Session 1
Taking Stock of Your Financial Health and Viability
April 13, 2021
12:00–1:30 PM
Why should I attend?
Taking Stock
Regardless of the challenges your organization faces, the Symposium offers help and guidance. No matter your financial situation, setting aside time to take a hard, informed look at your business plan is crucial to your long-term viability. Session 1 will prepare you to do that.

Keynote: Doug Green
Senior Manager, La Piana Consulting
Doug will be our keynote speaker for both Session 1 and Session 2. Doug works with nonprofit leaders to help them do their good work more effectively. His consulting is informed by diverse experiences with nonprofits and organizations in times of great change. In the 1980s S&L crisis, he supported the first modern interstate banking mergers with financial analysis. He also led an AIDS services organization during the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and has been a consultant to nonprofits during the Great Recession and its uneven recovery. His past clients include Lotusland, the Santa Maria Valley Discovery Museum, the California Network of Family Strengthening Networks, Kids and Families Together, San Diego Natural History Museum, and Surfrider Foundation.
Panelists
Each of our panelists leads an organization that has faced major COVID-related challenges yet found creative, effective ways to adapt. Learn about their struggles and successes.

Wendy Lewis is the President and CEO of the El Camino Homeless Organization (ECHO). The organization has seen a dramatic increase in need for services since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Wendy will share her insights on how they met the challenge. In her three years with ECHO she has helped expand the organization’s reach, from 50 beds at one facility to 140 at three facilities. Before ECHO, Wendy worked at the Food Bank Coalition for 10 years and led the building of their 20,000 square foot headquarters. Wendy grew up in Lompoc, attended Cal Poly, and resides in Atascadero with her family.

Kevin Harris is the Managing Artistic Director of San Luis Obispo Repertory Theatre (SLO REP). Kevin will showcase how SLO REP, like many other performing arts organizations nationwide, has adjusted to a new reality of providing programming during the pandemic. He served as the Artistic Director of Centerpoint Theatre Group in San Luis Obispo and co-wrote and directed an original play with Ashtar Theatre in Palestine. Kevin has taught at the University of Iowa, University of Chicago, and has led dozens of workshops on A Practical Handbook for the Actor across the country. He is very happy to be here on the Central Coast with his two beautiful children, Dominick and Ella.

Bettina Swigger serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Downtown SLO. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a dramatic impact on downtown SLO businesses and hindered most regular events. Bettina will share how the organization has adapted to help their members in crisis and continue to attract visitors to Downtown SLO. She served as the executive director of Festival Mozaic for 7 years and was voted one of the Top 20 under 40 by the SLO Tribune in 2012. Bettina is interested in creative place-making, bringing people together in public spaces, surprising and delighting visitors and residents, and having a great time with a fantastic team while doing so.
Spokes Symposium 2021 is grateful for financial support from Union Bank and the City of San Luis Obispo.


And thank you to our in-kind promotional sponsors!


Note: The Spokes Board of Directors has made the difficult decision to dissolve Spokes later in 2021. In the meantime, we look forward to hosting the Symposium and offering other programs that advance our mission: Guiding nonprofits to achieve their goals through support and expert resources.
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