Maine Adult Education

Introduction to Nonprofit Management

Develop the skills and strategies you need to become an integral part of one of America's fastest growing service sectors. In this course, a twelve-year veteran in the nonprofit management field will show you how to transform your good intentions into a professional plan of action. You'll understand the unique characteristics of nonprofit organizations while mastering the core knowledge necessary to become an effective leader in the nonprofit arena.

In this course, you will learn skills and develop strategies that will take your organization to new heights of prosperity and productivity. You'll gain a full understanding the role of the executive director and the board of directors, special event and meeting management, public relation strategies, and how to find a position in this fascinating and rewarding field of work.

Marketing Your Nonprofit

Under pressure to increase membership, expand program value, attract media, entice donors, and develop volunteers, all while keeping an eye on the bottom line? In the face of stiff competition, more worthwhile causes, more regulations, more watchdog agencies, and fewer funding opportunities, you need to work smarter, not harder.

This course will show you how to use powerful marketing techniques to compete more effectively for customers, donors, members, and volunteers. You'll also learn how to persuade the media to communicate your organization's message and further its ideals and goals. Before you know it, you'll be ready to improve your market share by learning to evaluate and implement effective promotions, advertising campaigns, and communication techniques. If your organization relies on a diverse mix of fees, events, and/or contributions for support, you're sure to find this information-packed course indispensable.

Writing Effective Grant Proposals

Preparing successful grant proposals to receive funding from corporations or foundations requires careful research, meticulous preparation, and graceful writing. Grant administrators tell us that many grant requestors have no real understanding of the proposal writing process and as a result, their worthy causes lose out. If you learn how to avoid the errors that lead to the rejection of your proposal, you will be better prepared to help the causes you most admire. This course will walk you through all of the essential steps--including an important discussion of what you must do when the grant arrives!

In this course, you'll learn how to become fully familiar with the institution or project for which you are requesting support. You'll get valuable guidance in preparing a background statement and a brief financial statement to support your request. You'll also research some charitable foundation and corporate giving sources. Then, you'll learn how to put everything together so that you can assemble, write, and submit complete grant proposals to foundations, corporations, and wealthy individuals for any number of your pet projects.

Advanced Grant Proposal Writing

Do you know the best way to present information in a grant proposal? In this course, an experienced grantwriter will show you how to research and write winning proposals that get funded. You'll become proficient in the proposal format used by the vast majority of public foundations. Learn what to do--and, more importantly what not to do--on your cover sheet, narrative, background page, and your stakeholder and third-party evaluation plan.

You'll also discover the quickest and most efficient ways to gather the information you'll need to develop your proposal's attachments, including information on your organization's structure, administration, and finances.

And you'll gain a full understanding of the criteria funders use to determine whether your grant proposal gets funded or rejected. You'll become expert at ferreting out corporate, foundation, and government grantmakers, and you'll know how to tailor your responses to information found in the peer review criteria.

Before the course is over, you will have discovered a number of significant finishing touches that can give your project the edge over others. You'll know the best type of paper to use, which buzzwords to include, which fonts work best, which types of graphics to include, and a variety of formatting techniques that will make your proposal more competitive. You'll also learn about the importance of obtaining community and political support before submitting a proposal to any government agency.

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Suite bundles are not eligible for partial drops or refunds. Transfers to other open sessions of the same course are available. Please refer to your school for additional details regarding drops, transfers, and refunds on Suite bundles.