Written by Lisa Assenmacher, Communications and Training Specialist

Your organization has limited capacity and each person (if you’re lucky to have staff) is doing more than one job. In the nonprofit world, this is a common situation, with some of these extra “duties as assigned” beyond the scope of your skills and understanding.

CEDAM has identified areas where we can help you.

Interns

After a recent networking event at the University of Michigan, we learned that there are many Urban & Regional Planning Masters students who are interested in the community economic development field and want to hit the ground running. Knowing that many CEDAM members can benefit from this capacity, particularly from those with a background and interest, we created a members-only webpage with students who would love an opportunity to gain experience.

Whether you have an established internship program or not, it might be a good idea to take a look at the eager candidates and see if there’s a fit within your organization this summer or in the future.

As this program develops, we want to work with both universities and CEDAM members to fill a need in both organizations and opportunities for students to engage and learn about the industry. We are interested in hearing any feedback you may have regarding this new opportunity.

Visit this new web page with prospective interns here: cedamichigan.org/interns.

Are you interested in posting an internship, or want to know more? Contact Lisa Assenmacher at lisa@cedamichigan.org.

Marketing & Communications

We hear a lot that marketing and communications is a challenge for CEDAM members. There are little resources and understanding of how it works, and who has time for it anyway?

Honestly, you really can’t afford not to spend some time planning and understanding your marketing and communications. Taking some time as a collective organization to thoughtfully outline priorities and action items will save you grief in the long run, and provide measurable results that you can use to:

• Build awareness, trust and clientele
• Diversify your funding sources
• Identify unrestricted funding
• Reinvest more in your mission
• And more!

To help you, we created a communication planning and basic marketing plan toolkit. Both are filled with worksheets, examples, explanations and guidance to help you make informed decisions with your limited resources and staff. At the very least, it can help ensure that your organization is all working toward the same goals

Visit this members-only web page to download the toolkits here: cedamichigan.org/resources/library/marketing.

If you are interested in learning more about membership and the full range of benefits, please visit cedamichigan.org/membership.

If you have any questions, or need help, please contact Lisa Assenmacher at lisa@cedamichigan.org.