The nonprofits that do the best work – and bring 

about real change in communities – are the ones that are excellent through and through. In the NeighborWorks America Excellence Programs, you will focus on one of the most critical challenges you face and you will achieve measurable results in addressing that challenge. Capitalizing on the proven success of the executive leadership-focused NeighborWorks Achieving Excellence Program, these staff development offerings include the tools you need to succeed and even transform your organization to an entirely new level of excellence.

Culture of Excellence

In this program, a team from a single organization is guided to identify a performance challenge critical to the organization's success. Throughout the process, the team builds an organizational culture that supports excellence. Group sessions take place at or near your office so that the team, identified by the organization's CEO/executive director, supports one another in their performance roles.

Communities of Excellence

Professionals from different organizations, but with similar positions and/or similar work, learn and apply new approaches to drive their performance higher. This program facilitates learning and performance improvement among a the group, capitalizing on peer support. If the specific offering is announced by NeighborWorks America, there will be a competitive application process for participation; if we are invited to offer this program by an entity/network/community, then selection of participants will be at the discretion of the lead organization.
 
These programs combine four critical components that work together to ensure the success of your organization:

• Curriculum: Expert-led sessions based on the time-tested content that you will need to focus on results, overcome obstacles and integrate these approaches into all of your work moving forward.
• Executive coaching: Personalized guidance on performance-based change by innovative leaders in the field.
• Peer exchange:  Structured peer group learning and best practice sharing with colleagues of similar experience.
• Critical performance-focused outcomes:  All of these components are centered around the issue most critical to your success which you define at the beginning of the program, then hone to an outcome-based challenge, then you are held accountable to achieve significant outcomes.

The proven results of these programs  –  more than a decade including hundreds of leaders tackling critical organizational challenges –  demonstrate that they are some of the most high-impact programs in the nation for organizations seeking to transform the way they strengthen performance. After completing our programs, organizations are sharper and more effective, with renewed focus and measurable improvement in the communities they serve.