He Helped Bring Two Nonprofits to the Table
Hetzler serves on both UNCA and the Alliance boards
For David Hetzler — a member of both the Alliance for Children and Families and United Neighborhood Centers of America (UNCA) boards of directors—service to nonprofits in an advisory capacity is both an opportunity to contribute and an obligation.
Among the more significant contributions was helping forge a partnership between the two national nonprofit groups.
Back in 2005 Hetzler, as an UNCA board member, served on a 5-member UNCA committee that was looking at a possible relationship between UNCA and the Alliance.
When the relationship was affected in 2006, he then became a member of the Alliance board as an UNCA representative. Hetzler is now serving his fourth term with UNCA and second with the Alliance.
Hetzler says that when UNCA decided in 2004 to enter into a growth cycle, it also decided to seek out like-minded organizations for potential relationships. Given his belief that this was a necessary step for UNCA to take, Hetzler says he wanted to become part of the decision-making process, and serving on the UNCA Governance Committee was a logical way for him to do this.
“It made sense to me that I should step forward and help to shape UNCA’s future. I think that’s one of the reasons I have chosen to be a part of nonprofit boards. If you’re not taking some form of leadership and contributing your talents and interests, then why are you there?
“It (the affiliation with the Alliance) was a huge thing for UNCA in its evolution and it was the right thing to do,” says Hetzler.
Hetzler, who has undergraduate and graduate degrees in social work, began his board service as a member of the board of trustees of UNCA member South Side Settlement House, Columbus, Ohio. He also has served on the boards of the Columbus Regional Transit Authority and Columbus-Franklin County Housing Authority.
Hetzler credits his “mentor,” the late Bernie Wohl, former executive director of Goddard Riverside Settlement House in New York City and one-time director of South Side Settlement, for providing the inspiration and impetus for his involvement with nonprofits.
Hetzler first became initiated to the cause as a 19-year-old college student when he took Wohl’s offer to work at South Side Settlement’s summer camp. He subsequently met his wife, Nappy, the first Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) worker in Ohio, and one of their two adopted children, through his involvement with the settlement house.
“All of us bring something of value to the table,” says Hetzler of his board service. “Because of Bernie Wohl and the South Side Settlement House, the struggle to build ‘community’ in the best sense of the word—rooted in social justice—was something I could get excited about.
“I could see that the settlement was deeply involved with people, their neighborhood, and helping them to have the tools to raise the quality of their own lives.”
Hetzler’s career and life provide evidence of his commitment to community and a just society. Earlier in his career, he attended a speech by John Gardner, founder of Common Cause—the nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy organization—and then later served as executive director for the Ohio organization.
As executive director he worked in support of political ethics laws, campaign finance reform, and openness-in-government “sunshine” laws. He has been involved in many political campaigns over 30 years for the governor of Ohio, congress, the mayor, and the president of the United States.
| “All of us bring something of value to the table … the struggle to build ‘community’ in the best sense of the word—rooted in social justice— was something I could get excited about. I could see that the settlement was deeply involved with people, their neighborhood, and helping them to have the tools to raise the quality of their own lives.” |
The architectural engineering business from which Hetzler is semi-retired was formed in 1987 with a partner. And while his role in business has lessened, he remains involved in progressive politics and conducts a “secret life” as a writer of short stories, poems, and plays. Recently, Hetzler was selected to read his poetry at a music/literary festival in Charleston, S.C.
Hetzler says one of the greatest rewards gained from his years of board service is the relationship that continues to develop between UNCA and the Alliance.
“Clearly, I think the arrangement between UNCA and the Alliance has a really good feel about it and I had a role to play,” he says.
It was clear in his mind that there was a fundamental need for UNCA to grow, and although he says there were others on the UNCA board who did not share his opinion at the time, “I respected their opinions and we all worked hard to seek consensus,” he says.
A second great reward, according to Hetzler, has been occasions when he has been able to bring together people of different political persuasions, a talent gained through experience working on political campaigns at both the state and national level, to achieve mutual interests and create something new.
“I’ve helped create win-win situations,” he says. “It’s a skill I’ve learned over time, and over time, it’s led to positive outcomes.”
A third reward, he notes, is having met along the way “extraordinary” people: his fellow board members, leaders of the various organizations of which he has been a part—ordinary people who bring extraordinary commitment to their communities.
“It certainly has been satisfying to meet people who bring their own interests with them and different perspectives, yet are able to find common ground and come together,” says Hetzler. “It’s been personally rewarding.”
And while Hetzler has gained from his experiences, the biggest beneficiaries of his commitment to the nonprofit sector are organizations like the Alliance and UNCA and the hundreds of thousands of children, families, neighborhoods, and communities they serve every year. 
