MNA Conferences & Trainings Statewide Training Calendar Michigan Nonprofit Leadership Institute Michigan NOW! Direction/Contact Us

Emerging Leaders

Download/ View Emerging Leaders Class VI Application

In today’s social climate, the nonprofit sector bears an increasing burden for effectiveness, efficiency, innovation and accountability. To meet these demands and expectations, the Michigan Nonprofit Association developed the Michigan Nonprofit Leadership Institute (MNLI), which seeks to enhance and strengthen the leadership of the nonprofit sector through information, support, enrichment and celebration. Piloted in fall 2002, Emerging Leaders is the first phase of MNLI programming and is designed to cultivate and support committed, educated, and well-mentored professionals who can rise to the challenge of nonprofit leadership.

Emerging Leaders is more than just another training program. It is a six-month commitment to education and introspection that requires more than 100 hours of its participants. Focused on classes of no more than 20 participants, it is an opportunity to build the skills and relationships that help individuals succeed in the nonprofit sector. It goes beyond “the basics,” utilizing workshops, targeted readings and personal interviews to engage participants in critical thought and dialogue while examining their personal and career goals.

To prepare participants for future leadership, Emerging Leaders involves four primary components:

• Living the Leader Role: a five-module program that identifies individual leadership styles and their relationship to the many facets of leadership within an organization;
• Education, reading, critical thinking and dialogue regarding accountability, ethics, the changing role of nonprofits and other key leadership and management issues;
• One-on-one mentorship between Emerging Leaders and highly respected sector leaders; and
• Establishing relationships and personal networks that will extend beyond the six-month program.

The Emerging Leaders participants are individuals with between one and five years of professional experience in the nonprofit sector. Typically program-level staff, they are committed to developing a career in the nonprofit sector and are dedicated to enhancing the professional efficiency and impact of the organizations they work with.

Mentors to Emerging Leaders are volunteers within the sector that commit 12-15 hours over the six-month program. While the volunteer commitment is designed to be short-term, follow-up surveys indicate that more than 80% of the mentors continue to have contact with the Emerging Leaders after the program officially concludes.

As the Michigan Nonprofit Leadership Institute is fully mobilized, MNA will provide opportunities for replication. For more information on MNLI or Emerging Leaders, contact Sam Singh, singhsam@mnaonline.org or Robin Lynn Grinnell, robin@mnaonline.org.

View/Download Emerging Leader Class Five Application