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http://www.emich.edu/nonprofit
The Nonprofit Leadership Alliance Student Association took home the 2014
Gold Medallion Award for Best Student Organization!
Pictured from left to right: Michelle Kuhar, Jennifer Dumas, Dean Tom
Venner, Cherise Floyd, Colleen Cartwright, and Daryl Holman, Jr.
Nonprofit Leadership Alliance Program (NLA)
332/A King Hall, EMU
Phone: 734-487-1612
E-mail: nonprofit@emich.edu
Facebook: facebook.com/emu.nla
Twitter: twitter.com/emunla
New NLA Campus Director for 2014-2015
After nine years of running the NLA program, Dr. Petrescu will
take one year off to work on policies and procedures with the
Graduate School as a Faculty Associate. Dr. Jenny Kindred, a
strong supporter of community engagement and strong believer
in the NLA program, will be NLA’s campus director for the period May 2014-April 2015.
Dr. Kindred joined the CMTA department in the Fall of 2006 and
Jeannette Kindred, Associate Professor, Department of Communication, teaches primarily the Communication Capstone, Communication
Theory, and Organizational Communication courses. The ComMedia and Theatre Arts
munication program's Capstone course is taught as an Academic
Service Learning (ASL) course, and each year Dr. Kindred supervises approximately 40 student initiated community ASL projects. She was recently honored by Michigan Campus Compact for her
efforts related to ASL at Eastern, receiving the Faculty/Community Service-Learning Award during
the 2014 Civic Engagement Institute. Her research interests center on the Scholarship of Teaching
and Learning, investigating, for example, the use of Academic Service Learning experiences to enhance Student Affective learning. In addition, she has recently worked on several nonprofit and
community based projects with Dr. Petrescu, focusing largely on nonprofit collaboration and university-community partnerships.
Out and About
We love signing and sealing those CNP certificates!
Cherise Floyd and Cassie
Richard (left) pose with
their certificates. Congrats
to all of our CNP recipients!
Olivia Mateso Nbala-Mkanga (right) helps
drop off over 300 personal care products
donated by the EMU community for the NLA
sponsored Personal Care Product Drive to
benefit SOS Community Services here in Ypsilanti.
Olivia Mateso Mbala-Nkanga, Colleen Cartwright, Daryl Holman Jr.,
and Cherise Floyd (above from left to
right) attend the NAACP Image
Awards where the NLA was nominated for the NAACP Award.
Women’s History Month
On March 17th, the NLA students and one board member organized a
panel titled “Student Empowerment through Nonprofit Education.” The
women on the panel shared their personal experiences in the nonprofit
sector, and relayed wonderful insights about what to consider while paving your own journey.
Speaking on empathy and the need to engage clients with compassion,
Michelle Kuhar shared, "Our hearts pull us in, but the trick is to not get
caught up in the sorrow or heartache of other people’s stories to the point
that it drags us down. Be present, enter in, but don’t take it on." Her point:
The goal is to serve the community effectively—which you cannot do when
you are overwhelmed. Achieving this balance is a process which takes time
to learn, but the outcome is worth it.
NLA Advisory
Board:
Cheryl Aubuchon
Lecturer, EMU
Caryn Charter
ORD, EMU
Mike Corbin
National Network for
Arab American Communities
Theresa Dark
General Education
program, EMU
John Fike
Philanthropy Solutions, LLC
Dr. Chris Wood
Foreman
General Education
programEMU
Panelists from left to right: Jennifer Oatis, Colleen Cartwright, Laura Pipis, Olivia
Mateso Mbala-Nkanga, Michelle Kuhar
NLA Board Member, Laura Pipis, shared what she loves best about her
position as CEO of the Monroe County Red Cross: “I enjoy the macro and
micro levels of nonprofit management. I enjoy the daily challenge of running an agency and balancing the service delivery, financial, HR, and volunteer management, marketing/PR, and fundraising needs of the organization. There is never a dull moment and I meet LOTS of great people
AND I get to help save the world!!”
On March 24th Laura Pipis held another event, this time engaging students and faculty in a lecture for Women’s History Month titled “Clara
Barton and Susie King Taylor: Pioneering Nurses on the Civil War Battlefield.” Pipis explained how both these women faced much discrimination
as they paved the way for women both on and off the battlefield.
Diane Hockett
Consultant
Barbar Nies-May
SafeHouse Center
Laura Pipis
American Red Cross
Bill Reminder
THI
A BIG welcome to
our new Board
Member:
Kim Kopka
COB, EMU
Alliance Management Institute
2014 Alliance Management Institute student attendees from various universities all over the country
In January, NLA students braved a monstrous snow storm to attend the 2014 Alliance Management
Institute (AMI) in Chicago, Illinois. Students talk about their AMI experience:
“My case study was VERY informative and helped me gain some on the job firsthand field experience in a nonprofit health sector which is the area I want to work. It was with Washington Square
Health Foundation. We helped revamp the website as well as created a new workshop for the organization to use. We served as consultants to the organization, and they actually valued and
planned on implementing some of our ideas which was exciting! “ -Cherise Floyd, CNP (!)
“I wanted to attend workshops that covered an array of topics at AMI. I attended one that addressed targeting specific audiences when designing programs, leveraging nonprofit experiences in the job search, and using competition among workers to increase productivity. One of the
things I learned was that framing a message is important to reaching the service recipient and
selling an idea to an organization. I hope to incorporate this in my future work.”
-Cassie Richard, CNP (!)
“There were workshops available to learn about how to utilize language to get what you want. For
grant writing, I learned that grammatical errors, not fully answering the questions, and mathematical errors are the biggest reasons applications are denied. There was a workshop about learning how to handle paperwork and communication with the IRS. There was a wonderful workshop
about internships, resume building, and establishing initial connections (with nonprofit organizations)….I left feeling empowered.” -La’Tricia Hall, Junior
“In the future I want to do fundraising, and my CNP certification will help me to stand out among
other applicants. My contacts I made at AMI will be valuable resources that I will keep for years.
The knowledge I have from attending all the workshops I will be able to take with me to future jobs
and it will give me a one up in the world of nonprofits.” -Abigail Wright-Geddes, CNP (!)
Nonprofit Knowledge and Career Summit
On March 22 the NLA sponsored the annual Career Summit, bringing in nonprofit professionals and consultants
from around the area who shared their expertise in several areas of nonprofit management.
The event was kicked off by an informative and inspirational keynote by Shirin Kambin Timms, Executive
Director of the Refugee Development Center in Lansing,
Chris Sadler, branch manager for the Jackson and Associate Professor of Political Science at Jackson
Public Library, wrapped up the Summit with
Community College. Ms. Timms enlightened those in ata presentation on how to present yourself in,
tendance with statistics and harsh realities concerning refand fully utilize, Social Media.
ugees (or newcomers, as they are more commonly addressed) in the Lansing area. She illustrated the beauty that newcomers bring to our society and
the hope she has for people who find their way to our wonderful state. Ms. Timms ended with a
short segment titled “What I Would Tell My Younger Self” where she laid out specific instructions
that would have helped her to avoid certain mistakes when first embarking on her nonprofit journey. Some of those instructions included 1) Recognizing that you are just one chapter in a person’s
journey 2) If there is no money there is no program, and 3) The importance of recognizing that your
staff are on the front lines, which means hiring a qualified and competent staff (and taking good
care of those quality people) is crucial to the reputation and success of your program. The other
presenters were: Chris Sadler (pictured above), and Board members John Fike and Diane Hockett.
Thank you to all the panelists and presenters who made the Summit an invaluable experience!
Lunch panel discussion (right)
concerning how to build a successful nonprofit career. Panelists included moderator Diane Hockett, NLA Grad Student Michelle Kuhar, NLA alums Laura Thomas and Ben
Holland, and Atlantic Impact
co-founder Anise Hayes.
Meet our New Board Member
The NLA has been fortunate to continuously attract dedicated, talented and passionate new Board
Members! Professor Kimberly Kopka is our newest Board member. She received her BA
and MSA in Accounting from EMU, and currently is a part-time lecturer for the Department of Accounting and Finance and the Management Department in the College of Business (Go Eagles!). She is an active volunteer in the nonprofit sector, and her interests include animal assisted
therapy as well as horse and dog rescues.
Special Thanks
Debra Johnson, Media Relations, EMU, for helping us get the word out around campus about
NLA events and activities ~ Diane Hockett, and John Fike, NLA Board Members, for all your
work in getting the new Professional Certification program off the ground ~ EMU Community
and the EMU Foundation, for all the collaboration and support for our students and program ~
Susan Badger Booth, Arts Management Program Director, EMU, for promoting NLA events and
giving us cookies ~ Dr. Kathleen Stacy, Interim Chair of the Communications, Media and Theatre Arts Department, EMU, for use of the copy machine in King Hall ~ Kim Anderson, Director of
English as a Second Language Department, EMU, for use of the copy machine ~ George Thompson, Enterprise Support Tech II, EMU, for answering a million questions and setting up our computers/printer ~ Crystal Jackson, ECA Administrative Support, EMU, for handling all of the
room reservations in our building for meetings, etc., allowing us to make copies, and being an overall amazing person ~ Dave and Kim, Plant Services, EMU, for keeping our new location in King
Hall looking great ~ Kathy Robertson, Senior Business Systems Analyst, EMU, for ensuring our
staff was signed up for crucial training courses in a timely manner ~ James Turner, Web Developer, EMU, for answering all of our many questions and assisting with the website ~ Leigh Greden,
VP for Government and Community Relations, EMU, for offering assistance to the NLA E-board on
funding possibilities ~ Olivia Mbala-Nkanga and Amy Ryan, NLA students, for volunteering
many hours assisting in the reorganization of the NLA office. ~ Lori Kitchen, NEW Center, for
helping to disseminate the RFP for the Student Funders Group ~ Dennis Patrick, Academic Advisor, EMU, for promoting NLA regularly to his students ~ Dr. Heather Neff, Director of McNair
Program, for her unyielding support ~ Dean Tom Venner, College of Arts and Sciences, EMU, for
guidance and support throughout the year!
Washtenaw-Lenawee Chapter American Red Cross, Mentor2Youth, Women in Philanthropy, FLY Children’s Art Center, and all our nonprofit partners
for continually providing our students with amazing internship and volunteering opportunities
We could not do what we do without YOU! Thank you!
Student Funders Group
The NLA’s Students Funders Group’s mission is to
strengthen the local community while training the
future nonprofit workforce. Each Winter semester
students put on their philanthropic hats to provide
mini grants to the community.
Members of the 2014 Student Funders Group brainstorm ideas about what kind of grant to offer local
nonprofit organizations.
The 2014 Student Funders Group, with funding
from the Student Government and the NLA program, after an analysis of community needs, decided to offer one $5000 grant to a local nonprofit for
capacity building. After reviewing several proposals, the students decided to offer the award to
the Haiti Nursing Foundation in Ann Arbor.
Marsha Naidoo, Assistant Director of the Haiti
Nursing Foundation, shared her appreciation for the award, “We are ecstatic! Thank you so very
much for your time and consideration of our efforts….We are very excited about the possibilities
this grant opens up for us.” Students also shared what it meant for them to be part of the group:
I learned a lot in my couple of hours spent with the group, and I found each moment to be
very rewarding. It is rare that an 18 year old student gets free reign to allocate a grant of this
size, and I really appreciate that opportunity. I learned to collaborate more efficiently with
my peers and to argue my points so as not to burn bridges, which is a useful skill used in every group project or team atmosphere. This grant showed me how the process of creating a
grant from scratch works, and the logistics of such an undertaking. Overall, it was rewarding and educational to give back to these organizations that solemnly think of themselves and
frequently help where our society needs the most help. (MM)
The project is an excellent way to learn more about grant writing from a practical sense. We
were not merely reading grants and picking common themes or following an outline and
turning a draft in for class credit. Our endeavor compelled us to apply our theoretical
knowledge of grant components and the practical knowledge of our community needs to
make a difference in the community within which many of us would like to work postgraduation. Personally, I am much more confident in this area after this endeavor and it has
made me excited about my career in the nonprofit sector. I would suggest this experience to
anyone regardless of sector as an opportunity to strengthen communication skills, network
with others, and make a difference in the community. (CR)
The NLA Student of the Semester is Olivia Mbala-Nkanga! Olivia (pictured
on page 2) is a Senior Public Administration student with a minor in Nonprofit Administration.
Olivia has a passion to work in the field of international human rights with a focus on children’s
and women’s rights in developing nations. Olivia was chosen as Student of the Semester for her
initiative and leadership with the Personal Product Drive for SOS Community Services, and her
continued active participation in the NLA Student Association. Congratulations, Olivia!
Kody Vitale, NLA Student Association President
(pictured left with Dr. Claudia Petrescu) presented a
thesis project on his work with the Student Funders
Group at the 2014 Undergraduate Symposium. In his
presentation, Kody concentrated on the data collection process and the metrics used by the group to select grant winners. More information about the Student Funders Group can be found on page 7 of the
newsletter.
NLA students were among good company at
the Gold Medallion Award Luncheon, sponsored by the Division of Academic and Student Affairs at EMU. Joining the group at
the table (pictured right) were Regent Beth
Fitzsimmons, Dean Tom Venner, and President Sue Martin. Quote of the day goes to
President Martin who, when complimented
on her purse, remarked, “Thanks. You can
never have too much green.” Spoken like a
true Eagle!
Have a great Summer! See you in September!
NLA Contact Information
EMU NLA Staff
Dr. Claudia Petrescu
Campus Director
Colleen Cartwright
Graduate Assistant
332/A King Hall
Office Phone: (734) 487-1612
Website: www.emich.edu/nonprofit
E-mail: nonprofit@emich.edu
Facebook:
facebook.com/emu.nla
Twitter:
twitter.com/emunla