Strategic Stakeholder Engagement

This learning opportunity will provide guidance on strategically engaging stakeholders to further an organization’s goals. Participants will engage in stakeholder mapping and learn and discuss strategies for prioritizing and achieving engagement. They will have the opportunity to begin developing measurable stakeholder engagement plans. The discussion will address engagement of a range of stakeholders, including grassroots and grasstops stakeholders, potential partners/collaborators, and clients and others with lived experiences.

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About the presenter:

Christine Gendron is an experienced and entrepreneurial leader, a systems thinker, connector, collaborator, and capacity builder. She has nearly 20 years of leadership experience serving as a resource for nonprofits, policymakers, government, and philanthropy organizations on strengthening outcomes for children, youth, families, and underserved populations.

Christine previously served as the Executive Director of a statewide association and advocacy organization for eight years. She stepped into that role when the organization was struggling, defined a new strategic direction, streamlined administrative functions, established partnerships with stakeholders across the state, and raised new funds, ultimately tripling the organization’s annual budget. She led legislative advocacy efforts that secured legislation and new state appropriations, led the coordination of high-profile capacity building initiatives for direct care providers, and oversaw the provision of training on best practices for thousands of professionals. She served as an advisor on legislative and regulatory policy, among other topics, for leaders at 60+ direct care member organizations.

Christine has also served as Vice President for two larger nonprofit organizations, through which she was responsible for advocacy/lobbying, program development, and capacity building. She was previously a Senior Research Associate for the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin, where she evaluated programs for public agencies. She is a skilled and experienced facilitator, and she has helped numerous organizations and initiatives with assessment, consensus building, engagement, and planning.

Christine holds a Bachelor of Arts in history from Texas A&M University and a Master of Public Affairs from the University of Texas at Austin’s Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs. She lives in Austin with her husband, Ben, and their rescue poodles. Christine has served on numerous nonprofit boards, she has been heavily involved in the LBJ School alumni association, and she is active in the philanthropic community. In her free time, she enjoys reading, cooking, staying active/fit, learning Spanish, and supporting high school debate.

Please note Nonprofit Austin reserves the right to postpone this learning opportunity if there is inadequate registration.