Financial Leadership Cohorts
Financial Leadership Cohorts cultivate the confidence, capacity, and financial leadership of nonprofit leaders in Minnesota. Cohorts are designed for those without formal finance training. Throughout the six-month cohort period, you will be connected to other leaders who are on the same journey as you. Together, you will learn to approach nonprofit finance with confidence, even when you don’t have all the answers. The goal of the Financial Leadership Cohort is to develop the financial leadership capacity needed for nonprofits to be sustainable and financially healthy.
Applications Open
Applications are open from May 1 – 30, 2025, for summer cohorts. If you are interested in applying, please review the information below.
For questions about the cohort, please contact Propel’s Senior Training Associate, Teresa Bettmann.
Cohort Details
Why participate in the Financial Leadership Cohort?
Through cohort sessions, you will become more knowledgeable, confident, and savvy about nonprofit finance. We’ll target results for your organization’s needs and help develop a culture of financial understanding at your nonprofit – and within the sector. You’ll gain:
- Confidence in your ability as a financial leader
- Increased knowledge of nonprofit financial management concepts
- Progress on self-identified outcomes
- Improvement in your organization’s financial position
Each cohort is limited to 20 participants.
What you’ll receive:
- 6 monthly three-hour online learning sessions on topics including understanding business models, communicating financial information, and building relationships with staff and board around finance
- All the sessions will be held virtually
- Support and guidance to develop financial management tools (dashboard report, cash flow, trend analysis)
- A peer network for support and sharing
- One-on-one coaching with Propel Nonprofits’ finance experts
Eligibility & Deadlines
The ideal candidate
- Executive Director or senior staff member in the role of managing your nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization’s finances without a formal finance background
- From a nonprofit organization based in Minnesota (or primarily serving Minnesota communities) with a budget size between $300,000 and $3,000,000
- In a role where you have an opportunity to work with your organization’s board of directors and/or finance committee
- Eager to grow professionally and use new tools to bring a positive change to your nonprofit and the sector
Cohort Options
Two cohort groups will be selected to begin in July 2025. The cohort groups will be open to Executive Directors and senior staff members of nonprofit organizations both located in and primarily serving communities anywhere in Minnesota.
- Tuesday Cohort Group – Training sessions for this group will be held from 9 am – 12 pm on the following dates (Tuesdays) July 15th, August 19th, September 9th, October 14th, November 11th, and December 9th
- Wednesday Cohort Group – Training sessions for this group will be held from 9 am – 12 pm on the following dates (Wednesdays) July 16th, August 20th, September 10th, October 15th, November 12th, and December 10th
Cohort selection timeline and process
Everyone interested in participating in a Financial Leadership Cohort group is required to complete the online application form. Propel staff will review the applications and select cohort participants based on criteria including: 1) alignment of participant goals with training session content, 2) availability attend cohort training sessions, 3) alignment with eligibility guidelines.
- Application period: May 1 to May 30, 2025
- Application deadline: May 30, 2025, at 5 pm
- Cohort participants will be notified by June 20, 2025
- Cohort sessions begin July 15, 2025, for the Tuesday group, and July 16, 2025, for the Wednesday group
Cost
Cohort participants pay a fee of $750. If the fee is a barrier to your participation, Propel can offer partial financial support. Instructions for requesting partial financial support will be sent to all applicants selected for a cohort group. Payment plans are also available.
Apply Today
- All applicants must apply through the online form linked here
- You will be able to save your online application and come back at a later time
- If supportive in your application preparation, you may download a copy of the application questions in MS Word for your convenience
- Submissions are due by Friday, May 30, 2025 at 5:00pm CST
Questions
Contact Teresa Bettmann, Senior Training Associate at tbettmann@propelnonprofits.org or 612.249.6690.
Our Alumni
Propel’s Financial Leadership Cohorts have supported over 100 nonprofit financial leaders over the past seven years. Here’s what a few of them have to say about their experiences!
“This cohort has empowered me and given me tools that I know I will return to again and again. I’m so grateful for this experience, it’s been the best professional development that I’ve engaged in.” – Riley Burns, Managing Director, Tofte Lake Center (cohort participant January-June 2024)
Peer Learning & Financial Empowerment
“While the hard skills of interpreting financial reports is something I gained in the cohort, the most beneficial aspect was being in a shared community with peers, and learning that I have financial management expertise to bring to the cohort group. Everyone brought something to the table that, as a whole, made for a very strong financial leader if we leaned on each other to ask questions and provide support. Our jobs, and particularly the internal-facing financial management and leadership portion of our roles, often feels isolating and having a group of peers to validate that and lean on was game-changing!” – Anne Leland, Executive Director of Exodus Lending (cohort participant from January – June 2024)
Photo: Anne Leland works at her desk at Exodus Lending
Resources, Community, & Knowledge
“The most beneficial part of joining a cohort was being in a community with other nonprofit organizations and leaders. Nonprofit work can be very isolating. Money is always a challenge, so as one cohort person said you have to be very cautious who you talk to if you’re facing difficulties because you can lose funding opportunities if it looks like you’re “having problems” — and yet ironically we ALL have problems because we work in nonprofits. Having a safe, respectful place to overcome that isolation and learn about others’ struggles and strategies was so valuable.
Also, the Propel team. WOW. You all are just incredibly supportive. I took full advantage of what was offered and reached out to individuals at Propel for follow up if I needed to dive more deeply into something brought up at a session. I attended technical assistance sessions as well. You really created a whole web of support through this process. It was far more than I expected going into it. I feel plugged into resources, a community, and knowledge that I can call on in the future.” – Barb Prindle, Development Coordinator at Sweet Potato Comfort Pie (cohort participant from January – June 2024)
Photo: Barb Prindle, Development Director; Rose McGee, Founder; Ashlee Martinez Deleon, Project Manager pose together at Sweet Potato Comfort Pie’s MLK Holiday of Service event in January 2023.