North Penn Nonprofit Academy - More Information

The Academy’s Strategy for Success

To maintain a strong network of colleagues working toward strengthening their capacity to manage effective nonprofit organizations, the Academy relies on frequent two-way communication and extreme responsiveness as an over-arching strategy for success. This program cannot be effective without keen attention paid to 1) what our participants tell us they want/need to learn, 2) what services in addition to workshops the Academy can provide, and 3) how nimble the Academy can be to adapt its workshops and services to accommodate the evolving cadre of nonprofit professionals utilizing our network.

Through the Academy program, we envision, and are beginning to realize, the creation of a learning community of colleagues aimed at increasing the effectiveness of the North Penn health and human service community. When participants attend Academy workshops and events, they gain knowledge about a specific topic related to nonprofit management, they meet and network with other nonprofit leaders with whom they could potentially partner/collaborate, and they gain access to speakers and experts who could serve as guides going forward. Face-to-face contact on a consistent basis (Academy events occur roughly once a month from September through June) proves to be the most effective way to build such a learning community, as we have seen over the past years of the Academy’s existence.

To gauge the effectiveness of our strategy, the Academy uses several methods by which to evaluate the program’s progress. The Academy has utilized SurveyMonkey, a web-based survey tool, to solicit evaluations of each workshop it has offered. In their evaluations, the participants offer specific feedback on the session they just attended, such as whether the information presented offers them useful tools for nonprofit management. Additionally, survey participants are invited to make suggestions for future topics and workshops that would be of interest to them (through an open ended question that appears on all Academy evaluation surveys). Overall satisfaction with Academy events as evidenced in monthly surveys averages 92%, and participants are generous in providing input on future workshop topics according to their current needs and challenges. This evaluation method has proved valuable not only in capturing opinions, but also in gathering needed information about what the Academy’s constituency considers timely and relevant as the next season’s curriculum is being established.

Who Directs the Academy?
Diana Loukedis Doherty, Project Director
215.696.9336
npnonprofitacademy@hotmail.com

Since 2004, Diana Loukedis Doherty has directed the North Penn Nonprofit Academy, working to shape its educational workshops, knowledge-sharing events, and technical assistance opportunities to build the capacity of North Penn’s health and human service nonprofit community. Under Doherty’s direction, the Academy has grown to include hundreds of nonprofit Executives, staff members, and Board members who strive to apply greater professionalism, planning and expertise to the management of their nonprofit businesses. Doherty has also served as a Program Consultant to the Philadelphia Foundation, lending technical assistance to nonprofit organizations applying for Organizational Effectiveness grants from the Foundation. Doherty has served as consultant to various philanthropic and nonprofit institutions in the greater Philadelphia area, including program work for the 1957 Charity Foundation, the Douty Foundation, the Seybert Institution, and management consulting for Delaware Valley Grantmakers. From 2000 to 2003, Doherty was Director of Programs and Member Services for Delaware Valley Grantmakers, shaping the association’s curriculum of professional development workshops and tailoring its knowledge-management services to build the capacity and inform the work of the regional philanthropic community. Doherty’s Arts experience includes positions in the Artistic Department of the Philadelphia Orchestra and as Production Coordinator at SBK Pictures, as well serving as Editor of a documentary film that was a featured selection at the 1999 Philadelphia Film Festival. Doherty has served actively on national committees and Boards, including Board Vice Chair of the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers and on the Membership Committee of the Council on Foundations. She currently serves on the Boards of two philanthropic foundations, as President and Chair, Fellowship Committee, of the Michael Manzella Foundation, a grantmaking public charity based in New York, and as Board Member of Fourjay Foundation, a private family foundation based in Willow Grove, PA. Doherty holds a B.A. from Yale University and a Master’s degree from University of Pennsylvania, with certificates in African-American Studies and Urban Studies.