Nonprofit Management Institute

Advancing Your Mission Through Individual and Organizational Growth

Today’s nonprofit leader is challenged like never before. Nebraska’s Nonprofit Management Institute developed a rigorous series of executive education programs designed to refine the skills nonprofit leaders need to make a larger and lasting impact on the people and communities they serve. These non-degree executive certificate programs present best practices in nonprofit management, finance and fundraising that can advance the success of your organization, whatever its size or mission.

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$650/Program
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Cost assistance opportunities are available. Email emre@unl.edu for more information.

Executive Certificate Offerings

Strategic Leadership for Nonprofit Organizations

September 12-13, 2023
In-person at the College of Business

Examine the structure of a nonprofit organization and discuss how it works best to accomplish its mission. Learn about long- and short-term planning, the role of the governing board, the importance of marketing and communications, how to obtain financial resources, and how to best manage those resources to achieve the organization’s goals and objectives.

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Financial Management for Nonprofit Organizations

Choice #1: Mornings of Mar. 7, 8, 14 and 15, 2023
Virtual format

Choice #2: Mornings of Oct. 24, 25, 31 and Nov. 1, 2023 | Virtual format

This program’s goal is to understand the crucial role good financial management plays in a nonprofit’s accomplishment of its stated mission. Through hands-on, applied study, participants will explore key elements of nonprofit financial management.

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Strategic Communication and Resource Development

Choice #1: Mornings of May 16, 17, 23 and 24, 2023
Virtual format

Choice #2: Mornings of Dec. 5, 6, 12 and 13, 2023
Virtual format

Nonprofits must communicate with a variety of groups, such as donors, trustees, regulators, the media, and the general public—and good communication is crucial to obtaining and keeping new donors. This program will focus on the groups and market segments a nonprofit must attend to, and will explore in depth how a nonprofit’s communication and brand strategies involve fundraising and long-term resource development needed to safeguard the organization’s future.

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Program Benefits

UNL faculty and nationally recognized facilitators share cutting-edge practices you can immediately implement in your organization

Networking opportunities with other nonprofit professionals

Program designed as an interactive and immersive learning experience

State-of-the-art facilities and hospitality at Hawks Hall on the university's City Campus

Speakers

Aakriti Agrawal, MBA

Aakriti Agrawal is cofounder of Girls Code Lincoln, a grassroots nonprofit dedicated to bridging the gender gap in technology by teaching computer programing to middle school girls. With firsthand experience leading and growing nonprofits, she has applied her expertise to numerous 501(c)(3) organizations. In addition to her nonprofit work, Aakriti is also a manager of data governance at American Express. She has won the Inspire Founders Award and the Lincoln Young Leader Award, has given a talk for TEDx, and has been nominated to the Forbes Under 30 List. Her areas of expertise are nonprofit foundership/social entrepreneurship, diversity and inclusion, volunteer recruitment and retention, data management, change management, process improvement, and fundraising.

Bela Barner, MBA

Bela Barner has helped lead executive teams through complex, high stakes decisions for more than 15 years. Much of his work has been in higher education, where he assisted universities in decisions to relocate campus facilities to more favorable markets, create new branding, marketing and enrollment strategies, develop new academic offerings and prioritize budgets.

In addition to his experience in strategic planning in higher education, Barner has held a variety of consulting roles with professional services firms. He developed a broad tool kit of quantitative methods to support collaborative decision-making in data-challenged environments. This expertise includes capital budgeting and project portfolio optimization, business planning and modeling, market research and opportunity assessment, and financial literacy for non-financial executives.

Barner is also the founder and president of a 501(c)(3) organization. He is a member of the Society of Decision Professionals and holds a certification as a financial modeling and valuation expert. Barner earned his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business. He also holds a BA in Economics and French from Northwestern University.

Jeri Bingham, EdS

Jeri is a marketing communications executive, adjunct instructor for Northwestern University, and consultant with more than 20 years of experience working in higher education, non-profits, mission driven organizations, government, and advertising. She is expert at bringing emotion into the soul of brands, as well as creating content and messaging that resonates with targeted audiences and compels them to act. Jeri has a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Public Relations, a Master of Science (MS) in Integrated Marketing Communications, an Education Specialist (EdS) postgraduate degree, and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Education (EdD).

Franz Cartwright, MSc

Franz Cartwright, MSc, is founder and president of CATH Associates, Inc., provider of construction management and owner representation services. Prior to founding CATH, Franz engaged in structural design and construction across the US, as well as Guatemala, Hong Kong, Egypt, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Saudi Arabia. With over 30 years of diversified and practical experience with numerous building systems, he has managed commercial, industrial, institutional, and residential projects of various sizes and levels of complexity, providing keen insight into the financial planning of complex projects. In conjunction with realistic scheduling of interacting factors, he emphasizes budgeting and cost control. With a B.Arch. from the University of Illinois at Chicago and MS in civil and structural engineering from Northwestern University, he has also studied international business at the University of Chicago.

Matthew W. Charlton, Ph.D.

Matthew Charlton is an experienced nonprofit leader and fundraiser with an interest in creating and supporting vibrant organizations oriented around trust and excellence.

Charlton teaches at Belmont University in Nashville, and works as a regional philanthropy officer for the American Red Cross. Previously, he served as a major gift officer for a capital campaign, and has consulted with many organizations on administrative issues, strategy and priority setting, and organizational storytelling to reach donors and supporters.

He is an ordained clergyperson in the United Methodist Church, serving both in local churches and as an executive supporting higher education-related programs around the world. This work has resulted in leading the Oxford Institute Foundation, a new global fund supporting the work of emerging scholars.

Charlton holds a Ph.D. in theological studies from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Ilinois, and master’s degrees in both divinity and arts in religion from Vanderbilt University. Currently completing a master’s degree in strategic communication and leadership at Belmont University, he is a research fellow at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, and was previously appointed as a research associate at Wesley House in Cambridge.

Jim Croft, Ph.D.

Jim Croft is a principal with JW Croft Consulting Group (JWCCG) in Chicago. JWCCG brings leadership and financial management experience to the nonprofit community and is positioned to help organizations meet strategic objectives and achieve their mission.

In addition to his work at JWCCG, Croft is a member of the MBA faculty at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where he teaches nonprofit management, nonprofit financial management and fundraising. He also teaches nonprofit financial management at the Kellogg School of Management Center for Nonprofit Management at Northwestern University.

From 1984 to 2015, he served as executive vice president and chief financial officer for the Field Museum in Chicago. In addition to leading the institution’s financial operations, he was responsible for facilities management and several other operating units. For several years he served concurrently as the museum’s chief development officer, managing the annual giving, major gifts, planned giving, and corporate and foundation giving programs. He was also responsible for a major capital campaign that successfully concluded in 2008.

Croft also held several positions in The Salvation Army where he served as a community center executive director, finance officer and chief business officer. He has also served on several nonprofit governing boards.

In 2016, he received a four-year appointment to the Financial Accounting Standards Board's (FASB) Nonprofit Advisory Committee (NAC). NAC members serve as advisors to FASB staff as they consider accounting standards that are used by U.S. nonprofit organizations.

He received a Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where his doctoral work was in higher education leadership with research focused on nonprofit financial management. He also studied business administration and management at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, Roosevelt University and National Louis University.

William Fehrman

With more than 20 years of fundraising experience, Bill has held leadership positions at the American Academy of Pediatrics, Easterseals and the Catholic Church Extension Society. He has a bachelor’s degree in Philanthropy Studies from DePaul University and a certificate in Fundraising Management from Indiana University’s Lilly School of Philanthropy. Bill’s master’s degree in Public Policy is also from DePaul and his graduate research focused on the connection between advocacy and fundraising success at small and mid-sized nonprofits. Consulting to organizations that are seeking to influence public policy and increase major gifts, Bill helps his clients enhance relationships with policy makers and donors. He also serves on the boards of Literacy Chicago and Reform for Illinois and plays the guitar poorly in his free time.

James Honan, Ed.D.

James P. Honan has served on the faculty at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) since 1991. He is also a faculty member at the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), an affiliate faculty member with the Center for Public Leadership (CPL) at HKS, and co-chair and senior associate director of the Advanced Leadership Initiative (ALI) at Harvard University. He is educational co-chair of the Institute for Educational Management (IEM) at HGSE and faculty chair of Emirates Leadership Initiative Executive Education Program and Nonprofit Financial Stewardship (NFS) at HKS, a fully online executive education program.

He has also been a faculty member in a number of Harvard's other executive education programs and professional development institutes for educational leaders and non-profit administrators. He has served as faculty co-chair of the Performance Measurement for Effective Management of Nonprofit Organizations program, an institute developed by the Initiative on Social Enterprise at HBS and the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University and served previously as educational chair of HGSE's Management Development Program. He has also taught in executive education programs and professional development institutes in Aruba, Barbados, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Guatemala, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, Panama, Thailand, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. He has served as a consultant on strategic planning, resource allocation, and performance measurement and management to numerous colleges, universities, schools, foundations, and nonprofit organizations both nationally and internationally. He holds a BA from Marist College, an MA and EdS in higher education from George Washington University, and an EdM and EdD in administration, planning, and social policy from Harvard University.

Vincent Pettinelli, MSW

Vince has over forty years of senior management experience in the organization, administration, and provision of services in both the public and private sectors to persons with mental retardation, developmental disabilities, mental illness, and geriatric dementia.

His career in government administration has included service as Director of Education for the Mental Health Association of Houston/Harris County, Texas; Director of Regional Services for the South Carolina Department of Mental Retardation; Commissioner for Mental Retardation for the Pennsylvania State Department of Public Welfare; and Director of the State of Ohio Joint Mental Health and Mental Retardation Advisory Review Commission. Vince received his BA from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, and his MSW from Tulane University in New Orleans. He also completed post-graduate study at the University of Alabama and the University of Wisconsin. Vince has served as an adjunct faculty member of the Ohio State University School of Social Work, the University of South Carolina Department of Social Work, and the Temple University School of Social Work. He also developed and implemented the Master of Human Services Management curriculum at National Louis University in Chicago and the human services management curriculum at The University of St. Thomas in Houston.

Ashley Ramchandani, MPP

Ashley Ramchandani, MPP, assists organizations in reimagining their operations by coupling change leadership with comprehensive communication strategies. She also helps organizations understand their cultures, developing strategies to incorporate cultural change alongside implementation of strategic plans; operational effectiveness measures; performance improvement; financial management; and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) action plans. Her work in the nonprofit and educational sectors includes evaluating the governance structures, operations, financial management, and performance of 501(c)(3)s and cultural institutions. With expertise in strategic planning, organizational design, and business process redesign, she advises clients on management and governance, DEI initiatives, stakeholder engagement, and risk management. Ashley has a master’s in public policy studies from the University of Chicago and a BA in criminal behavior studies from Transylvania University.

Katy Scrogin, Ph.D.

Katy Scrogin is a nonprofit practitioner and educator dedicated to the importance of financial literacy. Having taught at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, she also conducts prospect research and works with development teams to craft fundraising appeals and communications.

Before moving into independent consulting, Dr. Scrogin served as the vice president for programming at the Chicago Sunday Evening Club (CSEC). In addition to producing and contributing to daily and weekly podcasts at CSEC, she planned, constructed and monitored the organization’s operating budget, and also prepared financial reports for management and the board of directors.

Dr. Scrogin holds a Ph.D. in religion from Claremont Graduate University, a master of theological studies from Vanderbilt University, and a BA in German and Spanish from the University of Texas at Austin. She also serves as a writer, editor and translator, and holds an editing certificate from the Graham School at the University of Chicago.

Christy Smith-Hall

Christy is the development director of Deborah’s Place. She has a master’s degree from North Park University in Nonprofit Administration with a focus in Fundraising (MNA) and is a Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM). Christy has worked in various fundraising positions to support unhoused persons at Housing Opportunities for Women (HOW) and St. Leonard’s Ministries. She specializes in Major Gift Acquisition, Event Planning, and Donor Retention. A native of Chicago’s North Austin neighborhood, Christy enjoys supporting westside businesses and is a former North Avenue District board member (TNAD). TNAD is a collaborative group between the Galewood community and Oak Park neighbors to sustain businesses on North Ave between Harlem Ave. and Austin Blvd. Christy was also a development officer at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and finished her undergraduate work at Illinois State University with a degree in public relations.

Scott Steffens, CPA

During Scott’s 30+ year career within public accounting, he has provided audit and specialized services to not-for-profit, health care, government, and corporate clients. Scott has served in multiple diversity, recruiting and resource roles for the last 20 years. Scott has also served on multiple advisory boards at DePaul University including athletics and the college of commerce. Scott’s specialties are not-for-profit, health care, professional services, investment management and corporate clients.

Patti Tuomey, EdD

Dr. Patti Tuomey currently serves as both advisor to and past president and CEO of Josephinum Academy of the Sacred Heart in Chicago. Prior to joining Josephinum Academy, she served as president and CEO of the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation.

With more than 25 years of management experience in nonprofit and philanthropic organizations, she is skilled in strategic planning, program management, financial planning, marketing, and fundraising. She has held leadership positions at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, and the Field Museum. She has also spent several years teaching management and marketing courses at both the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Northwestern University.

Dr. Tuomey is a graduate of Marquette University, where she received a BA in political science and education. She also holds an MA in arts administration from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and an EdD in higher education administration and organizational change from Benedictine University.

More Professional Development Opportunities

Take charge of your success by engaging in professional and executive education programs designed to help you conquer business challenges with tools you can begin using immediately. Whether you need a quick solution to get ahead or a customized program for your entire team, the road to building a better business starts with the College of Business.

Center for Executive and Professional Development

Contact

Center for Executive and Professional Development
HLH 201
execed@unl.edu
402-472-2353