The Triangle Nonprofit & Volunteer Leadership Center

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Training Descriptions – The Triangle Nonprofit & Volunteer Leadership Center

Training Information

Read below to check out descriptions and register for all of our upcoming trainings!

January Nonprofit Training

Built to Bend: Designing Resilient Nonprofits

Session Description
Nonprofit leaders are often told to be more resilient, when what they actually need are organizations that can hold under pressure. In this session, Suzanne Smith reframes resilience as a design challenge, not a personal one. Drawing on her Nonprofit Flywheel framework and proven best practices from the field, she shares practical, research-informed tools leaders can apply immediately. Participants will leave with strategies that reduce burnout, strengthen decision-making, and help leaders move from constant reaction to steady, sustainable momentum.

Learning Objectives
Participants will:

  1. Reframe resilience from an individual expectation to an organizational design principle
  2. Identify proven best practices that help organizations manage pressure, uncertainty, and change more effectively
  3. Apply practical, Flywheel-based tools to strengthen resilience across leadership, teams, and systems

Presented by Suzanne Smith, MBA

January 22nd, 2025
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST

FREE for all nonprofits!

Register Here

Suzanne Smith, MBA, serves as a coach and consultant for social organizations seeking to maximize the impact of their social strategies and achieve real, measurable results. For nearly three decades, she has generated innovative and breakthrough social ideas. With deep local and national social sector expertise, she has been widely recognized for her success in building and implementing award-winning programs and initiatives within the sector. Suzanne holds an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, where she was a CASE (Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship) scholar and studied under Greg Dees. ​

Outside of Social Impact Architects, Suzanne is an adjunct professor in the school of management at The University of Texas at Arlington and SMU. She is also a member of the prestigious Society of Organizational Learning (founded by Peter Senge) and National Network of Consultants to Grantmakers. She is also honored to serve on the board of Aileron to help entrepreneurs go to the next level.​

Suzanne also authors Social TrendSpotter (@socialtrendspot), one of the sector’s top blogs according to the Huffington Post. Known for its relatable way of blending important concepts and new ways of working with storytelling, Social TrendSpotter has been hailed by readers as “the only blog I read each week.” She is frequently interviewed by regional and national media on social issues and social entrepreneurship and has published articles in Forbes, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, See Change, Nonprofit Business Advisor, Upstart and Grantmakers in Health. For her outstanding work as a leading thinker, she was recognized with the Next Generation Social Entrepreneur Award by the Social Enterprise Alliance. ​

Suzanne is a dedicated community leader and has worn many hats, including serving the City of Dallas on over seven boards and commissions and working pro-bono/low-bono with many projects and nonprofits across North Texas. ​

Stay Tuned for More Upcoming Trainings

September TRIAVA Training

Nonprofit Agency Policies on Volunteers

Volunteers are an essential resource for most nonprofit agencies. Many agencies could not succeed in their mission without a highly effective volunteer workforce. It is, therefore , important for nonprofit managers and staff to understand the correct and most efficient manner in which volunteers fit into their organizational structure, and how volunteers differ from paid employees. All of this is defined and regulated by the agency’s policies on volunteers. This workshop reviews important volunteer policy areas and offers suggestions and guidelines for composing a nonprofit volunteer policy document.

After completing this course, people will:

  • Understand why it is important and helpful for a nonprofit agency to have a volunteer policy document
  • Recognize some common concerns about which nonprofit agencies should define their policies
  • Be familiar with two different policy model templates
  • Have the knowledge and examples they need to create or improve their own agency’s policy document

Presented by Joel Zimmerman, TRIAVA Program Manager

joel zimmerman

September 25th, 2025
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM EST

FREE for TRIAVA Members

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Since retiring in Raleigh, NC, in 2015, Dr. Joel Zimmerman has done volunteer work and pro bono consulting with many nonprofit organizations including Braver Angels, the Executive Service Corps of the Triangle, The Triangle Nonprofit Volunteer & Leadership Center, AARP, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. He has been a Director on, as well as a consultant to, several nonprofit Boards of Directors. 

Joel’s 40-year career included organization and leadership development, nonprofit governance, program management, adult training, group facilitation, and team building.

 Joel holds an M.A. in organizational design and effectiveness from Fielding University, where his special area of study was strategic planning. He also holds an M.S. in industrial psychology from Purdue University, and a Ph.D. from Northwestern in experimental psychology.

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