Young Nonprofit Professional of the Month Will Nurture Grassroots Organizations in Her Native Kazakhstan

Ainur Nurtay, a 2007 Muskie fellow from Kazakhstan, has been named Young Nonprofit Professional of the Month by the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of Greater Grand Rapids. Ainur, who will receive her Master of Public Administration degree from Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan in April 2009, has been an active member of the local nonprofit community, serving as a volunteer board member for Michigan-based SowHope and a campus representative for the Clinton Global Initiative University.

Ainur will carry valuable knowledge and skills in philanthropy and nonprofit management back to her native Kazakhstan. She has already registered her own organization, the Kazakhstan Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership, and has collected over 200 books on fundraising, research methods and nonprofit management to create a resource center in her home country. “During my course of study, I have learned much about intermediary organizations, which strengthen the capacities of nonprofit organizations and help them reach their goals,” Ainur reflected. “Upon my return home I plan to build the Center from the ground level in order to support grassroots organizations and put my education to use.”