The Cary Center Nonprofit Professional Certificate is offered through a partnership with the Auburn University Office of Professional Education and Merit (a product of the Nonprofit Help Center) and provides a tailored curriculum for nonprofit professionals for an introductory price of $299. Students must complete the certificate in one year (365 days) or re-enroll in the certificate program at an additional cost.

Merit is an anytime, anywhere microlearning platform just for nonprofit teams. Learners enjoy unlimited access to over 250 individual courses as they explore 28 learning paths through accessible video, audio, and text lessons, plus interactive digital workbooks, personal learning plans, an online community, and tons of support.

• 6 capacity areas
• 60-hour completion
• 28 learning paths
• 84 badges

The Merit platform builds up 6 core nonprofit proficiency areas: leading, learning, resource generating, planning, managing, and overseeing. Within each of these, we look at a number of capacity areas.

• Leading proficiency: community leadership and mission-focused leadership.
• Learning proficiency: advocacy success, environmental context, staff performance assessment, organizational capacity, population needs, and program success.
• Resource Generating proficiency: board fundraising, grantmaker relationships, donor cultivation, marketing, partnership, and staff fundraising.
• Planning proficiency: decision-making and strategic planning.
• Managing proficiency: community collaboration, facilities, program implementation, staff deployment, staff professional development, staff recruitment and retention, technology, and volunteer engagement.
• Overseeing proficiency: financial oversight, impact accountability, and implementation accountability.

The Cary Center Nonprofit Professional Certificate is for the entire nonprofit staff team, including part-timers, seasonal staff, new, seasoned, client-serving, back office, interns, those readying for retirement, and everyone in between. Because this platform is designed to increase and enhance the total performance of your nonprofit, we encourage our nonprofit partners to encourage every staff member to use it.

Our learning content is presented in formats suitable for all learners, including those who prefer or require video, audio-only, written, and closed-captioning.