Blueprint for Leadership

A trained, equipped and engaged board can mean the difference between effectiveness and failure for nonprofit organizations.  For twenty years, HandsOn Jacksonville has mobilized, equipped and placed leaders as interns on area nonprofit boards. 

 Blueprint for Leadership was launched in 1988 as Project Blueprint in response to a Kellogg Foundation study indicating a shocking disparity between the percentage of income given by minorities to nonprofit organizations and the representation of minorities on governing boards of the same organizations.  Project Blueprint was implemented by HandsOn Jacksonville to identify, recruit, train and place minority citizens on nonprofit boards.  The program experienced such tremendous success that in 1997 HandsOn Jacksonville broadened its mission locally, and it became Blueprint for Leadership.  With the change came a corresponding movement of inclusion to reflect a true representation of the Northeast Florida population.

Since the program’s inception in 1988, more than 800 people have graduated from Blueprint for Leadership and  interned on more than 55 local nonprofit boards of directors.  The program begins in January each year and is held on the first Wednesday of each month through June. Blueprint for Leadership participants are professional, business and community individuals whose backgrounds demonstrate leadership and a commitment to serve the community.  Area corporations, government agencies, civic/fraternal organizations are encouraged to refer potential leaders for consideration. 

A full day of comprehensive, thought-provoking leadership topics are presented each month.  Topics include:

  •  Basic Roles and Responsibilities of Board Members
  •  Legal, Financial and Fundraising Responsibilities
  •  Organizational Self-Assessment and Strategic Planning 
  •  Critical Issues in Jacksonville
  •  Community Trusteeship
  •  Communicating Across Cultures (Cultural Diversity Training)
  •  Volunteering, Philanthropy and the Nonprofit Sector of Civil 
      Society
  •  Communication Styles
  •  Team Building and Effective Meeting Management
  •  Strategies for Success

Part of the learning experience for each class is the selection, planning and implementation of a class project. The 2009 Blueprint for Leadership class took Community Connections by storm as they implemented their “extreme makeover” community service project.  They overhauled the courtyard transforming it into a lovely oasis for families to enjoy, complete with fountain and outdoor furniture. The class hosted an extremely successful clothing drive and renovated the clothing closet. They installed new racks and sorted and hung the clothes for the ladies to access with ease.  A food drive to restock the food pantry yielded more than 1,000 items of food! 

This ambitious team remodeled three bedrooms, outfitting them with new bedding, window treatments, towels, lamps, alarm clocks, televisions and video players and stocked them with books and magazines for the moms, toys for the children and other necessities.  But this still wasn’t enough for this amazing team.  The afternoon was devoted to a pamper session for the moms, with volunteers providing facials, massages and haircuts.  While the moms were enjoying their spa treatments, the children were being treated to ice cream from Kilwins and fun in a bounce house.

 

Upon graduation in June, participants have the opportunity to be placed on a nonprofit board as an intern for one year to experience board leadership first hand.  Some graduates who are already serving on boards may prefer to intern with HandsOn Jacksonville as High Impact Project Leaders.

 

All Blueprint for Leadership graduates are eligible to participate in the Blueprint Alumni Action Team (BAAT).  This team meets bi-monthly and schedules projects designed specifically for Blueprint Alumni to reunite and continue to make a difference in the community together.

FOR INDIVIDUALS:

If you would like more information on the selection process, program details or would like to be considered for next year's Blueprint for Leadership Class, please click BLUEPRINT FOR LEADERSHIP APPLICATION FORM. Just download the form which is in pdf format, fill it out and return to HandsOn Jacksonville.

Note that both forms on this page are in pdf format which requires Adobe Reader to view. To download the free reader click the icon:

 

FOR AGENCIES:

You are invited to participate in Blueprint for Leadership classes by providing a one-year board internship for a Blueprint graduate, beginning in June of each year. The following Agency requirements apply:

  • Obtain agency membership with HandsOn Jacksonville
  • Provide the Blueprint for Leadership participant with an agency/board orientation
  • Provide an opportunity for the participant to serve on a committee and take on an assignment as a member of that committee
  • Provide an opportunity for the participant to attend board meetings and observe activities
  • Identify an experienced board member who can serve as a mentor to the participant
  • Provide HandsOn Jacksonville, Inc. with an evaluation at the conclusion of the internship

If you would like to provide an internship position, please click and download the BLUEPRINT FOR LEADERSHIP INTERN REQUEST FORM , fill it out and mail no later than December 31 to:

HandsOn Jacksonville
Blueprint for Leadership
6817 Southpoint Parkway, Suite 1902
Jacksonville, FL 32216