The cost of staff development has always been a hurdle for nonprofit organizations.  Now, online opportunities are making this less of a problem.

A project I recently undertook with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation led me to research available online training opportunities in the areas of fund raising, finance, governance and communications and marketing.  Here are some workshops that are hosted by experts in their field and are reasonably priced.  Training options and workshop dates change regularly.

The Gilbert Center is an incubator, research institute, consulting firm, and publishing house working to support and empower nonprofits.  The expertise of the founder, Michael Gilbert, and company lie primarily in the area of communication, with a special focus on the dramatic opportunities presented by online communication. The Gilbert Center regularly offers affordable online workshops including: “Frictionless Fundraising” (three workshops on Internet fundraising), “Email Newsletter Marketing Series,” “Nonprofit Technology Series,” “Nonprofit Knowledge Management Series,” “The Modern Nonprofit Web Site:  Strategies, Patterns and Tools Series."

The Moran Company offers a variety of fund-raising web seminars including “Fundraising Essentials for Nonprofit Boards,”  “Making an Ask for Planned Gifts,” and “Uncovering New Foundation Prospects.” New workshops are being added regularly to offerings.

Marketing Profs offers virtual seminars as part of its premuim membership, or individually priced. While designed for the for-profit world, many of their programs have high relevance to the nonprofit world.  Click on the Seminars section of their web site to see opportunities that range from “Building Links for Online PR and Search Engine Optimization,” to “Brand Hijacking: When Your Brand has Customers You Might Not Want.”