Foundation Launches Initiative for Nonprofit Excellence

Responding to “Unusually Challenging Times”

Fellows Retreat: January 2009Jill Pfitzenmayer, director of the Initiative for Nonprofit Excellence (INE), reflects on a year of design, creation, and implementation:

“There was an immediate need for the programs and services we offer through the INE,” says Jill, who came to the Foundation from Child & Family Services of Newport, where as vice president for organizational quality and training she had designed and directed a capacity-building pilot project for human services agencies. “We found that for almost all of our workshops and convenings there was a waiting list. And this was even before the economic crisis hit.”

From the Fidelity Investments Board Development Program, to sector convenings that afford executive directors and others the opportunity to share best practices, to organizational development workshops focusing on specific topic areas like planned giving, financial management, and communications, the INE has touched more than 500 board and staff members of nonprofit organizations in its first year of operation. “And we are really just getting started,” notes Jill.

Jill proudly points out that under the auspices of the INE, the Foundation has revived the popular Fellows program, which has sponsored more than 100 nonprofit executive directors since its inception in 2000. “Energized leadership is a critical ingredient to any organization’s success,” says Jill.

Fellows, pictured here, receive up to a $10,000 stipend from the Foundation, and design their own path of renewal, with the goal of enhancing or setting a new direction for their leadership abilities. A sample of 2009 Fellows activities includes:

  • Development of a bilingual school in rural Honduras
  • Participation in executive education programs sponsored by Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government
  • Participation in the Americans for the Arts Conference in Seattle
  • Participation in Spanish immersion classes in the Dominican Republic
  • Travel to South Africa to study Black storytelling

As the INE enters its second year, Foundation President and CEO Neil Steinberg is enthusiastic about the role it can play in extending the Foundation’s reach. “One of our most important charges is to be responsive and adaptive to the needs of the sector, especially in these unusually challenging times,” says Neil. “INE represents a significant investment for us, and we are committed to ensuring its relevance for our partners in the community, now and into the future.”