Helping nonprofit leaders do better at doing good

Meet Center Member Tina Knight

The Center for Nonprofit Leadership has a network of over 75 nonprofit leaders throughout the region. To explore our entire roster of members, visit the our members page. We invite you to learn more about our members with monthly profiles. This month, meet center member Tina Knight.

The basics!

Tina Knight, HSA Administrative Manager, Grants & Contracts/Contracts Unit, County of Ventura Human Services Agency

Tell us about yourself and your organization’s mission:

The mission of the County of Ventura’s Human Services Agency is to strengthen families, support self-sufficiency and promote safety, health and well-being.  The Human Services Agency supports children’s services such as family preservation, foster-care and adoption; provides services to the homeless as well as homelessness prevention, veteran’s services, employment-related services, as well as programs to protect and assist seniors and other vulnerable populations.

I have a 20 year background in the non-profit, educational and social services sectors.  I’ve been both a fundraiser and a grantmaker, as well working on the program side and in senior level management roles.  I have worked primarily in international health and development, domestic  social services, and higher education settings.  The one thing that all of my jobs have in common is the agency’s goal to make the world a better place, whether that takes the form of making grants that help nonprofits to serve our community, educating students in the US to improve their economic outcomes, promoting important faculty research that will impact our future, protecting vulnerable seniors, children and the homeless, working in a refugee camp, or fighting the Hepatitis C epidemic in Egypt.  It doesn’t matter at what level you work, so long as you are part of a team that is working to improve the world around us and create a better future for everyone on this planet that we call home.

Why did you think it was important to become a member of the Center for Nonprofit Leadership?

I have been involved with the Center for a long time, as both faculty/presenter and workshop attendee, and most recently as a member of the Advisory and Program Committees.  I believe the membership structure makes perfect sense and provides benefits that are well worth the price.  I also wanted to become a member to show the Center, CLU and the general public that I think it is important to support the nonprofit sector and its employees as a whole, and the Center is the one place in our County that does that.  I see it not just as a training and professional development organization, but as an advocacy organization, working to both improve and highlight the important work being done by our community’s nonprofits.

What would you tell others who are thinking of becoming members?

I would say that membership is well worth the very affordable price.  Not only does it provide discounts on workshop costs and access to Lynda.com resources, but it provides something even more valuable-  community with peers in the nonprofit sector with whom you can brainstorm, share resources, share challenges and solutions, and network, whether that is to get to know potential future employees of your organization, meet regional grantmakers, or find your next job.   

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