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Highlights from Susan Kenny Stevens' 2008 Workshop
The Community Foundation of Herkimer & Oneida Counties, Inc. and the United Way of the Valley and Greater Utica area hosted a nonprofit workshop with Dr. Susan Kenny Stevens on October 21. The workshop was open to all nonprofits, and 22 organizations were represented. Stevens spoke about the lifecycle of nonprofits and helped attendees understand the unique challenges and opportunities organizations face at different points of organizational development, and how to creatively and effectively navigate their individual situations. Pictured, from left, are Phil Hayne, Executive Director of the United Way, Susan Kenny Stevens, PhD. and Peggy O’Shea, President and CEO of The Community Foundation.
Susan Kenny Stevens’ Nonprofit Lifecycles: Stage-based Wisdom for Nonprofit Capacity describes the seven nonprofit lifecycle stages and the predictable challenges that organizations face in each cycle. By understanding these cycles, organizations can more readily see how the issues they are facing can be addressed.
Many books and consultants look at one-size-fits-all solutions to problems, yet Ms. Kenny Stevens stresses that the preferred solutions may be very different depending on where the organization falls in the stages of its lifecycle.
Click here to see a PDF of Dr. Kenny Steven's presentation.
Representatives from 22 organizations attended the October 21 workshop.
Participants said:
“It gave me a new prospective for handling new programs or acquisitions.”
“Completely applicable on a practical level and very timely for our organization.”
“I am a new, first time ED and hopefully what I have learned has opened my eyes for what may be in store for me.”
“It certainly made me step back and look at where my board is and how together we can improve.”
“Not just theoretical, is practical and can be used during strategic planning, succession planning.”
“The seminar was excellent. It provided a way to communicate about critical issues facing our organization in a
nonjudgmental manner.”
Copies of Susan Kenny Stevens’ latest book Nonprofit Lifecycles are available from the Jervis Public Library in Rome or the Utica
Public Library. If you are interested in obtaining a copy of the book for your permanent reference, please contact The Community
Foundation.
About Susan Kenny Stevens
Susan Kenny Stevens is a nationally recognized consultant and advisor to many local and national foundations. Over the past twenty-five years, she has written extensively on financial and management issues pertaining to philanthropy and the not-for-profit sector including five books, several journal articles and a variety of case studies used in university-based not-for-profit management courses throughout the United States.
Stevens’ award winning book, Nonprofit Lifecycles: Stage-based Wisdom for Nonprofit Capacity, was published in 2001 and won the 2002 Terry McAdam Book Award sponsored by the Nonprofit Alliance, New York Community Trust and Chronicle on Philanthropy. Now out in its second edition, this book has sold more than 10,000 copies and serves as the cornerstone for many capacity-building programs across the nation, including the ADVANS Program in Syracuse.
Her books and case studies are used throughout the country by nonprofit managers, foundations, evaluators and academics to strengthen their understanding of nonprofit dynamics. In addition to Nonprofit Lifecycles: Stage-based Wisdom for Nonprofit Capacity, she is also the author of All the way to the Bank, Investing in Capacity, and Budgeting Way to Financial Stability.
Dr. Stevens holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior. Her doctoral dissertation examined the entrepreneurial behavior of nonprofit founders.
She and her husband Pat have two adult sons and reside in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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