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Real Life Examples

Can you describe your organization's commitment to nonprofit human resources practitioners?
At CompassPoint we believe that regardless of your organization's mission, its most important resource is people. We also believe that there is a lot that can be done inexpensively to improve how your organization manages and supports people... but which does require attention, skill, and thoughtfulness. And we find that not paying attention to this area becomes very costly in terms of high staff turnover, low morale, and diminishing activities!

At CompassPoint we have a variety of classes where you can learn skills in the "Managing People" area, such as Supervision, Delegation, Communication and Conflict Resolution, and many others. We also provide support to organizations through our consulting practice, paying attention to the culture of your organization as we try to help you build capacity in this area.

When did your organization begin offering training for nonprofit human resources?
We have been offering nonprofit management consulting and training programs to nonprofits for 30 years. In fact, we are celebrating our 30th anniversary this year [2005]!

What has the response been to the nonprofit HR training you have facilitated? What kind of feedback have you received?
The Human Resources and Managing People training series is one of the most well attended. Participants consistently rate both the classes and trainers very positively.

What advice would you give to a practitioner who wants to advocate for more professional development opportunities from a local MSO?
While it seems that money is a big focus for training and development in nonprofits, if we just take a look at the financial statements of organizations we will likely see that the majority of the money is going towards PEOPLE (in the form of salary and benefits). So it makes sense even from a financial standpoint to pay attention to how we manage this most critical resource in our organizations, our "human resources."

This idea has largely caught on in the corporate world, leading companies to spend a good deal of time and money on finding the right people, training them, building teams, and supporting them (check out all the best-selling management books on these topics). This star is just beginning to rise in the nonprofit sector, mostly in terms of paying attention to leadership, but should really spread to promoting the importance of managing people overall. Management Support Organizations need to pay attention and heed the call with more training and development opportunities.

Are you available by email for any follow-up questions from Idealist readers or local MSOs?
Yes!
Contact: Marla Cornelius
Training Director
CompassPoint Nonprofit Services
Email: MarlaC (at) compasspoint.org