Alumni Profiles - Customized Training and Facilitation

Program Helps Nonprofit Director Take Her Passion to Next Level

 

"At first I didn't know if I could or should go to CCL and it was difficult. But, as I took the time to understand who I am as a leader, I was also able to think about who I am as a person and what matters most to me."

- Christine Jolly
AIDS Care Service

Christine Jolly knows to expect the unexpected. As the director of AIDS Care Service, a nonprofit in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Christine routinely plays multiple roles, manages competing priorities and, literally, deals with life and death issues.

"You never know what's going to happen," she says.

"At ACS, we all wear many hats as we try to meet the most pressing needs of people living with HIV/AIDS. As director, I have to be flexible and keep the organization adaptable. Just as in the for-profit world, nonprofits become quickly irrelevant if they don't constantly change."

Some days, change at ACS is focused on the long term: evaluating services, embracing new technology or building new partnerships. Other days, change shows up on the door step.

"Everybody has to be good at crisis management," Christine explains. "When someone walks in our door and needs help, we have to be ready for that.

"The changing economic reality has put additional pressure on small nonprofits, Christine adds. "It's a very challenging time to be a nonprofit leader. You need to arm yourself with as many tools as you can to survive and meet your mission.

"Recognizing the need for nonprofit organizations to gain new tools and ideas for facing their leadership challenges, CCL and the Kate B. Reynolds Foundation offered Leadership Essentials training to Christine and 60 other nonprofit leaders in November 2008.

CCL's Lyndon Rego says the desire to bring leadership knowledge to more people spurred the creation of the Leadership Essentials format several years ago. "We had to ask, 'What are the essentials of what CCL believes and teaches?' Through programs such as Leadership Essentials, CCL is now extending leadership development to social sector organizations that address public health, poverty, microfinance, conflict, orphan care and education in Africa, India and the U.S."

For Christine, CCL's Leadership Essentials program came at the best and worst possible time. Just five weeks before the program, Christine's husband died unexpectedly at the age of 41. "At first I didn't know if I could or should go to CCL and it was difficult. But as I took the time to understand who I am as a leader, I was also able to think about who I am as a person and what matters most to me."

"The CCL program was a gift for me personally and professionally," she adds. "I'm doing what I love to do, and I'm ready to grow and take my passion to the next level."

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