Nonprofit Leadership
Cornell Certificate Program
Duration
5 Courses
Frequency
1 Course/Quarter
Format
100% Online
Certificate
Earn After 5 Courses
Overview
The Nonprofit Leadership Cornell Certificate Program offers just what you need, and nothing more.
Earn an executive certificate from TalentED and Cornell University by taking all five segments, or pick and choose the courses that best fit your role and professional development needs:
- Leading in a VUCA World
- Assessing Non-Profits Using Financial Statements and Ratios
- Fundraising and Revenue Generation
- Managing Team Performance
- Strategic Decision Making
Why Attend?
- This program was developed specifically for the nonprofit industry in partnership with Cornell University, and is only available through TalentED.
- This is a unique opportunity for professionals to access exceptional executive education from Cornell University, without travel.
- Learn directly from Cornell faculty in online sessions designed to supplement and connect all the courses in this series—highlighting the applications to the nonprofit industry and your role.
- You’ll find all content and activities are customized specifically for the unique challenges and opportunities of nonprofits.
- Activities, discussion boards, and online sessions are designed to make you an active participant in the learning process, allowing you to become a stronger leader at your own pace.
- Expand your network of like-minded professionals as you connect and share your own experiences.
- Students who complete all coursework will earn an executive certificate from TalentED and Cornell University, demonstrating their knowledge and ability to apply what they’ve learned to their careers and organization.
Curriculum
This program consists of five, two-week eCornell courses.
Leading in a VUCA World
May 10—23, 2023
VUCA is an acronym that stands for “volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity.” Learn how leaders understand and counteract the impacts of the VUCA world to lead more effectively today. In this course, you will gain insights into how you can identify and reduce the impact of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity in your workplace, elevating your opportunity to succeed. You will match your strengths and weaknesses with the leadership characteristics essential in today's VUCA world to formulate an action plan to guide you in improving your leadership skills. Finally, you will develop skills to improve your vision, courage, and character, ultimately preparing you to lead in a VUCA world.
Assessing Non-Profits Using Financial Statements and Ratios
July 12—25, 2023
Nonprofit organizations may not be in business to make money, but they must still pay close attention to their finances to achieve their mission. Nonprofits, like all organizations, need to have enough money to pay salaries, run programs, purchase goods, or pay debts. Often nonprofits come under fire when they don't have a good financial balance, have too much cash, have high expenses, or are not putting the right amount of money toward programs serving their mission. Tracking the financial health of a nonprofit is not only the responsibility of the chief financial officer but also of its administrators, board members, directors, and key program staff. It's the responsibility of the entire organization to engage in the process and secure the organization's ongoing financial health.
This course gives you a guided tour through the structure and interpretation of typical nonprofit financial statements. You'll walk through reading and interpreting financial statements including an income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement. Using financial ratios, you'll learn how to analyze the health of an organization by analyzing its cash reserves, debt burden, and expenses. You will practice calculating 10 different ratios and interpreting their results, and receive guidance on how to adjust your organization's strategy based on those results.
As you move through the course, carefully-crafted tools and activities will guide you in applying what you learn about financial assessment and management to the specifics of your own nonprofit organization.
Fundraising and Revenue Generation
October 11—24, 2023
Often when you think of nonprofits, you don't think about revenue generation. But nonprofits, not unlike for-profits, need to generate a certain amount of revenue to run their organizations. Often that revenue generation happens through fundraising efforts. However, there are many other options.
It's important to remember that nonprofits are mission-driven organizations. While they do need to stay mission focused, they also need to bring in money to achieve their missions. This course will cover the basics of fundraising, lobbying, grant writing, working with community and family foundations, and using social networking, marketing, and branding, all in efforts to bring in more revenue. You'll learn models of fundraising, approaches to other funding, and strategies for organizational communication.
Managing Team Performance
January 17—30, 2024
Most managers only think about performance once a year when they have to conduct annual appraisals for their direct reports, or when things are going poorly. This course equips managers to move beyond this approach and develop an ongoing and proactive developmental process that helps their employees to perform best in their jobs. When your people are performing well, you're performing well and your organization can succeed.
Strategic Decision Making
April 10—23, 2024
The ability to make effective and timely decisions is an essential skill for successful executives. Mastery of this skill influences all aspects of day-to-day operations as well as strategic planning. In this course, you will hone your decision-making skills by following a methodology based on tested actions and sound organizational approaches. You will leave this course better equipped to confidently tackle any decision large or small, and you'll do so in a way that creates the optimal conditions for success.
Course curriculum is subject to change.
About eCornell
Ivy League Curricula and Top-Ranked Faculty
eCornell is Cornell University’s online learning platform, which provides online professional and executive development to students around the world. eCornell courses are all developed by Cornell University faculty, and often include practical insights from other industry experts. All eCornell course content comes from top-rated programs with proven curricula.
Expert Led, with Structured Flexibility
eCornell courses are online and expert led with structured flexibility. Courses are facilitated by subject-matter experts, who will guide you, challenge you, and help you apply the course concepts to your real-world, on-the-job circumstances. Each course has a defined start and end date, but is designed to accommodate the schedules of busy professionals by allowing students to complete their work at the times that work best for them—daytime, evening, or weekends.
Start and End Dates Drive Completion
A critical part of successful self-directed learning is to have a finish line, so eCornell courses have defined start dates and end dates. Most eCornell courses take about six to eight hours to complete, over a two-week period.
Interaction & Collaboration
As an eCornell student, you are never alone in your course. You are part of a cohort of other learners from across North America. Required discussions play an important part in your course, giving you and your classmates the opportunity to share and exchange your own experiences, best practices, perspectives, and examples. All this shared learning is facilitated by an instructor who brings both subject-matter expertise and real-world experience. Your interaction with peers from different organizations, and backgrounds fosters collaboration, networking, and a lot of practical, shared learning.
Emphasis on Practice and Application
The ability for you to interact with expert instructors, to ask questions and receive answers, and to learn with—and from—other participants keeps the learning interesting, practical, and above all, relevant to your work.
And there’s one more key component: practice opportunities.
Most eCornell courses include a project, which challenges you to apply the course concepts to your own organization. Others include interactive scenarios, simulations, and other engaging practice activities. All courses include tools, techniques, or job aids that you can put to immediate use in your work.
Every certificate program and course is developed with very tangible outcomes in mind. To eCornell, it’s not enough if a course helps you to know something, or even to understand it. Programs are designed to go much further, to equip you to do something—better or for the first time—at your job.
We ask, “after completing this course, what will participants be able to analyze, identify, assess, implement, calculate, or influence that they couldn’t before?” eCornell courses draw on a variety of components to provide this practical learning:
- Discussions
- Projects
- Practice activities
- Short videos
- Interviews with industry experts
- Online tools and downloadable resources
- Case studies and examples
- The guidance of an instructor
The eCornell approach positions you as an active participant in the learning process, allowing you to build the necessary problem-solving skills at your own pace and in your own style to confront the real challenges you face on the job and in life.
Faculty
General George Casey Jr.
DISTINGUISHED SENIOR LECTURER OF LEADERSHIP
Cornell SC Johnson College of Business
Joe Grasso
ASSOCIATE DEAN
Cornell IRL School
Allison Elias
VISITING ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Cornell's Nolan School of Hotel Administration
Diane Burton
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Cornell ILR School
Robert J. Bloomfield
NICHOLAS H. NOYES PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT & ACCOUNTING
Johnson Graduate School of Management
Faculty subject to change.
FAQs
How much time do I need to plan in my schedule?
Most students complete their course work in 3-5 hours per week for each two-week eCornell course. You may complete a single course or plan on completing all five courses in the series to earn your Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership.
What differentiates this program from others available?
This unique program has been developed specifically for the nonprofit sector in partnership with Cornell University, and is only available through TalentED.
Who should attend this certificate program?
TalentED has partnered with Cornell University to meet the development needs of executives and high potential leaders at your organization.
Will I earn a certificate?
Yes. Students who attend all sessions and complete required courses will earn an executive certificate from TalentED and Cornell University, demonstrating their knowledge and ability to apply what they’ve learned to their careers and organizations.
Is college credit available for my attendance?
There are not college credits associated with this course.
I have accessibility needs; can you accommodate me?
The comfort and well-being of our attendees is of utmost importance to us; we will make every effort to accommodate your needs!
Please email BeTalented@talented.org as soon as you know you’re attending a TalentED event. Be sure to include your name, organization name, the TalentED event you are registered for, and everything we need to know to accommodate your request.
We’ll be in touch with any questions we have, and let you know how we can help.
COURSE DATES
Next Cohort:
May 10-23, 2023
PRICING AND REGISTRATION
$849
Per Course
— OR —
$3,595
