Please see the calendar for upcoming events.

Faculty | Date & Times | Location & Price | Technical Requirements

Trust is the great productive force of civil society, a force that you turn into money, action, and attention of all kinds. Trust is the difference between a one time donation and lifelong financial commitment, between tossing your news release and calling you whenever a story breaks, between considering your petition and calling a hundred friends on behalf of your cause. Today, it's easier than ever to both build and destroy the trust of your stakeholders. Building trust - the "goose that lays the golden egg" - is a critical practice that is frequently undermined by the mechanics of email and web communication. To help remedy that, our ninety minute online seminar includes:

• a checklist for evaluating your current communication for its impact on trust
• ways to measure trust and to manage to those metrics
• specific tips related to building the trust of donors, activists, and the media
• how email newsletters can erode trust and how to prevent that
• freeing up the inherent trust building skills of your staff and volunteers
• how to not sound like every other organization out there
• deliberately designing high impact trust building interactions
• taking advantage of the payoff of high trust relationships

Chances are good that you are eroding the trust of important stakeholders every day. At the same time, you now have access to one of the most powerful trust building media of all time - the Internet. If you are in any way involved with communication in your organization, now is the time to pay attention to building up the most important resource you have - the trust of your stakeholders.
 

Our seminars are intended for the professional staff of nonprofit organizations, specifically those working in communication, fundraising, or technology. Our packages tend to be tightly focused on a particular professional field and our seminars deliver lessons that can be immediately applied within a particular professional's field of authority.
 

These seminars will be taught by Michael C. Gilbert, who has been consulting with nonprofits about internet strategies since the early nineties, and communication in general since 1984. He is the author of Communication Centered Technology Planning, 2nd Edition and Twenty First Century Fundraising Resources, 2nd Edition, the Editor of Nonprofit Online News, and the Founding President of the Nonprofit Technology Enterprise Network. For more information about Mr. Gilbert, please see his bio.
 

This is a single ninety minute session.

Seminar: (The next live session hosted by The Gilbert Center, has not yet been announced.)

You can also hire us to present this and any of the seminars listed on this site, as well as custom sessions, for your group privately, online or in person at your location. Please contact us for more info if you are interested.)

New On-Demand Option: If you would like to attend this seminar, but our schedule doesn't work for you, then you can now request the "On-Demand" option. What this means is that we will schedule time for you to watch the recording of the seminar when it is most convenient for you, within a couple weeks after the live session. (There is no additional charge for this option.)

One on One Consulting Sessions: To be scheduled with the instructor, within two weeks after the sessions.
 

This is an open registration seminar, which means that anyone can attend. It will be held online. The price is $99.00 for the first student. There is a $15 fee for each additional student watching at the same computer, and at the same time, with the first.

Michael Gilbert has a proven track record of helping individuals and organizations move the ideas he has taught in a seminar from concept to implementation during one on one consultations afterwards. He will answer any questions you have regarding the seminar materials, of course. But more importantly, you'll have access to the discipline and focus that comes from his twenty years of experience. He can help you develop a plan and get it started. One call or many, it all depends on how much help you need in your particular situation. Each call is 30 minutes in length and should be scheduled to happen within two weeks after the seminar. Also, you may have additional people join the call on your end, if you like.

The price for one on one consulting is discounted by more than 50% if you buy it as part of a seminar package.

You are responsible for making sure that you can meet these requirements before you register to attend one of our online seminars. Please feel free to Contact Us with any questions you might have.

Seminar sessions are broadcast to you via Quicktime, and you are able to send in questions during the session via AOL Instant Messenger. For this you will need:

• An internet connection (broadband will yield improved performance)
• A relatively current web browser
• An email account and email address
• A free AOL Instant Messaging account and client software (AIM Web Site)
• Directions to get a free screen name
• Install AIM on your computer
• Or see the help page linked to below for other options.
• The free Quicktime Player plugin (Quicktime Free Download)
  • The ability to access this test movie with Quicktime.

If you're having trouble, check the Technical Help page.
 

• A telephone connection
• An internet connection that you can use while being on the phone
• A current, standards-compliant web browser