Services— Overview

Strategic Planning to extend your team with objectivity and creativity to consider new and fresh approaches.

Building Relationships to identify, create, and cultivate important relationships for both funding and growth.

Improving Operations to review and streamline key business functions to get the most from limited resources.

Services— Description and Examples

Strategic Planning

One of the primary challenges of any non-profit is the ability to proactively plan for the future.  Funding is typically limited to program execution, leaving Executive Directors with no resources to assist in building a roadmap for growth.  It begins with a vision but requires defining the obstacles to achieve it and a plan to get there.  This is a very broad category, but includes activities such as the following:

  • Reviewing local market landscape for growth opportunity

  • Assessing readiness for expansion, possibly to new location(s)

  • Analyzing where, when, and how to expand operations

  • Creating a 3–5 year strategic roadmap to align vision and goals

Building Relationships

Creating and maintaining relationships with people and organizations externally is key to the continued survival of any non-profit.   This represents both the local community being served along with the associated funders, stakeholders, and delivery partners.  Funding is the life blood for non-profits. Success requires more than writing grants. It requires building trusted relationships with those issuing the grants. And often, there is simply not enough time to give them the attention they deserve.  Here’s a few examples that fall into this category:

  • Strengthening key relationships with funding organizations

  • Creating new relationships with delivery partners for your service

  • Positioning or selling your services to stakeholders or customers

  • Conducting market research for finding growth opportunities

Improving Operations

Limited budget with non-profits is a recurring theme.  Hence, it is critical to have efficient internal operations that make good use of very limited resources.  Ideally, operations are continuously tweaked and improved.  That said, as organizations grow and become more complex, it is necessary to periodically review and update workflow.  Such projects should be considered with a clear objective and return on investment.  Further, they must align to support strategic objectives.  Projects that are part of this category include the following:

  • Evaluating program community impact as feedback for funders

  • Leveraging the latest technology to streamline operations

  • Refining how work gets done—processes, systems, and workflows

  • Launching and building out new community programs