Programs

James Misner, Owner & Founder, The Kipos Group 

You'd ride three trains and two buses to save $72 on a ride to the airport. You'd drive across the county at midnight for a family in crisis. Love makes you do hard things...until it's time to raise money. Then the powerful story doesn't get told because telling it feels like bragging. The staff member who hasn't hit a goal in three years keeps a job because letting them go feels cruel. The $50,000 ask becomes $5,000.

It feels like love. It isn't. And it costs your organization revenue every year.

This session examines how the very virtues that build nonprofits (humility, compassion, restraint) become the ceiling that caps revenue, and why the problem intensifies as organizations grow. Using a three-stage growth model (the Plot, the Garden, and the Farm) participants will diagnose where their organization sits today and identify which fundraising practices their stage now requires. Relevant to executive directors, development leaders, and senior staff at organizations of any size.

Tyler Thomas, Manager of Science Literacy and Research, Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont

Tremont has had a robust community science program for several decades. Join a discussion of what makes a community science program successful (connecting people with nature, broadening capacity for data collection, greater understanding of the natural world/targeted conservation efforts), but also some of its limitations and challenges (ensuring data quality, volunteer training and retention, etc.).

Hayley Scott, Director of Finance and Operations, Dunes Learning Center

Vicky Harvey, Hospitality Manager, Dunes Learning Center

Kids (and adults) need to feel comfortable in order to enjoy their time on campus and be ready to learn. How do you accomplish that? Is food service and facilities management one department or two? How do you recruit for these positions? Let's chat about making guests feel welcome.

Ray Cramer, Director, IslandWood Outdoor School

Discuss qualitative and quantitative program assessment methods at outdoor schools. Find out what others are doing to overcome common challenges and measure what is important! Discuss how to embrace feedback, be a learning organization, and create a culture of feedback that leads to quality outcomes for everyone.

Morgan Lozny, Director of External Relations, Dunes Learning Center

Anthony Escobedo, Director of Onsite Programs, Dunes Learning Center

As outdoor schools, our primary focus is overnight programs. However, does Outreach/Day programming have a place in the arsenal of program offerings? Is it a way to diversify revenue and build a pipeline, or a detraction from the mission and a cheaper alternative for schools? Join us for a conversation about program offerings, funding, and (best??) practices.

Meredith Donaldson, Director, McDowell Environmental Center

Kim Corson, Assistant Director, McDowell Environmental Center

Every season leadership gets older, but our seasonal staff stay the same age. Join us as we share the wins, the flops, and the lessons we’ve learned while managing Gen Z seasonal staff. We’ll explore how adapting our leadership styles, creating supportive systems, and building a culture of connection can help young employees feel valued, find their place on the team, and want to return season after season.

9am-12pm

Join us for an in-depth behind-the-scenes tour of McDowell! Learn about the five programs under the Camp McDowell organization umbrella and see how these programs share our 1,100 acre campus, and just one office building! We’ll stop by many of the campus buildings, each of our three dining halls, and our educational program’s seasonal housing (we know you’re curious!).

9am-12pm

Join Scotty Feltman, Director of McDowell Farm School, for a tour of our educational farm. During the tour, Scotty will introduce you to our livestock and discuss our rotational grazing systems and how it supports our programming with students. We’ll spend time in the garden spaces where you’ll get an in depth understanding of our composting systems and mixed vegetable production practices. Are you thinking about incorporating farming into your center or want a behind the scenes look at what it takes to make all this work? Maybe you want to hang out with some pigs. Here’s your chance! The majority of this tour will be spent outside and you might get a little bit dirty.

Participants must wear closed toe shoes.

9am-12pm

Experience all three High Ropes Elements (climbing wall, trust swing, and power pole) we offer our guests at McDowell Environmental Center! These high ropes elements are taught and facilitated by trained instructors. Soar through the air, climb to new heights, and get your adrenaline pumping!

Participants must wear closed toe shoes.

9am-12pm

Take a hike with McDowell Environmental Center staff to see the forests, streams, waterfalls, and canyons that make Camp McDowell so beautiful and diverse. We’ll start by crossing the swinging bridge over Clear Creek, a McDowell must do, and explore the trails across the creek, along the way discussing the unique ecology and geology of this area. Along the way, we’ll see a reclaimed coal mine and discuss the impacts the coal mining in the area has had on the land.

This hike is approximately 2.5 miles, with some steep, narrow, and rocky spots, along with two ladders (up and down).

9am-12pm

Join the staff from McDowell Environmental Center for a short canoe trip. Learn about the endemic species of our watershed and the history of Clear Creek as we explore the canyon by water! With no rapids or challenging sections, this enjoyable and easy canoe trip offers a unique perspective of McDowell. We’ll end with a short hike to the Clear Creek dam and a sandy beach, just downstream.

Participants must wear closed toe shoes.

8:45am-12:45pm, a sack lunch will be provided

Take a hike in the Bankhead National Forest / Sipsey Wilderness, nicknamed “the land of 1,000 waterfalls.” Led by staff from Wild Alabama, a local non-profit dedicated to inspiring people to enjoy, value, and protect the wild places of Alabama through education, stewardship, and advocacy. Along the way, we’ll discuss the flora and fauna of the area, and the history of how the largest wilderness area in the state came to be.

This hike is approximately 4 miles round trip, including narrow trails, rocky sections, and elevation changes.

9am-12:30pm, a sack lunch will be provided

Join Dr. Bill Deutsch, author of Ancient Life in Alabama, to explore a 315 million year old fossil track site full of well preserved fossils just 30 minutes from McDowell. Unearthed in now abandoned coal mines, you'll get a chance to dig around for your own fossils and learn the history of the most prolific source of vertebrate trackways of its age in the world. After some time searching, Bill will help us ID the fossils we’ve found.

Participants will need to wear long pants and sturdy, closed toe shoes.