INDEPENDENT SECTOR 2011 ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Sunday, October 30th – Tuesday, November 1st, 2011
By Cruz A. Ramos, Vice President/Public Affairs (car@naeir.org)

For NAEIR, as is probably true for many attendees, the primary benefit of the conference in Chicago was in networking opportunities.  Post show figures suggest that there were about a 1,000 attendees.  Nonprofits of all sizes with missions addressing everything from literacy to hunger as well as foundations and corporate funders were well represented.  The plenary sessions featured speeches on the need for more innovation and collaboration as well as the need for increased funding of the nonprofit sector.

The conference involved a full, back-to-back schedule of plenary sessions over meals, workshops and break-out groups.  Many of the sessions featured enticing subjects like lobbying for nonprofits, re-branding, trends in corporate philanthropy, as well as nonprofit regulation and a host of other topics.


Throughout all of the proceedings there were many opportunities for those in attendance to make introductions around the table and share ideas.


Although I had done some advance work on reviewing and highlighting the list of registrants, because of the sheer number of people in attendance, it wasn’t possible to meet with most of the attendees.  I was, however, able to connect with a number of individuals representing nonprofit organizations and potential donors that may be helpful to NAEIR in the future.

Many of those in attendance represented some of the major nonprofits as well as leaders of both private and corporate foundations.  All in all, there were prominent representatives in the private sector with both national and in many cases, a global reach.

The conference’s “no solicitation” policy made it so that you could not pitch to a potential funder but there were numerous opportunities to simply discuss NAEIR’s programs, the availability of a wide variety of free products to nonprofits and schools and the diversity that may be found across our national membership base. Beyond the conference itself, there are certainly opportunities that we’ll take advantage of in terms of follow-up.

Participation in the Independent Sector’s Annual 2011 conference was well worth the time and effort.  This was our first year in attendance.  I believe we’ve already made a few friends.

As great a town as Galesburg is, we recognize that we need to venture out from time to time in order to meet with representatives of organizations that can help us.  To that end we’ll continue to pursue opportunities for collaborating with other organizations; whether large or small nonprofit organizations, school associations as well as foundations and companies throughout the U.S. that have a need for our services.

During this past year we’ve more actively sought to reach out to other organizations.  This continuing effort will help to strengthen us so that we can be more effective in securing more donations of inventory for the membership.

You may send an email to Cruz A. Ramos at car@naeir.org.  He may also be reached at 309/343-0704, ext 341.  All media queries are welcome as well.