Orange United Conference

Nonprofits are creating meaningful change every day—strengthening families, building connections, and helping communities thrive. This uplifting session invites participants to reconnect with the meaning behind nonprofit work while exploring the powerful ripple effect the sector creates. Through meaningful data, reflection, and encouragement, attendees will gain a renewed appreciation for their collective impact. Come ready to leave inspired, energized, and reminded that what you do matters.

Reconnect with Purpose: Renew your connection to the meaning and motivation behind nonprofit work.

Recognize the Ripple Effect: Discover how nonprofit efforts create impact that extends far beyond individual programs and services.

See the Bigger Picture: Explore meaningful data that demonstrates the nonprofit sector’s vital role in strengthening communities.

Celebrate Collective Impact: Recognize the power of nonprofits, partners, volunteers, and supporters working together.

Leave Renewed: Walk away encouraged, energized, and reminded that your work—and your contribution to the sector—matters.

Small nonprofits often manage important missions with limited time, staff, and resources. Artificial intelligence can help employees and volunteers reduce administrative work, improve communication, generate ideas, and spend more time focusing on the people and communities they serve.

In this practical and approachable session, Chris Cheetham-West will demonstrate how small nonprofits can use AI to become more productive in their everyday work. Participants will explore real-world examples involving meeting summaries, reports, board materials, policies, project planning, research, email communication, and other common nonprofit responsibilities.

The session will also examine how AI can support grant research and preparation, donor communications, marketing, social media, and community outreach. Attendees will learn simple prompting techniques for receiving more useful results without needing advanced technical experience.

Responsible use will be addressed throughout the presentation, including data privacy, accuracy, bias, human review, and protecting an organization’s voice and values. Participants will leave with practical ideas they can apply immediately while continuing to keep people, relationships, and mission at the center of their work.

In this session, you'll:

• Discover practical ways to use AI for daily tasks such as drafting emails, summarizing meetings, organizing
  information, developing reports, and creating board materials.
• Learn how AI can help small nonprofit teams save time and accomplish more with limited staff and resources.
• Explore how AI can support grant research, proposal preparation, donor communications, marketing, and
  community outreach.
• Learn simple prompting techniques that improve the quality and usefulness of AI-generated responses.
• Understand how to protect sensitive information and review AI-generated work for accuracy, bias, and appropriate tone.

Learn how to use AI without losing the organization’s unique voice, values, or connection to the community.

Winning grants is about more than answering every question and submitting your application on time. Strong proposals make it easy for reviewers to understand the problem, see how the proposed program will create meaningful change, and trust that the organization can deliver. This session will explore the practical elements that can make a grant application stand out in a competitive review process. Participants will learn how to strengthen program design, develop clear and compelling evaluation goals, align activities with intended outcomes, create understandable and defensible budgets, and communicate their organization’s capacity effectively. We’ll also examine the small details—from consistency and clarity to organization and reviewer-friendly writing—that can make a big difference when funders are reviewing dozens or even hundreds of applications.

In this session, you'll:

• Build a compelling case for funding — Move beyond describing a problem to demonstrating why the proposed approach is necessary and appropriate.
• Align the entire proposal — Ensure the needs statement, program design, goals, outcomes, evaluation, and budget tell the same story.
• Develop clear and measurable goals — Create realistic outcomes and evaluation measures that demonstrate meaningful change.
• Make evaluation work for the proposal — Show funders how the organization will know whether the program is working and use findings to improve.
• Create reviewer-friendly budgets — Develop budgets that are realistic, easy to understand, and clearly connected to the proposed activities.

Nonprofit board members usually fall into one of two groups: those who have served on a nonprofit board before and those who have not. Surprisingly, both groups often have a similar understanding of the roles and responsibilities of an effective nonprofit board.

According to Leading with Intent: A National Index of Nonprofit Board Practices 2015, nonprofit boards across the country earned an average grade of B-minus for their performance. Of course, every organization wants an A+ board — but what does an A+ board actually look like?

Too often, board members assume that experience on one nonprofit board fully prepares them for the next board role. As a result, they may be less open to board training. However, when board members do not fully understand their role, they may unintentionally step into areas outside of their responsibility, including staff supervision and evaluation.

This session will cover 10 things every board member should know but often doesn't, along with practical ways to help board members become more open to board training. And what does an A+ board look like? It’s a board with a waiting list of people who want to serve.

Participants will leave with a better understanding of:
•    The keys to a strong board orientation, why it should be offered annually, and why every board member should attend.
•    The unique and sometimes complicated balance between the roles of the Executive Director, Board of Directors, and staff.
•    Why advocacy is an often-overlooked board responsibility and why it involves more than talking to elected officials.
•    Who is responsible for recruiting board members and why board recruitment should be more intentional than simply asking a neighbor to serve.
•    Why accurate board meeting minutes are important.
•    Why board membership involves much more than attending meetings.

Many nonprofits want to market and fundraise well, but are working without a marketing background, dedicated staff, or budget or outside help. In this interactive session, you'll learn...

• What a brand actually is (beyond a logo) and why consistency across materials builds community trust
• The connection between brand, mission aligment, and donor giving: "your brand and your why"
• A live, on-screen brand audit demonstrating common fixes in real time
• A takeaway toolkit with a brand-consistency checklist and next-step guidance

Roxanne Saldaña Jones is a third generation Austinite and earned her B.A. from The University of Texas at Austin and her MBA from St. Edward’s University. She currently serves as the President/CEO for United Ways of Texas and works with nonprofits and government agencies to advance solutions for systemic change in the areas of education, health, and financial stability. Additionally, she consults with small business and community organizations to advance their mission through strategic development and implementation planning.

Roxanne has always had a passion for community service, education and regularly volunteers in various capacities. She currently serves on the RAISE Texas board, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Community Advisory Council, and the Texas Exes Hispanic Alumni Network. She is
an alumnus of Leadership Texas, is a member of the Hispanic Women’s Network of Texas and the Association of Latino Professionals for America.

As a mom of two boys, she stays active, enjoys all things sports, spends time cheering on the Longhorns whenever she can, enjoys hiking and relaxing in northern New Mexico and is an avid reader.

Chris Cheetham-West, MBA is an international speaker, author, and founder of LR Training Solutions. He previously worked at Google, where he helped introduce emerging technologies to large and complex organizations. Throughout his career, Chris has delivered presentations and training sessions across 48 U.S. states as well as internationally to teams in Australia, Serbia, Germany, and Canada.

Chris is known for helping teams save time, improve collaboration, and focus on what truly matters by keeping the customer and human experience at the center of innovation. He received a scholarship from the National Speakers Association while earning his MBA and has become a trusted speaker and facilitator for organizations looking to strengthen AI and technology adoption.

He has worked with teams at global brands including Microsoft, Mercedes-Benz, Charles Schwab, Tractor Supply Company, and numerous organizations. Forbes Travel Guide has recognized Chris as one of the “thought leaders elevating service, innovation, and human experience.”

As a facilitator and speaker, Chris is known for delivering engaging, interactive sessions filled with practical and actionable ideas that leaders and team members can apply immediately to improve communication, productivity, and organizational success. He is also the author of two books, including Leading in a Virtual World.
 

Dr. Colton Strawser is a nonprofit and philanthropic consultant and the President of Strawser Strategies—a consulting firm that works with mission-driven organizations to develop the funding, data, and leadership skills necessary to create change.

Dr. Strawser’s personal and professional mission is empowering organizations to create change®, and he has received numerous awards in recognition of his academic, professional, and personal contributions to the nonprofit sector.

Colton has trained over 1,500 organizations, generated over $25 million in government grants, and supported local and national research efforts to understand social issues and community challenges better.

For more than 30 years, Mary Beth Harrington has been one of the nonprofit sector’s most passionate supporters. Rather than focusing on a single cause area, she has collaborated with a wide range of nonprofits, from AIDS organizations to zoos.

Harrington currently travels the country speaking at conferences and with individual organizations, discussing the issues facing the nonprofit community and encouraging nonprofits to welcome new leadership, collaborate more effectively, build more sustainable boards, and recognize the value of their volunteer programs. Her experience enables her to speak on nearly any nonprofit topic.

A prolific presenter, Harrington has spoken for the International Association of Volunteer Administrators, Meals on Wheels of America, Habitat for Humanity International, the U.S. Tennis Association, and countless state, local, and individual groups, including our own United Way of Orange County. Her resume includes serving as Director of Curriculum and Development at San Antonio Area Foundation, Director of Agency Relations at Volunteer Center of North Texas, and Director of Community Outreach at Texas Association of Nonprofit Organizations (TANO).

Before entering the nonprofit sector, Harrington spent 10 years in public relations and advertising, promoting everything from building implosions to psychiatric hospitals and cinnamon rolls.

Jessica is the co-founder and managing partner of Cloud 9. With more than 20 years of nonprofit experience, she is the driving force behind the organization’s daily operations, significantly impacting our clients and communities. Jessica’s unparalleled ability to amplify giving and strengthen teams enables nonprofits to thrive. Leading the team from our Fort Lauderdale office, she combines strategic vision with a personal touch, always bringing joy wherever she goes. Jessica lives in Fort Lauderdale with her husband, Mario, and their children, Emma and Mario Jr.