Consortium for Social Enterprise Effectiveness (CSEE) Celebrates Continuing Success, Lauds Alex Miller
A major announcement at the Consortium for Social Enterprise Effectiveness’ 10-year reunion highlighted the boon it has been to area nonprofits. News of a $25 million grant to a group of social service organizations spearheaded by the Alliance for Better Nonprofits (ABN) and United Way of Greater Knoxville was surely a revelation to most attendees.
Former ABN CEO and Knoxville Leadership Foundation President Chris Martin, who made the announcement, attributed much of the credit for the grant to what he and others there learned from Alex Miller, director of the consortium.
The reunion doubled as a surprise retirement party for Miller, Haslam’s William B. Stokely Chair of Business, who, while remaining on the faculty at UT, is stepping down as Pro2Serve Director of the Consortium for Social Enterprise Effectiveness (CSEE). CSEE is his brainchild, and he has been its leader and motivating force.
STUDENTS OF SERVICE
At the reunion, Jimmy Buckner, another member of the consortium’s first class and founder and executive director of the Scarecrow Foundation, said he learned how valuable collaboration is in the course. The foundation organizes dozens of events annually to raise money for food pantries and other organizations that combat food scarcity in America. Because Scarecrow works with multiple organizations each year and its personnel serve solely on a volunteer basis, collaboration is essential to the foundation’s mission. Buckner found CSEE so worthwhile that he has paid for other members of his team to attend the consortium.
“We believe in CSEE, and we value it,” he said. “We are appreciative of and humbled to be part of it.”
Current cohort member Tyler Boldin, CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of East Tennessee, has been so impressed with what he’s gained from the course that he’s referred six potential students.
“Tim and Alex both are willing to give you time outside of the course,” Boldin said. “The mission of Big Brothers Big Sisters is focused on the power of mentorship, and that’s absolutely what this course is.”
CHANGING OF THE GUARD
“Tim” is Tim Munyon, who teaches in the consortium, as does David Gras. Both are faculty in management and entrepreneurship, and they will assume leadership of the consortium after Miller retires. The pair is ready to take the next steps with the consortium.
“We are following Alex’s footsteps and trying to continually innovate and always be entrepreneurial like he teaches us,” Gras said.
Kitty Cornett, program manager for business development in graduate and executive education, has served as Miller’s aide-de-camp for the consortium.
“It’s been an honor to do this because I hear so many great things about the program, so I know we are making an impact,” she said. “We will all miss Alex in the program. It’s a privilege to work with talented and brilliant people at the university, but there is no one like Alex.”
Miller demurred from accolades, instead saying the program would be fine without him—until Cornett leaves—and praising his former students as the real heroes who are making a difference in their communities.
“I believe that so much that I’m writing a book,” Miller said. “The book will summarize my thinking on nonprofits, and I think it should be called ‘Look at all you taught me.’ It will be dedicated to my students: the best teachers I’ve ever had.” —Scott McNutt
Ripples of Influence
Miller conceived of the Alliance for Better Nonprofits (ABN) as a nonprofit assistance organization separate from CSEE during the center’s first cohort. The idea resonated with Martin, a student in that inaugural class. With Miller as chief of business and Martin as CEO, they launched ABN in 2015. Both have since retired from the organization, but ABN, which merged with United Way in late 2021, has served hundreds of nonprofits and thousands of their personnel in its time.
Tiffani Mensch, who is now director of ABN and United Way’s chief capacity building officer, was project director for the grant planning process that won the $25 million dollar grant, which will fund a nonprofit collaborative to serve Knoxville’s most vulnerable populations. Like Martin, Mensch is a CSEE alum, and, like Martin, she attributes this latest success to Miller’s influence.
“The work that we’ve been able to do is truly all because of Alex’s vision and the work that he put in with Chris Martin to get it all started,” Mensch said.
About the Consortium for Social Enterprise Effectiveness
Established in 2012 in Haslam’s Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, CSEE serves as an outreach to regional nonprofit leaders and aspiring leaders to teach business concepts and leadership skills. Classes cover nonprofit leadership, business acumen, and organizational strategy topics. The curriculum addresses problems most often holding nonprofits back, such as funding, metrics and performance, recruiting and retention, and building a high-performance culture. Since its inception, the consortium has trained more than 200 leaders from dozens of regional nonprofits, several of which send more attendees to later classes. The consortium is wholly funded by grants and donations.
For more information about the CSEE program, go to their website at haslam.utk.edu/csee.
