Michigan Nonprofit Association (MNA)

Membership

According to its website, members of the Michigan Nonprofit Association are provided access to nonprofit conferences, networking opportunities, technical support, discounts to job-posting sites and a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) assessment. Memberships cost between $80 and $1,100 annually depending on the organization’s budget. ^{1 2}

Advocacy

The Michigan Nonprofit Association advocates for legal changes to support Michigan nonprofits. ³ The MNA supports tax-deductible donations and expanding tax exemptions for taxable events such as property sales. ³ The MNA supports increased contracting between the Michigan government and nonprofits while opposing “the offloading of government services onto nonprofits without paying nonprofits.” ³ The MNA supports increased government spending to support diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives as well as permitting nonprofits in engaging in voter registration and voter drives. ³

Michigan Nonprofit Relief Fund

In February 2023, the Michigan Nonprofit Association and the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity launched the Michigan Nonprofit Relief Fund to support nonprofits during the COVID-19 pandemic with federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act. The Fund has a $35 million budget and gave grants between $5,000 and $25,000 to 1,479 nonprofits. ^{4 5}

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice (DEIJ)

The Michigan Nonprofit Association’s website states that “[diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice] is central to everything we do here at MNA. We place these at the forefront of our work because we’re aware of the impacts of injustice.” ⁶

In 2008, the MNA participated in its first Peer Learning Action Network cohort, a DEI training program. In 2010, the MNA made official DEI priority commitments, including having the staff complete an Intercultural Development Inventory and creating a DEI board for both the staff and executive committee. In the following year, the MNA created its first “diversity and inclusion framework.” ⁵

In 2017, the MNA launched the Diversity, Inclusion and Equity Toolkit for Michigan nonprofits to assess their DEI capacities. ⁵

In 2019, the MNA added “justice” to its DEI values. ⁵

In 2021, the MNA launched its Redistricting Initiative to support changing U.S. Congressional boundaries “specifically to promote racial equity.” The MNA launched its first Nonprofit Leadership Census to generate data on racial and ethnic minority rates in Michigan nonprofit staff and leadership. The entire MNA staff signed and released a statement “calling for an end to racial discrimination,” and the staff implemented an email pronoun policy. The MNA assisted in securing $50 million in federal funding through the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021 for the Michigan Nonprofit Relief Fund, an “equitable funding program,” that would eventually support 1,479 nonprofits. ⁵

In 2022, the MNA launched the Anti-Racism Accountability and Action Cohort to teach participants about “individual and system oppression,” “the realities of structural inequality,” “white fragility,” and the “distinctions between ally, accomplice and co-conspirator” in anti-racism. ⁵

In December 2022, the MNA, the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy, and Data Driven Detroit released the Michigan Statewide Nonprofit Leadership Census which identified the rate of racial minority leaders and staff at nonprofits. ⁷

In 2024, the MNA launched a campaign to highlight the stories of ethnic and racial minority nonprofit leaders. ⁵

Leadership

Kelley Kuhn has been the chief executive officer of the Michigan Nonprofit Association since 2022, and has worked in a variety of roles at the organization since 2008. Kuhn has worked in the nonprofit-management industry since 2000. From 2006 to 2008, she worked as independent nonprofit consultant. From 2002 to 2006, Kuhn worked as executive director of the Jackson Nonprofit Support Center. Earlier, Kuhn worked at Jackson County’s Promise to Youth Alliance and the Greater Jackson Chamber of Commerce. ⁸