By Debora Flora
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – “What’s your minor?” is not the most-asked question of college students. People show interest in their majors as indicators of future careers.
The value of minors, or secondary fields of study, is debated in magazine stories and internet chat rooms. Students choose them to complement their majors, as reflections of personal interests or to obtain a broader world view.
One minor option within Youngstown State University’s Williamson College of Business Administration is drawing students from across the campus as they gain experience in volunteering, fundraising, philanthropy and community leadership. Some are making connections and starting their careers here. It is a major deal in a region that has prioritized talent retention to fill current and future job openings.
The Center for Nonprofit Leadership is preparing students for careers in which they can make a living while making a difference, says Laura J. Dewberry, its director since 2009. Dewberry is also a senior lecturer in the Department of Management & Marketing.
Students may opt for a certificate (11 semester hours) or minor (14-15 hours) in nonprofit leadership. Obtaining either “signals that someone is community minded,” Dewberry said. The Center for Nonprofit Leadership attracts business majors and students in social work, communications, English and general studies, she noted.
Even grass-roots, volunteer-dependent nonprofits are businesses, Dewberry stressed. Ohio’s top jobs by training level, as tracked by the state Department of Job and Family Services, include positions within nonprofits – mental health and substance abuse counselors, medical and health services managers, financial managers and educational and career counselors, and more.
Dewberry is fond of “that light bulb moment when a student realizes that they can get paid, and well, to create social change and do mission-driven work in their field,” she said.
The Center for Nonprofit Leadership was launched in 2003. Dewberry says she has added “a lot of experiential learning” in the past 16 years. She was inspired to do so by her own college experience.
While a student at John Carroll University in 2003, faculty and alumni connections helped her to attain an internship with the fundraising arm of the Diocese of Cleveland. Doors opened from there.
Her first job after college was at West Side Ecumenical Ministry in Cleveland, a social service agency in need of fundraising to support its programs. She returned to the Diocese of Cleveland in a full-time fundraising role and began her MBA studies at Cleveland State University. She then worked at Playhouse Square in downtown Cleveland, where she organized a major fundraising event aimed at young, professional donors.
Dewberry’s viewpoint of fundraising changed from apprehension of being rejected to enthusiasm. Fundraising “is the conduit between an organization that needs funds to create social change and a person who wants change,” she said. “People want to give. They want to make a difference.”
Upon arriving at YSU, Dewberry was determined to build on the model of mentorship and matchmaking that benefited her.
“I couldn’t have done it without Betty Jo,” Dewberry said. She was referring to Betty Jo Licata, dean emeritus of YSU’s business college, who hired, coached and continues to mentor her. “She invested a lot of time in me – a lot.”
The seven-week Nonprofit Leadership class is a “community engaged course,” Dewberry said. Students agree to complete 10 hours of volunteer work at a nonprofit “to feel the mission of an organization,” she added. Students can review the Penguin Pulse database for volunteer options, or she will consult with them if they have special requests.
Every other year since 2011, the Nonprofit Leadership Summer Fellowship Program has placed up to 12 students in nonprofit settings for 300 to 480 hours. Students gain work experience and earn paychecks while helping the nonprofits build organizational capacity. When a student expresses interest in a particular mission, Dewberry will reach out to affiliated entities. “I do a lot of informal matches like that. I do not even consider that work,” she said. The Raymond John Wean Foundation has sponsored these internships.
Pay It Forward: Student Philanthropy Initiative incorporates fundraising and giving. With seed money from the Community Campus Coalition and student-led fundraisers, student participants review applications and make an annual $3,000 award toward alleviating childhood poverty, food deserts, literacy and education or workforce development. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul Northeast Ohio District Council was the recipient this year. The next Pay It Forward fundraiser will be during Youngstown CityScape’s winter holiday greenery sale. Students will work as volunteers, and Cityscape will share sale proceeds, Dewberry said.
Dewberry is proud to serve on local boards, and often alongside her former students. “When a student becomes a colleague, that’s the best,” she said. Matching more former students with board service is her latest goal, and one that further strengthens their community ties. This, too, is a major deal.