Established in 2007, Valley Nonprofit Resources offers both information and services to strengthen the more than 4,000 nonprofit organizations in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles. Welcome to VNR's website! Click on the buttons to your left and at the top to access many resources that can help you increase the effectiveness of your nonprofit.
 Annual MENDing Poverty Conference 2011 |
Featured Events (for more click on Learning Community) 6/13 - Fifth Annual MENDing Poverty Conference 6/14 - Legal Issues for Nonprofits Workshop Featured Publications (for more click on Library) 2011 Resource Directory for Nonprofit Capacity Building in Los Angeles County |
In the News
Legal Issues for Nonprofits Workshop VNR has joined with Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County and Public Counsel Law Center to host a free educational workshop, to be held Thursday, June 14, 2012 from 1-4 pm in Pacoima, addressing some of the most common legal challenges faced by nonprofits. Faculty will be Christian Cañas of Public Counsel and Nareeneh Sohbatian of NLS. Topics to be covered include general employment law (wages and hours law, determining independent contractor vs employee status, discrimination and retaliation issues in hiring and employment); corporate and tax compliance for nonprofits; board governance policies; legal definition of unrelated business activities; and legal aspects of fiscal sponsorships. For more information and to register, contact VNR Project Coordinator Julaine Konselman at julainehiri@aol.com.
Graduate Summer Interns Available to Nonprofits Pepperdine University's School of Public Policy is seeking internships for its graduate students in Summer 2012. Internship projects can focus on research and analysis (e.g., market analysis, database analysis to determine new areas of service need, fundraising research), and should benefit both the student and the operations and success of the nonprofit; a report presenting results and recommendations should be required at the end of the project. Internships run 240 hours over the course of the summer; salary is not necessary (though certainly appreciated). Interns do not need to be housed on site, if space is an issue. They do need to have regular contact with a professional staff person at the nonprofit who will supervise their work and evaluate it at the end. For more information: Chris Denham-Martinez, Student Services Manager, 310/506-7369 or christopher.denham-martinez@pepperdine.edu.
Fifth Annual MENDing Poverty Conference will be held from 8 am to 2 pm on Wednesday, June 13, 2012 in Pacoima, co-hosted by MEND and VNR. This year's theme is "Where Are the Jobs?" Speakers and workshops will focus on the role finding, getting and keeping a job plays in helping people get out of poverty. Keynote speakers will be Alicia Villareal, US Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis's West Coast representative; Dr. Christine Cooper, Vice President of Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation (who will provide a commentary to Ms. Villareal's speech, and later chair a workshop); and Dolores Huerta, President of Dolores Huerta Foundation and co-founder of United Farm Workers. Workshops will focus on employment policy, innovative employment programs, and the role of volunteerism both in promoting employment and helping sustain the nonprofit sector. This conference brings together the leadership of Los Angeles area nonprofits serving poor people, as well as funders and policymakers - more than 180 people came to the 2011 conference. Conference planning committee co-chairs are Jocelyn Guihama of UCLA Center for Civil Society and James Garrison of Pacific Federal. For more information and to register, contact Maggie Torres at MEND: maggie@mendpoverty.org.
The Capacity Building Information Exchange Meeting was held on Aprill 11, 2012 at MEND in Pacoima for more than 35 enthusiastic participants. David Greco of Nonprofit Finance Fund presented the concept and purpose of the Exchange, which is currently in its early planning stages as a possible coordinating resource for nonprofit capacity building in the Los Angeles region. Ann Burroughs of Taproot Foundation then conducted a question and answer session that yielded many suggestions. This meeting was the first of several information gathering sessions to determine what nonprofits would like to see in an Information Exchange, and how they might use it. NFF, Taproot and the Center for Nonprofit Management are jointly conducting this planning study, funded by a group of local foundations, and assisted by an advisory committee that includes VNR's Executive Director. For more information, go to:
Information Exchange
2102 State of the Nonprofit Sector Survey Each year the Nonprofit Finance Fund surveys a national sample of nonprofit leaders, to learn how the nonprofit sector is faring during the ongoing difficult economy. This year the survey results indicate a growth in service demand that has overwhelmed organizations still coping with a brittle economy and major funding cuts. Government delays in providing promised funding threaten to bring the crisis to a head, particularly for human services organizations that provide a safety net for the most vulnerable members of society. To access the survey, go to: 2012 Survey
Planned Giving: It's Easier Than You Think A toolkit is available online to help start a no-or low-cost planned giving program. It includes the basics about four popular planned giving options, four ways to talk about bequests, six steps to start a legacy society, two partnership models for low-cost giving management, and six template letters and brochures started right away. To access it, go to: http://pgtoolkit.org/
IdeaEncore Corner
Looking to find and share with colleagues?
IdeaEncore provides an easy way your organization to share what it knows, learn from others, and earn unrestricted income. VNR and IdeaEncore are now partnering to share information each month about products available on Idea Encore. To learn more about IdeaEncore's large collection of valuable documents (many available for free, some for a fee), go to www.ideaencore.com
This month's featured products are:
Governance Project: Mission Center of Hope Bylaws
Shared by University of San Diego (Free)
10 Tips to Improve Your Website Easily and Inexpensively
Shared by Easy4Nonprofits (Free)
VNR's Partners
Valley Nonprofit Resources is operated collaboratively by the nonprofit Human Interaction Research Institute (which has conducted research and provided technical assistance to the nonprofit sector since 1961), California State University, Northridge, and MEND (the largest poverty services agency in the Valley).
Photo of the San Fernando Valley courtesy of Randy Witt Productions
