2023 Rockport Leadership Retreat

The 2023 Rockport Leadership Retreat left us with numerous learnings and new friendships. Hearing perspectives and personal experiences from the accomplished cohort was inspiring and gave everyone invaluable insight into how to better position themselves for future successes within their organizations. 

Day One

The first full day of the retreat was filled with discussions about the relationships between executive directors and their board, building effective teams, and attracting and growing talent. Faculty member Tom Wolf gave an informative presentation titled The Magic Partnership: Executive Director and Boards, which supplied the cohort with powerful insights on how to solidify the structure and strategies of their board partnerships. Tom explained the unique structure of nonprofits and how board members from for-profit corporations should be navigated due to their differences in experience. He explained that the executive director and board need to work as a partnership, and having a balance of power is integral to a functioning relationship. Some insights he gave included: multiple finance presentations should be given to the board, i.e. a summary (non FASBE) that shows a realistic glimpse of the year, and a second presentation that is detailed; defined roles on who speaks for the organization on internal and external situations needs to be discussed with the board regularly; and job descriptions should be updated every year based on annual evaluations.

Faculty member Emily Master provided the cohort with vital feedback on how to effectively build a team and utilize talent in the most beneficial ways during her presentation Attracting and Growing Talent. She explained how to utilize current team members effectively by finding what role will allow individuals to be “A Players,” and how to implement successful onboarding strategies; and she presented the ins and outs of the hiring process, like how to check biases when hiring, interview effectively, and properly utilize references.

The cohort found Emily’s presentation eye-opening, and they were able to take away nuggets of wisdom like: biases can be mitigated, but not eliminated, so assessments need to put into place to check bias; references not listed on reference sheets should be called when hiring; and if someone is falling short in their role, ask yourself if there is another role at the organization they are a better fit for.

Other discussions throughout the day included how to navigate new board structures and engage board members so they follow through with tasks effectively; and how to grow staff and rearrange roles while keeping the heart of the organization at the center. The cohort was able to brainstorm and problem solve together to find solutions for hurdles they were facing, and everyone left the day with a basket full of tips and new perspectives on how to approach various challenges. 

Day Two

The second day of the Rockport Leadership Retreat focused on growth and fundraising. Tom gave a wonderfully informative presentation on capital campaigns and planned giving, which the cohort found eye-opening. Much of the cohort expressed their intent to take action on topics from the presentation, like securing planned gifts that will establish endowments and presenting the advantages of trusts and pooled income funds. The cohort was able to learn the benefits of planned gifts from the donor perspective, as well as the sustainable growth it brings to organizations. Day two also included in-depth conversations on planning for sustainable growth and fundraising.

Day Three

The final day of the retreat saw the most variety in topics and discussions. Faculty member Dennie Wolf gave an insightful presentation titled Messaging Your Mission, where she described how to effectively share your organization’s mission and vision with the public. She explained how important it is to represent values in the images your organization uses. She urged the cohort to think about what their organization does for the public, and then organize everything around that. Dennie also discussed social media and gave examples of effective social media campaigns that successfully represented the values and voice of the organizations. 

Faculty member Stanford Thompson presented information surrounding collaborations and partnerships. He gave clarity to the function of each, and when they are most effective. Stanford explained the benefits of both collaborations and partnerships and the scenarios where they would be most effective. He said partnerships can create challenging dynamics due to shared decision-making. Stanford also explained that people tend to think about collaborations and partnerships programmatically, but administrative collaboration is also impactful. 

Day three also had a lot of open discussion and reflection, and every member of the cohort committed to actions they will implement within the next year. Each participant and faculty member left the retreat with a wealth of knowledge and the confidence that they will be able to use the resources learned in Rockport to make a positive impact on their organization and themselves as leaders.