Nonprofit execs apply their Mandel School education to pivot, redesign and rethink their organizations
For two decades after its creation in 1989, 星空传媒鈥檚 Master of Nonprofit Organizations (MNO) ran as a competitive, tailored program for training nonprofit professionals, many of whom climbed the ladders of Cleveland鈥檚 workforce. Then, in May 2011, the program was put on pause. After 20-plus years, the MNO needed an overhaul to better prepare students for the world of nonprofit work.
A year later, Robert Fischer, PhD, associate professor at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, decided he was the person who could help revamp the program for a successful future. He and a committee fine-tuned its 15-course curriculum, curtailed the credit hours from 60 to 39 and obtained accreditation from the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council. By the following summer the MNO program enrollment had doubled.
鈥淪o, it鈥檚 in a kind of second life, if you will,鈥 said Fischer, who is also chair of the program.
The MNO program鈥檚 鈥渟econd life鈥 has cultivated nonprofit leaders for one of the most daunting periods faced by the industry. From March to May of 2020, 1.6 million nonprofit employees鈥攐ne out of every 13 workers鈥攕aw their jobs eliminated, according to the National Council of Nonprofits. With fewer resources and more demand on nonprofits, it will be years before they fully rebound.
So how to keep the ship steady? Alumni of the MNO program who occupy C-suite positions across Cleveland say specific skills garnered from their classes at the Mandel School鈥攆rom 鈥淪trategic Planning鈥 to 鈥淟eadership Dialogue鈥濃攈ave enabled their organizations to ride COVID-19鈥檚 tumultuous wave.
鈥淲hat we try to do is teach students to understand all the parts of the organization that have to work well,鈥 Fischer said. 鈥淪o that if there鈥檚 any hiccup in any one of them, they鈥檙e not worried about closing their doors.鈥
鈥楾rue to who we are鈥
Marcella Brown (MNO 鈥07) had a fundraising gig for Cleveland鈥檚 City Club when she began itching to return to school.
She had taken workshops to hone her skills in nonprofits but, three years out of college, she yearned for academic formality.
鈥淚 really became curious about how our corporate sponsorships came about,鈥 Brown recalled. 鈥淔inally, I was just like, 鈥楢lright, I should just do a deep dive into this.鈥欌
After earning her MNO, Brown鈥檚 interest in social services grew. She joined the board of the Black Professionals Association Charitable Foundation, where, in 2011, she became executive director.
Today, at the Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry, Brown is vice president of development and communications. She helps raise federal funds for the post-COVID-19 demand for affordable housing and youth emergency services.
Her Mandel School education, she said, keeps her clarity sharp鈥攅specially in the realm of financial ethics.
鈥淟ike how to position our gift acceptance policies in a way that is true to who we are,鈥 Brown said. 鈥淲hat our values are. Not chasing money or mission creep鈥擨 make sound decisions because of [my education].鈥
A for-profit for nonprofits
In any given year, the government disperses, on average, $750 billion that will, through a variety of funnels, trickle down to regional nonprofit organizations that rely on its funding.
Adam Roth (SAS 鈥98, MNO 鈥98) makes managing that money as efficient as possible.
Though he worked in nonprofits early in his career, in 2009, Roth was chewing on an idea for the for-profit realm. He knew that, out of this $750 billion, 40% of it was absorbed by administrative duties. And, in the process, an average 6% is lost to the nonprofit.
Roth had an answer for this problem: Amplifund.
It鈥檚 been 13 years since Roth began this startup in a one-bedroom apartment. Now, Amplifund employs 85 people and helps roughly 350 nonprofits鈥攁nd countless government grantees鈥攂etter track federal grant monies with management software, saving his clients time and money.
Managing 350 nonprofit clients, Roth said, requires a for-profit attitude.
鈥淲hen you take a look at different perspectives in school, the nonprofit experience is one that is, well, very entrepreneurial,鈥 Roth said regarding his time in the program. 鈥淣ow, you鈥檙e not an entrepreneur, and you鈥檙e not risking your own capital. But you鈥檙e entrepreneurial in your thinking.鈥
PARADIGM SHIFT
Dennis Young, PhD, visiting professor emeritus at the Mandel School, has long taught MNO students to navigate turbulent times at nonprofit organizations, helping launch the MNO program in 1988 and leading it until 1996.
In his new book, Resilience and the Management of Nonprofit Organizations, Young wrote that the pandemic requires nonprofit executives to shift their thinking.
鈥淲e need a new way of thinking about nonprofit management,鈥 said Young. 鈥淲ithout a narrow focus on efficiency and frugality and with greater emphasis on viability and sustainability so they can get through times of unanticipated and potentially catastrophic challenges.鈥
Funding Cleveland arts鈥攚ith fewer funds
Jill Paulsen (MNO 鈥04) never thought she would spend the last two decades working in Cleveland鈥檚 vast world of nonprofits.
But Paulsen, a Minnesota native, enrolled in the MNO program after working alongside theater actors at the Minnesota AIDS project. And then, in 2009, she got a chance to work with Dave Abbott at the Gund Foundation, an institution with the sole purpose of contributing to human well-being and the progress of society.
鈥淭he only reason I applied for that job,鈥 Paulsen recalled with a laugh, 鈥渋s because career services at the Mandel Center let me know about it.鈥
Paulsen is now executive director of Cuyahoga Arts & Culture (CAC), an arts funding and advocacy organization that doles out about $13 million in grants per year to 300-plus nonprofits across the county. She鈥檚 in charge at a tough time: CAC鈥檚 funding has dropped, Paulsen said, to about $7 million since she joined the organization in 2011.
To navigate this challenge, Paulsen said she calls up the lessons from her Mandel School mentors, Robert Fischer and the late Steve Minter (SAS 鈥63)鈥攆ormer CEO of the Cleveland Foundation and a 星空传媒 Trailblazer Award recipient, given to pioneering alumni of color鈥攖o see the forest for the trees.
鈥淚鈥檝e had to pick my head up and think a little less about details, and more four steps ahead,鈥 she said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 been the biggest pivot: thinking at a level that makes sure CAC keeps moving forward. Thinking long term.鈥
Tough decisions
As CEO of Eliza Bryant Village, the oldest continually operating Black-founded long-term care facility in the United States, Danny Williams (MNO 鈥04) knows what it means to lead an organization.
And like his fellow nonprofit leaders in Cleveland, Williams is steering Eliza Bryant through tough waters: This past summer, due to lack of staffing, skyrocketing operating costs and other factors, Eliza Bryant was forced to close its 99-bed nursing home.
While the rest of Eliza Bryant Village is still open and providing outreach programs and healthcare services to elderly members of Cleveland鈥檚 Black community, Williams is drawing on his time at the Mandel School to determine what鈥檚 next for the nonprofit. He plans to revise Eliza鈥檚 funding model, attract new support and find new ways to manage board engagement.
鈥淕rappling with those gray areas you often find yourself in, and trying to figure out: What can we do? What should we do?鈥 he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 rare that I go through a week at Eliza where I don鈥檛 think back on that ethical grounding I got from the program.鈥
MNO Program By the Numbers
30+ years
in the making
39-credit hour
program
1 year
to be completed full time
61 students
enrolled this year
588 alumni
of the program working around the world
1 of 12 graduate programs
in the U.S. in nonprofit management accredited by the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council
By Mark Oprea
Read more stories like this in the Fall 2022 edition of Action.