2022 onsite conference schedule

Session Description:
The Head Start Act identifies pages of guidelines that HS/EHS programs need to follow to stay in compliance. When you are implementing the Head Start Act, there are numerous things to consider, including how decisions impact your program. In this overview, we will explore the Head Start Act and give you time to learn where to find information and dig into the details once you are back at the office. And since the Head Start Act goes hand in hand with the Head Start Program Performance Standards (HSPPS), we will explore the highlights of all of the HSPPS (45 CFR Parts 1301-1305). Our goal is to help you get comfortable with what HS/EHS programs need to follow to stay in compliance. We will pay special attention to the areas of:
• Administrative requirements (definitions, administrative limitations, non-federal match [a/k/a in-kind], following 45 CFR Part 75, recordkeeping)
• Power and functions (governing body, policy council, policy committees and administrative requirements)
• Program requirements overview (health, nutrition, ratios, ERSEA)
• Qualifications and wages (background check and minimum staff requirements)
• And time for your questions too!

Session Description:
Join us for this fully packed day of compliance regulations. After an introduction to laws and regulations, there will be a discussion of the general provisions and administrative requirements in 2 CFR Part 200 Uniform Guidance. We’ll focus on these key areas:
• Standards for financial management systems and internal controls
• Procurement, property and equipment
• Reporting and record retention requirements
The cost principles cover the costs that a grant-funded program can charge to federal grant awards. General principles, allowable costs, unallowable costs and costs that require prior approval will be discussed. We’ll also discuss certain selected items of cost. And we will give an overview of the audit requirements.

Session Description:
Leaders, bring your team and join us for this one-day preconference session where together you will build skills and competencies around organizational change management. Taking these back to your organizations will help the transformation into a more “change agile” organization. Through a mix of both hands-on and instructional learning, you will explore and discuss the foundations in implementing effective change management efforts.

Session Description:
Mutual of America Financial Group invites you to connect with them about their retirement plans, services and investments and the tools they provide your employees to help them save for a financially secure future. They will share their history of supporting nonprofits and discuss their longstanding commitment to help employees from this sector build and preserve assets for a dignified retirement. Find out more about Mutual of America’s deep understanding of the unique needs of nonprofits, especially when it comes to retirement plans, and dedication to helping those who give so much to serve others in communities across the country.

Session Description:
We’re excited to kick-off the week with one of the most impressive, impactful nonprofit leaders in the business. Anna Maria Chávez, the first woman of color to lead the Girl Scouts of the USA will speak about applying a mission-driven, proactive mindset in all aspects of life. Anna Maria later held top jobs at the National Council on Aging and the National School Boards Association. She was named one of FORTUNE’s World’s Greatest Leaders in 2016 and recognized in Forbes' 50 0ver 50 women leaders list in 2021. She currently leads a new non-profit, Encantos.org, focused on advancing the understanding of the importance of 21st-century learning, literacy, and life skills for children through the development of research, programs and fellowships.

Session Description:
Please join us — and your peers — to discuss fiscal-focused hot topic issues. Together we will discuss what other organizations are doing in the face of these issues: cash flow projections, bank financing, allocation of grants, safeguarding assets and more.

Session Description:
Are you a self-identified non-financially savvy person? Then welcome to a session built just for you. If part of your current or future responsibilities is understanding the financial information of the agency, this session will give you easy-to-understand, practical suggestions for helping to learn agency financials. We will discuss the financials and explain the basics of financials and how to encourage questions and discussion at your agency to expand your understanding.

Session Description:
During this session, we will explore the baseline of situational awareness in an environment. We will connect what would be the concentric ring that connects a "normal" situation to one you need to be more aware of as you decide on action. Also, we will explore how having a plan impacts actions.

Session Description:
Mutual of America Financial Group is pleased to present this session that will discuss better positioning your agency for retirement plan success and retirement readiness from an employee perspective.

Hear about best practices agencies should follow when selecting plan providers, understanding the “all in” costs of a retirement plan, due diligence plan fiduciary reviews, diversification of portfolios, achievement of higher participation rates and more.

Session Description:
Positive culture is often cited as one reason employees stay with their organization. Culture is so important, and this session will explore what role leaders play in creating, changing and/or perpetuating a positive culture. And what happens when you as a leader are not feeling so positive? We will discuss that too!

Session Description:
Federally funded organizations are required to establish and maintain effective internal controls. The Uniform Guidance states that your internal controls should comply with the Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government (Green Book) or the COSO Framework. In this session, we will review the components of internal control, from the control environment to monitoring and risk assessment. We will also discuss ways your organization can continue effective internal controls in our ever-changing world.

Session Description:
Join this Wipfli-led panel discussion for leaders to explore what your current challenges are and what's just around the corner. This panel discussion will connect you those from Wipfli with leadership expertise to answer questions and explore ideas and connect you with peers in the audience.

Session Description:
As an agency, we deal with crises on a daily basis. Some crises are more subtle than others. During this session, we will discuss the forms of human trafficking. We will explore the signs to be aware of regarding human trafficking. We will talk about trauma bonding and dos and don'ts when it comes to addressing human trafficking in the workplace.

Session Description:
Mutual of America Financial Group is pleased to present valuable insights into the recent growth of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investing and considerations for retirement plan sponsors. Today, more investors than ever want to see their investment portfolios guided by their philosophical views. You may have heard about ESG investing, as well as socially responsible — or green — investing. These descriptors mean the same thing: investing money in funds that align with one or more recognized ESG factors. ESG investing also considers an investment’s potential environmental and social impacts as part of the selection process.

Session Description:
Have you been tasked with "doing more with less"? Do you have a project looming but you’re not sure where to even start? Join us for an informative session that takes you through project management best practices and common pitfalls to avoid for effective project management. We will review operational efficiencies you can adopt to help you "do more with less" and streamline processes to help alleviate resource constraints and build your team for project success.

Session Description:
Do you want to make connections with your peers? How about have a chance to talk with other leaders about the success and/or struggles you’ve experienced in leading your organization? Would you like to get additional insight from the Wipfli staff and trainers or just get to know them? We want to get to know you, and we hope you’ll join us at our Evening With Wipfli.

Join us for an evening of fun that includes opportunities to:
• Network with your peers.
• Talk with Wipfli staff and trainers.
• Win a donation check to your agency just for being in attendance!
• Enjoy appetizers.
• And more!

There will be a cash bar serving beer and wine. Nonalcoholic drinks will be complimentary.

Session Description:
Are you ready for change — and are you prepared to mitigate the risks? Assessing readiness and developing a change management strategy for any project are ultimately an attempt to mitigate risk. In this session, we will present ways of self-assessing your organization or team’s readiness for change. This will provide a practical approach to assessing risk and developing a risk mitigation plan that informs the larger change strategy.

Session Description:
Our organizations provide families in need with the services, tools and resources they need to work toward and achieve economic self-sufficiency. As incidents and events such as pandemics, cybersecurity threats, wildfires, etc. continue to threaten the ability of agencies to serve their mission, it has become clear that they need to continue to build resiliency into their operations. Join us in this session to discuss ways you can continue to increase the resiliency of your organization and begin creating your own business continuity plans. You are welcome to bring your own plan to review during the session as we aim to build your own business continuity plan.

Session Description:
Head Start/Early Head Start programs have a specific set of requirements to assist program leaders in identifying, recruiting and selecting those children and families with the most need in their communities. In this session, we focus on all the eligibility, recruitment, selection, enrollment and attendance requirements of Regulation 45 CFR Part 1302, Subpart A, best known by the initials ERSEA, including adjusted guidelines in:
- Determining community strengths
- Documentation
- Definition of family
- Attendance
- Suspension and expulsion
- Fees
- And more!
We will share current best practices with your professional peers and explore challenges and solutions regarding the future of ERSEA in the programs.

Session Description:
Completing your strategic plan is not the end of the planning process. So what's next? In this session, we will explore connecting the strategic plan to the budgeting process and what this means for the planned outcomes and eventual impact on our community. As leaders, we need to help ensure our budgeting process identifies our plans and goals, connects them to the dollars and expected outcomes, and impact the communities served.

Session Description:
Leaders, board members and policy councils of Head Start/Early Head Start (HS/EHS) organizations working together is a requirement. It's also an area of risk in an organization. The requirements for boards are like no others. Leadership needs to know what their role is, so their agency does not get into trouble. Over the past few years, much more scrutiny has been placed on boards — and too many members are not fully aware. This is a must-attend session for HS/EHS grantee leaders.

Session Description:
The dynamic labor market we are all operating in is shining a bright light on compensation practices. It is imperative that organizations look through multiple lenses when addressing compensation to attract and retain hard-to-find talent. Whether your wage comparability was just updated or it is time to look at it, this session is for you.

Session Description:
Time to bring your own numbers! Attend this workshop — yes, we'll be working — with your team and practice what you learned. Begin your budget planning process as a team and begin implementing a new budget plan. <b><i>Must attend the Connecting Strategy to Budget session.</i></b>

Session Description:
This session will focus on how incorporating a centralized intake strategy can help your organization better serve your clients, increase collaborate across programs and provide holistic, structured data to provide better reporting. We will address the primary challenges a centralized intake strategy aims to solve, as well as share our experiences on how to implement a strategy and cover technology tools that exist in this space.

Session Description:
The Uniform Guidance gave non-federal entities a new method of charging indirect and certain administrative costs to grants using a 10% de minimis indirect cost rate. This session is for non-federal entities that currently utilize the 10% de minimis option, are thinking of implementing it or have subrecipients that use a 10% de minimis rate.

Session Description:
Preparing employees for promotion is a critical leadership role. Creating an organizational career path program will provide employees with a vision for their future. Developing individual career blueprints will support them with the guidance and direction to achieve their professional goals.

Session Description:
Retention, retention, retention! Much is being written on the "great resignation." Let's turn the tables and explore what we can do — and should be doing — to retain our valuable employees. Human resources practices typically evolve over time, but today we are moving at an ever-increasing pace. We need to respond quickly to a changing employment landscape. In this session, we will explore how your organization may need to modernize the human resources strategies and practices to remain competitive in an effort to retain employees.

Session Description:
This session is designed for all types of boards. It will cover the following topics:
• Management’s expectations
• Conflicts of interest
• Rights
• Responsibilities
• Board and internal controls
• Risk management
• Board evaluation
It will also include an exercise to explore your level of understanding.

Session Description:
An organization’s defined method of allocation should be simple, straightforward, and comply with its approved policies and procedures. Using the Uniform Guidance regulations, we will review allowable methods of cost allocation including direct costing and indirect cost rates (including the 10% de minimis rate), administrative cost limits, and discuss how your organization may use cost allocation to run more efficiently and effectively.

Session Description:
Grant-funded organizations are unique in regard to the innovative programs they provide. Often, accounting for programs and circumstances can be difficult because of the lack of specific accounting guidance on these programs and activities. Connecting the dots of the financial aspects of a grant-funded program can be daunting. This session gives you time to explore accounting for these unique items and the freedom to discuss your organization's unique accounting issues. This session is a great way for you to gain perspective on grant-funded challenges and learn what others are experiencing.

Session Description:
If you have ever wondered why a change was made, this session is for you. Communication is essential. The better we plan our communications, the more effective our efforts are. In this session we will present a practical approach to developing a communication plan and delivering that planned communication.

Session Description:
Staff might be leaving as part of the "Great Resignation," but are your digital assets also leaving? Preserving and protecting your digital assets — and your rights as an employer — start by being prepared before employees depart. Even before employment begins, as well as during employment, we have to be aware of how staff losses impact digital assets and the agency. In this session, we will cover the often-overlooked digital assets that organizations easily overlook. We will also explore the measures that are critical to protecting your organization from the potential aftermath and consequences of an employee’s departure.

Session Description:
In this session, we will explore why team building matters. To build a sense of community among your teams, going above and beyond the day-to-day job is often necessary. Though team building can be used to solve a challenge or build a solution, it can also help leaders identify behavioral areas of concern within the team dynamics. Together, we will “test drive” a few of these team building exercises, explore the purpose behind each exercise and identify how team building can be used to meet your desired outcomes.

Session Description:
Do you want to feel inspired, motivated, recharged and empowered? Then you won’t want to miss this keynote on leadership lessons from a very influential leader in the nonprofit space, Dorri McWhorter (CEO, YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago). We will sit with Dorri in a “fireside chat” format with our very own fearless leader, Kathleen DuBois, and discuss all the challenges and opportunities our leaders in the nonprofit industry face and how they can overcome them with confidence and strategy.

Session Description:
This session aligns finance, talent and technology strategies with discussions about resources for long-term organizational success. We will explore ways of diversifying revenue streams that allow for maximum flexibility to meet needs that are unable to be met with restricted funding. Together we will explore how maximizing human capital and managing talent can successfully position organizations for financial growth and how technology is vital to managing the engagement of key stakeholders and funders.

Session Description:
This session is a unique opportunity for leaders to assess and enhance awareness around leadership styles. Explore how to maximize the strength of teams to achieve the organization's mission and vision. There will be lively discussion and exploration of the numerous unique styles of leaders.

Session Description:
Generating in-kind can be a challenge. In this session, we will discuss the tools, techniques and regulations of generating, calculating and documenting non-federal match. Make generating in-kind the responsibility of everyone in your program. We will also explore methods to plan who to ask, how to ask, and what in-kind to ask for in the community. Leave with specific goals, strategies and tasks to bring more in-kind into your agency. (Imagine if you had all the in-kind you needed!)

Session Description:
Occupational fraud was estimated to cost U.S. organizations a whopping five percent of gross revenue — before COVID. COVID, government mandates and staff pressures all increased your organization’s risk of occupational fraud. This increase comes through your organization's response and by fueling the components of the fraud triangle — need, opportunity and rationalization. It's a perfect storm that increases the potential for staff to act inappropriately and take advantage of your resources. This session will address the origins of occupational fraud risk, why that risk has increased as a result of the COVID response and what the organization can do to address the increased risk.

Session Description:
This session will give you the time and tools to think about technology - current and future. We will discuss how to build a strategy and roadmap, evaluating current technology and needs, exploring future trends, and the process to deciding to replace/integrate and build/buy. How often do you review your technology strategy - maybe it is time?

Session Description:
You have been tasked with finding new software for your organization. How do you choose the right one? This session will walk through the steps for minimizing risks when choosing an enterprise software system. From defining key requirements through vendor negotiation, this session will be an education and dialog—removing the mystery from your next system purchase.

Session Description:
Does your organization know the general procurement standards under the Uniform Guidance? Does it know the allowable methods of procurement and what policies and procedures are affected by the procurement regulations? In this session, we will review the Uniform Guidance procurement regulations in 2 CFR Part 200, and discuss additional steps in the procurement process, including internal controls.

Session Description:
Spend management provides a way for organizations to automatically control spending according to a specified budget. It informs leaders when an expense exceeds the set budget. In this session, we will use Sage Intacct as an example of how this process looks in today's technology. We will also discuss methods different nonprofits are using to incorporate spend management best practices into their everyday finance operations to increase insight and provide valuable data for decision making.

Session Description:
All of us understand the challenges and burden of cleansing, deduping, and analyzing program and client data to meet program requirements. So much time and focus are spent on just meeting those requirements that often the ability to leverage existing data to inform and support strategic decisions, compliance and programmatic performance is missed. In this session, we will explore possibilities and outcomes of addressing data integration within Community Action. This will include ways to help standardize and de-dupe data and how to leverage data that is collected to fulfill existing requirements more efficiently but also help identify areas of need and inform future growth potential.

Session Description:
This session explores the many areas of fiscal responsibility that boards and CEOs/EDs need to address when working together. Topics covered will include legal and fiscal responsibility, roles, budgets, fundraising, risk and approvals. Both new and experienced board members will benefit.

Session Description:
Through real-world examples and case study, you will learn to diagnose process waste, how to differentiate between non-value added steps and waste, and tools to eliminate waste from your organization.

Session Description:
Most grant-funded organizations have financial policies and procedures. But what do they say? Do they reference outdated regulations? Do they follow old processes and systems when new ones are in place? Is the organization at risk of receiving a finding because the documented procedures are not followed? This session will explore these questions and more!

Session Description:
Each year, the Office of Head Start makes changes in the Head Start Monitoring Protocol AMS 2.0. This session will address what's different from past years and how the Head Start Act, Head Start Program Performance Standards and Uniform Guidance are addressed. We will take a deep look at the Aligned Monitoring System 2.0 Focus Area 1 and Focus Area 2 expectations.

Session Description:
During this hands-on session you’ll get a chance to test drive Microsoft solutions and discover how they can deliver immediate business value to both you and your organization. Each facilitator-led session is customized to meet your needs, so you can explore tools at your own pace, focus on the products and solutions you want and discover firsthand how they can solve your biggest challenges.

Session Description:
If you are interested in learning why so many nonprofits are switching to Intacct, this is your session. You will learn how Intacct provides greater efficiency and managerial visibility so your nonprofit can drive down costs while fully pursing your organization's mission. And if you already own it, you will also learn basic Intacct navigation and how it handles general accounting functions.

Session Description:
A traditional GEMBA is the action of watching a process. In this session, you will learn how to conduct a GEMBA walk. The objectives are to observe the work, ask questions, and truly discover what is going on in your processes.

Session Description:
Do you consider your accounting department small in number? Do you have a hard time spreading work around to employees to separate duties and strengthen internal controls? Do you receive a segregation of duties comment from the auditor or monitor? If any of these apply to you, this is the session to attend! We'll discuss segregation of duties, functions that are incompatible, and how to recruit people to help with the accounting functions. By identifying the internal controls for offices with a limited number of staff, it better helps the agency evaluate how to segregate financial duties to reduce risk of error or fraud.

Session Description:
When you spend as much time with your colleagues as you do your friends and family — sometimes more — conflicts are bound to arise. And some conflict is actually good. It uncovers challenges. It can even open doors for solutions. In this session, we explore how to address conflict in productive ways.

Session Description:
You've developed long-term strategies and identified short-term goals to help them, but now what? How do you take those short-term goals and turn them into an action plan for getting things done? How do you identify who “owns” a goal without falling back on the same small group of leaders every time? Join this highly interactive workshop session to learn practical approaches to action planning, gaining participation across the organization and designing real-world, measurable steps to fulfill those short-term goals and complete the long-term strategies. Participants will use action planning tools and templates in a hands-on environment to design plans and approaches.

Session Description:
In this session, we will discuss what it means to do a risk assessment. Who should complete the assessment, and how is it different from what the auditor prepares? Risk assessments affect our processes, operations and funding relationships. Join us to explore risk assessment and how it can be — and should be — leveraged to improve internal controls and how it impacts monitoring and audits.

Session Description:
Even organizations that develop the best strategic plan can faulter when it comes to execution of the plan. There are a variety of contributing factors: lack of visible leadership, confusion about or lack of accountability, poor communication and unclear expectations, among other things. Executing a strategic plan requires a clear process supported by tools that make the plan visible, accessible and agile. In this session, we will speak to the best practices relating to the execution of strategic plans and how you can use a reporting and dashboard tool to track your process and report on your outcomes.

Session Description:
For new leaders in federally funded programs, understanding the money side is imperative. New leaders coming to this session will explore the many areas of fiscal responsibility. We will discuss the basics and the complex issues and explore what to look for and the questions to ask.

Session Description:
Work-life balance is needed now more than ever. If you function on autopilot, this thought-provoking session provides an opportunity to reflect on your life and take inventory of the things that are working and those that aren't. Be prepared to reevaluate and question priorities and to develop a plan to achieve your best life.

Session Description:
Sometimes you are not used to seeing that many commas and that many zeros on a page. Are you new to a role where you need to understand financial statements at a high level? Do you struggle with interpreting financial statements? Or are you looking to expand your knowledge of what to look for when interpreting financial statements? In a workshop setting, we will look through financial statements from two different organizations. We will talk through trends. We will discuss ratios and what they mean. Together we can translate from “accounting-ese” to English!

Session Description:
The conference is winding down. We do not want you to go away with any unanswered questions. Wake up with Wipfli, and our team will answer your questions, explore ideas and connect you with peers in the audience.

Session Description:
Bad stuff happens. How your organization responds to a data breach, device loss, or corporate account takeover will either minimize or compound the impact of the event. In this session, we will review components of an effective IRP and facilitate an interactive group tabletop exercise to simulate the decisions that need to be made during a crisis.

Session Description:
There is a great saying - it is hard to work on the business when you are working in the business. Use this session and the techniques shared, to give you tips to identify when it is time to stop doing "what we have always done", so we can start doing "what we need to do" or change how we are we currently doing "it".

Session Description:
Are you considering passing through your federal dollars to another agency? Or are you currently passing through federal dollars to another agency? If so, make sure you know what you are required to do. This session will clearly define what subrecipients are and the required regulations you must address when you have them.

Session Description:
Organizational surveys can be an effective way to collect data and feedback about almost any topic or issue. In this session, we will cover best practices in survey design, administration and analysis to gather information on any number of subjects, including project status, engagement pulses and feedback/reactions.