The invitation-only conference, "Building Stronger Nonprofits: Capacity Building for the San Fernando Valley Nonprofit Community," will take place from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the University Student Union on the east side of the campus off Zelzah Avenue.

Participants will have a chance to have a thoughtful discussion on how the nonprofits serving the San Fernando Valley can build upon and improve the services they provide the region through communication, collaboration and innovation, said Alan Glassman, director of CSUN's Center for Management and Organization Development, which is sponsoring the event along with the Human Interaction Research Institute.

"We believe this is the first opportunity for members of different parts of the social sector to discuss and debate the types of transformational and profound changes needed to meet the emerging demographics of the San Fernando Valley," Glassman said.

"The conference is a continuation of the university's commitment to a service as a center for the exploration of ideas in the San Fernando Valley," Glassman said. "Our goal is that this leads to the creation of a nonprofit management resource center at CSUN."

Conference participants will have a frank discussion about what they are doing, and not doing, as well as how they think they can better work together to improve social services to residents of the San Fernando Valley and the surrounding areas.

Participants also will have a chance to sit down with representatives from the philanthropic foundations who provide much of their funding to talk about how they can better utilize those organizations' resources in efforts to better serve the community. Among the organizations taking part are The California Endowment, The California Wellness Foundation, the Southern California Association for Philanthropy and the UniHealth Foundation.

Conference attendees also will receive a resource notebook that includes a draft edition of a directory of capacity building resources in Los Angeles‹the first of its kind, Glassman said.

The keynote speaker of the day will be JoAnne Chester Bender, executive director of the Donors Forum of South Florida, which is the regional association of grantmakers of Miami/Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. She has been hailed as a national force in the capacity building communities.

For more information about the conference, call CSUN's Center for Management and Organization Development at (818) 677-6400.

California State University, Northridge has more than 31,500 full- and part-time students and offers 59 bachelor's and 41 master's degrees as well as 28 education credential programs. Founded in 1958, it is the only four-year university in the San Fernando Valley and the fourth largest in the 23-campus CSU system. The Western Association of Schools and Colleges recently said CSUN "stands as a model to other public urban institutions of higher education."