In the late 1990’s the county’s public benefit organizations began to explore ways to strengthen themselves and their sector. A needs analysis by the county’s nonprofit executive directors was undertaken in October of 2002 and resulted in fourteen organizations deciding to create an “informal collaborative” in April, 2003. They called it the Center for Nonprofit Leadership (CNL). CNL’s founding purpose was to provide high quality, low priced programs and services to which nonprofit governing boards and executive directors can turn for continuing education and development.
Since its founding in 2003, CNL has sponsored and produced dozens of workshops for 71+ member nonprofit organizations and community members. Workshops have been supplemented by informal “best practices exchanges” and coaching/mentoring of individual nonprofit organizations through the Coaching & Consulting Network.
Workshop themes have ranged widely: strategic planning, fund raising, finance, board recruitment and evaluation, building successful boards, board president/executive director relations, planning and conducting effective board meetings, recruiting and training volunteers.