A graphic banner that says: 2025 Board Development Series
A Two-Part Workshop Series
October 23 & November 6, 2025

Creating more inclusive and engaged boards takes intentional and consistent effort. To help guide these efforts, The Gifford Foundation is partnering with The Central New York Community Foundation to offer a free two-part workshop series that will provide a roadmap for success and solutions to potential roadblocks.

A wide angle shot of a room full of people taking notes while consultant Maria Fibiger presents on board member responsibilities.

Registration does not guarantee a spot at the workshop. You will receive a confirmation email once your enrollment has been confirmed.

Oct. 23th and  Nov. 6 from 4:30 – 7:30 pm.

Location: CNY Community Foundation, Ballroom,  431 E Fayette St #100, Syracuse, NY 13202 

Session 1, Oct. 23: Compliance, Committees, and Self-Evaluation

Session 2, Nov. 6: Board Engagement: Ways to Engage the Board

Session 1: Committees, Compliance, and Self-Evaluation
  • Why you need a Board Development Committee.
  • Helping your board officers understand their roles and responsibilities.
  • Strategies to effectively maintain compliance with New York State’s reporting requirements.
  • How to assess risk and mitigate liability for your organization.
  • An activity around creating and implementing a board self-assessment, including board leadership succession awareness. (Each group will take this back to their full board to perform mini board self-assessment that will dovetail into Session 2 for discussion /sharing ideas, etc.)
Session 2: Board Engagement
  • Learning ways to engage your board (both new and existing members)
  • Exploring best practices for a board development committee’s work around continuous board member engagement including:
    • Review of mini board self-assessments that each group has done with their board following Session 1;
    • Community ambassador training;
    • Retention and recruitment ideas for board members.
A professional headshot of consultant Maria Fibiger wearing a white shirt with a black jacket.

Featuring Maria Fibiger, President / Senior Consultant – Three Dog Consulting

View Maria's Bio

With more than 15 years of consulting practice and 25+ years of career experience in the nonprofit & public administration fields, Maria brings a wealth of knowledge to her work.
She has held top-level nonprofit executive positions for numerous organizations and as such, her view of the day-to-day challenges faced by so many nonprofits is realistic and down-to-earth. Maria’s consulting experience is expansive and includes:

  • Leading a cohort capacity-building program for Start-Up and Early Growth organizations;
  • Providing sustaining board development support to an animal welfare organization with members
    through the U.S. and Canada;
  • Developing and providing full nonprofit management services for an 8-county wellness program for Upstate NY cancer patients and increasing revenue from $60k to $1.4m annually.

She specializes in working with Start-Up, Growth, and Turnaround Lifecycle Stage organizations that need to develop and implement action plans to meet the ever-changing needs around organizational growth, transition planning, and building capacity. Maria holds a B.S. Degree in Public Administration & Urban Planning with a Certification in Nonprofit Management & Organizational Development from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is also a Certified Lifecycles™ Capacity Consultant of
the Nonprofit Lifecycles Institute.

A professional headshot of consultant Maria Fibiger wearing a white shirt with a black jacket.

Stay in the loop!

Join our mailing list to receive occasional articles and updates about grants, programs, and the CNY nonprofit community.

You have Successfully Subscribed!