanthropic landscape and nonprofit fundraising strategies
Overview of grants writing and grants management
What makes a grant application successful
Grant application review