In the Fellowship, WE FOCUS ON PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WITH NONPROFITS THROUGH THE SVPSA FELLOWSHIP.

Here is how it started. After several grant cycles, the SVPSA partners recognized our desire for deeper connections with supported nonprofits. At the same time, we identified a need for professional development on nonprofit fundamentals for local leaders. With input from our first Fellowship cohort, we created a curriculum tailored to their needs.

The SVPSA Fellowship covers essential topics for leaders new to nonprofit work, new to their roles, or who are managing small organizations. Since 2019, we work with up to two dozen nonprofit executives in each cohort, who participate in monthly full-day sessions from September to April (excluding December).

To stay relevant, we gather feedback from each session and listen carefully to what the nonprofits are telling us they need. This has been a learning experience both for SVPSA and the Fellows, who report that after the Fellowship, they experienced increased confidence and improved skills in board and financial management, fundraising, grant writing, technology, networking, and data management. These relationships enable us to better support grassroots nonprofits with our time, talent, and resources through SVPSA.