Meet the NonprofitMD
Matthew Downey: A Nonprofit "Lifer"

Specialties: CEO Strategic Advising, Board/Staff relations, Crisis Management, Fund Development, Special Events,  Strategic Framework Facilitation, Human Centered Design/Design Thinking/.

Consider Matthew Downey as your own private advisor.

For the 11 years he served as Director of Nonprofit Services for Johnson Center for Philanthropy, Matthew traveled throughout Michigan and beyond speaking with and listening to hundreds of nonprofit leaders, both staff and board, about their challenges, questions, barriers and frustrations.  Some of what they discussed were deeply internal and private organizational matters. By trusting Matthew to be a confidential third party, they were able to  contextualize their issue, weigh different options for a response and identify actions that would mitigate future problems.

Matthew's empathic sensibilities combined with his years of experience working in the nonprofit trenches, helped build their trust in his guidance.

Matthew operates as both a nonprofit consultant and strategic adviser. He holds expertise in governance, executive leadership, strategic planning, fund development and organizational structure. As a nonprofit “lifer,” he has dedicated his 29 year career to helping community leaders and professionals navigate the complex and often murky world of the tax exempt ecosystem.

Most recently, Matthew held for 11 years the position of Director of Nonprofit Services for GVSU’s Johnson Center for Philanthropy. In this role, he not only served as Director of one of Michigan’s most highly regarded nonprofit capacity building programs, he was frequently engaged as an educator and keynote speaker on a wide range of nonprofit, philanthropy and community leadership topics.

A few of his prior speaking engagements include: BoardSource National Leadership Forum (twice), Alliance for Nonprofit Management National Conference, Michigan Nonprofit Association (twice), Michigan Museums Association (multiple engagements), Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan (multiple engagements), U.P. Nonprofit Conference (three times as keynote speaker), Community Action Partnership National Conference.

His unique brand as an educator was most notable through his development of the Johnson Center’s Nonprofit Board Certification Program. He delivered this training well more than 200 times granting certificates to more than 7,500 current and prospective board members. Among the program’s partners included Amway, Merrill Lynch/Bank of America, Community Foundation of Holland/Zealand Area, Grand Haven Community Foundation, Michigan Museums Association, Fremont Area Community Foundation.

As an author Matthew published two chapters in the award-winning 2010 Sage Publications text book: Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations.

Matthew’s early career highlights include holding senior management positions with a wide range of nonprofit organizations including Irving S. Gilmore International Keyboard Festival (Kalamazoo, MI), St. Mary’s Hospital for Children (Bayside, NY), Queens Borough Public Library (Jamaica, NY) and Child Care Action Campaign (New York, NY). In 2018 he concluded a lengthy tenure as Board President of Wellspring/Cori Terry and Dancers (Kalamazoo, MI). He holds a B.S. in Nonprofit Arts Administration from Butler University (Indianapolis, IN) and a Master’s of Public Administration from Grand Valley State University (Grand Rapids, MI).