Nonprofit Leadership Support

The James Irvine Foundation reports on the support its leadership program has provided during the current troubled financial environment for nonprofits.

Education and training are vital for the nonprofit leader under any circumstances, but especially crucial when the circumstances become trying, and funding sources that provide them are acting on a basic and sound element of philanthropic investing—helping ensure your funds are used wisely.

An excerpt.

“When the financial crisis struck in the fall of 2008, Jan Karlin was in the middle of her two-year grant from Irvine’s Fund for Leadership Advancement (FLA). Karlin had had great success as cofounder and executive director of Southwest Chamber Music in Pasadena. The ensemble had won two Grammy Awards, been on three world tours in the previous four years, and secured federal funding for the largest-ever cultural exchange with Vietnam, sponsored by the U.S. State Department.

“As an organization, we were looking at what we could do next,” Karlin says. “I thought the FLA grant would help move us to the next level.” Karlin used FLA funds to hire an executive coach, take seminars, and boost the capacity of her staff and board to help realize the vision she was creating. “So by the time the recession hit, we had a lot of things in place to be able to weather the recession,” Karlin recalls. “I won’t say it’s been easy, but I don’t think we’re in any danger as an organization.”

“Launched in 2006, the Fund for Leadership Advancement was designed to help the executive directors of selected Irvine grantee organizations improve their leadership skills, so they can be better equipped to take advantage of growth opportunities. The fund was specifically not intended to help organizations respond to short-term crises. But as the recession has unfolded, many FLA grantees are finding that the program’s leadership support is helping them remain focused on the organization’s longer term goals in the face of momentary challenges.”