Nonprofit Leaders Get Free Management Training at Northwestern U.

Working as director of digital services at the National Domestic Violence Hotline in early 2014, Brian Pinero was sure he was doing some things right. He had already earned his master’s of social work, was passionate about the Austin, Tex. nonprofit’s mission, and knew how to supervise employees and delegate assignments.

Still, his workload and responsibilities were growing. He was sitting in on increasingly higher-level meetings with grant makers and other stakeholders. He went from having conversations with the CEO to being solicited for opinions and advice.

“I was not speaking up at times I should, and I wasn’t prepared for some conversations,” Mr. Pinero said. “I just didn’t have the lenses I think you need in leadership.”

So when he heard about a new training program for nonprofit leaders at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, he saw an opportunity to gain skills he didn’t learn in traditional graduate school classes and wasn’t picking up in the workplace.

Soon thereafter, Mr. Pinero would apply and be selected for the inaugural cohort of the Allstate Foundation’s Greater Good Nonprofit Leaders Program. Free for participants, the nine-month program includes in-person instruction in Chicago, one-on-one executive coaching, and $5,000 in discretionary money for complementary professional development purposes.

The foundation, the philanthropic arm of the insurance giant, spends $500,000 a year to offer the program, according to Vicky Dinges, senior vice for corporate responsibility at Allstate. The second year is now underway, and applications are currently being accepted for the third, to start in September.

The program is designed for mid-career professionals; ideal candidates should have at least 10 years of professional experience, and at least five in a leadership role. Priority is given to candidates who work at direct-services groups with a budget between $3 million and $10 million. Officials at the corporate grant maker said they will take up to 30 people for the third cohort.

Opportunities Lacking

The idea came about three years ago when Ms. Dinges and her colleagues started researching professional development opportunities in the nonprofit sector. Allstate has long emphasized professional development in its own ranks, and creating similar opportunities in the nonprofit sector was a natural extension of that work, Ms. Dinges said. They found that many nonprofit professionals didn’t have the time to pursue additional training, and what few opportunities did exist were often tailored for senior managers.

The Allstate Foundation chose to partner with Northwestern in part because of its existing coursework in nonprofit leadership development, and because of its proximity to the foundation’s offices in suburban Chicago. One of the biggest successes thus far is the creation of a network among participants who are now able to learn from and support each other, Ms. Dinges said.

In the first year of the program, the foundation solicited applicants from its own grantees, groups like the Center Against Family Violence; Access Living, a Chicago advocacy group for people with disabilities; and the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. Now, nonprofit leaders from any group can apply.

Program officials are also working to create a complementary online course that would help participants share what they learn with colleagues at their own organizations. It’s a first stab at exploring how the Allstate Foundation might scale up the training to impact a larger number of people, and a larger number of nonprofits, Ms. Dinges said.

Allstate’s fund is not the only corporate grant maker looking for ways to bring professional development opportunities to scale. Last year, the American Express Foundation said it would begin offering some of its programming on a new website, Leaderosity.com.

Speaking Up More

For his part, the 38-year-old Mr. Pinero said the Allstate program has changed how he approaches his work.

He used some of the $5,000 in discretionary money that each participant receives to spend three days at the School of WOW, a well-known customer service training center run by online retail giant Zappos. He said that experience has directly influenced how he helps manage the staff at the National Domestic Violence Hotline. He also took a class on how to better communicate in writing.

Now, Mr. Pinero said, he is better at organizing his thoughts and the project updates required by his boss. And thanks to the time spent with his executive coach, he reflects regularly on what he is doing well and what he could improve.

“I’m not afraid to take on things,” Mr. Pinero said. “I feel equipped. Also, I think this has given me confidence to speak up in meetings and speak up on behalf of my organization.”

Perhaps the biggest sign that the program was a success for Mr. Pinero? He was promoted to his current position of chief programs officer at the National Domestic Violence Hotline before he even had the certificate of completion in hand.