Date: June 5th, 2014, 4:00pm – 6:00pm

It’s 6:30pm. You’ve been up since 6:00am and have just put in a full day at work. Your head and stomach are telling you it’s time for dinner. And you’re still sitting in a not-for-profit board meeting that started at 4:30 … which was supposed to wrap up at 5:45pm. Suddenly, you hear, “I nominate [your name] for Board Chair”. What?!

Maybe your appointment as Chair of your favourite not-for-profit wasn’t quite so dramatic. Maybe you were one of the lucky ones that served as Vice-Chair for a term before becoming Chair. Even so, most future Chairs of not-for-profit Boards are not prepared (read: groomed) to take over the leadership position.

Board Boot Camp 201 will give you a quick primer and overview to become the best leader you can be for your not-for-profit organization. Learn effective qualities of leaders and your personal leadership style. Understand the separation between the Board and staff, and between the senior staff and the Chair. Find how to run your meetings timely and effectively  – one of the best ways to retain current directors and attract new ones! And, when you think you or your organization might need outside help, explore the circumstances when going outside for expertise is of benefit to your organization.

Facilitator: Louise Elliott

Louise Elliott has been working with not-for-profit organizations for over twenty years as staff, volunteer, and consultant. Her first love, and passion, in her not-for-profit work is volunteer development: engaging citizens in their community through volunteer service that inspires and transforms their lives. Louise recently practiced this philosophy by traveling with Soles4Souls to Haiti in October 2013, where she and a team of 10 distributed over 800 pairs of shoes to children in the Port Au Prince and Montrouis areas.

When not actively practicing what she teaches, Louise is a legal assistant with Geoffrey W. White Law Corporation providing legal services to not-for-profit organizations and registered charities under the guidance of Geoffrey White. Louise is also fortunate to work directly with not-for-profit organizations providing meeting facilitation, guiding strategic planning processes, and assisting organizations to maximize their volunteer engagement strategies. In previous years, Louise has been a regular full time employee of the Salvation Army, the YMCA of the Okanagan, and Kelowna Community Resources.

A former director of the Central Okanagan Foundation, Louise served in the following leadership roles during her 14 year tenure: Communications Chair, Grants Chair, Fund Development Chair, Chair and Vice-Chair. Louise’s current volunteer activities include Chair of the Okanagan Catholic Family Camp, establishment of a Canadian foundation to support education in Haiti, and coordinating the first all Canadian Soles4Souls mission trips for travel in 2015.