The Nonprofit Summer Institute (NSI) is one of the major domestic capacity building programs run by CSDF Hungary. First introduced in 1995 as a week-long intensive training course, for the past decade, the NSI has offered a wide range of skills development courses, round-table discussions and practice-based workshops to representatives from Hungarian nonprofit organizations. The program is usually organized in the first week of July. In the first seven years, the NSI was held in the Castle Hotel of Seregélyes, while in the last two years they were held in Balatonszemes. Both locations have offered many recreation facilities on top of the learning, while the staff of CSDF Hungary has striven to make the experience even  more memorable with lively evening programs.

Year after year, the professional program of the NSI is broadened with new elements as we suit the curricula to the changing needs of our clients and as we introduce the results of CSDF Hungary´s in-house internal developmental process of our trainers. When designing the program we intend to create a happy balance of the various groups from different professional backgrounds. We offer favourable prices every year, taking into account the budgets of applying organizations. Each year, CSDF Hungary normally hosts 50 participants who throughout the week work in 4-5 small groups with other participants who have been matched according to their interests and the scope of their work.

 

In past years, the Nonprofit Summer Institute has become very popular among Hungarian NGOs. This not only indicates that the sector is demanding that more attention be paid to skills development training and workshops, but it also demonstrates that NGOs are becoming ever more aware of the importance of self-education and networking. Beyond the professional importance of the NSI, it is also a unique event for making connections, both friendly and professional, that might later become the seeds for  future cooperation.

 

 

Nonprofit Summer Institutes 1995-2004

The first Nonprofit Summer Institute was launched in 1995 with 68 participants. Its main topics were organizational development, management and regulation. We ran workshops to share information about taxation issues and about foreign fundraising know-how based on Anglo-Saxon models.

In 1997, a new generation of trainers introduced themselves as CSDF Hungary´s new training team. Over the course of the NSI,  20 basic nonprofit management topics were discussed, some of which were cutting-edge issues that were brand-new to Hungary, such as needs assessme nt, office administration, NGO lay-out design and nonprofit marketing.

In 1998, as a result of a new development process, we urged each participating NGO to send two representatives to attend the NSI, one a leader, and one who was responsible for projects or administration. The NSI provided both with a set of know-how specific to their functions. This was the year when our services were enriched with new topics such as advanced financial management, quality assurance, and inter-sectoral cooperation between local governments, businesses and the nonprofit sector.

The main theme of the 1999 NSI was Sustainable Development. To maximize shared learning and the exchange of experiences, the training groups were arranged according to the fields of activities that participating NGOs specialized in, such as patient groups, cultural issues, social activities and regional development.

Participants in 2000 were able to select from three training packages. Package A was composed of basic nonprofit management modules; Package B focused on issues surrounding sustainable development, and Package C concentrated on Transition Management.

In 2001, the NSI  provided advanced level courses in Own Income Generation and Fundraising. This was the NSI where we introduced the Action Planning method for the first time. With the help of CSDF Hungary trainers, every participant designed an action plan to develop a concrete field of work, tailored to suit their organizations.

In 2002, we opened the NSI with yet another unique topic: Efficient Leadership and the Successful Management of Nonprofit Organizations. The curriculum was developed on the basis of two separate needs assessment processes, the first being a country-wide Action Research process, where we investigated the training needs of the Hungarian nonprofit sector, and the second being a smilar process that examined prevailing practices of nonprofit leadership in Hungary today.

In 2003,  the main theme of the NSI was Effective Organizational Communication. External experts of communication were invited to lead workshops over the course of three days, each of which deepened the knowledge of the participants in the various sub-fields within the topic.


In response to feedback and recommendations made in past NSIs, the 2004 NSI focused on NGO Management and the Challenges of Nonprofit Management. This particular NSI provided learning opportunities specifically for senior and middle-level NGO leaders who had experienced both successes and crises in their organizations . Participants worked to widen their knowledge on causes that affect their decision making and the effects caused by their leadership, on leadership roles and skills, and on new decision-making and leadership techniques.