[MUSIC] I'm Professor Yvonne Harrison, now at the University of Buffalo welcoming you to the capstone project. The fourth course in a series of courses on developing leadership and improving governance of non-profit organizations. In this video, I will review the capstone project. I'll begin with the learning outcomes and the leadership competencies emphasized and the options for undertaking the capstone project. I'll conclude with the learning activities within a timeline for starting and submitting your capstone project report. The capstone project is an academic service learning experience designed to help you apply the knowledge and skills acquired in the specialization courses to a real world governance and leadership situation a nonprofit board and organization is experiencing. It's also designed to help you develop your capability to be a positive agent for change in nonprofit organizations. By the end of the capstone project, you will have produced a professional consulting report on the state of war performance. Whether you decide to work with the board that you analyze through the specialization courses or whether you choose to use a new board to analyze, the capstone project as an opportunity to further assess performance. To demonstrate mastery of academic course concepts. To develop skills and to provide a valuable public service to help a board improve its leadership and further develop in governance and effectiveness. You should know that the capstone project emphasizes the leadership competencies in the specialization courses. You may recall that these leadership competencies are required by schools of public affairs that are accredited by NASPA. And NASPA is the network of schools of public affairs in North America. The following leadership competencies are emphasized in the capstone project. They are the ability to apply a public service perspective. To identify, analyze, and think critically about nonprofit leadership and governance effectiveness challenges. To communicate and interact productively with and for others. And to lead and facilitate change in the governance process. It should be noted that these leadership competencies were developed with North American culture and academic requirements in mind. It is our hope, however, that they will be a value to those in other parts of the world. Now, I'll turn to the options an the steps involved for undertaking the capstone project. If you've reached this stage in the specialization, you've already completed the three courses and assessed the board's performance and submitted your three bears. Which required you to identify and learn about a nonprofit organization and board that you know or a fictional one that we provided for you. For the capstone project, you can carry on working with the board of this organization or you can choose a new one. We recommend you do this as a learning experience is much more impactful for you and the board. You will have 8 weeks in which to complete the capstone project. In week 1, access the detailed instructions on the requirements for completing the capstone project from the course page. Time should be spent reviewing these requirements and deciding on a board of a nonprofit organization to work with. Weeks 2 and 3 is a time to share the capstone project tools and resources with boards of nonprofit organizations you know. This includes the SUNY OPEN textbook guidelines for improving the effectiveness of boards of directors of nonprofit organizations and the Board Checkup, the online board performance self assessment tool. Once you have the cooperation of an organization and board, choose a point of contact to work with and sign them up for the checkup and begin the process of data collection. If you were unable to gain the cooperation of an organization and board and must choose to work with one of our fictional boards, you will need to familiarize yourself with the data provided. In weeks 4 and 5, the data you collected should be analyzed, leading to an evaluation of the board's performance. In week 6 and 7, the final phase of the capstone project, the results of your evaluation should be synthesized and communicated. Recommendations for positive change should be brought together in the form of a specially prepared consulting report intended for use by the board of the client organization. In week 8, you will submit this report and participate in peer reviews, evaluating and providing feedback on the reports of your fellow students. Within the platform, you'll find detailed guides and resources on the steps involved in carrying out the work involved in the capstone project. In this video, we reviewed the fourth course, the capstone project. We review the learning outcomes, the leadership competencies, and the options and activities that you'll engage in to undertake the capstone project. For more information, please refer to the course page. [MUSIC]