AROUND THE CENTER:
Mandel Center Hosts National NACC Meeting
The Mandel Center continues to receive opportunities to showcase its new, state-of-the-art facility to the nonprofit community. Last month, the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council (NACC) hosted its spring retreat and meeting at the Center, which is also home to the international headquarters of NACC.
"This is a milestone for a nonprofit center to have its own building," said Amy McClellan, NACC's executive director. When the Mandel Center dedicated its new building last November, it became the first nonprofit academic center to reside in its own, freestanding facility.
NACC is an association of nearly 50 world-wide academic centers at accredited colleges and universities that study the nonprofit sector, volunteerism and philanthropy. The organization supports academic centers devoted to the development of nonprofit management leaders through education, research, and community engagement and involvement.
According to McClellan, the meeting focused on the role that academic centers can play in promoting and conducting research related to the nonprofit sector.
With a "pulse on emerging issues," McClellan explained, "academically-based centers for the study of nonprofits and philanthropy are uniquely situated to both generate and access the latest research and thinking about the nonprofit sector."
During the course of the two-day meeting, NACC members mapped out the kinds of research projects at different institutions and discussed financial resources for research and collaboration opportunities, among other strategies. As a result of this work, NACC will look at ways that it can support the research initiatives of its members, said McClellan.
“I was very pleased to be part of such an extremely productive discussion supported by the excellent physical surroundings,” said Kathy Agard, executive director of the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership at Grand Valley State University and attendee of NACC’s June meeting. “The beautiful, new Mandel Center facility performed masterfully in its technology, comfort and flexibility; an inspiration for all of the attending Centers regarding the maturation of the field.”
J. Patrick Murphy, director of the School of Public Service at DePaul University and treasurer of the NACC Board of Directors, explained that the meeting was especially uplifting because it was a celebration of the service of outgoing chair, Russ Cargo, and because most of the attendees had not seen the new Mandel Center.
“The building added to the uplifted spirits of the group in its design, comfort, beauty, and in the hospitality shown by staff,” Murphy explained.
Ian Bruce traveled to the Mandel Center for the NACC meeting from London City University’s Cass Business School.
“I was really delighted by the way NACC is thinking globally – something that I support, and which was appropriate given the setting of the meeting in the Mandel Center,” said Bruce, Director of the Center for Charity Effectiveness at the University and Secretary of NACC.
