TANGO 2023 Building Bridges Educational Sessions

Complimentary Conference Sessions!
Thursday, November 30th 2023
We are proud to offer a variety of session topics for you to choose from! TANGO and our Partners’ goal is to ensure your nonprofit organization is running efficiently, and our educational sessions will cover many business essentials to help your nonprofit thrive!
We will have two simultaneous educational sessions running for you to choose from.
Sessions & Speakers
Thursday, November 30, 2023
Registration, Breakfast & Meet the Partners: 8:00 am to 8:30 am
Conference Welcome: 8:30 am to 8:45 am
Rollin Schuster, Managing Director, NFP and President & Founder, TANGO, will welcome the conference attendees.
Keynote Address: 8:45 am to 9:20 am
Name, title and organization
SESSION 1: 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM
Engaging with Your most Valuable Stakeholders… Your Donors, Your Board Members and Your Employees
Our panel of experts will discuss emerging post-pandemic trends in the nonprofit sector that create a culture to encourage donor support, enhance employee recognition and retention, and mitigate risks. Today’s most impactful nonprofits have aligned these three components to better-achieve their mission.
Guest Speaker:
Rollin Schuster, President & Founder, TANGO – Managing Director, NFP
Augusto Russel, Vice President, NFP
Ben Kille, – Managing Director, Wealthspire
Joe Poretto, – Vice President, FNP
Ryan Lawless, – Senior Consultant, Corporate Benefits, NFP
How Nonprofits Can Navigate the Tide-Change Toward Digital Marketing
Whether you are a fan or not, the world has gone digital. Although sometimes scary, the transition to digital marketing can be a big boost for your nonprofit. The average person spends about 2.5 hours every day on social media, and there are 8.5 billion Google searches globally. These stats, and many more just like them, confirm digital marketing is here to stay. Google it!
In this session, we discuss how content creation and digital marketing can be powerful tools for your nonprofit. Awecast will kick off the discussion on the essentials and methodologies of crafting content tailored specifically for digital marketing, even with constrained budgets. Cause Inspired will bring it home with how to maximize digital advertising through the Google Ad Grant, and examine the significant role AI can play in your digital marketing.
Guest Speaker:
Honey Belarmino – Cause Inspired
Albert Pentrunti – President, Awecast
Josh Lusk – Cause Inspired
SESSION 2: 10:35 AM – 11:35 AM
Financial Panel
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Guest Speaker:
Amber Tucker – Partner, Fiondella, Milone & LaSaracina LLP (FML)
Paul Ballasy – Partner, Fiondella, CohnResnick
Patrick Gill – CFO & Business Development Officer, Financial One
Rebecca Lyman – Senior Manager
Unlocking Talent: The Strategic Fusion of Effective Hiring and Training for Employee Retention
Join us as we delve into the essential components of a successful hiring strategy and the pivotal role that training plays in employee retention. In this session, we will explore key components of a hiring strategy, including recruitment, branding, and retention, as they align to the overall business strategy of the organization. We will discuss how training programs not only enhance skill development but also promote job satisfaction, engagement, and career advancement for employees.
Guest Panelists:
Benjamin Freedman – President, Weiser Innovations
Jessical Smith – Deputy Chief of Business Development, The Connection
Lunch & Keynote Address
11:45 AM – 12:45 PM


Keynote: The Future of Nonprofit Funding in Connecticut
Fiscal Guardrails? Budget Surplus ? Covid/ARPA funds ? Unfunded mandates ? What’s the potential impact on non-profit programs ? These and many other budget topics will be tackled and discussed.
A brief Q&A session will follow as well.
Alan Deckman of TCORS Capitol Group, LLC will be moderating the panel discussion. He will be joined by Senator Cathy Osten, Chair of the Appropriations Committee and Representative Tammy Nucci, Ranking Member of the Appropriations Committee.
Guest Panelists:
Cathy Osten – CT State Senator
Tammy Nucci – CT State Representative
Alan Deckman – President, TCORS Capitol Group
SESSION 3: 12:55 AM – 1:55 AM
The Ripple Effect: Women, Nonprofits, and the Power of Partnerships
Join us for an engaging panel discussion exploring the advantages of networking and collaboration for women (in the nonprofit sector). Our panelists will delve into how building connections can lead to enhanced resource sharing, amplified impact, and innovative solutions to tackle the complex challenges related to operating nonprofit organizations. Discover firsthand the ways in which networking and collaboration empower women to drive positive change and create lasting social impact within the nonprofit sector.
Guest Speaker:
Dawn DeMatteo – Senior Account Executive, NFP
Kristin Guglielmo – Vice President, NFP
Heather LaDue – Executive Director of Professional Programs & Partnerships, Franklin Pierce University
Jessical Smith – Deputy Chief of Business Development, The Connection
Amber Tucker – Partner, Fiondella, Milone & LaSaracina LLP (FML)
Julia Boisvert – Partner, Murtha Cullina
Nonprofit leaders can’t keep delegating technology oversight…but who wants to become an IT expert?
As the digital-first landscape impacting nonprofits evolves rapidly, the time for organization executives to take more responsibility for the convergence of technology, cybersecurity, and data management is now. It’s no longer sufficient to delegate oversight of these areas to IT resources when the consequences of inaction or wrong decisions are so important.
Join us for a discussion about amplifying your nonprofit’s reach, engagement, and impact by embracing “IT” as not only a leadership imperative but also one of the few ways transformative change can occur without investing substantial time and money. Transform by:
- Boosting funder confidence to new levels
- Automating internal & external workflows to realize double or triple-digit efficiency gains
- Creating more motivated and optimistic employees, a more positive organizational culture, and much lower levels of staff burnout
- Reducing legal liabilities through better technology risk management and keeping your most critical data out of harm’s way
Guest Panelists:
Mike Bentley – President & CEO, Vertikal6
Joe McGratton – Director, Strategic Relationships, Novus Insight
Carl Fazzina – Senior Sales Manager, Novus Insight
Partner Intros and Q&A – Wine & Dessert
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Join us for quick introductions and Q&A with our Partners who sponsored the conference. Dessert, wine & coffee included.
Thank you to our Partners
TANGO has put together a team of partners who can provide seasoned advice and counsel within many areas of expertise. We have learned there are often times when nonprofit organizations are faced with strategic or operational business decisions where consultation from an outside voice can ensure they are making the best decision for the organization’s future.