Having recently announced openings in our Adjunct Partners program – a fellowship program for community-minded individuals to connect, learn, and engage, while volunteering their knowledge and skills to strengthen local nonprofits – we reached out to Molly Ganley for her perspective on being an Adjunct Partner.
“I first learned about SVP in Minnesota, where I’m from,” says Ganley, 30, who earned a bachelor’s degree in Global Studies from the University of Minnesota. “Applying good business practices to good causes is something that’s important to me, so I quickly fell in love with SVP’s approach.”
Indeed, Ganley’s company – On Purpose Consulting – helps nonprofits start revenue-generating programs. “From ideation through implementation, the goal is to help established nonprofits start social enterprises, which is another way to combine good business practices and good causes,” she says.
“Along the same lines, the way SVP works with local nonprofits is really beautiful – and effective. I love the way SVP engages different groups of people and makes good use of everyone’s respective strengths.”
Continues Ganley, “When I moved to Boulder and decided to stick around, I started looking for ways to get involved in the community. I wasn’t sure if I had the skills or experience to make a difference through SVP, but I applied for the Adjunct Partners program hoping to be of use, because I so admired the people I knew who were involved with SVP.
“SVP people are some of my absolute favorite people. They’re curious, and they care about what’s happening in our community. They strive to see things from different perspectives, and they work shoulder-to-shoulder with nonprofit organizations to make Boulder County a more livable, ‘thriveable’ place.
“I’ve gained so much from being an Adjunct Partner over the past four years. SVP has given me some really cool opportunities to develop my professional skills and take on leadership roles, and has given me a chance to work with people who have decades’ more experience than I do. That multigenerational element is something I value, and something that’s tough to find elsewhere.
“Being an Adjunct Partner has been an incredibly rewarding experience.”
Today, Ganley serves as a member-at-large of SVP’s Board of Directors. “It’s an incredible honor,” she says. “And it’s another huge opportunity to learn – in this case, about effective board governance for nonprofits.”
She concludes, “If you’re thinking about applying to be an Adjunct partner and you’re doubting whether your skills and experience could be useful in the nonprofit sector, I’d encourage you to think again. If you’re five, 10, 15 years along in your career and you’ve developed experience in a particular area – accounting, marketing, human resources, you name it – you might be surprised how applicable your skills are to our community-serving organizations.
“Plus, this work is good for the soul.”
Learn more about the Adjunct Partners program, eligibility requirements and the application process. Interested applicants working and/or living in Boulder County are encouraged to email their résumés and letters of interest to Chief Relationship Officer Shannon Sackmann at shannon@svpbouldercounty.org by June 14, 4 p.m.
