For over a decade, the Consortium for Social Enterprise Effectiveness (CSEE) has empowered nonprofit leaders. This 10-month certificate program, housed in the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Haslam College of Business helps participants hone and enhance their leadership and business skills through world-class instruction over four on-campus weekend residency periods.
The CSEE also alerts its participants to the opportunity to apply for grants through Haslam’s undergraduate course, ENT 410S: Leadership in Nonprofits and Social Entrepreneurship. With support from ENT 410S undergraduate students, CSEE participants learn about grant opportunities to fund specific projects.
Kelley Williams, executive director at Lakeway CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) in Morristown and Sevierville, Tennessee, and Maggie McNally, executive director at Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center of the Smokies in Sevierville and Rutledge, Tennessee, are among the hundreds of nonprofit leaders who have gone through CSEE. They participated in the 2022 CSEE program, applying what they learned and collaborating to benefit their organizations via grant applications and funding.
Advocating for Children and Raising Awareness
Child advocacy centers work on behalf of child victims of severe abuse and are in each of Tennessee’s judicial districts. Safe Harbor Child Advocacy Center serves the state’s 4th judicial district and acts as the coordinator for a multidisciplinary team responding to child abuse allegations, from the start of the investigation until the end of the case.
CASA is a national program with offices in most regions of the United States. Lakeway CASA operates in Grainger, Hamblen, Jefferson and Sevier counties. They recruit, train and support community members to serve as advocates in the court system for abused and neglected children. Lakeway CASA works with agency partners to ensure these children receive all the resources they need, including therapy, assistance with school and more.
While both organizations’ missions are important, straight talk about child abuse makes people uneasy, which means publicizing these organizations’ work is difficult. Yet, public awareness is essential, because community members need to understand that child abuse can occur anywhere.[1]
Williams
“One of our biggest challenges is marketing a subject that is not comfortable for many in our public to hear or to understand that it happens — even in their neighborhoods,” Williams says.
Students Making a Difference
The two CSEE alumni decided to collaborate on a grant proposal to fund a marketing campaign aimed at raising awareness of child abuse and educating the community on recognizing warning signs. It would also demonstrate that organizations like Lakeway CASA and Safe Harbor are needed to combat the scourge of child abuse.
To secure funding for their public awareness project, McNally and Williams collaborated with students in the ENT 410S course, led by CSEE-affiliated faculty. In this class, students explore the challenges faced by nonprofits and learn tools and concepts to overcome these obstacles. They then apply their knowledge to evaluate proposals from regional nonprofits, awarding funds to those they deem most deserving.
McNally
McNally found the students in the class to be committed to the integrity of the evaluation process. “They came to Sevierville for a tour of our center,” she says. “Coming and seeing what we do, it presents the picture so much better than just talking about it.”
Williams was impressed by the thorough process the students employed. “They made sure they were vetting the proper organizations to receive this money,” she says. “I had several meetings with them, and they had probing questions. It’s a wonderful experience for the students. It’s a great project for a class like this, who are the future nonprofit leaders or foundation leaders that are going to be the givers down the road.”
Kitty Cornett, program manager for business development in graduate and executive education who coordinates CSEE activities, called the partnering that occurs through the program, such as with Williams and McNally, a reward for the faculty and staff involved in CSEE.
“We love to see these collaborations where nonprofit leaders team up to get more bang for their buck,” she said. “It validates our mission.”
Benefits Beyond Funding
McNally and Williams found going through the CSEE program beneficial beyond receiving funding. Williams highlighted that she gained practical tools she could immediately apply with her staff and board. She also found the networking opportunities to be highly advantageous.
“The connections you make in the class professionally are lifelong and can help in all sorts of ways,” she said. “There are case studies and opportunities to see how your program’s mission might overlap with others’.”
McNally called CSEE’s networking, faculty and course materials “absolutely phenomenal” while praising its compact timeframe.
“It’s very doable — it’s something that you can fit within your schedule,” she said. “Plus, your return on investment is huge. One of my fellow classmates now works here for me — just another great example of networking.”
Citing severe job fatigue among professionals in positions like hers, McNally added that the program renewed her zeal for her work.
“Burnout in this role is so high, but CSEE stokes the fire again,” she explains. “Being surrounded by like-minded people that have the same challenges you do makes you say, ‘Oh, yeah, we are doing heavy work. We need to appreciate ourselves, then get some new, fresh perspectives and come up with new ideas.’”
For more information on the CSEE program or Learning Though Giving, please contact Cornett at kpcornett@utk.edu
CONTACT
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Scott McNutt, business writer/publicist, rmcnutt4@utk.edu
[1] A recent study co-authored by Matthew Harris, Haslam’s Boyd Distinguished Professor of Health Economics, estimates the economic impact of substantiated claims of child abuse and neglect in Tennessee to be between $3.33 and $4.97 billion per year.
