Standards Outside Maryland

In 1998, after two and a half years in development and generous support from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Maryland Association of Nonprofit Organizations (Maryland Nonprofits), launched the Standards for Excellence program.  Maryland Nonprofits has achieved national recognition for the Standards for Excellence program and has distributed the Standards and related materials nationwide.  Since that time, other nonprofit capacity building organizations have approached Maryland Nonprofits to learn how they could use the Standards program to strengthen nonprofits in their own jurisdictions.  In an effort to address the demand for the program, Maryland Nonprofits sought support for a national replication effort.

The replication effort received initial support from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and from the Surdna Foundation. In 2001, the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Atlantic Philanthropies joined the replication effort by awarding major two-year grants. These grants supported the launch of a pilot program to replicate the Standards for Excellence in five state associations of nonprofits. Through this funding, the first Standards for Excellence replication partners began using the resources of the Standards for Excellence program to strengthen the nonprofits in their states. The Standards for Excellence replication effort is currently offered through replication partners around the country.

As interest in the Standards for Excellence program rapidly developed, Maryland Nonprofits launched the Standards for Excellence Institute to lead the replication process nationwide.  The success of Standards replication partners is evidence that the Standards for Excellence program model is an attractive one that also is able to be replicated in a variety of environments. This evidence is very encouraging and holds tremendous promise for the further adoption of the Standards for Excellence program across the country through the Institute.

Please click here with your questions concerning the Standards for Excellence Institute, or call 410-727-1726.