The seven area nonprofits chosen to participate in the Nonprofit Clinic at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs were recently announced by the Johnson Institute for Responsible Leadership.
A capstone course offered each spring in which advanced graduate students provide four months of free consulting services to Pittsburgh-area nonprofits, the Nonprofit Clinic has provided over $1 million worth of professional consulting services to more than150 local organizations since its foundation in 2011. Students are supported by faculty, nonprofit professional coaches, and organizational leadership to provide the highest quality coaching and solve problems outlined by the organization during their application.
“The Nonprofit Clinic seeks to enhance the organizational capacity of nonprofits here in our region while also building the next generation of nonprofit leaders in our students,” shared Associate Professor of Practice and Johnson Institute Director Julia Santucci in a YouTube video released last year highlighting the program. “Organizations often come back to us for more work, showing repeat customers are happy with our services, and many of our students have gone on to find employment in the organizations that they served, showing that we really are meeting that objective of building the next generation of leaders for our region.”
One repeat customer is this year’s partner, Auberle. A holistic human service nonprofit serving individuals of all ages in the Pittsburgh region, Auberle offers programming in the areas of workforce development, housing, young adult services, foster care, and behavioral health. This spring, students will be consulting on a project designed to reduce the routine administrative load on the organization’s human resources team, implementing a chatbot solution to provide employees with easy, self-service, access to human resource-related information.
“We don’t just put their work up on the shelf and say ‘thanks for your semester-long project,’” said Director of the Auberle Employment Institute Abby Wolensky. “There are still marketing tools, surveys, HR projects around hiring and retention and leadership development that GSPIA students and nonprofit clinic students have developed for us over the years that have truly made an impact.”
Wolenksy is also a prime example of the Nonprofit Clinic’s second stated purpose, sharing that she found her way to Auberle as a Master of Public Administration student at Pitt and participant in the program.
“I was a participant in the Johnson Institute… [and] the Nonprofit Clinic and I met Auberle through those opportunities. Without the ability to understand Auberle as an organization, to serve on the board as a student, do a project with Auberle thorugh the Nonprofit Clinic, I would not be where I am today.”
“The Nonprofit Clinic is such a perfect example of how we can, as a University and as a School of Public and International Affairs, be engaged with communities,” shared Dean Carissa Slotterback. “Community engagement is one of the key priorities that we have for School and the Clinic allows us to live into that in such a significant way… As we think about our role as a graduate school that’s preparing future practitioners, one of the most important things that we do is allow students to apply their knowledge and their skills to real-world challenges and problems.”
A full list of this year’s participants and their proposed projects can be found below. Final deliverables will be presented in late April, with applications for next year’s partner organizations expected to open in mid-October.
- ARC Manor is seeking assistance to update its employee handbook, policies, and onboarding documents and processes and create an employee dashboard incorporating these resources.
- Auberle wants to reduce the routine administrative load on its Human Resource team by implementing an out-of-the-box chatbot solution to provide employees with easy, self-service access to human resource-related information.
- Riverview Community Action Corporation is seeking student support to conceptualize a clear, overall strategy for gathering and analyzing data as part of its strategic planning process.
- Pennsylvania Environmental Council is exploring how it should be thinking about AI use.
- NHCO (North Hills Community Outreach) is seeking assistance with data analysis to better understand giving trends.
- Southwest PA Agency on Aging would like to conduct an industry/ market analysis to determine current trends in aging services, identify new potential partners, and diversify funding streams.
- Rankin Christian Center wants to develop better tools to help identify impact on the youth it serves.