Health & Human Services, Enrichment, and Business and Management Enrichment Health and Human Services Business & Management

Certificate Program in the Fundamentals of Nonprofit Supervision

Nonprofit organizations are founded and run by people with a genuine passion for their mission - whether it's health and human services, the environment, or the arts. As a result, nonprofits are blessed with employees who are highly motivated and deeply committed to their cause. Excellent direct staff are often promoted to supervisory positions because they are technically skilled, yet supervision requires its own distinct skill set to successfully negotiate the challenges of the supervisor's role and fulfill the promise of the individual and the organization.

In this certificate program, participants will be introduced to the fundamentals of good supervision and develop skills necessary to excel on the job. Because instructors and participants come from a spectrum of nonprofit organizations, what may be seen as challenges specific to nonprofit culture will be addressed within the context of classroom discussions. And, since many of these jobs are stressful, stress management practices will be incorporated throughout the program.

The program consists of 5 required courses held over 5 days.

Required Courses (30 hours)

  • The Challenging Role of Nonprofit Supervisor
  • Human Resource Basics: Giving Feedback / Performance Management
  • Communication: Up, Down and Sideways
  • Human Resource Basics: Interviewing and Selecting Employees / HR Legal Issues
  • Understanding and Managing Conflict

Target Audience: new or aspiring nonprofit supervisors; experienced supervisors looking for a refresher; supervisors new to the nonprofit world

Kathleen Carnes, M.S. is currently Director of the Staff Education and Training Unit for the Department of Health and Human Services and has extensive experience in both direct service delivery and training. She presents a wide variety of programs and is certified to teach several special programs including Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Parent Effectiveness Training and Ethical Fitness Seminars (Institute for Global Ethics).

Susan Knapp has over 25 years of experience as a manager, much of it in nonprofit organizations, serving as director of human resources and as director of training. She has provided training for Fortune 500 companies, universities, goverment agencies, and hospitals including AT&T, Air Products, Indiana University, Purdue University, the United States Air Force, and Lehigh Valley Hospital. She received her Six Sigma Black Belt training through Acuity and the Ohio State University.


5 Tuesdays, October 6-December 1, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Registration has ended. Please browse courses for future offerings of this course.

$625 (35 contact hours/ 3.5 CEUs)