A Bermuda Hospitals Charitable Trust employee passed a course in non-profit management with flying colours.

Unlike many who have not attended university, Lori Ingram had, but she found that she needed to specialise in on her skills to better herself.

Ms Ingram is the office manager and campaign co-ordinator with the Bermuda Hospitals Charitable Trust (BHCT).

?I wanted to be able to add more value to my position,? she said.

?Traditional learning does not specifically prepare you for the various areas of knowledge required for the non-profit sector. The course offered at the University of Illinois at Chicago provided me not only with instructors with years of non-profit experience, but also my fellow classmates added value because they too worked in the non-profit arena.?

The certificate is comprised of six intensive five-week courses delivered via the Internet.

Asked what was one of the most important aspects of the course that she could use in the Bermuda charitable sector, she said: ?All six courses ? fundraising management, financial management, operations management, strategic management, marketing management and non-profit governance ? can be used in the non-profit arena locally. ?Personally, because I am not a numbers person, financial management, which is geared strictly for non-profit, was most useful. I began the course workload with fundraising management and after the first assigned readings I saw right away how it would help me with my job.

?I am delighted to have completed the certificate in non-profit management. Although the course was challenging at times, I found the content interesting and pertinent to my role at the BHCT.

?It was helpful to learn proven management techniques as well as gain insight on the experiences of other charitable organisations from around the globe.?

BHCT chairman Philip Butterfield congratulated Ms. Ingram on her achievement.

?It is essential that the BHCT staff are up to speed on the best practices in non-profit management,? he said.

?Lori has displayed great determination and dedication in her studies and should be commended for her attainment. I am confident that with such accomplished people working for the Trust, we can only succeed with our fundraising goals.?

BHCT executive director Wendy Augustus, also congratulated Ms Ingram on attaining her success.

?I would like to congratulate Lori on obtaining her certification in non-profit management,? said Ms Augustus.

?The course syllabus was extremely well-rounded and provided Lori with an excellent overview of the necessary elements in running a successful non-profit organisation. This is a significant achievement and certainly reflects on Lori?s individual drive and commitment to excellence.?

Ms Ingram not only completed the online certificate in non-profit management, she did it with a grade point average of 4.0.

?I worked to specifically attain a 4.0 average,? said Ms Ingram.

?Would I have been happy with anything less? No. I did not expect anything less of myself and I tend to be harder on myself than others are on me.

?After high school, attaining straight A?s became one of my personal goals.?

But of the courses she said it was no walk in the park.

?The courses were quite challenging,? she commented.

?Each course requires a group project. I had been in groups with people as far away as India and Malaysia. The challenge was twofold: The first was working with the group dynamic and the second was working together on an actual project where we had to form one collaborative piece of work, normally based on real or existing non-profit organisations and scenarios.?

Asked was this her first time at higher education she said, no.

?I studied in London, England, and Atlanta, Georgia, at the American College, now the American Intercontinental University.?

Her thoughts on Internet study were informative and Ms Ingram encouraged possible students to take the challenge by the horns.

?I think that the internet is a double-edged sword,? she said.

?It can be as useful as it can be harmful. But with due diligence I would encourage all Bermudians, particularly those who feel they did not have educational opportunities earlier in life, or who have limited time, or who feel they are too old for a traditional classroom setting, to look into an online education.

?First do your homework and research the programme, college or university to see if they have accredited courses and that your merits would be recognised. Online learning is an excellent alternative for parents raising young children and adolescents.

?My particular course had the flexibility of logging on whenever it was convenient for me. There was no ?scheduled? time to be in the classroom so it suited my schedule.

?There is a minimum of ten hours a week required online, so having DSL and flat rate internet service is a plus.?

In addition, it is actually more cost effective to learn online because there are no travel, living or textbook costs involved, she added.

?Some of the courses had 10 to 20-minute video lectures that you could watch whenever you liked throughout the course.

?Others had power point presentations and all had links to various articles and various websites where you could either print your reading assignments or, as was wisely suggested, you could save in a file on your computer for future reference.

?For anyone contemplating furthering their education, or just doing a few courses to become more marketable in their field, I would highly suggest looking into online learning.

?Now that I am done I actually miss the work and after I take a short break I will look for another course ? non-profit specific of course!?