FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com november 6, 2014 • The QUEE NS Courier 35 Conference connects nonprofits with experts BY THE QUEE NS COURIER STAFF editorial@queenscourier.com/@queenscourier The 2nd Annual Art of Thriving: Today and Tomorrow conference was held at the Terrace on the Park on Wednesday, Oct. 22. The conference brought together not-for-profit organizations seeking to build their network, increase their online presence and raise funds. Speakers who had achieved success shared their stories and gave advice to the fledgling organizations. The conference began with a business networking hour. It was followed by a speech by Kevin Cummings, president and CEO of Investors Bank. He said the bank had decided to host the conference because it was their mission “to put the ‘community’ back in ‘community banking.’” Domenick A. Cama, senior executive vice president and chief operating officer of Investors Bank, shared the sentiment earlier in the day when he said, “We want to help nonprofits do a better job as we can all benefit and thrive from that. We want to build relationships with the nonprofits and the community.” Ana Oliveira, senior vice president and NY regional manager, agreed with Cama. “We are excited to host today’s ‘Art of Thriving” Conference in Queens,” she said. “We hope today’s attendees gained valuable information to help their organizations succeed. We want to build relationships and support the community here in Queens.” Cummings added that the Investors Bank Foundation has given away $10 million since 2005. “Not-for-profits are critical to a growing economy,” he said. “Our aim with the conference is to bring together not-for-profit leaders, share ideas and support the sector,” explained Jennifer L. Smith, community development officer of Investors Bank. The conference’s keynote speaker, Carl Goodman, talked about the challenges he faced as the executive director of the Museum of the Moving Image. He advised the attendees that when an organization conducts events outside its premises, like the museum often does, “You should make the effort to promote your organization and not just the program.” After the keynote speech, the attendees moved to three different rooms for the breakout sessions on improving online presence, strategies for writing grants that get funded and building corporate partnerships. Stephen Levin and Neil Levin of Webline Designs explained that it is in the not-for-profit’s best interests to give the responsibility of their website’s design to professionals instead of doing it on their own. They also spoke about the importance of posting on social media regularly. “There is no point in having a Facebook or Twitter account and not posting,” said Stephen Levin. “It is really about engagement, not just the number of likes.” The grant writing session’s panel comprised Andres Ledesma, public affairs specialist of Con Edison, and Katherine DeFoyd, founding partner of Growth for Good, with Hoong Yee Lee Krakauer, executive director of Queens Council on the Arts, as moderator. They stressed that not-for-profits should research what their funder is really interested in and connect with the program officer before drafting their grant request. The session on building corporate partnership focused on how not-for-profits can get funds by keeping the corporation’s needs in mind. The experts offering advice were Susan Gabriel, senior associate, Cause Effective; Andrew Baumann, president and CEO, NY Families for Autistic Children; Anna Zabniak, patient navigator, SHAREing and CAREing; and Beth Fetner, senior vice president of development, Sunrise Association. Fetner said that when she approaches a corporation for partnership, she has with her a “menu of opportunities” but she is willing to create an event around the sponsor’s needs. At the same time, she said it has to be a program that is in line with the goals of the not-for-profit and is sustainable. The event ended with John Nietzel, senior vice president of business and government banking, and community development at Investors Bank, giving a closing statement: “Not-forprofits are critical for the community. I respect and admire what you are doing.” The Art of Thriving: Today and Tomorrow Conference was organized by Investors Bank in partnership with The Queens Courier. 1 3 4 6 5 7 2 1. The Investors Bank team with keynote speaker Carl Goodman, executive director, Museum of the Moving Image. 2. (Front, l-r) Wendy Phaff, Patricia Ann Vierling, Julia del Palacio and Theresa Barbaro. (Back, l-r) Victoria Schneps, Thuy Q. Pham and Ann Gough minutes before the conference started. 3. Jennifer L. Smith, assistant VP and community development officer (left) and Amy Amato, VP of events at Schneps Communications. 4. Sandy S. Broughton, VP and community development officer, Domenick A. Cama, senior executive VP Photos by Corazon Aguirre and CEO, and Ada Melendez, VP and director of community development of Investors Bank. 5. Kevin Cummings, president and CEO of Investors Bank, gives his opening remarks. 6. Members of the Investors Bank team, Charoulaloannou, Maria Odysseos, Vasilios Zikopoulos, Valini Khameraj and Tina Handras during the conference at Terrace on the Park. 7. (l-r) Sandy S. Broughton, John Nietzel, SVP of business and government banking, and community development, Jennifer L. Smith and Ada Melendez of Investors Bank.
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