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Alliance for Nonprofit Management
1899 L Street NW 6th Floor
Washington, DC 20036

t 202 955 8406
f 202 721 0086

info@allianceonline.org

Member Spotlight

Abatamarco

Natalie Abatemarco

Vice President for Community Relations, Citigroup

For more than ten years, Citigroup has engaged with nonprofits to help improve their capacity to serve communities.  As a funder interested in community development (encompassing real estate and finance issues), Citigroup realized early on that if the core management of a nonprofit is not ready to take on an initiative, their grants will not succeed.  Support for training and technical assistance was necessary to have a long-term impact on communities.  Over time, in its community development work, Citigroup observed that many social service nonprofits were getting into community development work without specific expertise in the area.  As a result, for organizations that are not ready to take on major community development programs, Citigroup now invests in those nonprofits' organizational development in hopes that they will be in a better position to receive those kinds of grants in the future.

Citigroup has provided capacity building through a number of different initiatives:  Nonprofit Days are local training events focused on issues such as governance, planning and fundraising, held across the country, with many of them run by Alliance member organizations.  Citigroup also provides Social Entrepreneur Training, one-on-one training through its Nonprofit Connection program, and support for business planning.  "We try to have a robust relationship with our nonprofit grantees and partners, encouraging our employees to serve on nonprofit boards, providing grants for internships, and providing products and services" says Natalie Abatemarco, Citigroup Vice President for Community Relations.  For example, Citigroup works with nonprofits that provide Individual Development Accounts or mortgages for low-income people.  Specialized banking is required, and Citigroup can step in and provide tailored services.  Citigroup also provides international grants – such as one in South Korea to provide financial management training for NGOs, and a 3-year program to support YMCA's in South Africa.

"When we serve the sector and help make communities better, we know we're being a good corporate citizen," says Abatemarco.  "As a funder of capacity building, you must take a long view of development.  It's not a one-year involvement – it is ongoing.  Our staff understand the critical importance of capacity building."

Natalie Abatemarco serves on the Alliance Board of Directors and values the rich network that the Alliance brings.  Jill Kelly, Citigroup's Vice President for Community Relations points out "working with the Alliance keeps us on the cutting edge of what's going on in the nonprofit sector."  Through the Alliance, Citigroup made its first steps into the national arena – sponsoring scholarships for members of color at the Alliance Annual Conference, and getting involved with BoardnetUSA and BoardSource.  Citigroup hopes that this kind of support for capacity building will help trigger other funders to get involved in this important sector-strengthening work.