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SPA Now Offering Certificate in Emerging Nonprofit Leadership

SPA faculty in front of collaboration sign.

Omaha – The School of Public Administration is now offering a Certificate in Emerging Nonprofit Leadership.

Nonprofits are facing a leadership crisis as many senior leaders are retiring and potential leaders need additional training before taking on high level leadership roles. Studies have found that three out of four executive directors in the nonprofit sector plan to leave their jobs within the next five years and that the nonprofit sector will require 78,000 new senior managers each year for the coming decades. The same research shows that nonprofits often do not adequately offer professional development or advancement opportunities.

The Certificate in Emerging Nonprofit Leadership is designed to address the need by helping potential leaders develop and hone their managerial and leadership skills as they prepare to take on high level leadership responsibilities.

The course content focuses on self-awareness, leading people, managing diversity, and creating an ethical environment. The program offers six courses and successful completion of all six will earn a person the Certificate and automatic admission to the Nebraska Certified Public Manager Program, if desired. The six courses are:

  • Emerging Leadership and the Role of the Nonprofit Manager.
  • Understanding Yourself and Your Leadership Style.
  • Leading People, Managing Diversity.
  • Leading Teams: Together Everyone Achieves More.
  • Leading through Better Communication: Stop! Think! Communicate!
  • Creating an Ethical Environment.

The courses are taught by the same faculty who teach in the Nebraska Certified Public Manager Program and are either UNO faculty or professional public or nonprofit leaders and managers recognized as experts in the field.

The Certificate in Emerging Nonprofit Leadership is one of the School’s professional programs. For more information contact Ellen Freeman-Wakefield, director of professional programs, at 402.554.2636 or efreemanwakefield@unomaha.edu or visit the website.