Pitt's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs to Launch A Clinic for Regional Nonprofit Organizations

The University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) has launched a clinic whose mission is to assist regional nonprofits in becoming high-performing organizations.

"Throughout the United States, and particularly in western Pennsylvania, the nonprofit sector has grown dramatically in the past three decades," said

Leon L. Haley, Pitt associate professor of public affairs and director of the new Nonprofit Clinic. "Nonprofit organizations are facing numerous issues, such as how to increase accountability, how to be more effective in fund raising, how to improve organizational performance, and how to develop effective leadership and management systems. Many of these organizations do not have the financial means to meet their organizational development and performance enhancement needs. We believe that in many cases GSPIA can provide, through our faculty and students, the help they need through our new Nonprofit Clinic."

Funded in part through a grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh (FHLB), Pitt's Nonprofit Clinic will provide services to qualifying organizations at no cost. Other nonprofit organizations with greater financial resources will be asked to make a nominal contribution to the clinic to cover the costs of providing services.

"The new Nonprofit Clinic is a natural outgrowth of GSPIA's overall commitment to the community and the quality of our nonprofit management program," said

David Y. Miller, GSPIA associate dean and professor of public affairs. In its March 2001 issue, U.S. News and World Report ranked GSPIA's Program in Management of Nonprofit Organizations among the top 10 such programs nationally.

Pitt's Nonprofit Clinic will focus on three main areas: technical assistance and capacity-building, clinical site-based services, and research.

The clinic's Technical Assistance and Capacity-Building Program (TAC) is designed to respond to nonprofit organizations that have identified specific needs related to a self-assessment of their effectiveness, or who require assistance in identifying their organizational needs to enhance their effectiveness and performance. Assistance from the clinic is available in areas such as community needs assessment, grant writing, board development, program evaluation, and information technology.

For nonprofit organizations involved in affordable housing development and community economic development, the clinic is administering within TAC a Building Grant Program (TAC/BGP) to help strengthen community-based nonprofits in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Delaware, the three states serviced by FHLB of Pittsburgh. Grants up to $5000 are available for qualified organizations.

The Clinic Assistance Program (CAP) provides nonprofit organizations with on-site or office-assisted help for specific organizational or management problems. Organizations can contact the clinic for assistance at its Web site. Depending upon the availability of resources, the clinic will assign a faculty member or graduate student with a specific technical competency matching the request.

The clinical services offered through CAP are similar to that provided by TAC, but are available to any nonprofit organization. On-site services will be of short duration, generally not exceeding a week. Where clinical services do not require on-site visits, clinical staff will use the program's Web-based directory of support information to identify Internet linkages or provide specific printed information available in the clinic's information library.

An applied research program is available to support the clinic's technical assistance, capacity-building, and clinical programs. The research program provides information to help nonprofit organizations become more effective in areas of management, program development, service delivery, and evaluation by compiling and synthesizing existing data or by engaging in specific projects where there is a need to generate more timely or need-specific research.

For more information about GSPIA's Nonprofit Clinic and its available services and grants, call 412/648-7564 or e-mail gspianpc@pitt.edu.