Counseling Center, and Nadia Sikes Take Top Honors as Otero County Nonprofits "Hold It Together" at Third Annual Summit

ALAMOGORDO, N.M. — The Sacramento Mountains Foundation capped its third annual Otero County Nonprofit Summit on Friday, September 11, with the presentation of $7,500 in cash awards, honoring the Counseling Center of Alamogordo as Nonprofit Organization of the Year and Nadia Sikes as Nonprofit Professional of the Year.

The Counseling Center received the $5,000 organization award, which recognizes an Otero County nonprofit whose people, programs, and stewardship set the standard for the sector. Sikes was presented the $2,500 professional award, given to an individual whose work, day in and day out, holds an organization and a community together. Winners were announced live at the close of the Summit, held at the CHRISTUS Southern New Mexico Conference Center on North Scenic Drive.

A Day Built Around the People Behind the Work

This year's theme, "Holding It Together: Sustaining and Leading the People Behind Otero County's Nonprofits," framed a full single-track day of keynotes, workshops, and working panels — all centered on one urgent question: how do the people who hold our nonprofits together sustain their energy over the long haul?

The room reflected the breadth of Otero County's nonprofit community. Organizations including 100% Otero, Thrive, COPE, and the Royal Angels were among those represented, spanning services from child and family wellbeing to crisis support to community outreach — a cross-section of the missions that serve the county every day.

Royal Angels Grace Nagamine with Sac Mtn Foundation Leader John Wheeler - Alamogordo Town News

Nationally Recognized Speakers

The day opened with a keynote from Beth Kanter, the internationally recognized author, speaker, and trainer whose bestselling book The Happy, Healthy Nonprofit has reshaped how the sector thinks about the wellbeing of the people who do the work. Kanter's morning session, "The Happy, Healthy Nonprofit: Where Resilience Meets Impact," explored burnout prevention and building cultures of wellbeing. She returned in the afternoon for a hands-on workshop, "From Ideas to Action: The Five F's for a Culture of Wellbeing," guiding attendees through practical, low-cost ways to build wellbeing into their organizations.

Edward "EJ" Wood IV, leadership speaker, author of The Shadow in the Silence, and founder of ENW Global Enterprises, followed with "Carry What Matters: Holding It Together When the Work Gets Heavy." Drawing on more than 16 years of military leadership experience, Wood challenged nonprofit executives and board members to examine what they are carrying, what they may be avoiding, and how meaningful service can turn into resentment when responsibility is concentrated in too few hands. "We may not get to choose every burden life places before us," Wood told the audience, "but we do get to decide who we become while carrying it."

Santa Fe-based leadership coach Zach Taylor led the late-morning session, "Building Strong Cultures at All Levels of an Organization: From Leadership to Volunteers," tackling what many call the hardest problem small organizations face — recruiting, keeping, and getting the best from the people who power the mission.

In the afternoon, Susan Decker, principal of Decker Consultants and senior governance consultant with BoardSource, presented "Building Trust and Accountability: The Board–Executive Partnership." Decker, whose clients have included the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Ronald McDonald House Charities, and Make-A-Wish International, walked attendees through the trust, clarity, and mutual accountability essential to strong board–executive relationships.

The day closed with "Ask the Experts," a panel bringing all four speakers to one stage for audience questions, followed by the awards ceremony.

A Day That Belongs to the Sector

Admission to the Summit was free, with breakfast and lunch included — part of the Foundation's commitment to making the day accessible to organizations of every size and budget.

The Sacramento Mountains Foundation presents the Otero County Nonprofit Summit each year so that the people who lead, staff, and volunteer for the county's nonprofits have a day that is theirs: to learn, to compare notes, and to be recognized for work that rarely gets a spotlight.

For more information about the Sacramento Mountains Foundation, visit sacmtns.org.

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