Build Yourself As You Build Your Organization
The Capacity Building For Community Healers is for nonprofit and faith-based leaders in North Lawndale, East Garfield Park, West Garfield Park, Austin and Englewood who want to take their organizations to the next level. This includes board members, executive directors, program managers, development managers, clergy and career changers.
Whether you want to assess your leadership style or figure out how to lead your organization through a changing funding environment, we can help. The Capacity Building for Community Healers Program will give you the tools you need to make the necessary pivots and build a sustainable organization. Every workshop will provide practical information that you can use immediately on the job and to advance your career in the nonprofit sector. You will
- Improve your confidence to lead
- Accelerate your learning
- Increase your fundraising potential
Membership in the Nonprofit Utopia Community
The Capacity Building For Community Healers intensive includes a year’s membership in the Nonprofit Utopia community. The online community provides a safe environment for our members to innovate and share lessons learned. As a participant in the Capacity Building For Community Healers intensive, you will be a part of your own dedicated subgroup within the community. Here, you’ll be able to ask questions about the workshop content and share lessons learned with your peers. You will also be able to take advantage of everything in the main community, including resources, events, courses on demand, office hours, etcetera.
Although you are not required to purchase any products to enroll in the course, as member of the Nonprofit Utopia community you will be able to subscribe to Clear Impact performance management and case management software for unlimited usage (measures, participant records and users) for $2,200 per year, a 78% savings over the regular starting subscription price of $9,600 per year which only has limited usage included. This software suite may be used to track client outcomes, track strategic planning results and manage community collaborations. This subscription is optional, and the cost is not covered by the program.
Members will also be eligible to subscribe to GrantsStation, a grants management platform, for $95.00 a year, representing a savings of 86% off the regular membership price of $699 per year. This software may be used to research grant opportunities nationally and internationally, and to manage the proposal writing process. This subscription is optional and the cost is not covered by the program.
Leadership Assessment
You will complete a set of assessments to help you increase self-awareness. The Leadership As Fit tool, developed by the Human Systems Dynamics Institute, will allow you to assess your leadership capacity from a traditional leadership perspective, that focuses on prediction and control; as well as from the complex adaptive leadership perspective, in which the leader gives up control and explores open space of opportunity. The results will help you better understand your leadership style and how to better adapt to your work environment.
You will also complete the leadership tool developed by John Maxwell, to assess your leadership skills and your ability to influence others. The results of both assessments will be used to help you develop individual leadership plans.
Organizational Assessment
You will complete an organizational capacity assessment to assess areas that every organization should develop in order to move towards sustainability. The assessment will also help you know whether you are eligible to apply for Illinois grants and to assess the organization’s strengths and areas that should be improved.
Workshops
The includes a 16-week workshop series. The interactive workshops will provide a balance of instruction, case studies and group activities designed to help you strengthen your organizations’ infrastructure and position it for long term sustainability. There will be links to downloadable workbooks, handouts, templates and other resources to supplement the presentations. The workshops will last three hours, with the exception of the grant writing workshop, which will last a full day. All workshops will start at 9:00 am and go through 12:00 noon. The grant writing workshop will go from 9:00 am until 5:00 pm.Our overall goal is to increase the capacity of grassroots organizations based in targeted communities to provide evidence-based programs and services in their respective communities. We will provide a deep dive into a broad range of topics that will help you:
1) Improve their leadership capabilities so that you can better steer their organizations towards long term sustainability and exercise even greater stewardship of grant funds from the State of Illinois and other sources.
2) Build organizational infrastructure to provide even higher quality programs and services in the local communities they serve.
3) Design programs that more align with the evidence-based program models, policies and practices that are typically required in the state of Illinois RFP’s.
Pre- and Post-Tests
Before you start, you will be given a pre-test to assess your baseline knowledge of the subjects that will be covered in the workshops. You will be given the same test after the workshops have been completed to measure how much you have learned as a result of the workshops.
Coaching/Mentoring
The coaching/mentoring component will go throughout the program. The coaching will be delivered primarily through teleconferencing and emails, supported by an online coaching platform. You will be able to see, in real time, how much progress you are making. You can make appointments to discuss any of the topics that are covered in the workshops.
