The Center for Healthy Nonprofits is currently accepting applications for a multi-session Survival Series for newer nonprofit Chief Executive Officers and Executive Directors.

Applications for the 2024 series are now closed. 

Paula Van Ness, Director of the Center, will be joined by a roster of experienced nonprofit leaders who will draw upon their collective decades of experience as senior nonprofit leaders. The program will give a cohort of ED/CEOs practical information to not only survive—but to thrive—as extraordinary leaders of successful nonprofits.

The program will kick off in January 2024 and consists of three five-hour sessions in person and three two-hour sessions on Zoom.  Additionally, a one-on-one coaching session is included for each participant.

Facilitated conversations will cover the competencies and key relationships required of nonprofit executives, including tips for effective management of your board and staff, building and maintaining a culture aligned with your mission and values, problem-solving and decision-making, managing change and healthy time management, and cultivating work-life balance.  Each session offers opportunities to network with your counterparts, creating relationships for continued sharing of successes and challenges.

2024 Executive Director/CEO Survival Series (January to June 2024)

Trainers/Coaches Paula Van Ness and Guest Presenters (see details below)
Location: CFSA Campus for Sessions 1, 4, and 6; Zoom for Sessions 2, 3, and 5
Fee: $450 co-pay per participant.  Full and partial scholarships are available.

Tentative Schedule and Topics

Session #1: Thursday, January 18 – CFSA Campus – 9 AM to 2 PM (includes lunch)

  • Overview, introductions, group agreements, Shapes session with Rose Snyder.
  • Four key roles of the nonprofit ED/CEO. How to serve your organization’s operational and strategist analyst, fund development and donor stewardship leader, organizational thought leader, and mission advocate in the community with Aimee Graves and Rose Snyder.

Session #2: Thursday, February 15  – ZOOM – 9 AM to 11 AM

  • Operational issues, financial management, business, and spending plans with Joan Hubele.

Session #3:  Thursday, March 21 – ZOOM – 9 AM to 11 AM

  • ED/CEO self-management, self-care, managing time with Beth Morrison.

Session #4: Thursday, April 18 – CFSA Campus – 9 AM to 2 PM (includes lunch)

  • The Board/CEO Partnerships: How to work effectively in partnership with your board with Beth Morrison and Rose Snyder
  • Effective Boards: Learn about effective board management, meeting facilitation, structure, and more with Beth Morrison and Rose Snyder.

Session #5: Thursday, May 16 – ZOOM – 9 AM to 11 AM

  • Leadership, management, supervision, and teams with Michael McDonald.

Session #6: Thursday, June 20 – CFSA Campus – 9 AM to 2 PM (includes lunch)

  • Organizational and workplace culture with Michael McDonald
  • Wrap-Up Session on a potpourri of topics: Change management, building resilience, conflict resolution, transition management, and career planning advice with Patti Caldwell.
About Our Presenters

Rose Snyder, Consultant/Coach, Coordinator for the Center for Healthy Nonprofits

Rose Snyder is passionate about helping leaders discover their own unique gifts and how to use these gifts to foster a healthy organizational culture. She has her own consulting and coaching practice and works part-time for the Center for Healthy Nonprofits at the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona.

Rose has a master’s degree in organizational management and a bachelor’s degree in education. She is a certified nonprofit consultant through BoardSource and has worked with local and national nonprofit organizations across the country. Rose is one of only a handful in the world trained to conduct Psycho-geometrics® (Shapes) communication sessions and enjoys presenting these transformational workshops for local nonprofits as well as global corporate clients. 

Rose is a credentialed leadership coach through the ICF (International Coaching Federation), certified also in Emotional Intelligence Positive Intelligence, and is currently training with the Maslow Academy to receive her certificate as an Organizational Culture Coach.

Beth Morrison, Consultant/Coach

Beth Morrison has 40 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, having recently left the CEO seat with over 25 years as a CEO. Beth has led organizations, large and small, and is recognized as an accomplished turnaround specialist with vast experience in operational and functional restructuring. In short, Beth has been in the thick of it – merger successes, merger failures, rightsizing, leading through difficult culture shifts, hands-on leadership during the pandemic, and building new buildings and new teams.

Beth’s purpose in her nonprofit consulting work is to enhance the value of the organization she is assisting, working to support struggling or growing organizations to strengthen and better serve their mission.

Beth is a graduate of Central Michigan University and the University of Arizona. She holds certifications in Professional, Positive Psychology and Well-Being Coaching; Interim CEO; Lifecycle Capacity consultant; and Playing Big Facilitator. In her spare time, Beth loves to swim, be in nature, read ALL the books, dabble in writing, bake for others, and spend time with her family.

Aimee Graves, MA, Executive Director, The Haven

Aimee Graves joined The Haven in February 2022. She brings over 15 years of executive-level positions and a career spanning over 30 years in community-based nonprofit organizations that serve people recovering from addiction and mental health disorders. Her experience encompasses a broad range of prevention, early intervention, and treatment services for children, adolescents, adults, and families. Aimee is an alumna of the Survival Skills program.

Joan Hubele, MBA, Founder/Owner, Hubele Accounting and Consulting

Joan Hubele received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Arizona and majored in Finance and Entrepreneurship. She returned to UA and received her Master of Business Administration.

Joan has been in the finance and accounting field for twenty-two years and in the world of nonprofit finance and accounting for the last nine. Previously, she worked for a variety of companies and industries, including big tech, manufacturing, and healthcare. Within the nonprofit field, she has worked with various sizes and types of nonprofits ranging from a very large behavioral health organization all the way to a single-person fundraising organization. Most recently, she served as the CFO of a dynamic mid-sized nonprofit. Currently, Joan is the owner of an accounting firm that specializes in serving small and growing nonprofits.

Michael McDonald, Executive Director, Tucson Audubon

With a master’s degree in international management, Michael McDonald currently serves as the Executive Director of Arizona Land and Water Trust after having served several decades in leadership positions at a handful of Arizona nonprofit and for-profit organizations.

Realizing all the mistakes he’s made along the way in his organizational leadership practice, Michael McDonald is back in school part-time for a master’s degree in social work, learning alongside the next generation of community leaders. To personally rejuvenate, Michael birds, gardens, plays piano, and gets goofy with his granddaughters.

Patti Caldwell, MSW

Pattie Caldwell is a successful, well-respected community leader. Over the past 30 years, she has served in senior leadership and executive positions in not-for-profit organizations, including nearly half of that time as the full-time CEO of 3 different organizations in Tucson.

She currently works as an organizational development consultant and facilitator.  In that role, she has served as the Interim CEO/ED for three organizations during times of leadership transition.

Paula Van Ness, Director for the Center for Healthy Nonprofits

Paula Van Ness is a seasoned nonprofit executive with more than 40 years in CEO/Executive Director positions locally and nationally. Previously, she served in the chief executive position for Family Planning Centers of Greater LA, AIDS Project Los Angeles, National AIDS Fund, National Alliance to End Homelessness, Make-A-Wish America, Starlight Children’s Foundation, and Connecticut Community Foundation.

She has served in leadership roles for several national and local nonprofit boards, including Independent Sector, where she was the treasurer, Gift of Adoption Fund, which she chaired, and SafeParking LA, which she chaired. Currently serves on the board of the Pima Community College Foundation board, where she chairs the audit committee, and her church council, where she chairs the finance committee. She has been certified by BoardSource as a nonprofit board consultant and is a Certified Working Genius Facilitator.

She possesses a master’s degree in organizational development from the University of San Francisco and a BS from The University of Arizona.