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City of San Diego Nonprofit Academy and Accelerator Program

City of San Diego Nonprofit Academy and Accelerator Programs

The Nonprofit Institute at the University of San Diego, in partnership with the City of San Diego, recently hosted the San Diego Nonprofit Academy and San Diego Nonprofit Accelerator. This award-winning educational program is designed to educate local nonprofit leaders on maximizing their operational efficiency to better serve the local community. The program also aims to strengthen small-to-midsize nonprofits, grow their impact and better position them to receive funding from the government and other philanthropic partners.

All featured core courses and electives are taught by leading nonprofit management experts. Topics include effective board governance, strategic thinking, financial management, program design, evaluation, and personal leadership. Classes are held at the School of Leadership and Education Sciences (SOLES) on the University of San Diego campus. For updates on future Nonprofit Academies, please click here.

Partnering With the City

Woman poses with certificate

The City of San Diego encourages academy attendees to apply for City grants. The City’s Economic Development Department and Commission of Arts and Culture fund eligible local nonprofits with missions and projects that enhance our economic prosperity and improve the quality of life for San Diegans.

The Economic Development Department has a competitive application process to award funding through its Community Development Division, Cultural Affairs Division, and its Business Expansion, Attraction and Retention Division.

Additionally, depending on budget availability, the City Council Offices offer City Council Community Projects, Programs, and Services (CPPS) funding to public agencies or nonprofit organizations for one-time community, social, environmental, cultural, or recreational needs that serve a lawful public purpose. Interested organizations should contact their local Council offices for information on funding availability. 

City of San Diego Nonprofit Accelerator Graduates

In 2025, the Nonprofit Accelerator program was completed by 14 organizations. Over the course of three months, these organizations worked to develop their logic models, funding cases, board development processes, and much more in partnership with the experts identified by the Nonprofit Institute.  The organizations were required to have either their Executive Director or Board Chair attend all sessions in order to graduate the program. 

City of San Diego Nonprofit Academy HighlightsIEDC Gold The Nonprofit Academy

  • On March 28, 2019, the City of San Diego Economic Development Department and the University of San Diego Nonprofit Institute were honored with a California Association for Local Economic Development (CALED) Award of Merit for Collaboration for the City of San Diego Nonprofit Academy. The award was presented at the 39th Annual CALED Conference in Anaheim, California.
  • The City of San Diego Economic Development Department won a 2017 Gold Excellence in Economic Development Award for the City of San Diego Nonprofit Academy, a project in the category of Partnership with Educational Institutions of the International Economic Development Council (IEDC). The honor was presented at an awards ceremony on Sept. 19 during the IEDC Annual Conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Read the press release.)
  • In December 2017, the IEDC Journal profiled the academy. Read the article "The Nonprofit Academy in San Diego: Building Strong Nonprofits to Drive Economic Development" on Page 37.