Blog from the Big Chair: The Three C's

By Robert Meiksins, CEO

Welcome to the CEO blog, or the blog from the big chair. (The chair in the picture is actually outside of an incredible museum in Glasgow, Scotland.)  This blog will be about some of the things I notice, trends I am seeing, or issues I am hearing about as I travel through the sector. Sometimes I might say things that can be considered a little strong, but please forgive those as “overstatement for effect,” as a friend of mine used to say.
 
This blog is adapted from a series of emails I sent out over the past few weeks to some of our members and service users. Apologies to them for repeating myself.
 
Let’s start out talking about the Nonprofit Center. At the same time as hitting my 100 day mark in the CEO role here, we are heading towards the New Year and the time to make resolutions and plans. Here at NPC we are thinking about some big plans, and I would like to share them with you. Just to make it easy to remember, we are calling this:
 
The Three C's:

• Capacity Building
• Chamber of Commerce
• Connecting for Impact

Let’s go through these one by one and share with you what we have been talking about.
 
The first C is Capacity Building. This is what the Nonprofit Center is most known for, and it is at the heart of what we do for the sector. Next year we are going to implement a few new things and strengthen what we already do. Here are some examples:

• Workshops:
  Building an intentional curriculum around nonprofit topics including fund development, financial management, governance, and more. We will be working on developing beginner, intermediate, and expert levels of workshops in at least 2 of these areas this coming year. As a participant, you could pick a track and follow it through to become an expert, or you can design a program for yourself that would cross the tracks, building your base of knowledge to help you grow to the role you would like to play at a nonprofit organization.
  
  
• Consulting
  Ensuring nonprofits have access to the right assistance from consultants who are experienced in the field. We will be working to help with professional development of consultants, and will be establishing a roster of consultants and services that meet a clearly defined and transparent series of vetting criteria.
  
  
• Volunteering
  Partnering with United Way to build a stronger volunteer matching website, and offering training how to be an expert in volunteer management. We want to make sure that ALL nonprofits and ALL volunteers have the same access to quality matching and placement services no matter whether you are a United Way agency and enter the process through their portal, or you enter through ours.
  
  
• New Engagement Model
  We will be testing the idea of reaching out to members, asking how we can help, and building a capacity building plan for them even if the services cannot be found here at the Center. We will also be testing adopting a portfolio of nonprofits, working with them over the course of the year.

 
The second C is Chamber of Commerce. I don't mean that the Nonprofit Center will become a traditional Chamber of Commerce, but we could start to act like one. It is our belief that the nonprofit sector is an equal and equally vital element of our society along with the Private sector and the Public sector. The role of a Chamber of Commerce is to enhance the business environment for the industry being served, and that is something this Nonprofit Center will begin to do. There are many ways we can do that, and here are just a few thoughts:

• Promoting awareness of and appreciation for the impact that the nonprofit sector has on the community. Through healthcare, education, social services, the arts, and all the other things we do, we are growing jobs, we are improving the quality of life - we are having a real impact.

• Establishing task forces to research, explore, and develop action plans around sector-wide issues such as challenges to property tax exemption, how to address the evolving relationship with the funding community, etc.
  
  
• Serving as the voice of the sector in local discussions about initiatives and trends. I just had the honor to serve on an AFP panel about trends in philanthropy and my next blog will touch on that topic.

  
The third and final C is Connecting for Impact. I list this one last, but it certainly is not least: in fact, it may be the most critical thing we do.
 
To me, the nonprofit sector is about connecting: connecting people to the resources they need to thrive, connecting people to learning, to food, to each other, to entertainment. So, it only makes sense that the Nonprofit Center should also be about connecting. Connecting the people and organizations in the sector to create a strong, seamless web to enhance the community.

How do we connect?

• Volunteer Milwaukee connecting people with opportunities to help
• Leaders Circles & Roundtables connecting peers for support and learning
• Jobs That Serve connecting nonprofits with qualified employees
• Member events to celebrate, learn, network, and have fun
• Board placement services
• Task forces to connect organizations and people to issues and ideas they have in common

That sums up what we have been talking about at the Nonprofit Center. We believe that the client we serve is the nonprofit sector as a whole. That means the organizations, staff, boards, volunteers, donors - everyone and everything involved in a nonprofit in some way.

Thanks for reading and for being interested in the Nonprofit Center. Have a delightful holiday and I’ll be back with the next exciting installment of the blog from the big chair in a couple of weeks if not sooner.

Thanks,
Rob

---