In 2008 I called my friend Jim, a nonprofit expert, and shared with him my desire to resurrect the beloved Community Impact Institute (CII) that provided nonprofit training to churches and ministries during the span of the 1990s.  It was almost a decade later, and the need for nonprofit capacity building training remained strong. In one form or another, I had remained in the work over the years, and was longing to serve a uniquely Christian audience.  Believing that Christ makes the difference, I longed to offer nonprofit excellence instruction to ministries who through their efforts can achieve both temporal and eternal impact.  However, they need help and I knew that.

Jim agreed and afterwards I began working on a concept paper describing how we might bring the Institute back.  What I did not know, however, was that my former boss and friend Del Wesley had been dreaming of the same thing. She too had written a concept paper and as God would have it, we both presented our papers unannounced to each other to Rev. Dr. W. Wilson Goode, Sr., Board Chairman of Philadelphia Leadership Foundation (PLF) and former Philadelphia Mayor.  Dr. Goode, upon receipt of these, encouraged Del and I to meet. We did so.  God was up to something for sure.
 
We met in a coffee shop and compared notes. We eventually combined our papers into one and working with a PLF consultant, John G. Bennett (co-founder of the 1990's Community Impact Institute), shopped the proposal to funders, eventually raising funds that supported the re-birth of the program. The Institute was born (again).  In 2011, we launched with 16 students from 13 area churches and ministries, our 8-week nonprofit training and technical assistance program.  The program was excellent and the ministries were extraordinary. They were serving their communities in all kinds of ways and being equipped to do so more effectively.
 
In 2012, the Institute came under the auspices of the Capstone Legacy Foundation - the region's only Christian community foundation - and had the privilege of serving 22 more ministries.  In late 2014, the Center for Christian Nonprofit Excellence (CCNE) was born to take the Institute into the future. Since inception, the number of ministries served has grown to 150 with 200 ministry leaders trained.  That is 150 different ministries, in 150 different locations, doing 150 different types of programs for 150 different immediate audiences -- all better equipped to be more effective in accomplishing their Christ-honoring community service missions! This is why we do what we do, and what we were dreaming of!
 
Sam Harrell