CONTACTS:
Dawn Chávez, Chair, Board of Directors, North Carolina Center for Nonprofits, 828-712-0675
Jeanne C. Tedrow, President & CEO, North Carolina Center for Nonprofits, 919-889-2902
The North Carolina Center for Nonprofits has announced that Ivan Canada will be its new President and CEO beginning in February 2024. Canada will be the third leader of the Center since its founding in 1990.
“We’re so pleased to welcome Ivan as our next CEO,” said Dawn Chávez, president of the Center’s Board of Directors, chair of the Board Search Committee, and executive director of Environmental Leadership Program in Asheville. “We had a very talented pool of candidates. But throughout the search process, it became clear that Ivan’s experience and breath of skills and leadership are what we envision in the next bold and transformational leader of the Center’s mission and values.”
Since 2015, Canada has been the executive director of North Carolina for Community and Justice (NCCJ), a Greensboro nonprofit organization working to build more respectful and inclusive communities free of bias, bigotry, and racism. He began with NCCJ as a board member in 2009 and joined its staff in 2014. Under his leadership, the organization has more than doubled its budget and staff and developed new programs to include adult as well as youth development.
Canada has helped NCCJ bolster its finances to ensure long-term stability and success, including tripling its assets to $1.1 million in 2023 and establishing a new permanent endowment to underwrite its flagship program, Anytown. He has overseen significant growth in youth, community, corporate, and workplace programming. He has also guided NCCJ in its role as a community convenor, including providing support and thought partnership for the founding of the Triad DEI Collaborative.
He led the organization’s rebranding, which included updating its name to reflect NCCJ’s increasing engagement in programs outside Guilford County. He fostered an organizational culture that has led to the most diverse staff and the greatest number of Black board chairs, Citation Award Dinner chairs, and Citation Award honorees in NCCJ’s long history.
Canada’s passion for leadership, social change, and service to community grew from his dedication as a staff member, volunteer, consultant, and board member with nonprofits, foundations, civic organizations, and his Triad community for many years. He has worked with the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, Guilford Green Foundation, and Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants & Hotels.
He currently serves as a board member with the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce, Carolina Pride Alum Network, Equality North Carolina (current board chair), UNC-Greensboro Board of Visitors, and S.J. Edwards Foundation (community trustee). He also served on the boards of the National Federation of Just Communities, Young Nonprofit Professionals Network (YNPN) National Board, and North Carolina Center for Nonprofits, where he was board chair and chair of the Center’s board nominations and equity committees.
“I’m excited to take what I’ve been able to do with NCCJ and apply it to sector-level change across the state,” said Canada. “The Center is poised to nurture a collective vision and framework that will make our nonprofit sector better and more equitable across North Carolina.”
“I know Ivan will take the baton and progress the Center’s commitment to building healthy, equitable, and strong nonprofits and communities,” said Jeanne Tedrow, outgoing president and CEO of the Center.
Over the last year, the Center has renewed its vision and values to reflect its commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion in its own practices, programs for NC nonprofits, and advocacy for the nonprofit sector. Canada will take over this continuum to:
- Convene nonprofit leaders across the state to advance equity and inclusion in their own organizational practices.
- Cultivate the Center’s resources and trainings that help nonprofits build their own capacity and sustainability to fulfill their missions.
- Build relationships with community, philanthropic, and government leaders to initiate policy solutions informed by local nonprofits that strengthen North Carolina’s organizations and communities.
The Center conducted a comprehensive, national search with its appointed Board Search Committee of five board and three staff members. The Committee also worked with leadership consultants Rachel Zink of Onward Nonprofit Services and Gary Landwirth of Giving Ideas to conduct a thoughtful and thorough search process.
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About North Carolina Center for Nonprofits: Founded in 1990, the North Carolina Center for Nonprofits is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that serves as a statewide network for nonprofit board and staff members, an educator and resource partner on effective organizational practices, and an advocate for the nonprofit sector as a whole. We offer capacity-building services to all sizes and types of 501(c)(3) nonprofits and work closely with local, state, and national groups that support nonprofits.
About North Carolina for Community and Justice (NCCJ): NCCJ is a human relations organization working to create compassionate and just communities free of bias, bigotry, and racism. NCCJ promotes understanding and respect among all cultures, races, and religions through advocacy, education, and dialogue.
NCCJ’s youth programs include Anytown, a youth leadership and human relations summer camp that supports local high school students, and Anyday and Break the Cycle: Be the Change, in-school programs that teach students to recognize and counteract the stereotypes and prejudices that lead to bullying and discrimination. NCCJ offers community programs like The Reset and Open Minds, Respectful Voices, as well as diversity and inclusion training for educators and other adult professionals.
