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Welborn Funding Nonprofit Excellence, Early Education, Healthy Communities, and Christ-Centered Communties in 14 IN, IL and KY Tri-State counties.

The Welborn Baptist Foundation is a private health conversion foundation created in 1999. WBF provides $3 - 4 million in grants annually in a fourteen county region in Southwestern Indiana, Southeastern Illinois, and Western Kentucky.

10/03/2026

Yesterday, we saw ten years of Nonprofit Excellence gathered in one room.

We began this reflectional journey by returning to the question that started it all:

What can we do beyond grantmaking to strengthen the people and organizations serving our communities?

Over the last seven weeks, we’ve shared pieces of the answer. Leaders gained knowledge and confidence. Learning became practice. Organizations grew stronger. Relationships became trusted networks. And those networks created possibilities for partnership and community change.

Yesterday, we celebrated the people who made that story real.

Today, we invite you to experience it through Pursuit of Excellence, a film told through the voices of leaders who have learned, grown, wrestled, connected, and carried what they gained back into their organizations and communities.

Their stories remind us that capacity does not remain in a classroom. It travels.

It moves with leaders into difficult decisions.
It shapes teams and organizations.
It passes through relationships.
And, over time, it reaches the communities those organizations serve.

The legacy of these first ten years is not only what has already changed. It is what this community is now equipped to change next.

To every participant, instructor, consultant, partner, supporter, and friend who helped write this story: thank you.

This celebration marks a milestone-but the road stretches on.

Keep learning.
Keep sharing what you know.
Keep finding one another.
Keep building what none of us could build alone.

The first ten years were shaped together.

The next ten will be, too.

Tomorrow, we gather.Not simply to celebrate a program, but to celebrate the people who made its story possible.The leade...
09/30/2026

Tomorrow, we gather.

Not simply to celebrate a program, but to celebrate the people who made its story possible.

The leaders who showed up ready to learn.
The instructors and partners who shared what they knew.
The peers who became trusted resources.
The organizations that put new ideas into practice.
The relationships that grew into collaboration.

For seven weeks, we’ve been telling the story of what can happen when nonprofit leaders are equipped, connected, and supported.

Tomorrow, many of those people will be together in one room.

Join us as we celebrate 10 years of Nonprofit Excellence– the learning, the growth, the relationships, and the community that have taken shape along the way.

The first ten years belong to everyone who helped build them. Let’s celebrate together.

When: Thursday, October 1st
Where: Welborn Community Room
Time: 3:00PM - 5:00PM (brief program to begin at 3:20PM)

09/30/2026

Ten years leaves behind more than milestones. It leaves people.

People who have grown in experience and confidence.
People who have carried what they learned into organizations across our region.
People who can now offer the next generation what someone once offered them: counsel, encouragement, and support.

That is what gives Cheryl hope.

Over the last decade, Nonprofit Excellence has helped cultivate what she calls a “small army of experienced nonprofit leaders.” Some are still leading organizations. Others are entering new seasons. But their influence continues as they share what they know, invest in emerging leaders, and strengthen the nonprofit network around them.

Perhaps that is one of the clearest signs of an investment that lasts:

The people who were supported become a source of support for others.

This Thursday, we’ll gather to celebrate the leaders who shaped the first ten years of Nonprofit Excellence- and look with hope toward those who will shape what comes next.

09/25/2026

Earlier this week, we called relationships a form of infrastructure.

John Benton's reflection shows us why.

When nonprofit leaders know one another–when they understand each other’s work and begin imagining what could be possible together–cooperation has somewhere to begin.

One year after completing the Next Generation Leadership Academy, participants reported a striking shift:

Understanding the missions of other community nonprofits: 38% → 100% rated Very Good or Excellent.

Awareness of opportunities to collaborate: 25% → 76%.

Reported collaboration with other nonprofits: 38% → 63%.

And when asked directly, 87% said the Academy had made them more open to collaboration.

For one participant, connections formed through the experience eventually helped produce a formal partnership with Community One– complete with shared goals and an MOU.

That progression matters.

Leaders meet.

They begin to understand one another.

They see possibilities that weren’t visible before.

And sometimes, they build partnerships that might never have happened otherwise.

As John puts it, relationships allow nonprofit leaders to “build a vision together for what our community can look like.”

This is where the ripple becomes something bigger.

Stronger leaders don’t only strengthen their own organizations. They find one another–and the nonprofit community becomes stronger together.

Source: Next Generation Leadership Academy Follow-Up Survey Report, Cohort 4, pp. 8–9.

Not all infrastructure is visible.Some of it looks like this: nonprofit leaders sitting across a table, exchanging ideas...
09/23/2026

Not all infrastructure is visible.

Some of it looks like this: nonprofit leaders sitting across a table, exchanging ideas, asking honest questions, and discovering who else understands the work.

One year after completing the Next Generation Leadership Academy, 75% of follow-up respondents said they had maintained a relationship with another member of their cohort.

In the 2025 Fundamentals series, every post-survey respondent agreed that cohort members trusted one another, could speak openly, and could turn to each other for advice.

Those findings point to something larger than friendship.

When leaders know and trust one another, knowledge can travel between organizations. A question has somewhere to go. A challenge does not have to be solved in isolation. And when an opportunity for partnership emerges, the relationship does not have to begin from scratch.

This is relational infrastructure–the network of trust and shared experience that helps a nonprofit community learn, respond, and work together.

A strong nonprofit ecosystem is not simply a collection of strong organizations.

It is a community of organizations able to find and trust one another.

Sources: Next Generation Leadership Academy Follow-Up Survey Report: Cohort 4, p. 8; 2025 Fundamentals of Nonprofit Management Series Report, p. 19.

Organizations don’t change simply because someone attended a class.They change when a leader brings something back.A cle...
09/18/2026

Organizations don’t change simply because someone attended a class.

They change when a leader brings something back.

A clearer way to communicate the mission.
A better question for the board.
A more thoughtful approach to developing staff.
A tool that helps the team decide what matters most.

Approximately one year after completing the Next Generation Leadership Academy, all eight follow-up respondents rated the experience as valuable or very valuable to the organization where they had worked most closely.

Participants described stronger planning, clearer communication, better coordination, greater mission alignment, and new organizational practices.

at saw that movement firsthand. What she learned about staff growth plans shaped how her organization invests in its team. Relationships formed in the cohort also grew into volunteer connections and a new partnership serving the neighborhoods where Community One works.

The learning began with a person.

But it didn’t stay there.

It entered a team, influenced an organization, and opened new possibilities for working together.

This is why leadership development is community development.

Sources: Next Generation Leadership Academy Follow-Up Survey Report: Cohort 4, p. 6; NPE participant interviews

The real test of learning begins when a leader returns to work.The board meeting is still coming. The staff question sti...
09/16/2026

The real test of learning begins when a leader returns to work.

The board meeting is still coming. The staff question still needs an answer. The budget, fundraising plan, and next difficult decision are still waiting.

So, after the 2025 Fundamentals of Nonprofit Management series, we asked participants what they had done–or intended to do–differently.

Their answers were specific:

Board expectations written and shared.
Finance and HR concepts implemented.
Board-evaluation measures put to use.
The relationship between the board and executive director approached more intentionally.

One participant told us:
“I have already implemented components from each area, especially finance and human resources.”

Across 10 years of Nonprofit Excellence, we’ve seen learning take this same path: an idea leaves the room, enters someone’s work, and gradually becomes part of how an organization operates.

A training ends. The practice continues.

That’s where the ripple grows.

Sources: 2025 Fundamentals of Nonprofit Management Series Report, p. 20; NPE participant interviews.

09/11/2026

Sometimes transformation looks like staying.

Earlier this week, we shared that Next Generation Leadership Academy participants continued to report growth approximately one year after completing the program.

Across the Academy’s six areas, 50%–75% of participants with matched data reported increased confidence applying what they had learned. And every follow-up respondent said the Academy was valuable or very valuable to their personal leadership.

Lorie’s story shows us why that matters.

“If I hadn’t been exposed to Nonprofit Excellence, I wouldn’t be sitting here today. I think it provided, just personally, the support that I needed to keep going when there were challenging times.”

During one particularly difficult season, Lorie found a trusted person to confide in. She discovered that the challenges she was facing weren’t hers alone and that there were other tools and ways to approach them.

At the end of October, Lorie will mark nine years with the Evansville Trails Coalition.

Sometimes the result of investing in a leader isn’t one dramatic moment. It’s the next difficult season they’re able to walk through.

And then the next.

When a leader finds what they need to keep going, the ripple doesn’t stop with them.

Sources: Next Generation Leadership Academy Follow-Up Survey Report: Cohort 4, pp. 3–4; participant testimonial.

What remains after a class ends?Last week, we explored what nonprofit leaders need to know to build strong organizations...
09/09/2026

What remains after a class ends?

Last week, we explored what nonprofit leaders need to know to build strong organizations.

But the real test of leadership development isn’t only what someone knows when a program ends.

It’s what remains after they leave.

Approximately one year after completing the Next Generation Leadership Academy, participants from Cohort 4 were surveyed again.

Compared with their original pre-survey, 63%–88% of participants with matched data had increased—or maintained the highest level—in their self-perceived knowledge across all six Academy areas.

That included:
• 88% in Nonprofit Management
• 88% in Marketing & Communications
• 75% in Strategic & Operational Planning
• 75% in Financial Management
• 63% in Human Resources & Coaching
• 63% in Evaluation

The Academy may have ended.

But a year later, participants were still reporting the growth that began there.

Source: Next Generation Leadership Academy Follow-Up Survey Report: Cohort 4, p. 2.

What Does a Strong Nonprofit Leader Need to Know?“Capacity building” can sound abstract.But in everyday terms, it means ...
09/04/2026

What Does a Strong Nonprofit Leader Need to Know?

“Capacity building” can sound abstract.

But in everyday terms, it means helping nonprofit leaders develop the knowledge and skills they need to build healthy organizations, navigate real challenges, and serve their communities well.

A strong nonprofit needs leaders who understand:
• Boards — how to cultivate effective governance.
• Impact — how to understand what is changing.
• Fundraising — how to sustain the mission.
• Storytelling — how to communicate why the work matters.
• People — how to lead and support a team.
• Finances — how to steward resources wisely.

These are the six essential areas addressed by the 2025 Fundamentals of Nonprofit Management series.

Because meaningful community work requires more than passion for the mission. It also requires the practical knowledge to lead an organization well.

Strong nonprofits don’t happen by accident.

Their leaders build them.

Source: Fundamentals of Nonprofit Management Series Report, p. 1.

Address

20 NW 3rd Street, Ste 1500
Evansville, IN
47708

Opening Hours

Monday 8am - 5pm
Tuesday 8am - 5pm
Wednesday 8am - 5pm
Thursday 8am - 5pm
Friday 8am - 5pm

Telephone

+1 812-437-8260

Website

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