The Center for Public and Nonprofit Management has equipped professionals representing 55 Central Florida nonprofits with essential resources and skills for success this year.
BY DANIELLE HENDRIX ’15
Orange County nonprofit professionals celebrated graduating from their Summer 2024 capacity-building seminar series at UCF Downtown.
Nonprofits are driven by people who are passionate about their mission, but effectively managing an organization requires fuel beyond the motivation to make a difference: It means developing a skillset that fosters sustainable operation.
Housed in UCF’s School of Public Administration, the Center for Public and Nonprofit Management offers annual capacity-building and financial-management seminars to nonprofits in Orange and Osceola counties to help empower local nonprofits with essential leadership and nonprofit management skills. The eight-week seminars take place between late spring and early summer, and they cover topics pertinent to sustaining the daily operations of nonprofit organizations, as well as resource stewardship.
“Sometimes we have very passionate CEOs and directors that are inspired to create nonprofits, but it’s a journey to be able to transcend from passion to action,” says Maritza Concha, lecturer of public administration and principal investigator for the center’s capacity-building programs. “This is what our capacity-building programs can help them with. We want to ensure that they have the necessary tools and skills to be able to succeed and to achieve their desired outcome of benefitting the community with the work they do.”
Concha, the center’s previous director, says they received over 90 applications for 25 spots in the Osceola County nonprofit capacity-building seminar. They also received 89 applications for 20 spots on the Orange County side, and 80 applications for 15 slots in the financial-management seminar. In the capacity-building seminars, participants are guided through the general steps of a grant proposal and application process. Topics of discussion range from board governance and strategic planning to grant writing and evaluation metrics. Coursework in the financial-management series, developed and taught by school lecturer Terry Henley, emphasizes accountability and transparency with finances to ensure that participants are equipped with knowledge guiding proper and sustainable use of any funds they receive. Upon program completion, participants receive a certificate from the center and a virtual badge from UCF Continuing Education.
In Orange County, seminars are funded through a grant from the Orange County Citizens’ Commission for Children. By the end of the program, each participant leaves with a draft of their own grant application that can be submitted during the commission’s next grant cycle. The cohort meets at UCF Downtown for its classes.
“Because the participants come from different parts of Orange County, UCF Downtown is a centralized point that also allows us to make use of the advanced technology that we have, as well as the flexibility for classroom setups that are conducive to exchanging ideas and sharing best practices,” Concha says.
Osceola County participants follow the same curriculum but put their newfound skills to the test through a mock grant exercise that mirrors the elements they may encounter in a grant-writing process. The center partnered with the UCF Incubator program this year to use their Kissimmee location as a meeting space for the cohort.
“Our goal is that each participant will leave with the understanding that the way in which they structure a letter of inquiry or proposal is crucial to achieving their ultimate goal of receiving a grant,” Concha says.
Another unique aspect of the seminar series is that nonprofit management graduate students work with each participating organization to provide further guidance, coaching and additional tools they may require. They also get to apply skills learned in the classroom through taking lead on marketing and recruitment efforts along with seminar implementation, coordination and evaluation.
Leo Robinson and Samara Jules-Robinson attended the Summer 2024 Orange County capacity-building seminar on behalf of their nonprofit, Mentors for Fatherless Children and Abused Families. The organization uplifts and supports fatherless youth and families impacted by abuse through offering career-path mentoring, family support, and sports and music mentoring. Not only did their seminar experience equip them with more knowledge on sustaining their nonprofit, it’s also inspired them to pursue further education through UCF’s nonprofit management program. The two say they are grateful for the opportunity to continue learning and expanding their outreach efforts.
“Our nonprofit is 3 years old, but we're still new, and there is always more to learn,” Robinson says. “This class taught us how to budget, how to evaluate our nonprofit via a SWOT analysis, and how to follow through with what we learned. We also learned how to better work with other organizations and ask the right questions to protect us when we're doing these collaborations. We've already started getting involved with some of the nonprofits here. I'm looking forward to our progress and how we can continue to help our community.”
Other school faculty who have contributed to the implementation of the seminars include Angela White-Jones, Daniel Stephens and Andrew Sullivan — the center’s new director. Sullivan plans to continue expanding capacity-building to support the nonprofit sector.
“Capacity-building is central to our mission,” Sullivan says. “It provides the opportunity to help our community partners achieve their missions while giving our students a chance to develop their leadership and nonprofit management skills. We’re going to continue building on our partnerships in the coming year, especially those working in homeless services.”