Nonprofit leaders graduate from leadership academy
On May 6, the room filled with claps and cheers as 19 leaders from Victoria-area nonprofit organizations walked forward to receive their certificates from the second annual Nonprofit Leadership Academy.
The academy is a nine-month program created by the Nonprofit Center at Texas A&M University-Victoria. The academy began in September, and attendees met the first Wednesday of every month to learn about specific strategies and needs in running a nonprofit. This year’s academy hosted a cohort made up of 21 members representing 18 organizations from five counties. The Nonprofit Center was created through a partnership with the United Way of the Crossroads.
“The Nonprofit Leadership Academy is an amazing tool that helps a wide variety of nonprofit organization leaders grow their experience and learn strategies to succeed,” said Brooke Garcia, director of the Nonprofit Center. “I’ve been proud to see so many individuals come together and learn ways to extend their organization’s reach and positive impact. Nonprofit organizations are vital to a thriving community, and the Victoria region has an abundance of organizations that could benefit from this training. We look forward to continuing the academy for years to come.”
Each month, the academy focused on a different topic, including leadership, strategic planning, fundraising and donor development, program development, communications and marketing, public speaking and advocacy, creating and managing successful teams, data and performance, and financial and risk management. The members would alternate between classroom learning and group activities to help them adapt the lessons into relevant strategies for their organizations, Garcia said. Out of the 21 members who participated in the academy, 19 received their certificates by completing the program.
For Alex Torres, the academy was a way to grow her leadership ability while learning skills and tools that she could bring back to her team. One of the earliest sessions focused on how leaders can analyze themselves and their teams to see strengths and opportunities to grow. As a community outreach coordinator with the Texas Home Visiting Program at the Victoria County Public Health Department, she also enjoyed having the chance to meet other area nonprofit leaders and find ways to coordinate and work together.
“The more we learned together, it became obvious that we’re all in this together and all facing the same situation,” Torres said. “Our ships are all weathering the same storm, and there are ways that we can improve as individual leaders and work together through our organizations to support each other. The academy helped us get out of just thinking about day-to-day operations and showed us how to look at the big picture to recognize our strengths and gaps.”
Kristen Salazar, office manager for Golden Crescent CASA, wanted to attend the academy because she was new to the nonprofit world after previously working in the private sector. Learning about the differences in management styles was eye-opening, she said.
“The crisis planning session taught by Jennifer Mann was such a different perspective for me,” Salazar said. “It’s something that never really came up in the for-profit world. But resources can be so thin and stretched for nonprofits, it’s necessary to make plans for multiple types of crises.”
In addition to the Nonprofit Leadership Academy, Salazar is also earning her Master of Business Administration in Marketing from A&M-Victoria and will graduate on Saturday.
“I’ve been learning how to use my knowledge from the MBA program in the nonprofit world, but this academy helped me to see that there are some very important differences between running a nonprofit and the for-profit world,” Salazar said. “Having the experience to work in both nonprofits and the corporate world makes a big difference both for me and for the organizations I’m part of. I’m so grateful for this opportunity.”
For more information about the Nonprofit Leadership Academy and other services available through the Nonprofit Center, contact Garcia at garciab8@tamuv.edu.
Texas A&M University-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 50 academic programs in the colleges of Business, Education & Health Professions, Liberal Arts & Social Sciences, and Natural & Applied Science. A&M-Victoria provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as online classes that students can take from anywhere. The university supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.