Exciting Times for YNPN Detroit

Every once in a while, I get a chance to lift my head up from the daily grind and take a good look at what is going on around me. This weekend gave me one of those opportunities, and I realized how much progress our YNPN chapter has made in recent months.

Membership and Engagement

Since the beginning of the calendar year, we have had 46 new members join the chapter! This brings our official membership to 120 young professionals, who are employed at 70 nonprofit organizations across the region. Of course, we touch a lot more people than this; we currently have 235 email addresses on our list serve. These numbers continue to grow every day. It is clear a movement is underway in Southeast Michigan!

Our monthly happy hours have grown tremendously, from just a small handful of folks attending to more than 30 professionals gathering together at the Detroit Beer Company last week! What excites me more than the attendance, though, is how many participants build on these connections after the event, and also look for opportunities to recruit friends and colleagues to YNPN Detroit. Having the chance to connect with you all has been tremendous, and we’ve learned so much more about the great work being done by young nonprofit professionals throughout the city. Thank you!

We have also strengthened our efforts to connect members over LinkedIn by ensuring everyone who completes a membership form gets invited. This has been a great way to learn more about the variety of skills and expertise that is encompassed within our chapter.

Partnerships & Collaboration

YNPN Detroit has reached out to area nonprofit capacity-building organizations like Nonprofit Enterprise at Work (NEW) and Michigan Nonprofit Association (MNA) in order to help create bridges between our members and these organization’s high-quality professional development and networking opportunities. Check out our events page for more information about upcoming workshops and conferences.

YNPN Detroit has also partnered with the nonprofit management programs at several area universities so that their students are easily able to hook into the chapter’s network. Where appropriate, these schools have also opened their doors to YNPN Detroit members for their special events.

Resources and more

We have revamped the resources page of our website to make it a one-stop shop for young nonprofit professionals seeking more information about the sector. From organizational management to fundraising to job searching in the nonprofit sector, we’ve tried to make sure the information you need is just a click away.

We have made an effort to ensure the job postings page on the website is updated at least weekly. There have been a ton of employment opportunities lately, so be sure to check it out.

We have been tweeting like crazy, sharing news and articles on every element of social change, from nonprofit board governance to social enterprise. We’ve also developed a list of YNPN Detroit members on twitter, so that it’s easy to see what is top-of-mind for folks in the chapter.

Board Leadership

We have invited chapter members to join the Board and help shape the future of the chapter. The applications we have seen come in already have been nothing short of outstanding, and personally I can’t wait to see what these new board members will do to bring the chapter to the next level!

The Young Nonprofit Professionals Network will be hosting its conference in Grand Rapids at the end of the month, and our Board’s session proposal about Becoming a Learning Organization was accepted! At the conference, you’ll get a chance to hear from several of our members about the amazing work they do on the ground to use data and evaluation to increase the impact of their work. What a great opportunity to lift up the great work of area nonprofits!

These are indeed exciting times for the chapter, but we know that our network is only as strong as the members who choose to engage with it. Thank you for investing your time in us. We are doing everything we can to ensure you get the maximum benefit for your efforts!

And, if you haven’t taken the time to complete our membership form yet, please take two minutes to do it now – it is free, and the information you provide will help us better meet your needs! Thanks. 🙂