Director’s Welcome

In a few short years, the Helen Bader Institute has grown into a thriving hub of nonprofit education, research, and community engagement.

Milwaukee—a community brimming with gifted nonprofit leaders—has found in HBI a unique professional resource that thoughtfully connects academic insights with direct engagement in the field. And HBI is an active participant in the growing networks of nonprofit academic centers, scholarly associations, and institutions providing the infrastructure that supports nonprofit organizations in Wisconsin, across the United States, and beyond.

Members of our growing alumni network have assumed significant leadership roles in many of the most acclaimed health care, educational, arts and cultural, environmental, social service and many other types of nonprofit organizations throughout the Milwaukee region and elsewhere. HBI’s ongoing research and organizational capacity building services further propel the missions of those organizations and add to the body of knowledge that informs the work of nonprofit organizations everywhere.

Well-managed nonprofit organizations are essential to a thriving community. The services they provide, as well as the economic benefit, civic engagement, philanthropy, and volunteerism they foster, are essential elements in our quality of life.

I invite you to join HBI’s trailblazing students, alumni, faculty and staff as we create the educational programs, conduct the research, and build the models necessary to increase nonprofit effectiveness—in Milwaukee and beyond.

dougihrke

Douglas M. Ihrke, Ph.D.
Executive Director