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COMMUNITY
PARTNERSHIPS
Non-Profit
Capacity Building
[1] Background and Purpose
Again, because of the sustained involvement
supported by an intensive developmental model, each campus-based
Bonner Program can offer something unique to community partners
with whom we work. We can offer students who, particularly
as they progress over time, can take on more complex or challenging
types of work. Besides directly serving a population (such
as children, youth, families, homeless individuals, and so
on), the student can be involved in research, fundraising
or garnering resources, project coordination, new program
design, and even strategic planning. In addition, through
connections to coursework, faculty involvement, and support
and work from other divisions and individuals on campus,
Understanding the needs and complexities
of how nonprofits function can give us a broader view of the
myriad roles that students can play. By mapping those needs
and wants against the resources and assets that a campus-based
Bonner Program, academic departments, and others on campus
could play, new ideas about more fully engaging with community
partners emerge. We begin to find ways to enrich our placements
and partnerships.
[2] Benchmarks or Guidelines
- Understand the types of challenges and main tasks that
nonprofits are usually facing. Often in nonprofit management
literature (such as the Peter Drucker Center for Nonprofits,
found at http://www.drucker.org/), these can be grouped
in five main areas:
- Vision & Mission
- Leadership
- Resources
- Outreach
- Products & Services
- Then, do some thinking about the types of work that students,
on-campus staff, and faculty could be doing to serve these
various needs. Think creatively. For example:
- Are there specific faculty with areas of interest
or expertise that could serve the agency’s work
well? Perhaps a connection could be made individually
(e.g., by connecting this person to the organization
as a volunteer, advisor, or board member) or through
a course or academic component.
- Are there specific courses or courses of study (interdisciplinary
programs, innovative institutes) that could be interested
in being involved in a sustained partnership with a
given community or set of agencies?
- Are there students with particular areas of interest
or abilities, especially those that are moving through
later stages of the developmental model, that might
craft their placement or position in such a way to include
more complex tasks and responsibilities?
This table below provides an illustration of how you
might approach this task
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| TYPE OF WORK |
GENERIC DESCRIPTION |
EXAMPLE: Education |
| Vision/Strategy |
· Students involved in
strategic planning, visioning for future work |
· Steering a five-year
strategic plan for the school’s immunization program |
| Fundraising |
· Students involved in
grant writing, financial partnerships |
· Writing a Healthy Start
grant; creating a corporate partnership |
| Research / Writing /Academic
Work |
· Students involved in
community-based research that meets an identified
community need |
· Interviewing families
about health care needs and developing a written
paper |
| Outreach/Public Relations |
· Students involved in
broader community development work |
· Brokering relationships
with other nonprofits for expanding health services
for children |
| Project Coordination |
· Students involved in
managing other volunteers or staff |
· Managing a corps of regular
volunteers |
| New Program Development |
· Students involved in
creating a new program or service |
· Creating a Family Involvement
Program |
| Improving Existing Services |
· Students involved in
expanding or improving a key service area |
· Curriculum development |
| Regular Volunteer Work |
· Students involved in
sustained volunteer activity over a semester |
· Tutoring a child in the
classroom |
| One-time Service Projects |
· Students involved in
short-term service project or meeting a need |
· Playground Build or Family
Fair |
- Use this worksheet as an additional illustration of the
types of projects that students and others on campus could
be involved in. This worksheet was developed by Middlesex
County College’s Bonner Program (Democracy House)
as a way to approach this planning.
- Develop a coordinated list of trainings that staff (and
student leaders and other volunteers) from the various community
partner agencies could offer to each other. Don’t
forget to include your own program’s strengths in
this mix.
[3] Examples of Excellence &
Innovation
One campus that has been direct about articulating this
multi-dimensional model toward community partnerships and
exploring the linkages between student development and capacity
building is Middlesex County College, a two-year college
in New Jersey with an innovative institute called Democracy
House. Democracy House is the home of the Bonner Leader
Program. The attached article by Pat Donahue describes the
approach of Middlesex County College and its relationship
to the Bonner Program model, developed for upcoming publication
of Diversity Digest. Structuring its direct service around
the involvement of the Bonner Leaders (a corps), Democracy
House also makes an effort to understand the internal challenges
(such as staffing and money) and external challenges (such
as climate and policy factors). Then, they work to identify
higher-level projects, CBR courses or research agendas,
and even policy work that the college students and faculty
could be doing. Review the attached power-point slides that
describe how this work comes together and intersects with
the needs of both Bonner and the partner.
[4] Campus Examples and Resources
- Article by Pat Donahue
describing the approach of Middlesex County College and
its relationship to the Bonner Program model
- Integrated
Community Partner Capacity Building Work Example, based
on work by Middlesex County College
- Illustration
of Partner Training Coordination to help you think through
training strategies
- Illustration
of Types of Capacity Building Projects to give you ideas
for various service placement
- [5] Action Steps to Get This Started
- Review theses tools and do an inventory of your own major
(committed) nonprofit partners, their needs and their assets.
- Identify 1-2 partners with whom to pilot this approach.
Those may also be the agencies that you have or are piloting
Project Coordinator positions.
- Share this information with those agencies in writing
and in person. Engage in a dialogue and idea generation.
- Begin to identify 1-2 innovative ways to start.
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