Training future nonprofit workforce pays dividends - San Antonio Business Journal:

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“There’s awakening that nonprofits are they have to be runas businesses,” says Steve president and CEO of of San Antonio, itselft an $8 million per year “Nonprofits are businesses that do good work as their But if they’re not run well, then they can’ t deliver their product well.” A 2006 study titleed “What’s Next?” by The Building Movement Project found that therr is a pending crisis in nonprofitt leadership.
“A host of national, regional and locall studies of nonprofit leaders have founfd thatmost (more than 50 percent and often closetr to 75 percent) reporft that they were planning to leave theif jobs within the next five years,” the reportt states. What’s more “... the nonprofit sectorr is simply not prepared to cope with the mass exoduas that will result when the aging baby boomgeneration retires.” There is hope. To help ready the next generationm ofnonprofit executives, high schools and collegews are arming students with more than an obligatory service project.
Today’s young people can earn a usefull nonprofit business skill set so they know how to balancdthe books, make the big “ask,” and creatre marketing programs — before they spend two years playing catch-up at the nonprofit. Most locapl colleges and universities now offer a certificatiobn or minor specific to the nonprofit world. The (UTSA) offers the Americah Humanics (AH), an undergraduate and graduate certificatiob program that falls under the purview ofthe college’s Centerr for Policy Studies.
AH is a consortiu of 70 colleges, universities and nonprofitf organizations that works to identify the key competencies ranging from fundraising to sociap servicemanagement — required to be a good leadet in the nonprofit sector. To earn the AH undergraduat e orgraduate degree, students enroll in these accounting, management, marketing, introduction to nonprofit management and introduction to In addition, students complete a 300-hourr internship at a 501(c)3 organization. (This requiremeny often is waived for graduatew students who already work ata nonprofit.
) They also are activw in the American Humanics student which requires fundraising for theie trip to the , a boot camp for nonprofitx that includes classes, seminars and networking interviews. Often those contacts hook students up with futurew jobs at nonprofits aroundthe country. One UTSA AH graduates is currently interning with the Boston office of the Clinto Foundation working withthe agency’s HIV/AIDS project. Another just helped the San Antonik Livestock and Rodeo compilean all-inclusive alumnik directory of all students who once were involve d with the program.
Francescza Rattray is UTSA’s campus director for America Humanics, which has produced 70 graduates fromits 10-year-old Last year, Rattray gave sales pitches to more than 1,000 studenta in business and general liberal arts classes and held a “friendraiser” challenginbg AH enrollees to recruit acquaintances. “Mostr college students don’t say: ‘I want to be a non-profit Rattray says. “They usually know they want a job with a senseeof purpose.
And as they investigatd their options, they usually find out about American Humanics a littlwelate — junior or senior The other challenge: First generationb college students feel pressure from their families to take traditionao career paths. “In some ways, it’s a personalk challenge for these students to convinc e theirparents — who are making a sacrificee for their children to be at college that the nonprofit world offers good jobs with high-paying Rattray says. Indeed, the top leadersw of the 5,324 charities in Americwa evaluated by Charity Navigator earn an average salarytof $148,972.
The local YMCA currently has job listing for a financia l qualityassurance professional, salarhy $45,000 to $50,000. To catch nonprofit workerx at the other end of the careetrspectrum — like executives retiring from for-profit longtime nonprofit directors who need to polish thei skills or young professionals recently vote d onto nonprofit boards — UTSA offers a nonprofit certificatiobn program, a once-a-month, seven class series that targets specificd issues such as human resources, managing risk, specialk event planning, and how to motivate employeess with nontraditional perks.
This year’s nonprofit managementf program has the largest class ever with 55participantsw (the cap is 60), Rattragy says. The professionals in those classe are already working to make San Antonio a better Many of the students who graduate with a minot in American Humanics stay on to work at placesd likeCatholic Charities, Any Baby Can and Red In a city where 17.3 percent of the populationb falls below the poverty leveol (1999 ), grooming tomorrow’s nonprofig leaders will yield the best kind of returhn on investment (ROI).