As nonprofit managers grow, so do their programs

For 15 years, managers, staff and board members of nonprofit organizations have come to CHEP's Center for Community Research and Service to hone the skills they need to best serve their clients.

The College's Nonprofit Management Certificate program, which offers 16 weeks of classes targeted to professionals from small- and mid-sized organizations, is designed to provide a comprehensive and integrated approach to managing such an organization.

"Our approach differs from many other programs, which often focus on just one aspect of nonprofit management," Karen Curtis, associate professor of urban affairs and public policy and coordinator of the certificate program, says. "We give people the big picture, which lets them see how all aspects of their organizations are interrelated."

The spring semester program consists of eight modules, which are conducted as seminars, often with guest lectures by speakers who are working professionals and experts in their fields. Topics, which are selected to address the key management challenges facing nonprofits, include strategic planning, technology as a management tool, financial reporting and analysis, human resources management, marketing and fund raising, leadership development, program evaluation, advocacy and political action.

A key to the program is a series of exercises students complete, all of which are designed to teach them how to analyze their own organization and think about it strategically. Because all the students who enroll in the certificate program are required to have an active and significant role in a nonprofit organization, they also learn from one another's experiences and viewpoints, Curtis says.

"The peer learning can be at least as important as the technical knowledge conveyed by the peer trainers," she says.

Those who have completed the program say they agree with that assessment, also praising the contacts they made during the sessions.

"The program really broadened my perspective by learning from the other students in the class as well as from the instructors, who were very hands-on," says Darniece Hampton, who works with an adolescent pregnancy prevention program and earned her certificate from the program this year. "We had the chance to share experiences, and I think we all grew together."

Hampton describes the program as "challenging," but she says she selected it because she wanted management training that would be both in-depth and comprehensive.

"You name it, we covered it, and we covered it in detail," she says. "I now feel much more confident that I can help take our organization to a new level."

One of her classmates, Jennifer Jones, also praises the program's content and format, in which students focused on thinking strategically about various aspects of their own organizations. Jones, executive director of the Salem County (N.J.) Chamber of Commerce, says she has been able to put her learning into practice both in her job and in the volunteer work she does.

"I wish I had taken this course five years ago" when she left a career in business, Jones says. "Working in a nonprofit, dealing with a board and with volunteers, is very different from the for-profit sector. Even with five years of experience in nonprofits, I still took something valuable away from every module we covered."

Curtis, who started the program when she joined UD in 1989, says many of the students who sign on are seeking help with a transition, either from business to nonprofits or from staff to management. Because most nonprofits in Delaware and nationally are relatively small, she says, successful managers often must know all parts of the operation.

"People in nonprofits often get promoted because they're good case managers," Curtis says. "They know the work, but they may not know all aspects of management, such as dealing with a budget, fund raising and supervising and evaluating personnel. Others may have had some management experience, but they haven't run an entire agency."

For Denise Ciotti, who also completed the program this year, the training "encompassed everything that I was doing, from working with volunteers to financial management to program evaluation." As administrator of an emergency housing ministry in Wilmington, Del., Ciotti was new to nonprofits after a 30-year career in business and says she wanted to learn "how nonprofits can compete in a for-profit world." The program more than lived up to her expectations, she says.

"It was very systematic and step-by-step, and each section was handled by an expert in that field," Ciotti says. "Because we had to pick five areas from our agencies to analyze strategically, I not only learned about the course topics, but I also learned so much about my own organization."

The Nonprofit Certificate Management program draws students from throughout the region, although most are from Delaware, Curtis says. Classes meet for a full day of instruction once a week for 16 weeks, with enrollment limited to 25.

More information is available on the web site [www.udel.edu/ccrs/training.html] or by calling CHEP's Center for Community Research and Service at (302) 573-4475.

--Ann Manser, AS '73, CHEP '73