Join us on Tuesday, June 9 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM for “Navigating Well-Being & Burnout of Nonprofit Leaders.”
Moderated by Della Rae, Director of Self-Agency Academy, our trio of nonprofit professionals will explore the realities of navigating leadership burnout, workplace well-being, and sustainable fundraising in the nonprofit sector.
You’ll come away from this conversation with practical strategies for resilience, balance, and leading with purpose while supporting high-performing teams.
Enjoy lunch from Hot Lips Pizza and networking with your nonprofit peers. Register today!
MEET THE PANEL
Moderator
Della Rae (She/Her, Director, Self-Agency Academy)
Della is a Portland native, a seasoned people and culture professional, and certified in human resources with more than ten years of experience in the field of operations and administrative management. She is also an author, and director of the Self-Agency Academy.
Her work in the sector began when she co-founded a local nonprofit that connected community needs with resources. Through her efforts she has received numerous local, regional and national accolades including a 2012 AFP National Philanthropy Day Award. Her journey has led to advocating self-agency as a critical pathway to leadership. Della knows who she is, how to build community and what it takes for an organization to thrive.
Panelists
Kimberly Howard Wade (She/Her, Executive Director, Caldera)
Kimberly’s creative practice is in the performing arts. Not to be confused with pretending, acting really is about revealing hidden truths; it’s also about connecting the dots. Kimberly connected the dots on her way to Caldera—from being a teaching artist to an Artist in Residence to a funder—prior to joining the team as executive director in 2022. With acting credits in New York, the Williamstown Theatre Festival, and several Portland theaters, Kimberly connected the dots in education, attending Wellesley College, then receiving her BA from Pacific Union College in political economic history.
She holds an MFA in acting from Columbia University and has taught theater at Walla Walla University. She has worked in all three sectors, most notably at the Oregon Cultural Trust, Portland’s Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center, and Pazzo Ristorante, and she served as chair of the Oregon State Board of Education.
Erin Graham (She/Her, President & CEO. Oregon Museum of Science & Industry - OMSI)
Erin is committed to advancing innovation and education to improve outcomes for children and families across Oregon. Appointed president and CEO of OMSI in June 2020, she is leading a transformative 20-year vision in partnership with community, public, and private collaborators, including the development of the new OMSI District. Erin has served OMSI for more than a decade in multiple leadership roles. As chief operating officer, she guided the organization’s strategic planning and implementation. As vice president for development, she grew philanthropic support and led OMSI’s first capital campaign in two decades to build Camp Gray on the Oregon coast.
Before OMSI, Erin held senior positions in nonprofit fundraising, operations, and as in-house counsel in the arts and technology sectors. She holds a JD/MBA from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon. Erin serves as chair of the board of the Association of Science and Technology Centers and sits on the boards of TriMet and the Human Access Project.
Chris McDonald (He/Him, Executive Director, Write Around Portland)
Chris has been the Executive Director of Write Around Portland since 2022. Prior to joining Write Around Portland, Chris worked at DoveLewis Veterinary Emergency & Specialty Hospital, Our House of Portland (now merged with Cascade AIDS Project), the Oregon Zoo, and Ronald McDonald House Charities of Oregon and SW Washington.
He holds a Bachelors degree in English and Creative Writing from UC Davis and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Oregon State University, where he also taught English composition and creative writing both as a graduate student and as a full-time lecturer. He has also taught composition courses at Chemeketa Community College. He writes under the name Chris Yamashita, and his fiction has been published in Weave, Your Impossible Voice, and Compose Journal.