UM nonprofit program to receive award of excellency

A Google, Inc. representative will present an award to the Nonprofit Leadership Collaborative of the Mid-South today at 11:30 a.m. during their annual Spring Awards Celebration in the University Center.

The event will highlight the milestones achieved by members of the program and recognize the graduating members as certified nonprofit professionals. The U of M will receive a national program excellence award from the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance crediting body. The award recognizes The University as the top nonprofit leadership certificate program in the nation.

The presenter, Google’s Head of Community Affairs Matt Dunne, serves on the board of directors for the NLA and is the head of corporate giving.

“Dunne is very plugged into our nonprofit sector,” said Susan Schmidt, executive director for the institute for philanthropy and nonprofit leadership.

He served in the Vermont House of Representatives for seven years and as the director of AmeriCorps VISTA for two and a half years under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

“We will be recording Dunne’s talks and posting them on The U of M YouTube account for anyone who is interested in hearing what Google is up to,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt said that the NLA has been around for 60 years and the universities that normally receive the program excellence award typically have been established just as long, but The U of M’ s nonprofit program was created about 12 years ago. She attributes a large part of the success to the support of the program’s nonprofit partners.

“It’s a big honor,” Schmidt said. “Compared to others, our program is relatively young. This shows that we have established a really stable exemplary program in a short amount of time.”

Through the program, students are given the chance to network and meet people in the nonprofit sector and learn on-the-job skills for their future careers. Lindsey Bray, nonprofit leader association president, said the program has provided her with a skill set that will be invaluable when she starts her career in the nonprofit world.

Students in the program are required to earn 300 internship hours which helps students with job pairing once they graduate, Bray said.

“Internship opportunities are one of the best things out of it,” she said.

The Nonprofit Management and Leadership Certificate program is open to all students and majors.