Smart Marriages Conference, Orlando FL

I recently gave my first co-hosted keynote! Julie Baumgardner of First Things First in Chattanooga (dedicated to strengthening families through education, collaboration and mobilization) and I were the Huntley and Brinkley of this annual conference.

While everyone else talked about marriage, families, teens, divorce, etc. Julie and I talked about sustainability and growth for the agencies like hers, that are facing diminishing federal and state funding. While the marriage and family therapists told me that their private practices were bringing in more clients than they could handle, the nonprofit organizations were telling me they were facing cuts of up to 40%.

There are many community and state-wide initiatives doing very valuable preventive care for everyone in our communities. Some are using fee-for-service programs while others are scrambling for grants to replace the government funding.

Some, like Julie, are looking ahead to the future and building their base of support now. Julie and I are working on a Partnership Council for her agency and our first step, a Board program resulted in 259 warm leads from her Board members!

For many nonprofits, this is truly a wake up call! For the first time, they will have to learn to reach out and connect with people who can insure their mission will be preserved.