Public Allies Arizona’s 13th class will graduate in June, the completion of a 10-month AmeriCorps program that places emerging young leaders at local nonprofits for full-time paid apprenticeships. (Find out how you can get involved as an Ally or a Partner Organization.) In this post, which appeared in condensed form at PublicAllies.org, meet Class 13 Ally Iyamidé May  , who was placed at Experience Matters .

What were you doing before you enrolled in Public Allies? What drew you to Public Allies?

Before Public Allies I was working as a program manager for an environmental & infrastructure company in the disaster management sector.

What drew me to Public Allies was that it was an answer to a prayer; my life had been centralized around pursuing more, doing more, being more--all related to being “successful”- well at least my perceived ideas of what success looked like by societal standards. I reached a pinnacle point in my life, where I felt empty in the midst of being busy and full of tasks. I was yearning for something that could cause me to grow into more of a servant leader, to be selfless, to pour out the love that overflows from within my…

Unlike for-profits, nonprofits must do more with less. With limited people and financial resources, leaders of nonprofit organizations must execute strong management styles that develop the talent of their teams, foster healthy working environments and encourage retention of valuable employees. While the definition of a high-performing team varies based on outcomes desired, subsector and performance metrics, they typically embody five key characteristics: “a shared, meaningful, and clearly understood purpose or vision, requisite talent to be successful in accomplishing the purpose, interdependent team members, accountability and support among team members and a high level of mutual trust among all team members.” 

There are no shortcuts to cultivating such teams, but best practices involve hiring with intention, motivating performance and retaining top talent. In an article for the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Monisha Kapila says, “The nonprofit sector is known for underinvesting in talent. From low compensation to lack of training, the pursuit of minimal overhead has resulted in anemic spending on human capital.”

Budgetary constraints shaped by charity watchdog organizations also impose limits that encourage decreasing…

Public Allies Arizona’s 13th class will graduate in June, the completion of a 10-month AmeriCorps program that places emerging young leaders at local nonprofits for full-time paid apprenticeships. (Find out how you can get involved as an Ally or a Partner Organization.) In this post, which appeared in condensed form at PublicAllies.org, meet Class 13 Ally Channtal Polanco, who was placed at Opportunities for Youth.

What were you doing before you enrolled in Public Allies? What drew you to Public Allies?

Prior to Public Allies I was a first-generation college student pursuing my Associate of Arts (AA) degree at Phoenix College, working part-time with the City of Phoenix Head Start and being a mother to my wonderful child.

What drew me to Public Allies were many things, one being that I’ve had the opportunity to meet alums who spoke highly of Public Allies Arizona. I have known about Public Allies for quite some years but was, in a way, hesitant to make the commitment knowing I had a child to support and all the unknowns that may have come with Public Allies. After a while working in my community and serving, I yearned to continue to grow and be…

Peer-to-peer fundraising events started nearly 50 years ago with events such as the March of Dimes’ fundraiser that has come to be known as March for Babies. Over time, the field of peer-to-peer fundraising events grew and developed.

A wave of walk events was followed by 5Ks, cycling events and many other types of events to raise funds from a network of peers.

But are these events’ best days behind them? The Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Thirty shares that the top 30 events across the nation have been on an overall steady decline, though not all events in the top 30 have seen a decline.

This idea of decline can make it seem as though peer-to-peer fundraising is no longer effective, though this type of fundraising continues to bring benefit to nonprofits. 

Peer-to-peer fundraising represents an important way to grow awareness, constituent base and to raise funds for a nonprofit. Though events can be a costly way of fundraising, they continue to raise valuable awareness and bring new people to the organization, which can be difficult to measure with a dollar value. In order to get the benefit out of peer-to-peer fundraising that still exists, nonprofits must stay up to date with the times and on top of the trends. This means putting detailed plans into place on how to manage the…

Prior to the ASU Lodestar Center’s American Express Leadership Academy, I was somewhat of an education junkie. With the ability to take classes online from some of the most prominent institutions in the world, I was enrolled in tons of classes and getting a lot of great education. But I greatly missed the human element and learned quickly that you can’t replace face-to-face interaction.

Learning from others is ingrained in our DNA and is nothing short of crucial. Research from Harvard Business Review shows that learning happens best when learners collaborate and help one another. And yet, according to an April 2019 HBR study titled, Educating the Next Generation of Leaders, “the most difficult skills to teach, measure, or even articulate are leading, communicating, relating, and energizing groups,” all of which require collaborative learning environments, individual coaching and personalized learning plans.

When I started the program with American Express Leadership Academy, I was not sure what to expect, but our first day single-handedly set the tone for the incredible 10 months ahead. We started by diving into our individual Emergenetics profiles with expert and incredible leadership coach Dr. Kevin Patterson. This tool allowed me to better identify my natural strengths…