In late October 2009, I was forwarded an email, encouraging me to apply to a training at NOI. I had heard of NOI peripherally, but I couldn't have told you what NOI did.

But I'm a training junkie. I sign up for any training that I can afford. And this training looked like an incredible undertaking. It was the Campaign Manager Training. It promised access to top talent in fields like communications and finance, fields I wanted to master, and NOI was soliciting applications.

But I was working at OFA at the time, and we were in the final throes of the fight for Health Insurance Reform (OK, so it took another 4 months, but we thought it was almost over). I put aside the application. But I couldn't push it out of my head, so a few weeks later I filed my application, just days before the deadline.

By the Skin of My Teeth

Like many applicants to NOI trainings, I ended up on the waitlist. Through a little luck and a lot of aggressive pestering, I managed to slip into an empty spot.

The training was unlike anything I'd been through, and shaped my view of what a training can and should be. I resolved that NOI was where I wanted to be, because I wanted to be part of delivering the training I had just received.

A Whole New World

Skip forward about 5 months. I've managed to find a place within NOI, and have been tasked with developing the agenda for a major training. I'm beside myself with excitement. As we're sorting applications for CEO BootCamp, I realize that if someone hadn't dropped out, I would never have made it into the Campaign Manager Training, never have joined the NOI community, and never gotten to be part of this work. And it struck me that many of the great applicants we were sorting wouldn't have that break.

A lot of discussions have taken place in the last 3 months or so, and I'm sure many before I came on. But one thing is clear - the demand for NOI trainings is much, much higher than our class size, and even our venues, allow.

And another thing is clear: in the 21st Century, there's no reason that access to our trainings should be limited by how many seats there are in a room, or how many meals we can afford to cover.

Expanding the Classroom Walls

So the New Campus was born. This isn't a "webinar" program - it's an online learning community, dedicated to removing the restrictions and making our trainings available to everyone, everywhere. Our classes will span the NOI curriculum and always strive to bring new and exciting content from the best practitioners, directly to you.

I know what it's like to apply for an NOI training and get turned away. Lucky for me, someone was kind enough to drop out and open a spot. That opened the door to new world. And now that I've walked through the door, I hope to hold it open for anyone else who wants to come along.

I strive every week to make sure the classes aren't just another dry webinar that you Gchat your way through. Our instructors are carefully picked from the top practitioners and innovative leaders in their fields. I rehearse with each one to ensure that no class is ever a re-hash of last month's donor conference presentation or client pitch, but a dynamic, relevant lesson that leaves you feeling better equipped to tackle your challenges. I hope to open the door to all that NOI and our allies have to offer, and to bring the amazing training I received to anyone who wants it.

I hope you'll join us in the New Campus.

Photo by Till Westermayer.