(Cleveland, OH) The Nonprofit Academic Centers Council (NACC) has selected the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University as its headquarters by unanimous vote of its members.
 
NACC is a national membership association comprised of academic centers or programs at accredited colleges and universities that focus on the study of nonprofit organizations, voluntarism and/or philanthropy. Established in 1991, NACC is the first group entirely dedicated to the promotion and networking of centers that provide research and education in philanthropy and the nonprofit sector.

NACC relocated its operation to the Levin College temporarily last fall. With the recent decision by NACC’s members to make the Levin College its administrative headquarters for the next four years, the organization is preparing to move forward in expanding its membership and outreach across the country, as well as internationally.
 
“We are very pleased to include among our members representatives from Europe, and were delighted to have a member from Russia at our 2013 conference,” said Daila Shimek, AICP, MPA, executive director of NACC and project manager in the Levin College’s Center for Public Management.
 
According to Patrick M. Rooney, Ph.D., NACC President, and Professor of Economics and Philanthropic Studies and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Research, Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, “Nonprofit organizations play an indispensable role in the lives of communities, groups, and individuals. Embracing educational, artistic, religious, health, and community organizations, the nonprofit sector accounts for 10 percent of the United States economy, employs almost 10 percent of the workforce, and is assisted by more than 100 million volunteers.”
 
Shimek continues, “At universities across the nation, dedicated students and nonprofit professionals are seeking the knowledge they need to make an impact on the nonprofit sector and the world. Responding to this demand, more than 255 colleges and universities provide at least one class in nonprofit management, including 157 schools that offer at least one course within a graduate department. On these campuses and others, centers for the study of philanthropy and nonprofit organizations are a focal point for diverse disciplines to combine thoughtful scholarship with practical applications.”
 
“NACC’s mission is to support those academic centers devoted to the study of the nonprofit/nongovernmental sector, philanthropy and voluntary action to advance education, research and practice that increases the nonprofit sector's ability to enhance civic engagement, democracy and human welfare,” she explains.
 
The Levin College is a member of NACC. Stuart C. Mendel, Ph.D., MNO, Levin’s Assistant Dean for Administration, Director of the Center for Nonprofit Policy & Practice, and Director of The Urban Center, serves as NACC President-Elect.

For more information:
Nonprofit Academic Centers Council (NACC): http://www.nonprofit-academic-centers-council.org/