A Unique Peer Forum Experience for Nonprofit CEOs: Leadership Capacity Building

Nancy Batterman and Rick Dahlseid know from the experience of their career-long dedication to helping nonprofit leaders.  That is why we are delighted that they are tag-teaming together in facilitating a unique peer forum experience specifically for CEOs of nonprofits. It is one of a kind.

Nancy Batterman is a former Nonprofit CEO (34 years with Options For All) and has since been an executive coach, facilitator and helping other Nonprofit CEOs and their leadership teams across a wide ranges of sectors.  She brings a business perspective and strategic planning expertise to support nonprofit organizations to grow in a sustainable way.

Rick Dahlseid has dedicated the past 20 years to working with nonprofit organizations as a financial executive.  Whether serving as a staff CFO, Consulting CFO, or Board Member, Rick brings his expertise to nonprofits navigating significant challenges. In addition to his practical experience, Rick is passionate about building capacity in others by instructing nonprofit financial management at the University of San Diego and UC-San Diego.

Over recent decades peer forums have emerged as a new category of leadership development for CEOs and executives, helping them build the capacity of their businesses, organizations, and leadership.  In its 30th year, REF is on the leading edge of innovating what’s next with a global community of peer forums in service of its mission of leaders powered by collective intelligence.  

In addition to For-profit CEOs, REF San Diego is also committed to that mission specifically for Nonprofit CEOs.  The Nonprofit sector is underserved with the power of true peer forum experiences.  REF San Diego is dedicated to changing that in service of capacity building for Nonprofit businesses, organizations, and leadership.

Our dedication is to leverage the collective intelligence power of peer forums to help build the leadership capacity of nonprofit CEOs so that they in turn can build the capacity of their organizations, businesses, and communities they serve.

REF San Diego has built a one-of-a-kind peer forum experience specifically for nonprofit CEOs building their leadership capacity.  

Like only the collective intelligence power of peers can truly do!  A peer forum experience is like a hall of mirrors, illuminating opportunities for learning and growth 360 degrees in the round.  

A confidential setting with no competitors (or other conflicts of interest of any kind), a peer forum is a safe place where learners come with a beginner's mind, where the good comes to become great, and where the best comes to get better.

We are also forming a Nonprofit Advisory Council with multiple purposes:

The desired members of the Advisory Council are active in the San Diego philanthropic eco-system as well connected advocates of the capacity building required.

The Advisory Council will be Chaired by Nancy Batterman and Rick Dahlseid who are the Forum Leaders of Nonprofit CEO Forum, in combination with Mark Neilson and Mike Richardson who are partners with REF San Diego.

It is not just a cliché, it is also a reality, that we hear so often unprompted from prospective members of our CEO Forums, for-profit, and not-for-profit, that “it is lonely at the top”.  Over my 20 years of running forums and exploratory conversations with hundreds of members and prospective members, I have heard that phrase so many times from them.  

One of the best ways I have heard it expressed was by REF San Diego Partner, Forum Leader, and former CEO, Brad Lee who said he felt like an only child:

If you are a Nonprofit CEO who wants to be amongst the best getting better, you are not alone!  Invest in being a member of this forum.

The Nonprofit CEO Forum is only half a day per month of an in-person monthly meeting and a modest membership subscription.

There is no long-term contract. Our members vote with their wallets and their feet, staying a long time as they find it such a great ROI.

So there is very little to lose. Plus lots to gain. Access expert insights and form deep and meaningful relationships in a confidential setting of diverse members with no competitors. Bring your most strategic, critical, and intractable issues, problems, challenges, and opportunities to a safe place to process with the forum.  Belong to a community of leaders powered by collective intelligence, locally, regionally, nationally, and globally.

There are only 15 seats available for non-competing members in this first Nonprofit CEO Forum. So don’t miss out. Contact us today to express your interest: mrichardson@ref.global.