CNC's journey to 501(c)(3):
Meet the New Board
As you may have learned at our Breakfast with City Leaders event earlier this month, CNC is going for 501(c)(3) status! This will make it easier for us to raise money, among other advantages.
We're delighted to share with you the names of our initial board, nonprofit stars who will guide CNC through this next stage of our development:
(To learn more about each board member, click on their photo on our website here.)
 CNC's mission to create spectacular programing:
Meet Kathy, our new Program Manager
As you also may have learned at the Breakfast with City Leaders, Kathy L. Dalton has joined our team as Program Manager for Membership and Engagement.
In this role she will build the capacity of member nonprofits by increasing access to training, tech assistance, peer support, and further developing member benefits.
About Kathy — With over 30 years in the local nonprofit sector, Kathy previously
Kathy enjoys learning Spanish, getting out into nature, reading, tech, and community activism. She hopes to get back to knitting and maybe even contra dancing. She is deeply connected to Cambridge as both a resident for over 40 years, and having worked and volunteered for, and benefitted from, two dozen of CNC’s member organizations.
Engaging with the community:
Meet Angell, our new intern
Breaking news! (Angell hadn't yet joined our team at the City Leaders event, so you're hearing it here first.)
Angell Nichols has joined CNC as part of Community Charter School of Cambridge's senior internship program.
A senior at CCSC, Angell aspires to major in Civil Engineering next year in college. In high school, she's been part of the ACE Mentoring Program, where she worked with engineers in designing building blueprints. She's also participated in the STEAM Exploration Program, learning about career paths in local STEM-related businesses.
Angell is a Cambridge native who enjoys reading and drawing.
Above: Angell and her CNC mentor Eugenia Schraa met for lunch at Clover.
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🥙🤗 Register now:
In-person ED Lunch, Fri, 3/22
- Where: The Democracy Center, 45 Mt Auburn St (map - Harvard Sq.)
- When: Friday, March 22nd, 12-1:30pm
- Food provided from crowd-favorite Dig
- Register
- About: Executive Director lunches are an opportunity for nonprofit leaders to connect, network, support each other, and share valuable information. They're particularly helpful for those new in their role, new to Cambridge or both.
- This month we'll also discuss a recent article on generation Z nonprofit employees. (see link in Google form)
Thank you to our ED lunch sponsor Berkshire Bank
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Two questions from Kathy —
1. Are you a new Executive Director and interested in a group discussion with other ED's about how CNC can be most helpful to new leaders?
2. We're planning a separate group discussion for emerging leaders to explore how CNC can support nonprofit staff early in their career. Are you early in your nonprofit journey and interested in participating in this discussion or do you have a staff member to recommend?
→ Please email kathy@cambridgenc.org to share your interest.
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Miss our Breakfast with City Leaders on 2/1?
- We sent a recap email with photos and links.
- You can also see highlights on our website.
Above: CNC's Executive Director Elena Sokolow-Kaufman discovers that many nonprofits were indeed in the room at Google on February 1st.
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✨ In case you missed it (We shared this last month):
We've rounded up all the resources we could find on PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Thanks to Tianxin, our Boston College MSW Fellow, we've been able to put together 75+ unique, professional development resources geared toward nonprofit staff and leaders. (It's available on our website, too.)
We created this resource in response to considerable demand for these kinds of resources. Please peruse and let us know any feedback you have.
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💡And speaking of professional development
The City of Cambridge Community Engagement Team (CET) is offering the Making Connections training program, a free, in-person, seven-session outreach and engagement training program that emphasizes core skills necessary to effectively engage community members.
Who: Designed for providers who interact with the public, including school-based family liaisons, public safety personnel, community health workers, public health outreach volunteers, youth advocacy and leadership teams.
Requirements: Participants MUST be able to attend all 7 sessions, which will take place between April 23-May 8.
Application: Due March 22. Learn more and apply here.
For more information contact Lindsay Diaz or Marlees Owayda at CET@cambridgema.gov
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Have a job to fill?
Want a boost for your social posts?
→ CNC will promote members' jobs in this newsletter + your free events/news on social media and beyond.
Let us know what you'd like us to promote by replying to this email.
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Member Spotlight
 Everything you've wanted to know about ✨Charles River Conservancy✨
This exchange is edited for length.
Read the entire Q&A w/ CRC on our blog.
What are your values?
Charles River Conservancy's mission is to make the Charles River and its parks a well-maintained network of natural urban places that invite and engage all in their use and stewardship. In partnership with the state landowner (MassDCR) and other stakeholders, our initiatives seek to protect and enhance the ecology of this natural resource.
What are your ongoing services?
We advance our mission through
- volunteer engagement and stewardship;
- ecological, projects to improve river health;
- advocacy for public access; and
- educational, recreational, and cultural engagements that connect the community to the parks.
And don't forget City Splash — our annual community swim in the Charles River — which celebrates our environmental achievements to date.
Above: CRC hosts kayak tours to the Charles River Floating Wetland for an up-close and personal experience of the floating wetland.
Are there any upcoming projects you'd like us to know about?
We're especially excited about two projects. First, a community-building and public art project at the Lynch Family Skatepark, which we built so that wheeled-athletes can enjoy a place along the Charles.
Second, we installed an artificial island (see above!) to reintroduce native wetland plants in the river, publish academic research findings about its ecological benefits, and engage community members—particularly young people—in conversations about water quality and biodiversity. We work with local public schools to share STEAM activities and lead kayak tours.
You could be next!
Get your nonprofit featured in our newsletter, on social media + our website. Blog post examples here.
We're looking for our next member nonprofit to feature. Email Caroline to get in the queue.
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For nonprofit leaders & staff
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Declining Interest in Nonprofit Leadership (Building Movement Project)
The report highlights a new trend since 2019: a decreased interest in top leadership roles and a simultaneous increase in respondents who said they were not interested in these roles.
The report also shows that, contrary to our hypotheses, respondents who had received more supports were less interested in the executive director role while respondents who faced more challenges in their careers were more likely to pursue top leadership positions. BIPOC respondents more commonly faced these challenges overall, though the trend in aspiration was true for both BIPOC and white survey takers.
These trends suggest a “push” into leadership roles to ameliorate the issues nonprofit staff have experienced, rather than a “pull” into these roles on their merit.
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 Need VOLUNTEERS?
Add your volunteer job to Cambridge Volunteer's curated and well-publicized list of Cambridge opportunities.
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