About the Leadership Breakfast Series:

Looking to get to the next level in your nonprofit career? At YNPN Twin Cities' Leadership Breakfast series, nonprofit leaders will share with you exactly how they did it, what they learned and what they're looking for in a rising nonprofit leader.

A little bit about Steven Belton, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Minneapolis Urban League:

Leadership Breakfast Registration Lottery

Registration for this event will be open from Thursday, March 4 through Wednesday, March 10. We allow as many people to sign up for the event as possible, and from there we choose 25 participants at random, while also holding space for young nonprofit professionals who identify as a person of color. We do this to keep these events intimate while ensuring everyone has a fair chance to attend a Leadership Breakfast event. If you registered for the lottery and identify as a person of color, you can email [email protected] to let us know to place your name in the correct lottery.

Our facilitator will reach out to all participants on Thursday, March 11 letting everyone know whether or not they received a spot through the lottery. Lottery winners will be asked to submit a question for our speaker in order to confirm their space. Unconfirmed spaces will be given to members of the wait list.

What you need to know:

• The virtual leadership breakfast will be held through Zoom, confirmed lottery winners will receive meeting link from facilitator.

Cafe Conversations - Saturday and Sunday, March 20-21

It's time for a YNPN-TC member-favorite event! Join like-minded peers for small virtual conversation circles at this year's Cafe Conversations on Saturday and Sunday, March 20-21st. There's a talk for everyone!

Choose Your Own Adventure

The full list of sessions is below, and each has its own page where you can read a description of the session, learn about the facilitator, and register to participate. Each conversation will only have 10-15 participants, so make sure to register before your favorite session is full!

March 20 from 10am-11:30am

Exploring Community Centric Fundraising (CCF) with Clara Lind and Kristin Skaar

The Culture of Where We Work - Pandemic Edition with Cate McKay

There and Back Again: New and Boomeranged to the Twin Cities with Robert Muschler

March 20 from 12pm-1:30pm

In Through the Out Door: Unconventional Career Paths with Kate King

Restorative Practices as Tools for Healing in Equity and Racial Justice Efforts with Naaima Khan

So You're White and Want to Be a Leader. Are you Ready? with Paul Johnson

March 21 from 12pm-1:30pm

A Conversation about Mutual Aid: What is it and How to get Involved with Arwen Tag

Equity Concerns for Communications Professionals with Sandra Boone

30-somethings Group Redux with Alishia Wright

This year's Cafe Conversations is completely virtual! Each event will be hosted online.

Join Rob Muschler For There and Back Again: New and Boomeranged to the Twin Cities

Come and discuss the unique challenges and opportunities of being new to the Twin Cities, either for the first time or returning after time spent away. Connect with fellow transients, hear their stories, and share tips and tricks on how to establish/re-establish yourself in a new city. Be it professional, personal, or somewhere in between, no conversation is off the table as we create this space to learn and grow together.

About the Facilitator:

Rob is an Associate at HMA Community Strategies, a consulting company that specializes in strategy development, capacity building, and evaluation for nonprofit and public sector organizations. Following 5+ years living in Los Angeles, he returned to Minnesota in 2019 and is excited to reconnect with the local nonprofit scene. He received his Masters of Public Administration from the University of Southern California and holds an undergraduate degree from St. Cloud State University. Rob is an avid cyclist/runner as well as a former board member of YNPN Los Angeles.

This year's Cafe Conversations is completely virtual! Each event will be hosted online. Before the event keep an eye out for the link.

Join Clara Lind and Kristin Skaar for Exploring Community Centric Fundraising (CCF)

This fundraising movement prioritizes the entire community over individual organizations, fostering a sense of belonging and interdependence, presenting our work not as individual transactions but holistically, and encouraging mutual support between nonprofits. This conversation will be an introduction to CCF principles and attendees will be invited to brainstorm ways for their organizations to engage in this work. We will also share information about how to get further plugged into this movement in the Twin Cities.

About the Facilitators:

Clara Lind has worked throughout the Twin Cities as a fundraiser since 2017, and has been the Donor Experience Manager at Beacon Interfaith Housing Collaborative for the past two years. In her role, she manages the annual fund of Beacon's donor pool, and works to incorporate CCF principles into her communications with mid and base-level donors. Before landing at Beacon, Clara worked in roles that ranged from donor database management to board development. Clara holds a B.A. in political science, french, and international studies from Luther College and will graduate with her M.A. in International Development from American University in April. When she's not working, you'll find Clara baking many types of breads, running along the parkway, or giving her cats way too much attention.

Kristin Skaar has served Habitat for Humanity of Minnesota since 2014, and is currently the Development and Communications Director. In her role, she directs Habitat Minnesota’s communications strategy and fundraising program. Before coming to Habitat Minnesota, Kristin previously coordinated events for The ALS Association and Twin Cities Habitat for Humanity. Kristin holds a B.A. in business management and Spanish from Luther College (Decorah, Iowa), where her passion for affordable housing was initially ignited. In her free time, Kristin enjoys exploring Minnesota via bicycle, or taking a hike in a state or national park. Kristin also likes finding ways to forge connections between people and looks for any excuse to host gatherings, from fundraising events to dinner parties (and can’t wait for it to be safe to do this again in person).

This year's Cafe Conversations is completely virtual! Each event will be hosted online. Before the event keep an eye out for the link.

Join Cate McKay for The Culture of Where We Work - Pandemic Edition

As young professionals, we have gained experience and skills working in different organizations with different organizational cultures - the beliefs, values, and practices tied to the social environment of an organization. Then this Pandemic upended our lives, work, and organizations. Let's chat about how workplace culture has changed, what has stayed the same, and what we can do to make things better when we go back to "normal."

About the Facilitator:

Cate McKay is naturalized Minnesotan who grew up in the Twin Cities, left to wander the West, and boomeranged back. She is a former YNPN board member and is currently a program evaluator at the Minnesota Department of Human Services with a decade of experience in evaluating human service programs and organizations. During the pandemic she became a gardening hobbyist and cannot wait to cheer on the Minnesota United in person again.

This year's Cafe Conversations is completely virtual! Each event will be hosted online. Before the event keep an eye out for the link.

Join Kate King for In Through the Out Door: Unconventional Career Paths

Sometimes the shortest distance between you and your dream job is a winding path -- and that's ok!  Chat with others about how to leverage your soft skills, empower your resume, and advocate for a winding career path that might look nonlinear to some but gave you all the skills you need to rock any job.

About the Facilitator:

Kate King helps transform and support nonprofits and communities through effective leadership and fund development. Prior to joining the nonprofit sector, she had a winding career path that took her through professional photography, veterinary nursing, project management, and art history. After moving to the Twin Cities, she worked in fundraising for nonprofits focused on youth development and mental health before landing at CAIR-MN in 2020. Kate is passionate about changing lives through the intersection of informal learning and social justice. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University, she holds a dual master’s degree in museum studies and nonprofit management with a focus on executive leadership. Her writing on the importance of strong nonprofit leaders has been featured in academic textbooks, fundraising blogs, and podcasts. She lives with her husband and son in St. Paul. In her free time, Kate enjoys scrapbooking and reading debut authors.

This year's Cafe Conversations is completely virtual! Each event will be hosted online. Before the event keep an eye out for the link.

Join Naaima Khan For Restorative Practices as Tools for Healing in Equity and Racial Justice Efforts

How are we moving toward progress on racial justice and race equity? Join us for a conversation to analyze the state of our communities’ conversations about racial justice and equity right now as well as to explore the potential that the tools of restorative practice offer as a framework to advance this work. Conversation participants can anticipate bringing their own experiences to reflect on and share as is comfortable while creating and honoring a respectful space for others to share.

About the Facilitator:

Naaima Khan is Owner and Principal of Create Good, a consultancy that helps organizations more effectively address anti-racism with a special focus on strategic planning and culturally-responsive evaluation planning. Prior to starting her own business, she worked in philanthropy for over eight years, advocating for it to be a more accessible space for IBPOC professionals and communities. Naaima has spoken about race equity and inclusive design at Ignite Minneapolis, Black Ignite, TEDx Mahtomedi and the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits. Naaima holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Texas at Austin’s LBJ School of Public Affairs with a concentration in nonprofit studies. When not working on creating logic models, strategic planning and DEI strategy with clients, Naaima usually has her head stuck in business and other nonfiction books. You can follow Naaima on LinkedIn, or on Twitter @naaimak.

This year's Cafe Conversations is completely virtual! Each event will be hosted online. Before the event keep an eye out for the link.

Join Paul Johnson For So You're White and Want To Be a Leader. Are You Ready?

White folks are used to being in leadership positions. We feel entitled to power; to gain it, control it and protect it. It’s a mindset we’ve inherited being socialized in a white supremacist nation. But we’ve seen so many examples of white folks getting into positions of power, then go on to perpetuate white supremacy and fail to develop an anti-racist organization because they never took the time to examine their whiteness.

This workshop is for white-identifying aspiring leaders to investigate their racial identity and power, and to start thinking about anti-racist leadership now. We will briefly cover common pitfalls for white leaders like:

-White fragility

-Centering yourself

-Colonization

-Power hoarding

You will develop your own anti-racist leadership vision statement, examine white supremacy and learn the importance of organization culture.

About the Facilitator:

After working in the non-profit sector for nearly 10 years, Paul Johnson founded Proactivism, a social business that works with white leaders and white-led companies to dismantle white supremacy and be anti-racist. He also has a Masters in Leadership from Augsburg University and is an Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) Qualified Administrator. He resides in South Minneapolis with his partner, Bailey, and their 4-month-old, Mirae!

This year's Cafe Conversations is completely virtual! Each event will be hosted online. Before the event keep an eye out for the link.

Join Arwen Tag For A Conversation About Mutual Aid: What is it and How to get Involved

Come join an informal conversation and participate in a shared brainstorm on ways to get involved with mutual aid in the Twin Cities. We will explore how mutual aid works, what groups and organizations are leading mutual aid efforts, and how to manage your own monetary giving as a young professional working in the nonprofit sector.

Mutual aid has long existed as a way for people to help each other manage and survive through community solidarity. And during the pandemic, mutual aid has increased to provide direct assistance to individuals and communities in need. Whether that's food, clothing, shelter, money to pay rent or medical bills, or even something as simple as hanging out virtually, mutual aid is more than just giving money.

As mutual aid efforts increase, and social media makes it easier than ever to get involved, let's gather to share what we know collectively, and create a brainstorm of recommendations for ourselves and others to reference in the coming months. Bring your recommendations, or come listen and learn. This event is for all.

About the Facilitator:

Arwen Tag is a Senior Associate Producer for Twin Cities PBS, working in the National Productions department and with the SciGirls STEM team. Her passion lies in continually learning, strategic thinking, and the creative process of filmmaking, especially project ideation, development and on-set production. As a newer nonprofit employee, she has found the opportunity to engage with peers through YNPN-TC helpful for understanding nonprofits, career paths in public media, and ally-ship across the sector. Arwen serves as Communications Co-Chair on the YNPN-TC Board.

This year's Cafe Conversations is completely virtual! Each event will be hosted online. Before the event keep an eye out for the link.

Join Sandra Boone For Equity Concerns for Communications Professionals

Nonprofit communicators must make decisions every day about everything from what words/pictures we use and whose story we share in our marketing materials to whether our websites will be fully accessible to all people. While it is not always felt, this means communicators have power in organizations, and we should, therefore feel a responsibility to centralize equity concerns and the needs of our audiences in our communications planning, strategies, and tactics.

Many nonprofit communicators feel they want to do more around DEI issues in their communications, but they are uncertain of what to do for fear of making mistakes. Join this conversation for an opportunity to talk to other communicators about the equity questions you have and the choices you make in your work.

About the Facilitator:

Sandra Boone is a Communications Specialist at the University of Minnesota's Global Programs and Strategy Alliance where she works primarily with the International Student and Scholar Services office and the Immigration Response Team. Sandra graduated this summer with a Master's in Strategic Communication and minor in Literacy & Rhetorical Studies from the University of Minnesota's Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communications. For her final Capstone Research, Sandra examined the communications practices of anti-trafficking organizations as an avenue to explore the need for ethical/equitable storytelling practices that ensure communicators balance the needs of their organizations with a deeper responsibility to respect, honor, and consider the best interests of the individuals whose stories they share. Sandra previously served as the Board Secretary and Managing Blog Editor for YNPN-TC.

This year's Cafe Conversations is completely virtual! Each event will be hosted online. Before the event keep an eye out for the link.