Published March 31, 2020
Generously Speaking interview series shared from Capital Development Services
Allan Burrows and Clare Jordan interview Jeanne Tedrow, President & CEO of the North Carolina Center for Nonprofits
Episode Notes:
- Importance of public policy at this time: Nonprofit Policy Matters email alerts from David Heinen – now available beyond only Center members
- Advice to be: timely, relevant, mindful – sharing curated information on COVID-19 Resources page
- Consider what is necessary today (in this response phase), then recovery, and then rebuilding to follow
- What staff leaders need from board leaders at this time: transparency, support, call on leaders for help when needed
- Board as champions, ambassadors – have resources and can activate and ask for resources
- Board members are working from home, too, and want to be accessible and useful
- Help with problem-solving, especially re: finances
- Increased transparency = increased engagement
- Funders and foundations are offering greater flexibility and understanding at this time
- Volunteerism has changed from hands-on to virtual, especially professional-level volunteers
- Generosity example: the way people in the sector provide caring for others, especially human service providers who immediately connected by email in this crisis to put together a feeding program, "the soul of the nonprofit sector"
- Concern for nonprofits: as small businesses, nonprofits could be severely financially damaged – need support of philanthropic community in public and private support, recognizing importance of the role of the nonprofit sector
- Opportunities for collaboration and back-office support – more to be seen as crisis evolves
- Concern for inequities in access to capital and resources – need to further address
- Process: Respond - Recover - Rebuild
- Communications for the nonprofit sector: "think tank" forming to strengthen role of the nonprofit sector around access to communications
Jeanne Canina Tedrow became president & CEO of the North Carolina Center for Nonprofits on August 1, 2018. Prior to joining the Center, she co-founded the Passage Home Community Development Corporation in 1991. Through her 25 years of continuous leadership there, Passage Home grew from an organization helping a couple of families a year to one that serves over a thousand individuals leveraging $3.8 million of housing and support services annually in Wake County. She has served on boards and committees past and present, including the NC Martin Luther King Resource Center and Celebration Committee, Southeast Raleigh Assembly, NC Community Development Initiative, Solidarity Capital Group, NC Housing Finance Agency Housing Partnership, Justice Theater Project, Affordable Housing Task Force, Garner Road Redevelopment Committee and more recently, the Raleigh Area Land Trust (RALT) and National Council of Nonprofits.
She's been recognized with the Neighborhood Hero Award, "Pro Ecclesia Et Pontifices" bestowed and blessed by the Pope in the 2000 Jubilee Year, Triangle Business Leader Woman Extraordinaire Award, NC Black Women's Empowerment Award for Community Partnerships, Triangle Business Journal 2017 Women in Business Award, and was named a 2015 Goodmon Fellow.
She has completed the National Development Council and UNC School of Government's community development programs, NCSU Executive Coaching certification program, Grinnell Leadership Program, and Harvard Business School Executive Education. She earned a BA in urban and community development from the University of Massachusetts, and MA in public policy from Duke University as a Z. Smith Reynolds Fellow.
Raised in Boston, Jeanne has participated in a mission trip to Guatemala and has traveled to the Caribbean and Europe including Italy, England, Scotland, Copenhagen, and Sweden. As part of a ZSR sabbatical, she traveled with her family throughout Italy and to the small village in Calabria from which her grandparents migrated. She has been married for 41 years, has two adult children, and has been godmother and mentor to a few. She enjoys walks on the beach with her dog, playing golf, reading, writing, and sometimes yard and garden work.