Bill Bro
Chief Executive Officer
Kidney Cancer Association
"I think Kellogg has a fabulous curriculum," says Bill Bro. "The faculty have joked with me that they will keep adding courses so I'll have to come back." And come back he has. To date, Bro has completed seven executive education classes at Kellogg - five to receive his Certificate of Professional Achievement in Nonprofit Management, and two in addition. "Although I got the certificate, I keep coming back," he says. "I want to take all the courses they offer. I have left each course with valuable knowledge." The two keys to Bro's commitment to executive education at Kellogg are the diversity of topics covered and the competence of the faculty. "The competence of the faculty makes the program equivalent to any MBA program for the effective administration of nonprofit organizations."
When Bro decided to enter an executive education program, he had two primary considerations - the reputation of the institution and availability of financial assistance to offset the expenses. "For nonprofit executive education programs, Kellogg has financial assistance available," Bro says. "That's very important for small charities. And it was an important personal consideration because our association couldn't pay for it and I was paying out of my own pocket."
The payoff for Bro and the Kidney Cancer Association was immediate and significant. "After attending the Fundraising and Marketing course," he says, "we secured our largest grant ever - a $250,000 grant. For a small charity, that's a large grant. That was directly attributable to the course. The course focused on how organizations have tendency to undermarket themselves, because the organizations themselves are small. The professors disputed the notion that size of the organization is equivalent to the level of funding. The methods of solicitation they discussed, how to make a presentation - I was able to put into practice. Since then, we have secured many large grants, some of them larger than the $250,000 grant."
Another vital aspect of his coursework at Kellogg is the faculty's emphasis on governance and accountability. "Had it not been for my Kellogg experience, we wouldn't have understood the importance of transparency at all levels of our organization," Bro says. "It resulted in our organization being certified by the National Health Council, which means that we are in compliance with the health council's forty-one standards of excellence. It also brought an important message to our board and changed the board's focus. They are now committed to transparency throughout our organization."
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