Some not-for-profit groups are going back to school to get ahead.
“I really didn’t expect that I would be back in school again,” said Joe Gambino, CEO of Hometown Health Center in Schenectady. “It is nice to be able to sharpen your skills in a classroom setting.”
Gambino is part of a group of 22 not-for-profit leaders from seven agencies involved in the Schenectady Foundation’s Strengthening Families Initiative, who are participating in the first Leadership Development Program offered by Union Graduate College. The program provides participants with MBA-level training on management skills and also encourages the agencies to work together.
The group meets once a month at Union for a four-hour session addressing topics such as finance, change management and communications. The group is also working together on a collaborative project, which will be presented in June during a session for the board of directors of each organization. Participating agencies include Albany County Child Care Council, Ellis Medicine, Parsons Child and Family Center, Public Health Services, Schenectady County Community College, Hometown Health Centers and Mohawk Opportunities.
President and CEO of SEFCU Michael Castellana, one of the philanthropists supporting the program, said it is important for agencies to work together during tough economic times.
“Everyone is competing for limited resources, especially in challenging economic times,” Castellana said in a statement. “The Leadership Development Program is a model of collaboration that will strengthen our not-for-profit sector, but also help the clients they serve.”
Gambino said the most valuable result of the program is the increased collaboration between agencies, who often serve the same client.
“This is certainly a way of strengthening the relationships you have with partners you meet in the community,” Gambino said. “You get to meet people who are taking care of individuals that may be part of your patient base in another capacity.”
He added he also enjoys the classroom setting of the program, which has allowed him to focus on subjects outside of the everyday tasks in running an organization.
Laura Schweitzer, president of Union Graduate College, said she believed there was a need for the program in the area.
“I looked around the Capital Region to see what kind of leadership development was available for nonprofits … there was a lot, but it is very short term,” Schweitzer said. “There is not anything that gives in-depth prolonged leadership development.
Schweitzer said she has sat in on some of the sessions and believes the program is progressing well, but since professors at the college aren’t dealing with typical students it has had to be tweaked in some ways to better serve the leaders involved.
“The content has to be changed a bit in order to make it relevant to the nonprofit leader,” she said.
She said although not-for-profits have a different mindset, many of the same business principals are still relevant.
Going forward, she said the college hopes to host the program every year and bring together a different group of people from a certain sector that would benefit by working in a collaborative nature.
“I have gotten calls from several philanthropists in bringing nonprofits together in their interest,” she said.
