In 2020, during the 20th anniversary of the Securing the Future Conference, conference host Leadership Council for Nonprofits inaugurated the Leadership Legacy Awards to recognize nonprofit leaders and nonprofit organizations whose leaders demonstrate great efforts to “secure the future” of the organizations they serve and support allowing these nonprofits to continue to build and secure the future of every individual, and community they serve.
The 2021 honoree’s will be recognized at the March 4, virtual Securing the Future Conference. Registration for the conference is open.
Visionary Board Leaders
This award honors an established and proven board member of a nonprofit organization in the Greater Cincinnati region who has led their organization through transformational change, weathered difficult circumstances, and demonstrated outstanding vision and achievement.
Deborah Allsop, Preschool Promise Chair of the Governance Committee, former Secretary
Nominator Chara Jackson, Executive Director & CEO of Preschool Promise, praised Deborah’s board leadership – “Deborah understands and has strengthened the organization’s collective voice in addressing the connection between internal governance and the achievement of intended outcomes. She assists in raising the organization’s visibility among Cincinnati’s political and business leadership while bringing the “voice” of those not typically represented — Cincinnati Preschool Promise preschoolers — the City’s youngest citizens. Deborah willingly introduces others and provides access to the City’s senior leadership by extending her relationships to amplify Cincinnati Preschool Promise’s collective voice in the community.”
Tom Stoll
Tom Stoll, Board Chair, Brighton Center
Tom “provided a steady hand throughout the succession process, including the selection of the new CEO, and continues that leadership today. As if this change were not transformational enough, he has also led the organization through COVID – which has had implications for service delivery, governance (moving to virtual meetings), donor relationships, fundraising including the launch of our Legacy Campaign, financial status (navigating the PPP), policies related to staff, and communication strategies such as our first ever virtual Annual Meeting. Tom has remained calm, supportive, and made connections in all these areas. He is supportive of agency leadership staff and listens to all perspectives. Throughout all of this, Tom has continued to lead our strategic plan forward, and ensure families continue to have access to transformational programs.” Wonda Winkler, President & CEO, Brighton Center, nominator.
VUCA Leader – Vision, Understanding, Clarity & Agility
This award recognizes an early- career leader in the Greater Cincinnati nonprofit sector who is positively impacting their organization and the community through demonstrated vision, understanding, clarity and agility in a VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex & Ambiguous) world
Jennifer Steele, CEO of Meals on Wheels NKY
Jennifer Steele
Nominator and Board Chair, Michael Murphy, expounded on Jennifer’s leadership -“Upon Jennifer’s arrival as CEO of Meals on Wheels of Southwest Ohio & Northern Kentucky, she began to restructure the executive leadership of the organization to reduce redundancies and better align with the mission and services provided. She installed expertise on logistics, compliance, fund raising, and innovation in roles that allowed for collaboration and improvement throughout the organization. This directly resulted in the following: 1) A steady reduction of food waste through the reduction of repeat deliveries due to clients not being home, 2) An increase in base hourly pay for kitchen workers and drivers due to the increases in efficiency realized elsewhere. 3) The ability to utilize the more than 600 volunteers that presented themselves as a result of the global pandemic while still maintaining a safe working environment through social distancing. This was accomplished through innovative uses of auto dialer systems allowing for volunteer work from home as well as clever assignment of duties to those that live together in the same household where social distancing is not required.”
Inclusive Culture Award
This award recognizes a nonprofit organization that is welcoming at every level to every individual.
The Children’s Home
“The engagement our organization has with every colleague within the agency, from the newest, most junior member up to and including our senior leadership is a mindset of “people first, mission always” and it permeates throughout The Children’s Home from top to bottom and laterally. The Children’s Home fosters a climate of diversity and inclusion on our staff and the governing Board of Trustees to best reflect the diverse community where we live and serve.” Nominated by Dr. Stephen Wilson, Communications Director, The Children’s Home.
The 21st annual event will be held virtually Thursday, March 4.
Securing the Future is the largest gathering of its kind each year in Greater Cincinnati, focusing on nonprofit resource & leadership development.
Leadership Council for Nonprofits chose the conference theme of “The Future of Belonging” and keynote speaker, Vanessa Mason, research director at the Institute for the Future, explores how we can redesign tools and remodel approaches to fulfill the basic human need for belonging over the next decade as loneliness, alienation, and exclusion become more pervasive.
Following the keynote, four tracks – Board Governance, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Strategy & Operations and Community change, with 12 breakout sessions, led by local and regional leaders will be available. More information here.
This half-day conference is for anyone who works in, works with, donates to or serves a nonprofit in our Greater Cincinnati area or beyond.
