28 participate in Non-Profit Leadership Institute at FMU

By: From local reports | SCNow
Published: September 09, 2009

FLORENCE — Twenty-eight South Carolina residents are participating in the eighth class of the Non-Profit Leadership Institute at Francis Marion University. The participants are from 13 cities and represent 23 different nonprofit organizations.

Among those from the Pee Dee are, from Bennettsville, Elisabeth McNeil of Rural Area Leadership Institute (RALI); from Darlington, Jennifer King of Pee Dee Land Trust, Suzan Orrico of Trinity Collegiate School and Brenda Savage of B&L Homework and Learning Center; from Dillon, Cynthia Hulon of RALI; from Florence: Susan Bankson of Eastern Carolina Community Foundation, Hal Campbell of PEACE Power & Light, Bryan Chapman of Pee Dee Community Fellowship, Steve Cooper of Paladin Training Inc., Francie Dunlap of Friends of the Florence County Library and Daphine Tedder of Manna House; from Hemingway, Jannie Cooper of RALI; from Kingstree, Jeanne Nisley of Springbank Retreat and Robert Welch of Vital Aging of Williamsburg County; and from Gordon Harper of Habitat for Humanity of Marion County and Saundra Tindall of RALI.

Funded initially with multi-year grants from the Drs. Bruce and Lee Foundation, the institute now receives major support from FMU, along with a grant from the PSARAS Foundation. The opening session of the seven-month training program is Friday. Additional sessions are scheduled for Oct. 15-16, Nov. 19-20, Jan. 7-8, Feb. 12, March 19 and April 22-23.

Topics include leadership; program development and delivery; human resource development; engaging board members and volunteers; effective financial resource development and management; programmatic and organizational issues related to data collection and reporting; visibility, including managing external relations; and case studies.

Fred Sheheen, former commissioner and executive director of the S.C. Commission on Higher Education, is director of the FMU institute. A native of Camden, he is a graduate of the Kershaw County public schools, Duke University and the Institute for Education Management at Harvard University. He began his professional career as a journalist and publisher and has served in a variety of positions in state government. He is a senior fellow at the Institute for Public Service and Policy Research at the University of South Carolina.

For more information about the Non-Profit Leadership Institute, contact Elizabeth C. Bonnoitt, Non-Profit Leadership Institute liaison, at (843) 661-1199 or visit the Web site at www.fmunonprofit.org.