I am in the early, early exploration stages... my company is agreeable to sponsoring or co-sponsoring an event in DFW. I have a contact at one of the hospitals here, and I'm in touch with them as well, but need to know who to talk to from OCF about whether or not an event is already in the works, or who I might work with to arrange an event.

FYI, I am traveling for vacation and then for work the next two weeks, but wanted to at least get the idea kicking around.

Also - if there was to be a DFW event, can OCF and SPOHNC play well together? Could we involve both organizations?

Thanks! Mike

Bottom line answer - if it is your event, sponsored by your company, you can do whatever you want to, and benefit whomever you wish. Neither organization should be telling you what to do. If you do an OCF event that we are helping you organize and pay for, then we expect you to work with us exclusively, I am sure that SPOHNC feels the same in that regard.

If you would like to call me next week I would be happy to talk to you about how we do our events, and how we work with those that help us with them. As to working with SPOHNC, for over a decade we have been co-sponsors of April's awareness month, each doing our own things, but working toward mutual goals. We share some advisory board members that are on both non-profit's boards. When Chattanooga SPOHNC support group leader Jeanna wanted to put on an event, she did it to support OCF, realizing that when it came to funding, we have a fraction of the assets of SPOHNC. The leadership of SPOHNC had no issue with it, and she still is their local facilitator. And as far as communication between the two, I talked just this morning with the executive director (my counterpart) @ SPOHNC about common issues we have.

But this is YOUR event, and you should do what you think best. Call me and I will give you details if you want to know more. There are distinct differences between the two organizations, and I would welcome the opportunity to discuss with you what they are.