The Nonprofit Speaker Series offers free lectures and networking for nonprofits, volunteers, and businesses that support nonprofits. Shaun Cassidy has 20+ years of sales and marketing experience and will speak on how to utilize the popular business networking site.

On Thursday March 12, Shaun Cassidy will speak about the power of using LinkedIn for non-profits. Years ago he was asked to beta test a software that would become the first social media format called LinkedIn. He now has one of the largest professional networks in the nation with over 30,000 professional contacts and has trained over 500 professionals and over 100 businesses and organizations on how to leverage the popular business network.

Says Speaker Series founder Lynda West, "I met Shaun at a networking meeting while he was the speaker. I was so taken by what he was talking about and how passionate he is about helping people figure out how to use LinkedIn that I hired him to teach me how to use LinkedIn." Shaun holds 20+ years of experience in the fields of sales and marketing, e-commerce and social media technologies. He is the founder of Cassidy Creative Solutions a speaking, training, and consulting firm that helps professionals, non-profit organizations and corporations leverage social media, internet sales and marketing strategies through storytelling across platforms.

The mission of the series is to educate the non-profit community on how to grow and become sustainable through a series of free talks by experts from various industries who are currently working in their field. Talks will be twice a month through September 2015. At each event a featured local non-profit will have the opportunity to speak about their organization. The featured non-profit for this event is Girls With Goals, which empowers girls ages 5-15 with leadership skills. While this is free, attendees are asked to RSVP on Meetup.com so that abundant accommodations can be provded. Fresh food and refreshments will be available.

The Speaker Series is hosted by the local events company alms productions LLC, and provides an opportunity to meet like-minded people who are passionate about giving back to their community. "You should leave this meeting feeling energized and ready to make a difference." says founder Lynda West, who in addition to running alms productions is a talented musician who loves to volunteer and is the previous president of UR Charities.