Lee Barnes Memorial Scholarship for Non-Profit Leaders

For each of the past 20 years, the Harvard Business School Club of Connecticut Community Partners has invited applications and granted scholarships to Connecticut nonprofit leaders to attend the Harvard Business School’s Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management executive education program (SPNM). Click this LINK to learn more about SPNM.

Some 29 of our State’s recognized best nonprofit leaders have attended this program and unanimously report that SPNM was the most “outstanding executive education experience of their entire careers”. The SPNM program is an intensive 6-day program taught by the Harvard Business School faculty. Over 150 nonprofit leaders from around the world, representing a wide range of nonprofit sectors, make up the student body.

In 2021, we renamed our scholarship to honor Lee Barnes, one of the most significant contributors to the success of Community Partners. During the 16 years Lee worked with us, he volunteered on 42% of our projects and 53% of our volunteers worked on at least one project with him.

We invite scholarship applications for the 2024 SPNM program. They are due by March 31 2024. A fill-in application can be downloaded by clicking below on “Application”. Please complete the application and then email it to  [email protected].  Be sure to get a confirmation from us of receipt.  Feel free to contact  [email protected] with any questions and/or to introduce yourself.

There are only 2 prerequisites:
• Applicants must have served as Executive Director or Chief Executive Officer of their organization for at least 1 year, and have at least 10 years of professional experience.
• Their organization must be of significant scale and complexity, generally an annual budget in excess of $1 Million.

Robert Whitby Turbo Award

The purpose of the Robert Whitby Turbo Award is to motivate nonprofits to consider how they could use an extra $20,000 to become better at what they do for their constituencies. Funds can be used either to improve an existing program, to launch a new initiative, or to enhance overall organizational effectiveness. Although only one winner will be selected, we hope the thought process will act as a catalyst that will ultimately result in the implementation of many good ideas.
Eligibility:

We plan to make our next award in 2024, and will invite applications in early 2024.

The Turbo Award is open to all legally-designated 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations operating in the State of Connecticut that meet the following criteria:

The organization must provide programs or services to benefit the residents of Connecticut. Chapters or subsidiaries of national or international organizations may apply so long as the specific proposal addresses work to be undertaken within the state, using local staff and serving local communities. Nonprofits that are simply headquartered in Connecticut are not eligible.
The organization must have a full-time Executive Director (or equivalent), at least two additional full-time staff members, and a fully constituted and engaged Board of Directors.
The organization must have been in existence at least three years, have an established track record of service in Connecticut, and have broad-based support as evidenced, for example, by a balanced mix of public and private funding.
The organization may work in any field of endeavor (e.g., social services, health, arts, education, environment, etc.)
Faith-based organizations may not apply unless they can demonstrate that their mission is not primarily religious, that the clients they serve are not selected on the basis of religious affiliation, and that their clients are not subjected to proselytizing in order to receive services.
Political organizations or those affiliated with political causes may not apply.