(Photo above: Bend Leadership Class of 2015 | By Central Oregon Impact Summit)
Start-up style competition benefits nonprofit organizations in Central Oregon. The Leadership Bend Class of 2015 has selected five local non-profit organizations as finalists to compete for a $10,000 cash prize at the inaugural Central Oregon Impact Summit.
The 2015 Central Oregon Impact Summit finalists are:
● Better Together
● Family Kitchen
● Healing Reins
● La Pine Community Kitchen
● Latino Community Association
“We have been so impressed by the caliber of organizations participating in the Impact Summit and are excited to announce our finalists,” said Colleen Goldblatt, steering committee member and president of the Leadership Bend, Class of 2015. “To attract these organizations in our first year speaks volumes about the need in our community and the desire of the business community to support them.”
The prize money has been donated by local foundations and companies, many of which have participants in this year’s leadership class. Our lead gift has been from the Ford Family Foundation with other support (in no particular order) from: Hurley Re, Craft3, Miller Nash, BendBroadband, Oregon Community Foundation, Karnopp Petersen, Bryant Lovlien & Jarvis, Bank of the Cascades, Knife River, Oregon Adaptive Sports, First American Title, Arbor Mortgage, Miller Lumber, Columbia Bank and Taylor Northwest.
The competition is scheduled to take place June 4 at Central Oregon Community College. Each organization will have the opportunity to make a presentation for the judges, followed by a question and answer session to determine the winner. The event will also feature Jim White, executive director of the Nonprofit Association of Oregon, as a keynote.
In addition to the $10,000 prize, there will be a $1,500 audience-choice award based on votes by those in attendance at the event.
The finalists were chosen from a semi-finalist group of ten organizations that participated in a series of strategic business planning workshops. These workshops, facilitated by local non-profit and business leaders, focused on increasing organizational capacity, building more durable institutions and better positioning these organizations in the competitive field of fundraising.
The event is open to the public. To purchase tickets to the event or for more information, please visit www.coimpactsummit.com.
The Central Oregon Impact Summit is a project of Leadership Bend Class of 2015. This group is comprised of 30 regional leaders with diverse backgrounds that share a common commitment to a better future for our community. They believe that small and mid-size nonprofit organizations in Central Oregon contribute significantly to the resilience of our region. They also understand that many of these organizations could benefit from stronger strategic business plans to ensure their sustainability.
The Central Oregon Impact Summit seeks to support the small-medium sized nonprofit and community organizations with a focus on increasing capacity, building more durable institutions and to better positioning these organizations in the competitive field of fundraising.
Colleen D. Goldblatt
President, Leadership Bend – Class of 2015
colleen@75nineteen.com
913-908-9337
