Nonprofit Leadership Circle: Building a Resilient and High-Performing Nonprofit Culture

Description

We are excited to announce our newest program, the Nonprofit Leadership Circle. The topics for this series are based on feedback from nonprofit members of the Chamber and are strategic, focused on leadership challenges, and designed to foster deep, peer-to-peer discussions. This bi-monthly, lunchtime series will take place at Innovate Newport. The following 6 topics will be covered in the 2025 Series.

Special thanks to our series sponsor, Partridge, Snow & Hahn.

Building a Resilient and High-Performing Nonprofit Culture 

with Elizabeth Manchester and Sean Fontes, Partridge Snow & Hahn 

Join us for a conversation about how organizations can focus on cultivating a healthy organizational culture and attract and engage younger generations of volunteers, board members, and supporters. Learn strategies for fostering employee engagement, board collaboration and creating a unified mission-driven culture.

Elizabeth Manchester, Partner

As Chair of the firm’s Nonprofit & Tax-Exempt Practice Group, Elizabeth represents tax-exempt entities, centered on compliance, formation, charitable gift planning issues and best practices. She has extensive experience assisting institutions with the inception of planned giving programs, as well as corporate governance matters and maintenance of tax-exempt status. Elizabeth advises charitable institutions and institutions of higher learning about tax benefits available to donors, to assist in discussions with donors to appropriately advance the organization’s mission.

Serving as external general counsel for public charities and private foundations, Elizabeth advises nonprofits regarding board education and training, fiduciary obligation advice, compliance, donor representation, endowment fund management, finance, Form 990, reporting issues, governance, joint ventures, affiliations, and litigation prevention. In addition, she advises nonprofits regarding managing bequests and complex gifts for organizations, mergers and acquisitions, obtaining and maintaining tax exemptions, policies, political and lobbying restrictions, and tax.

Elizabeth counsels individuals, families, business owners, and fiduciaries on aspects of charitable planning. She works with corporations to identify philanthropic goals and effectuate corporate philanthropy.

Sean Fontes, Counsel

Sean serves as Counsel in the Employment and Litigation practice groups, where he focuses on employment law compliance and employer-side litigation. Sean counsels businesses on new and existing employment law compliance, handles all aspects of collective bargaining agreements, and represents employers who have been sued by their employees for discrimination and wage and hour claims. Sean also provides trainings to employers on employee discipline, performance management, promotions and terminations, and union grievance procedures and best practices. Prior to PSH, Sean led the Legal Division at the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training (DLT), serving under three administrations. This experience has given Sean the unique ability to render practical advice to employers regarding equal pay laws and corresponding self-audits.

Sean also represents businesses in matters beyond employment. He has legal experience in the construction industry, including counselling construction management firms, collective bargaining units, community-based organizations, minority business enterprises, and government procurement officials in his work as counsel to former Governor Raimondo’s Working Group on Diversity In Construction and BuildRI MBE Council.