Marnie Taylor is in her 14th year at what she calls her “pinnacle nonprofit job,” as president and CEO of the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits. Prior to taking on this leadership role, she served five years on the Center’s board.
“When I was serving on the board, I thought, ‘This is exactly me.’ I love to understand how nonprofits work and to make them run and work better,” Taylor said. “I feel like this is what I was born to do, because I’m passionate about the work of the nonprofits.”
Taylor is something of a board aficionado, having served on more than 30 boards including those of Remerge, CASA and Oklahoma County Detention Center. She chaired the National Council of Nonprofits during the COVID pandemic (a true test of skills), and she currently serves on the boards of the Potts Family Foundation and Sunbeam Family Services.
Serving on these various boards has given Taylor insights into how nonprofits struggle and thrive, as well as how they greatly improve our community. Such insights are assets when you’re leading an organization that exists to enhance Oklahoma’s nonprofit landscape.
“We’re called a ‘capacity building program,’” said Taylor about the Center’s member-focused mission. “We really help build capacity within nonprofits, and we also help build capacity within the people who run nonprofits.”
Throughout the years, Taylor has guided the Center’s growth and success: When she first came to the organization nearly 20 years ago, it had 25 members. Today, that number is nearly 1,000.
Taylor began learning about nonprofits, volunteering and charity from a very young age. Growing up in South Bend, Indiana, she was active in Campfire Girls, from Blue Birds to the camp counselor years. She watched her father chair Goodwill Industries and her mother join the local Junior League and medical Auxiliary. When Taylor graduated college and moved from Chicago to Oklahoma City with her husband, she actively engaged with the Junior League herself.
“I didn’t know anything about Oklahoma City or anyone,” she said. “I really found that this community greatly embraces the nonprofit sector, embraces service to others, embraces raising your hand and volunteering to do something—and then doing it to your best ability. And then you raise your hand again, and you get asked to do something else.”
Though Taylor’s knack for volunteering (and for a job well done) propelled her forward, she didn’t truly understand what compelled her to serve until she was preparing a speech for Remerge, an organization that helps women navigate issues such as trauma, incarceration, addiction and child custody. Taylor’s own family had been challenged with such issues. Her son, sister and mother all suffered from alcoholism. Her mother and sister died from the disease. At one time, her sister served time in prison and was separated from her child.
“I had the biggest ‘Aha,’ and I said it in that speech: What if there had been a Remerge? Maybe my sister would not be dead … Maybe she would have taken that ticket out of jail and gotten sober and gotten clean and taken care of her child,” Taylor said. “I think the compassion that I have for these organizations—many times the women and the children—comes from my growing-up experience.”
Taylor said her work with nonprofits has provided her a path to healing. It turns out her pinnacle job is also deeply personal, both a calling and a necessity.
