I’m planning another Leadership Los Angeles Seminar for the Southern California Leadership Network.  The theme of this upcoming seminar is “Neighborhood Development” and we’ll spend the entire day in Pacoima. 

I recently met with Nury Martinez from Pacoima Beautiful and was impressed with all of their environmental justice work in the  community. 

If you have any suggestions for speakers, please let me know.  We’re looking for local leaders from the public, private and nonprofit sectors to share more about their work in the community.  If you have any suggestions for places to visit in Pacoima, please email me your thoughts as well. Thanks.

I’m excited to invite you to a very special summer happy hour on this Friday, August 27^th from 5:30pm to around 9pm. What makes this happy hour extra special is that we’ll have a tasting from LA’s most up and coming brewers: the Eastside Brewers.  They brew their fantastic ales right here in Los Angeles and I’m hoping someday we’ll be able to sample their ales in quality bars across LA.  In support of their efforts, I’m looking forward to introducing their ales to you.

We’ll host the event just outside of Downtown LA near Historic Filipinotown at one of the homes of these fine brewers.  For $10, you’ll get to sample three different pints of ale.  There will also be food as well. 

8/25 Update: I just talked to Ben Guzman (one of the brewers) and learned we'll be sampling the following ales:  Black IPA, Old Ale, Camomile Agave Kolsch, Imperial Red, Black Mild and a Petit Saison (I wouldn't necessarily recommend them in that order). Here's the facebook link so you can see all of the good folks planning to attend. 

8/26 Update: My friend James Rojas will join us at tomorrow's happy hour and will bring his building blocks so we can build a model for a sustainable Los Angeles while we appreciate locally brewed ales!  

Here's more info about Eastside Brewers:  
Eastside Independent is a collaborative effort based in the traditions of homebrewing. Eastside believes in experimentation and variety of flavor while at the same time producing a drinkable, crowd pleasing product. Eastside seeks to expand the publics awareness of quality locally produced craft beer while  at the same never forgetting their roots in the community.

Here’s some more info that I wrote awhile back about why I host these happy hours:
"In the spirit of building community in Los Angeles, I’ve hosted/facilitated a monthly happy hour for the last two years.  As a Consultant, I interact with phenomenal leaders working on a variety of issues all throughout LA.  This is one way in which I bring everyone together and I welcome you to attend. For every one of these I've hosted, a fantastic group of thoughtful, engaged and interesting people have attended, always having a variety of engaging discussions." 

Agendas help structure your time at meetings and play a key role in making your meeting effective.   Below are ten quick tips to help you develop agendas for your own meetings:

1. Plan ahead: Develop your agenda before your actual meeting.

2. Involve your leadership:  Have the organization’s leadership (often the Executive Director and President) plan the agenda together and forward it to other Board members before their meeting for their input.

3. Set time limits:  Estimate the amount of time for each agenda item to help keep the group on track towards making decisions. 

4. Have meeting participants lead different items: Make sure each agenda item has someone leading it and that they are prepared to present it.

5. Use your time wisely: Use your time together to make important group decisions. Minimize updates and reports.

6. Don’t pack in too much:  Prioritize the most important decisions you need to make.

7. Review:  Review the agenda before you start the meeting and make sure all are in agreement.

8. Stick to the agenda:  Many temptations exist to go off-topic.  If a good idea comes up, but is outside of the agenda, add it to a list of future agenda topics.

9. Plan for breaks: Give yourself some time to stretch, socialize and rest during meetings. 

10. Brainstorm future agenda items at the end of your meeting:  Use the end of the meeting to start listing potential agenda topics for your next meeting.

I hope these tips help and wish you the best as you move forward meeting in whatever group you are a part of.   If you need assistance putting together an agenda, please contact me.  

Today I joined approximately 300 people who packed the Metro Board Room for the Mayor Villaraigosa’s Bike Summit. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that so many people came out to support a more bicycle-friendly Los Angeles.

I remember standing in that very room 12 years ago as a young Executive Director of the LA County Bicycle Coalition speaking to the MTA Board of Directors with only a handful of other advocates advocating for and eventually winning a commitment for $6.7 million more dollars for bike and pedestrian infrastructure.  

The bicycle movement has come so far since then, growing in numbers, organizations, rides and capacity to influence the city (For more info on the growing bike movement, check out my Mexico City Bicitekas blog post).  Today, so many people eloquently called for Los Angeles to do more for cycling. I’m very grateful for all of the people and organizations that came out and spoke today. I also appreciate the Mayor, head of Metro, head of LADOT and head of City Planning listening to everyone’s comments. 

I’m hopeful that the City works to implement its bike plan and would like to see the entire 1,600 miles of proposed bikeways created in the next five years.  I know this will certainly cost more than $6.7 million, but given today's strong turnout and growing bicycle movement, I know it's absolutely possible.  

Here’s a list of the things I liked the most while spending the a recent weekend in Columbus, Ohio, leading another “Winnings Campaign” training for the Alliance for Biking and Walking.

1. President William McKinley’s quote (see photo above)

2. FireWater – Hundreds of people enjoyed music by the river on Friday night with the added bonus of enjoying 30 fire pits ON the river, in front of the city skyline. 

3, “The Cradle of Great American Leadership” -  a quote I saw celebrating the fact that eight U.S. Presidents came from Ohio.

4. I could learn more about some of the monuments by the Ohio Statehouse by dialing a phone number...try calling (614) 728-6885 to learn about their monument to peace.  

5. I finally got to see the home town of Sara Wookie, who I have enjoyed collaborating with as part of the LA Urban Rangers

6. Jeni’s Icecream – fresh, local organic ingredients made this little shops ice cream so rich and tasty.

7. Bicycle Boulevards – If Columbus Ohio can prioritize some residential streets for smooth, pleasant bicycle riding, why can’t we do the same in Los Angeles?

8. Germanville – a beautiful old neighborhood with brick roads and sidewalks

9. Jeremy Grandstaff – a native of Ohio, Jeremy and I co-led the Winning Campaigns training.  His sense of humor kept me laughing the whole weekend.

10. The hospitality of the locals – I appreciated the warmth and friendliness of all of the folks I met while in Ohio

I look forward to learning more about Burlington, Vermont and Asheville, Tennessee later this year.  I’m scheduled to lead trainings in these places for the Alliance for Biking and Walking.

This Friday, I'm pleased to present at this Pecha Kucha and invite you to attend.  Here's more information about it:

I'm a big fan of Los Angeles and always curious to learn more about both the history and current issues of the multiple neighborhoods and landscapes in LA.  One of the most innovative organizations currently engaging people and place in Los Angeles to uncover layers of social history is Public Matters.  This Friday night, Public Matters along with the Philipino Workers Center in Historic Filipinotown will host their mobile Hi Fi Jeepney tours and a video screening.  I invite you to learn more about this event and attend.  I'm thrilled to be a part of the Public Matters team and am excited that this project in Historic Filipinotown continues to move forward. 

 
Every month I email out a newsletter with tips, updates, lessons and upcoming trainings.  Here's a link to the full newsletter.  If you would like for me to email future newsletters to you, please contact me.  Thanks and enjoy!

(I don't have any photos of Matt but I do have a photo of some of the
recommendations Alta presented at a recent meeting in Culver City)

I’m continually impressed watching the movement for a bicycle-friendly Los Angeles grow and prosper in Los Angeles.  Many people make up this movement and I’m writing to recognize one person who has worked hard over the last 10 years in the public sector, nonprofit sector and private sector: Matt Benjamin. 

After graduating from UCLA Planning School, Matt worked for the Metro in their Bikeway department and helped get numerous projects connecting bicycling with transit off the ground.  Just after I left directing the LA County Bicycle Coalition, Matt joined the organization as its Planning Director and led a major planning effort engaging low-income, immigrant bicyclists in the bicycle planning process.  Most recently, he led the LA office of Alta Planning and Design, working for clients such as the City of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Culver City. 

While I’m sad that Matt will be leaving Los Angeles, I’m happy for him and very appreciative of all of the hard work he’s put in to help make Los Angeles a better city to bike in.  Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with Matt.  Most recently, I teamed up with Alta Consulting and facilitated six focus group meetings for the City of Long Beach and one large public meeting for the Culver City Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan.   

I wish Matt the best as he continues his work outside of Southern California. I also look forward to a new generation of leaders working hard to continue transforming LA into a great place to bicycle, or as the LACBC puts it in their vision statement, "a great place for everyday, year-round cycling; a Los Angeles with healthier, more vibrant communities, where the air is cleaner, streets are safer and quieter; a Los Angeles where people can live, work and thrive."

(photo of a brainstorm listing some possible fundraising strategies)

Earlier in the year, I worked with the leadership at LA Voice and SOAR Charter School to create fund development plans for their organizations.  If you’re organization is about to engage in this very important process, I suggest the following 10 tips:

1. Engage your Board:  Creation of a fund development plan is a great way to get your Board involved with fundraising.  If they help create the fundraising plan, they are more likely to implement it.

2. Decide how much you need to raise:  It’s easier to get folks involved to raise funds to meet a specific goal, rather than just having some vague sense for how much you need to raise.

3. Diversify your funding sources:  Discuss different sources of funding and choose to pursue at least three sources (individuals, foundations, government, corporations, earned-income, etc).

4. Prioritize:  While there are lots of good ideas out there for fundraising, you can’t do them all.  Prioritize strategies your organization has the capacity to do that yield the strongest results.

5. Create a Workplan:  Fill out a workplan that contains the following details:  What action you will take, when will that action occur by (month/year) and who will be responsible for carrying out that action. 

6. Give yourself time:  Putting together a fund development plan can take anywhere from one to three months, depending on how frequently you meet with other folks creating it.

7. Evaluate your past fundraising:  Just because you’ve “always” done some fundraising strategy doesn’t mean you need to keep doing it.  Evaluate past strategies and decide if the benefits outweigh the costs.

8. Learn from this Process:  A fund development planning process gives everyone involved the opportunity to build their capacity as fundraisers (something even veteran fundraisers can use).

9: Don’t forget about your Plan!:  Refer to your fund development plan on at least a monthly basis and make sure the workplan you created from it is integrated into your workplan.

10. Follow-up:  Make sure your Executive Director and at least one board member commit to engaging everyone else in the organization to implement the plan.

If your organization can use the services of an experienced consultant to create your own fund development plan, please contact me. 

(Photo taken of me recently by Tom Johnson, who just
opened his Lakewood Photo Exhibit in Long Beach)

I invite you to attend another Introduction to Facilitation workshop I'm leading at the LA Eco-Village on Wednesday, July 28th from 7pm to 9pm. Here's the summary of the training:

  
Facilitators play a key role in helping a group make decisions.  They help  create a safe environment where everyone feels like their input is valued. In this workshop, you'll explore the benefits of facilitation, explore the group decision making process, explore various tools a facilitator uses, and have the opportunity to practice facilitating a group (and receive  feedback on your efforts).

The other day, I rode over my first set of Sharrows on the 4th St. Bicycle Boulevard in Los Angeles.  I congratulate the LA County Bicycle Coalition and countless others who worked to make these bicycle improvements in Los Angeles reality.  For more information about this, check out the LACBC blog. 

If I remember correctly, staff and volunteers developed the blueprint for this campaign a few years back during a "Winning Campaigns" Training I led for the Alliance for Biking and Walking.  Over the years, I have led 10 of these trainings in various cities across the country and am scheduled to lead three more this year in Columbus (Aug 6-8) , Burlington (Oct 22-24) and Asheville (Nov. 5-7).   I invite you to learn more about these trainings on the Alliance for Biking and Walking's webpage, and also invite you to join me. 

I invite you to my friend Tom Johnson's art opening tonight (who recently snapped some photos of me that I plan on using as part of my new website...stay tuned!).  Here's a link to a blog that has several of his Lakewood photos.  Here's another link to a recent story that appeared in the Long Beach Press Telegram about Tom along with more information about the opening:

Here's a link to another two-page flyer I recently created that describes the fundraising services I provide along with 10 tips for nonprofit fundraising.  Enjoy!

Here's a link to a two-page flyer I recently created that describes the facilitation services I provide along with 10 tips for successful facilitation.  Enjoy!

LSC Fellows look on as James Rojas, Co-Founder of the Latino Urban Forum
shows the model he created to showcase the future public transportation system
in Los Angeles as proposed by the Mayor's 30/10 plan. 

The Friday before I left for Mexico City, I facilitated a day-long seminar focussing on Land Use, Transportation and Housing for the Southern California Leadership Network's Leadership Southern California Class.  Here's a description of the day from SCLN's recent newsletter.  

Below that is more information about the Leadership Southern California Class, which is currently accepting applications (due at the end of the week).  A few years back, I participated in the program and would highly recommend it to build both your understanding of regional issues as well as network you with other civic-oriented leaders. 

Leadership Southern California 2010 analyzes the challenges and opportunities of Transit-Oriented Development One of the most difficult challenges facing Southern California today relates to land use, housing and transportation. As the region's population continues to grow, vehicle traffic, road infrastructure and uncertainty over the price of oil have become issues of concern. A shift towards transit-oriented development (TOD) and efficient use of land has led to new initiatives and projects, some of which were examined last week by the Leadership Southern California 2010 Fellows. "The federal funding strategy our region initiated has empowered local communities to raise transportation funds on their own," said Denny Zane, Move LA, on the significance of the 30/10 transportation initiative. "This has been seen by the federal government and other local governments as a template for projects nationwide." The Chamber is currently working with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office, Metro and Move LA on next steps for 30/10.  For more information visit www.leadershipnetwork.org or follow SCLN on Twitter@SCLN.  View photo gallery.   

Last Week to Apply for Leadership Southern California Class of 2011
With several exciting additions to the LSC curriculum, the 2011 class promises to be the most relevant, engaging program to date. The 2011 class will include a regional seminar in Ventura County, where participants will explore the people, places and trends affecting business and technology, coastal communities and agriculture; as well as a two-day seminar on natural resources management, with the new addition of energy. The new, two-day orientation session will feature activities focusing on the Internal Dynamics of Leadership, in partnership with the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University. This new component focuses on executive education practices dedicated to managing one's self in the midst of dynamic, changing, challenging and sometimes stressful situations.  Please share this information with a colleague who may be interested. View more information and apply now.

Yesterday, the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy hosted me at their office here in Mexico City to make a presentation about the state of bicycling in Los Angeles.  Thirteen bicycle advocates from local organizations such as BiciTekkas and Mujeres Bicicletas attended.

I talked about the growing bicycle culture in Los Angeles and showed numerous pictures of LA from the last few years.  I shared some of the organizations and people that make up the growing bike movement in Los Angeles.  Organizations such as the LA County Bicycle Coalition, CICLE, Bike Kitchen, Bike Oven, Bicrowave.  I talked about various rides such as Midnight Ridazz, Ride-Arc and Critical Mass.  I also mentioned events like the LA Street Summit, Art Cycle, the Bike Film Festival and Ciclavia, in addtion to blogs like LA Streetsblog.  I mentioned current campaigns such as Sharrows, Bike Boulevards, work to implement a new Bike Plan and the broader 30/10 plan to implement $40 billion dollars of Measure R funds.  I also talked about the incorporation of art and showed some of Cache’s murals and those "Caution Please Pass with Care" signs that appeared recently.  There's plenty of other people and organizations also working for a more bike friendly LA and I'm grateful for their efforts.  Together, this movement has dramatically increased the number of people bicycling in Los Angeles over the last 14 years, which is when a small group of us decided to launch the LA County Bicycle Coalition. 

I answered numerous questions about how groups in LA raised money to hire staff, how campaigns were organized and how a diverse group of people that care about bicycling work together in LA.  We had a very good discussion and I also learned more about their local advocacy efforts and such as developing a new bike plan for the city, passing a policy that incorporates bicycle planning into street designs and their regular Sunday Ciclovias. 

After the ride, folks from the Bicitekkas invited me on one of their weekly night rides, which starts at the city’s iconic Angel on Reforma Blvd.  About 100 of us toured the city (in the pouring rain), which included a stop near the Zocolo that will be the future location of their first Bicycle Kitchen-like space.  Very exciting! On the ride, I met Beto, the cousin of a friend of mine in LA – Ozzie, who owns one of my favorite bike shops, Echo Park Cycles.  (with Orange 20 being my other favorite shop). Small world indeed!

Folks expressed appreciation for my presentation and asked how Jimmy Lizama was doing (for the last two years Jimmy has come down to their annual Bike Congress event).  I told them Jimmy is now a proud father.  We talked about how there is so much for Mexico City to learn from Los Angeles, but in turn, there’s so much that LA can learn from Mexico (which is one of the main reasons I have spent the last two weeks here, looking at subways, street food, public spaces, Ciclovias and more).   I look forward to the exchange between Mexico City and Los Angeles increasing, and watching both of these sister cities move closer towards sustainability. 

Did you know Los Angeles and Mexico are sister cities?  Here's more info from the City of LA website on all of it's sister cities: 

"A sister city is created when a community decides to join with a community in another nation to learn more about one another, and to develop friendly meaningful exchanges. A sister city becomes official with the signing of a formal agreement by the top elected officials of the two jurisdictions. A sister city is a broad-based, officially approved, long-term partnership between two communities. These partnerships have the potential to perform the widest possible diversity of activities of any international program, including every type of municipal, business, professional, educational, and cultural exchange or project. Sister city programs involve local government, businesses, and a wide variety of citizen volunteers including nonprofit organizations."

In addition to Mexico City, I have travelled to three other sister cities to LA: Vancouver-Canada, San Salvador-El Salvador, and Tapai-Taiwan.  I hope to have the opportunity to visit other sister cities to LA during my lifetime. Not only are all these places fabulous places to visit, but they also deepen our own understanding of the many cultures that make Los Angeles home. 

      

Today, I biked around Mexico’s central and historic districts and to my pleasant surprise, numerous parks, plazas, public squares and pedestrian streets awaited me.  

They vary in size from their giant, historic Zocolo where I watched today’s world cup game with thousands of others to a tiny patch of green in one of their many parks. Each one of these places had a place for me to sit, work and people watch. 

Great cities provide places for its citizens to congregate.  Trees that shade and benches that provide a place to sit make these spaces attractive and invite use from a variety of people.  Street vendors give life to the space and provide an extra set of “eyes on the street”.   Water features add a sense of play and wonder.

I can’t help but think what a better city Los Angeles would be if we had more places like this.  Instead of parking lots, why not build more parks? Instead of vacant lots, why not convert them to community gardens? Instead of five-lane wide streets, why not add a green traffic island, wider sidewalks and a bike lane instead?  I’m glad that Los Angeles has begun moving in this direction. 

     
I love street food in general for two main reasons.  One, it gives me access to a variety of foods.  Second, it helps create vibrant urban spaces filled with people.

Mexico City is filled with street food on corners, around their subway stations, adjacent to highways and just about anywhere else it can squeeze into.  It makes otherwise bland urban spaces into places where you can people watch, sit and rest.

I’ve sampled tacos, juices, hamburgers, fruit, nuts and in the process, I have gotten a better sense of the city and people around me.  I’d like to see more of this in Los Angeles. 

     
Mexico City has another lesson for Los Angeles – dedicating existing lanes of street traffic to develop a Bus Rapid Transit network.   I took one of these busses the other day from the Zona Rosa neighborhood I’m staying in to Condessa to meet with representatives from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.

With traffic in Mexico City as backed up as Los Angeles, these Rapid Buses speed through the city and come every few minutes.  They are clean, modern and very affordable ($5 pesos per ride…about 40  cents). 

The platforms are in the middle of the street and are shielded from the noise of the traffic with glass and stone walls.  The bus I rode had standing room only. 

In a city struggling to move it’s people, this investment has increased mobility and reduced pollution.  It took political will from the City’s elected officials and sustained advocacy from ITDP to make this happen.  For more information about this project and ITDP, check out their posting on the subject. 






 

For those of you not on my email list, here's a link to the recent monthly email update I just sent out.  In it, I share some lessons from Mexico City, tips for starting a nonprofit and updates on my consulting work. Enjoy!  If you would like to receive future monthly news updates sent directly to your inbox, please contact me and let me know. 
Thanks, 
Ron

After recently facilitating a seminar on land-use, transportation and housing for the Southern California Leadership Network focusing on the Gold Line Eastside extension last week, I’m paying extra attention to this issue here in Mexico City.  I have had the opportunity to ride Mexico City’s subway system and appreciated several things about it that Los Angeles could learn from.

An extensive system:  You can go just about anywhere on the subway in Mexico City.

Little wait time:  Trains here run on a very frequent schedule (I’ve had to wait less than three minutes each time).

Street vending at stations:  The public spaces immediately surrounding stations are full of people and life as vendors sell a variety of food and goods

Linkages to bus and bicycle transportation: The station I arrived at yesterday connected to a Rapid Bus Transit system, extending the reach of transit.  It also had bike racks and a free city-bikes.

Dense land-use around stations:  Mexico City is surprisingly dense, with lots of transit-oriented development around the stations.

Use of symbols at stations: I liked the maps on the train that gave each station a symbol, in addition to its name.

Affordable fares:  A one-way ticket costs 3 pesos (about 30 cents). Can’t beat that!

Today, I will learn more about sustainable transportation in Mexico City when I meet with a representative from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.



 

When I woke up on Sunday Morning here in Mexico City and looked out my window down at the giant Reforma Blvd., it was full of hundreds of cyclists.  Without knowing it, I had stumbled into one of Mexico City’s weekly Ciclovia events where miles of major Boulevards are closed off to automobile traffic and instead taken over by cyclists, rollerskaters, walkers, soccer players, dogs, children and many more.

My friends and I walked down to the street and marveled at the constant stream of cyclists – old and young, men and women, all kinds of bikes.  What a great way to experience a city!  For those who didn’t have bikes, there were kiosks every half-mile or so where you could borrow a bike for free.  I didn’t have my passport with me so I couldn’t borrow one.  The good news is that this is a weekly event so I plan to borrow a bike next week.  There are also numerous racks full of free city bikes that people could use as well.

What also impressed me was that several of the blocks had programmed space where the streets were used for other purposes.  With world cup fever going on down here, several blocks of street were converted into mini-soccer fields. Another stretch of street was turned into a showcase for locals who had restored old VW Bugs to show off their cars.  Ciclovia here gives a variety of options for people to experience their streets as vibrant places to enjoy. 

At major intersections, police regulated the car traffic so it could cross the Ciclovia on a regular basis.  We later took the subway about six stops down to the historic Zocolo, and to my surprise, the Ciclovia was going on all the way down there!

If Mexico City can do this on a weekly basis, why not Los Angeles?  I’m definitely looking forward to riding in the first Ciclavia in Los Angeles on September 12^th.  I encourage you to plan on attending and invite your friends to join you.  I also just donated to Ciclavia in LA and encourage you to as well (also on this site is a fantastic short video describing Ciclavia in LA).  

The Liberty Hill Foundation continues to fund progressive, social-change oriented organizations working to transform Los Angeles into an equitable, livable city.  This year, Liberty Hill established the Wally Marks Institute for Leadership.  When Liberty Hill called me to ask if I could provide personalized coaching for some of their grantees participating in their Leadership Institute, I immediately said yes.

Since then, I have enjoyed working with three of their most dynamic organizations – CHIRLA, CLUE and LA Voice.  My role as a coach is to work with the leadership of these organizations to enhance their capacity around board development issues.  For each organization, we developed a series of goals and are now meeting on a regular basis between now and December to make their goals reality.

As always, I enjoy learning about the issues these organizations work on, ranging from human rights, economic justice and health care.  

1. BUILD YOUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Recruit a diverse group of people that believe in your mission

2. DECIDE THE “BIG PICTURE” OF YOUR ORGANIZATION
Have the Board decide the organization’s mission, vision, values and long-term goals (I recommend doing this at a weekend retreat).

3. DEVELOP YOUR WORKPLAN
Based on your long-term goals, develop a plan – What actions will you take? Who will lead them? When will they occur?

4. DECIDE HOW WILL YOU FUND IT
Develop a plan to raise money - Who might want to support this effort? How will you cultivate these funders? How/when will you solicit these funders?

5. DECIDE YOUR LEGAL STRUCTURE
Some choices: 1) Become your own legal nonprofit  2) Go under the umbrella of an existing nonprofit  3) Go under the umbrella of a nonprofit incubator

Ways in which I can help:

-I’m a skilled facilitator and can work with your organization’s leadership to make important decisions during a retreat

-I’m an experienced fundraiser and can help your organization create a fundraising plan

To discuss further, please contact me.

Having already served 15 clients this year, I decided to bring on some talent to assist me with my consulting work.  After initially bringing Bob Mckechnie on as an intern earlier in the year, I recently promoted him to my first associate here at Ron Milam Consulting. 

Bob McKechnie is a writer, educator and counselor.  For most of his life Bob served as an English and journalism teacher, counselor, and administrator at the secondary and university levels in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Coachella Valley.  Recently Bob turned his attention to raising funds for programs that help the working poor, food insecure, homeless, and youth.  I first met Bob while leading a training at the Center for Nonprofit Management.  His eagerness to learn about fundraising caught my attention.

As an excellent writer, Bob assists me with my work providing fundraising services to clients.  Bob has provided a valuable second set of eyes to me to help my clients develop strong grant proposals.  With attention to detail, Bob has also assisted me as I have researched potential funding sources for clients using resources like the Foundation Center database.

Outside of consulting, Bob serves on two non-profit boards, and works in leadership positions in the recovery community. Bob holds a Bachelor of Science degree in social science and journalism from the University of Oregon, Eugene, and a Master of Science Degree in counseling from California State University, East Bay.  

Today, I depart to Mexico City for two weeks. I'll be staying with a good friend down there in a city I have always wanted to visit.  One aspect of consulting that I really appreciate is that I can work most anywhere, given an internet connection. I also plan to meet with folks working on sustainable development down there, including representatives from the Institutes for Sustainable Transportation and Development Policy, the Mexico City Department of the Environment, Pew Foundation, the International Institute for Facilitation and Change, and the Hue Hue Eco-Village.  I'm really excited to be down there during the World Cup and also look forward to exploring the city and culture while I'm down there.  As the photo suggestions, there's a strong connection between Los Angeles and Mexico City.  I look forward to deepening my understanding of this relationship and look forward to returning to LA.  If you need to reach me while I'm gone, please contact me and I will get back to you as soon as I can. 

Tomorrow (Thursday, June 24th), I lead another training at the Center for Nonprofit Management and I invite you to attend: 

As I mentioned in a previous post, five years ago this month I launched my own consulting practice.  To celebrate that, I'm hosting a happy hour on Tuesday, June 22nd at Silverlake Wine (2935 Glendale Blvd.), from 5:30pm to around 8:30pm.   I invite you to join me.    For more info on my happy hours, below is some info from a previous blog post:

For as much as I love LA, I also love getting away.  This weekend, I spent some time at a Pepper Tree retreat center just outside of Ojai.  Nestled in the foothills of the local mountains, it’s a relaxing place with an incredible view, especially at sunset.

I facilitate lots of retreats and while I know it’s hard for everyone to get away for an entire weekend, its well worth it.  You have time to build relationships with other folks in your organization.  You have time to rest and relax.  And most important, by not being distracted by all the pressures of the city, you can be fully present in the decision making. 

I encourage groups to plan in advance and schedule retreats outside of the city a few months in advance.  I experienced this recently when I facilitated a retreat for the LA Urban Rangers on a UC Natural Reserve in the hills of North San Diego County.

A small group of LLA Members meeting with the
Executive Director of Clinica Romero

Last Friday, I planned and facilitated a thought-provoking seminar for the Southern California Leadership Network's Leadership Los Angeles class.  Below is a description of the day SCLN wrote for their newsletter.  This week, I'm working on putting together another seminar for SCLN's Leadership Southern California Class focussing on Land Use, Transportation and Housing.  

Having participated in the Leadership Southern California Program, I would recommend the program to anyone interested in engaging more with regional issues and building a stronger professional network.  Right now, Leadership Southern California is recruiting applicants...check out their website for more info.

Leadership L.A. 2010 evaluates the impact of national healthcare reform on Los Angeles
The Leadership L.A. Class of 2010 continued its nine-month program with a session on Friday, June 11 focusing on health care in Los Angeles. The Fellows met at LAC+USC Medical Center with Dr. Hector Flores, Director, Family Care Specialists Medical Group to discuss the impact national reform has had on Los Angeles' local health care providers and practitioners.  As part of the day, Fellows also met with Jennifer Ybarra, Program Manager, The California Endowment, and toured the Legacy LA facilities and Ramona Gardens neighborhood.  Ybarra stated "it's not enough to have health insurance. A healthy community shapes an individual's quality of life. Lou Calanche, Executive Director, Legacy LA, highlighted key issues that still inhibit quality of life in Ramona Gardens, such as air quality and access to quality food. Excursions moderated by Pete Delgado, President & CEO, LAC + USC Healthcare Network, among others, gave the Fellows the opportunity to analyze three different systems used to provide medical services in LA: public hospitals, private hospitals, and community clinics. Read more@SCLN. View photo gallery.

Photo of checklist from a Board meeting where members
committed to different fundraising activities

This Thursday, June 17th, I'm leading a Building a Fundraising Board of Directors training at the Flintridge Center in Pasadena from 10am to 11:30pm. 

How engaged is your board with fundraising in your organization? This seminar provides an overview of the major elements involved in building and maintaining an effective board of directors. The focus is on maximizing the capabilities of the board and motivating them to take the lead in fundraising. Topics include developing board fundraising policies and structures to ensure active board participation.

Flintridge Retreat Center #117
236 West Mountain Street, 117 Pasadena, CA 91103

Sliding scale: $15-35

To RSVP, visit the Flintridge Center website. 

For more on Board fundraising, check out some of my past blogposts on the subject. 

Tonight, Tuesday June 15th, I'm leading a "Running Effective Meetings" Training at the LA Eco-Village, from 7pm to 9pm.  

This workshop explores the key components necessary to ensure meetings are effective and result in decisions that help an organization move forward.  These components include: developing an agenda, knowing people’s roles and responsibilities, having a decision making process, facilitation and good listening skills.

Fee: $35 (sliding scale available)
Reservations required: crsp@igc.org or 213/738-1254

Here's a link to my my Top 10 Tips for running good meetings.

For more information Ron Milam’s work as a facilitator, click here.

I will also lead another Introduction to Facilitation training on July 28th from 7pm to 9pm at the LA Eco-Village.

L.A. Eco-Village is located at 117 Bimini Pl. near 1st and Vermont in Los Angeles    directions

(David from Alta Planning and Design receiving
input at one of the break out stations)

Approximately 75 people participated in the bicycle and pedestrian planning process in Culver City on June 12th for a three-hour community workshop.  The workshop started with a presentation of the plan, presented by David Pulsipher from Alta Consulting.  The Public Advisory Committee, made up of community members, then gave their input on the plan.  One of the committee members, Ron Durgin, made the case for inserting a stronger vision into the plan.  He showed the inspiring, short Streetfilms video, Long Beach Shifts Cycling in to High Gear, which earned the audience’s applause.

For the next hour and a half, meeting participants shared their comments and suggestions for the plan, first by making general comments in front of the large group, and then by breaking up into four smaller groups to give input on proposed maps, programs, recommendations and a prioritized list of bicycle and pedestrian improvement projects. The meeting closed with David reviewing next steps, which incorporates the public’s input, the plan going in front of the City’s planning committee and eventually going before the city council.

It’s not too late to provide feedback on this plan – the deadline is June 18^th.  

I appreciate all the work that so many people have put into this process.  I also enjoyed facilitating this workshop and wish the community the best as they move forward.  

I'm looking forward to facilitate a community workshop in Culver City this Saturday.  Here's more information about the meeting from the Culver City website:

Community Workshop this Saturday - June 12th.  Please come to the final community workshop to discuss Culver City's first Bicycle & Pedestrian Master Plan.  The workshop will be held in Veteran's Memorial Auditorium from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. See you on Saturday!

The Draft Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan is available for review on the Documents page. Please review it and come to the June 12 workshop to provide feedback.

Comments on the Draft Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan are due by Friday, June 18.  You can submit your comments here.

A little bit about the project...

The Culver City Bicycle and Pedestrian Initiative aims to help residents and visitors overcome these barriers. The initiative will compile updates in policy, program and infrastructure into the City’s first comprehensive Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan. This plan will guide the improvements for cycling and walking citywide.

Additionally, the impending 2010 arrival of the Exposition Light Rail Transit line and the bikeway alongside it, on the edge of the city, provides an excellent opportunity to enhance the adjacent area, promoting safe and comfortable non-motorized access to the station. The initiative features a physical project element that will focus on providing bicyclists and pedestrians with these connections—the Expo to Downtown Bicycle and Pedestrian Connector.

We hope you participate in this process to make Culver City a place that offers active, sustainable and safe lifestyles, where people bike and walk for transportation and recreation.

(photo from a recent LA Urban Rangers Retreat I facilitated)

This Wednesday (June 9th), I'm leading an Advanced Facilitation training at the LA Eco-Village. The following week on June 15th, I'm leading a Running Effective Meetings training.  I invite you to attend one or both of them.

Here's more information: 

Wed, June 9, 2010 from 7 to 9 pm at L.A. Eco-Village          directions

Advanced Facilitation 

This workshop explores more sophisticated tools and strategies that facilitators use to ensure groups effectively reach decisions.  Participants will have the opportunity to practice facilitating challenging situations and receive feedback from the instructor and training participants. 

Recommended pre-requisite:  Intro to Facilitation or some facilitation experience.

Fee:        $35 (sliding scale available)
Reservations required:  crsp@igc.org or 213/738-1254

============================================

Tue, June 15, 2010 from 7 to 9 pm at L.A. Eco-Village    directions

Running Effective Meetings    

This workshop explores the key components necessary to ensure meetings are effective and result in decisions that help an organization move forward.  These components include: developing an agenda, knowing people’s roles and responsibilities, having a decision making process, facilitation and good listening skills.

Fee:        $35 (sliding scale available)
Reservations required:  crsp@igc.org or 213/738-1254

I recently facilitated a one-day retreat for the Echo Park Time Bank.  I’m pleased to report their Board of Directors made a number of important decisions that will help them move forward. We focused on developing long and short term goals, which help guide any organization.  After brainstorming numerous possibilities, we categorized them and prioritized a few areas for them to focus in on. 

After the retreat, the founding Board members Autumn and Lisa emailed me the following “We want to thank you again so much for all the invaluable help you gave us last weekend. We felt incredibly encouraged and hopeful afterward.”

As always, I really enjoy facilitating groups and am always thrilled when participants leave the retreat more focused and energized about their work.  And for anyone living in or near Echo Park, I encourage you to check out the Echo Park Time Bank for an innovative means of exchange and community building.

For more info about the facilitation services I provide, check out my one-page flyer.

Five years ago this month, I launched my own consulting practice.   Since then, I’m pleased to report I have consulted for over 40 nonprofit organizations primarily in the areas of facilitation and fundraising. 

I love my work.  I get to work with dynamic leaders working on a variety of issues throughout Southern California.   With each project, I learn about my client’s work to create parks and open space, develop affordable housing, transform streets into bicycle-friendly places, create sustainable communities and so much more.  I also learn more about how to make meetings even more effective and how to engage staff and board members around successful fundraising strategies. 

To celebrate, I plan to hold another happy hour on Tuesday, June 22nd, from 5:30pm to 8:30pm at Silverlake Wine.  As always, my happy hours are places where I invite all of my clients and friends to share a drink and discuss the issues of the day.   I invite you to join us.

We’ll see what the next five years bring.  I hope to serve even more organizations that are working to transform Southern California into a sustainable region.  Thanks for all of your interest and support.

As a consultant, I specialize in providing facilitation and fundraising services.  I recently made some changes to my one page flyers for both of these subjects and would like to share them with you for your review.  Please feel free to forward them on to anyone who you think might be interested in my services, or give me a call if you would like to discuss further. 
Thanks, 
Ron

Here's a link to the facilitation flyer.

Here's a link to the fundraising flyer.

I'm pleased to serve as a member of the Public Matters Team.  Public Matters recently received a nomination for NAU's grant for change that if awarded, would provide a $10,000 grant to support our innovative market makeover work. Please take a minute to learn more about this innovative work and vote for Public Matters. 

More info on Public Matters from their website:

Public Matters generates innovative, artistic, place-based projects that build creative, civic and social capital in communities. Our projects develop creative community leaders. We engage residents in the creation of media-based neighborhood narratives that illuminate its history, character and conditions and integrate the results with broader civic processes, advocacy efforts and community initiatives. Our work addresses social issues through long-term educational projects. Our interdisciplinary approach is creative and analytical, left-brained and right-brained. We establish long-term sustainable programs that evolve beyond our initial involvement and are ultimately shaped by the community and its needs. 

Here's more information about Market Makeovers: 

Market makeovers are one strategy that aims to prevent obesity by working directly with community residents, community organizations and market owners to offer fresh, good quality fruits and vegetables to consumers consistently and reliably.

I'm excited to attend a fundraiser for the Liberty Hill Foundation, and invite you to join me.  Below is more information about their signature fundraising event.  I'm pleased to continue serving the Liberty Hill Foundation as a Consultant.  Having led many fundraising trainings for their grantees over the last few years, I'm currently serving as a coach for four of their grantees to build their capacity around board development issues.  Both Liberty Hill and their grantees they fund continue to inspire me with their work for social change in Los Angeles. 

Outside of Consulting, I'm pleased to serve as an LA Urban Ranger.  Earlier today, I met with some of my fellow Rangers and prepared for our final Malibu Public Beach Safari, which we are hosting this Sunday.  I invite you to attend.   Below is information the LA Urban Rangers emailed out about the event.

I just returned from a fantastic three-week vacation in Sri Lanka and Thailand.  I learned a great deal about the people, history and cultures of these two fascinating places.

In Thailand, we kept a safe distance from the protest zone, but discussed the current political unrest with locals during our travels.  The most inspiring place I visited in Thailand was the Elephant Nature Park, where I met the founder Lek (pictured in the photo).  She’s a real visionary who’s developed an engaging institution that not only rescues abused elephants, but inspires and engages visitors and volunteers in the process.  

Sri Lanka was another country recently torn by long-standing strife between its peoples, which we had the opportunity to learn about through conversations with various locals.  We toured Trincomalee in the north that until very recently, was a warzone, but has now returned to some level of normalcy.  The most inspiring place I visited in Sri Lanka was Sigiriya, an ancient Buddhist monestary built into a giant boulder (also pictured).

I hope both countries move forward towards a path of peace.  Altogether I return to Los Angeles refreshed and inspired.  I come back with a greater appreciation for the world’s diversity and my own city of Los Angeles.  I highly recommend international travel to local leadership here in Los Angeles. 

Here's a link to my April newsletter - containing some tips, questions and updates on my consulting work.  Enjoy!

I'm pleased to report the International Institute for Facilitation and Change has published another one of my articles in their online Bonfire newsletter - "Facilitation Skills - Listening".  I'm thrilled to contribute to a broader understanding of facilitation through this work and hope you find it useful, whether your facilitating a meeting or just spending time with people you care about. The International Institute for Facilitation and Change's website has a number of helpful articles on facilitation that I have found valuable and encourage you to check them out. 

Last night, I attended a high-energy fundraiser for Senator Barbara Boxer that President Obama spoke at.  A diverse crowd packed to hear the President, including my own elected representatives - Council President Eric Garcetti and County Supervisor Mark Ridley Thomas. 

I attended to not only support the cause,  but to also experience a major political fundraiser. 

As a Consultant, I’m always curious to learn from events I attend.  Here’s five elements from last night’s event that you may want to replicate if you are planning your own fundraising event: 

1. Feature a keynote speaker that many will fork out the extra bucks to see.

2. Stick to a relatively short program – they kept it to India Arie (who sang some inspirational songs), the chair of the DNC, Senator Boxer and then the President.

3. Their speeches celebrated progress they made while asking people for their ongoing support.

4. They personalized some of the invitations – the invite I received for this event came from my Council Member.

5.  They effectively dealt with challenges as they came up (including some hecklers in the audience that the President very effectively responded to by saying he heard their concerns, was working on it and then went back to his speech - to the applause of his supporters).

And at the end of the day, they raised an estimated $3.5 million dollars!  Even though my contribution was relatively small to the overall amount they raised, it was a gift I needed to give some thought to, and one that I’m glad I made.  

For more tips on planning an effective fundraiser, check out my recent blog post on the topic.

Many of us spend much of our times in meetings.  Having attending numerous meetings as a facilitator and participant, I would like to share the following 10 quick tips for running effective meetings:

1. Designate a Facilitator:  Whether it’s a member of the group such as the Board President or the organization brings in an outside facilitator, their role is to help keep the group focused and moving forward.

2. Develop an agenda before the meeting:  At the core of a good agenda are items that require the group to make decisions.  Project how much time each item will take and assign the outcome you hope to accomplish.

3. Stick to the agenda during the meeting:  Many temptations exist to stray off topic.  Stay focused to get the work done you need to get done and record other ideas brought up at the meeting for future meetings. 

4. Record decisions made:  Have a notetaker at every meeting to take minutes and have them record each decision, who is responsible for implementing it and if any future actions need to happen.

5. Start and end on time:  When groups slide from starting and ending on time, people loose motivation for attending meeting.

6. Set groundrules:  Groundrules help ensure civility between members. Some examples:  Respect each other, one conversation at time, be constructive.

7. Address conflict when it comes up:  Dealing with conflict can be challenging but not dealing with it and letting it fester can potentially be worse.

8. Use graphics:  Have someone scribe notes on a dry-erase board or poster paper to visually record people’s thoughts.

9. Evaluate:  Occasionally ask what about the meetings work well and what could be improved…experiment with ways to improve meetings.

10. Thank people for attending: If folks feel appreciated and valued, they are more likely to show up at future meetings, especially if they are a volunteer.

I’m leading three upcoming trainings at the LA Eco-Village on April 1, May 19 and June 15 related to running good meetings and invite you to attend.   

In the spirit of building community in Los Angeles, I’ve hosted/facilitated a monthly happy hour for the last year or so.  As a Consultant, I interact with phenomenal leaders working on a variety of issues all throughout LA.  This is one way in which I bring everyone together and I welcome you to attend. For every one of these I've hosted, a fantastic group of thoughtful, engaged and interesting people have attended, always having a variety of engaging discussions. 

My next happy hour is this Friday, April 23rd starting at about 5:30pm and going to around 9pm at the Eagle Rock Brewery Tasting Room at 3056 Roswell St. (one block south of Fletcher and one block east of San Fernando).  This is L.A.'s first brewery to open in 60 years! 

If you plan on dropping by, here's a question to ponder and potentially discuss as you chat with folks - who do you think are some of LA's best leaders and why?

Here's a link to the Facebook invite I sent out for the event. 

Now that health care reform has passed, what does it mean for Los Angeles? What local leaders are implementing innovations in health care in Los Angeles?  If you have thoughts on these questions, please let me know. 

I’m excited to again work with the Southern California Leadership Network and help them plan and facilitate their upcoming issue day on Health Care for their Leadership Los Angeles Program.

Last week, I met with a group of current Leadership fellows and alumni, and we brainstormed possible themes, speakers and site visits for this upcoming issue day in June.  Based on their input and working with staff from SCLN, I’ll be working to design this one-day learning experience.  Through the process, I look forward to building my own understanding of health care and also meeting many talented leaders throughout the process. 

I do the majority of my consulting in Southern California but occasionally work for clients in other places.  Over the last several months, I have worked closely with the leadership of SOAR Charter school in Denver to help launch a new school. 

Before Gianna Cassetta started work to create SOAR Charter School, I worked closely with her and her husband Marc Waxman in Harlem, New York, at Future Leaders Institute Charter School. 

When Gianna called me to ask if I could help them with their new school, I joined the team immediately.  Gianna is an exceptional leader who has recruited a strong Board of Directors to launch a rigorous, progressive school in one of Denver’s lower-income communities.  It’s a model that I would love see replicated in Los Angeles.

Working closely with Gianna and her board, I created a fund development plan which I am now working to implement.  I wrote one grant that’s secured the school $375,000 in support and am also working to help build a base of individual donors to the school.

If you’re interested in learning more, check out the school’s first enewsletter sent out today. 

I’m pleased to report the fundraiser for LA Streetsblog that I co-hosted with four other people last friday went very well! Over 60 people attended this intimate fundraiser at the LA Eco-Village, with delicious food prepared by Deborah Murphy and ales from New Belgium Brewing.  For more about the event, check out the LA Streetsblog post. 

Pictured above are members of the LA County Bicycle Coalition’s City of Lights Program, one of the awardees of the evening.  This innovative program's objective is "to increase working-class Latino immigrant bicyclists' safety and empower them to educate and spread bicycle safety information and advocacy to their communities."

Having served as the LA County Bicycle Coalition’s first Executive Director, it gives me great pleasure to watch the organization continue to innovate, grow and transform LA County into a great place to bicycle.  If you ride a bicycle in Los Angeles County and care to see riding conditions improve, I encourage you to join the LACBC as a member today.

I’m pleased to serve on the host committee for an upcoming fundraiser for LA StreetsBlog on April 9^th from 6pm to 9pm, and invite you to attend.  Streetsblog is the go to blog in LA to get the latest and greatest on work being done to  transform transportation and the streets in Los Angeles into a more livable/sustainable system.  

This afternoon, I’m working at my friend Angel’s recently opened café called Cafecito Organico and really like the space! There’s a nice, shaded seating area (that's not shown in the picture) where I can work and the traffic on nearby Hoover and Bellevue here in Silverlake is relatively quiet.

I’m really excited that my friend Angel launched this new spot, which is a great addition for the community.  Some of you may know Angel’s coffee because he sells them every week at the Silverlake and Hollywood Farmers markets.  Just like a new nonprofit organization that makes its first big step and decides to hire its first Executive Director, Angel’s taking a big step by opening up a storefront and I wish him all the best.

If you like coffee, this is a spot to check out.  He imports his own fair-trade coffee from places he’s actually visited in Central America and other places.  His product is organic and he roasts the beans himself.  All this adds up to a delicious cup of brew. 

Check out Cafecito Organico at 534 N. Hoover St.,
Los Angeles, CA 90026
Mon - Fri 6 am to 6 pm
Sat & Sun 7 am to 6 pm. 

 

Over the last few weeks, I've noticed numerous of these posters plastered on utility boxes along busy streets in Los Angeles. As a Consultant, I bike to the majority of my meetings with clients and appreciate this extra notice designed to raise awareness of drivers.  I thank whoever was responsible for designing these and putting them up around town.  

To find out more, I went to the LA Streetsblog and found an post giving more information about these signs.  This Friday April 9th, I'm co-hosting a fundraiser for LA Streetsblog and invite you to attend.  It will be from 6pm to 9pm at the LA Eco-Village (117 Bimini Pl.). 

I recently led a workshop on planning successful fundraising events at the Center for Nonprofit Management and shared some of the best practices I've learned over the years as a Consultant.  

I'd like to share my top 10 tips with you:

1. Decide your audience: Figure out who you want to attend your event

2. Decide what kind of event to do:  What would your audience be most interested in attending? Make sure your organization has the capacity to do it

3. Give yourself six months to plan the event:  Working backwards from the event date, put all of these things on a calendar

4. Involve your board, staff and volunteers:  Figure all of the various ways you can involve and engage staff, board and volunteers both in the event planning and the event itself.

5. Pick the right location:  Pick a location that is easy for your audience to get to.  Also, pick a venue that’s going to be right for the event your doing. 

6. Aim to raise at least as much as you spend:  While fundraising events accomplish other important things like raising your organization’s profile, you want to earn making at least twice of what you spend

7. Keep the program short: Make sure you have a tight agenda and that you’ve let everyone know how long they have to speak. 45 minutes or less

8. Figure out the pitch beforehand: Figure out who will do this and when they will do it during the event. Practice beforehand.

9. Thank your attendees: Thank them for coming when they arrive, when they leave and afterwards with a letter if you can.Be sure to evaluate afterwards:  Taking time to evaluate will help you with future events 

10. Be sure to evaluate afterwards:  Taking time to evaluate will help you with future events

 Here's a link to my March Newsletter with tips + updates

Facilitation plays a key role in my work as a Consultant.  I've faciliated numerous retreats, board meetings and community meetings.

This Thursday, April 1st, from 7 to 9pm, I'll be leading an "Introduction to Facilitation" workshop at the Los Angeles Eco Village. I invite you to attend.  

Here's more info about the training:

Facilitators play a key role in helping a group make decisions.  They help  create a safe environment where everyone feels like their input is valued. In this workshop, you'll explore the benefits of facilitation, explore the group decision making process, explore various tools a facilitator uses, and have the opportunity to practice facilitating a group (and receive  feedback on your efforts) 

I'm excited that the International Institute for Facilitation and Change included my Top 10 Facilitation tips in their recent Bonfire Newsletter.  This organization and newsletter is a great resource for anyone wanting to improve their facilitation skills.  

I'm also pleased to invite you to the following three trainings I just scheduled at the Los Angeles Eco-Village, which you are more than welcome to attend:

Over the years, I’ve written several million dollars worth of successful grant proposals as a Consultant, Executive Director and Board Member.  Based on my experience, here are 10 tips for crafting strong grant proposals. 

Before you write any grant proposal, answer the following five questions:

1) What’s the problem? What’s the need in the community you are addressing?

2) What’s your goal? Make sure your goals are concrete and measurable. 

3) What methods will you use to accomplish your goal? What actions will you take? Who will be responsible? When will they happen?

4) How will you know you are successful? What benchmarks and indicators will you use to track your work?

5) What’s it going to cost? You need to develop a basic budget with projected income and expenses.  Be realistic.

In addition, here are some other tips:

6) Read up on your foundation before you apply. Make sure your proposal is a good fit for the funder you approach before you apply.

7) Pitch your idea before you apply. After you’ve researched the funder, call them and ask to take five minutes to run your proposal by them (unless they say don’t call). 

8) Have someone proofread your proposal who isn’t familiar with your work. Having an extra set of eyes can not only correct typos, but it can also let you know if you are clear in what you are proposing.

9) Give yourself time. Don’t wait until the last minute to finish up the proposal because there will likely be mistakes if you rush.

10) Make grant writing one part of a larger fundraising strategy. It’s a super competitive environment right now for raising funds from foundations. Consider also developing a major donor program.

For anyone interested, I’m leading an “Advanced Grantwriting” Workshop at the Center for Nonprofit Mangement on May 27^th from 9:30am to 12:30pm.   Good luck with your fundraising efforts!

     (photo taken by Drew Reed)

Last Saturday’s LA Streets Summit, attended by more than 500 people, left me inspired and excited about the potential for LA’s growing movement to transform our streets into more livable places.  Janette Sadik-Khan showed that if New York City transform its streets, so can Los Angeles if we are creative, organized and unified.

In the afternoon, I facilitated a discussion asking the question “How can we continue to build the bicycling movement in Los Angeles?”  Approximately 35 people attended this session and all had great things to say.  As any brainstorm goes, the point of our time was to generate ideas, not evaluate or judge them.   

Here’s a summary of the ideas generated (I put the various ideas into categories):

BUILDING THE MOVEMENT

• Focus on what connects us
• Bring together existing leaders of various organizations for a day or two retreat to figure out the following: Overall movement goals, Time to share what each organization is doing, Discuss how to best support each other, Share lessons learned, Learn best practices from other successful leaders from other cities outside of region, Develop communications strategy, Create a central calendar, Existing calendars mentioned (bikeboom, LA Streetsblog, Bikeside, Biking in LA, LACBC, CICLE, socalcycling.com, socalcross, facebook), Get to know each other better, Figure out each other’s roles and responsibility in movement
• Need an effective coalition to put political pressure on
• Need to think beyond bikes and build connect with other organizations – gender/race/other communities: Such as public health, youth, college/universities, environmental groups, grammar schools, transit advocates, police, food vendors, neighbors, neighborhood councils, art organizations, LA River, chamber of commerce, bike industry - Shimano, park advocates, charitable organizations that do fundraising rides, bike shops, cyclecross community, developers, affordable housing, communications industry – KPFK, gas stations, AARP, AAA, farmers
• Need for both regional and local groups for people to connect with
• Monthly meetings?
• Have a regular “Bicycle Roundtable” where leaders from the movement can meet to discuss goals/problems – a current idea of bicyclingjustice.com
• Need to be clearer about what our overall goals are
• Rides that give people the opportunity to get to know each other better and also explore local riding conditions
• Have a TED-style conference for bikes
• We don’t have to all agree all the time
• Work to bridge gap between youth and radical bike advocates: More dialog & Tap into good energy

WORKING TOGETHER

• Work together to implement City of LA Bike Plan
• Work to support city staff working on bike issues
• Need an effective communications strategy
• Focus on motorists to get more respect

RECRUITING

• Need to organize and recruit cyclists
• Have more people involved with various organizations cooperate to come up with a flyer to leave at various bike shots that identify the variety of bike organizations
• Have a button on bike blogs that would go to a site showing various campaigns and/or organizations people could get involved with
• Offer to help fix your neighbor’s bicycle
• Recruiting social riders into movement
• How to recruit apathetic cyclists? Are there incentives?
• Recruit at the Tour de California (and/or partner with the Tour)
• Have something on the City Hall TV Channel
• Have a fix-your bike show/kids club
• Get more people on bikes
• 2% of overall population can change anything

NEXT STEPS

• Collect emails from people in attendance
• Send out a monthly newsletter
• Have a facebook Page
• Plan a conference to unify bike movement
• Other ideas?

I invite you to attend this weekend’s LA Streets Summit, which will bring together hundreds of people interested in transforming LA’s streets into more livable places.  After a great set of morning keynote speakers, the afternoon is packed with a wide variety of fantastic panels.  I’m excited to facilitate the following panel at 1:00pm:

Building a Stronger Bicycling Movement in Los Angeles
This workshop provides a forum for people working to transform Los Angeles into a bicycle-friendly city to identify areas in which we can strengthen our movement.  How can we work more effectively with each other, better communicate with each other and strengthen relationships among each other? Participants will brainstorm ways in which to strengthen our movement and talk about potential next steps after the LA Street Summit.

I invite you to attend my session and/or register to attend the Summit. 

I’m excited to attend tonight’s Green LA Fundraiser and encourage you to attend if you support building a strong environmental movement to win campaigns that transform Los Angeles into a sustainable City.

This movement is made up of a lot of smart, talented and committed people – many of whom I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with as a Consultant.   Over the last six months, I have worked extensively with the leadership of the Green LA Coalition and can tell you they have what it takes to affect positive change in Los Angeles.

Here’s more information about the event:

I hope to see you there. 

Boards of Director’s play an essential role in building a donor base for any nonprofit organization.

One Board I’m working with recently made an important step in this direction by each making a donation to the school.   Now they were taking the next step in fundraising and discussed ways in which they could each play a role in building a broader donor base for their organization.

In general, each Board member needs to think about people they know in their own networks that might be possible donors.  To help narrow down the list, the following three traits make someone a good prospect:  they believe in the cause, they have money to give and the Board member has a good relationship with them.

Once identified, Board members need to think of ways to introduce their organization to potential folks – whether it be an email, phone call or conversation.   Over time, Board members could find other ways to introduce their organization to potential donors and potentially involve potential donors at the organizations events, with volunteering, or other activities.   Over time, after Board members have cultivated relationships with potential supporters, that Board member needs to find a way to ask that person to support their organization, with a face-to-face ask having the highest likelihood for someone actually saying yes.

Building a donor base takes time, but plays a very important role in ensuring a diversified and sustainable funding stream for a nonprofit organization. 

I’m thrilled to be working with several clients right now on this very topic, including SOAR Charter School, SCANPH and LA Voice. 

I'm excited to report one of my past clients, the Bike Kitchen, just launched a fundraising campaign. I'm really impressed with all of their work and just mailed in a check for $100 to help them reach their fundraising goal.  If you ride your bike in Los Angeles, I encourage you to also donate to their campaign so they can continue providing valuable services to the community. For more info and to donate, check out their blog at: http://bicicocina.blogspot.com/. 

Speaking of donations, I'm leading two fundraising workshops later this week.  One on hosting fundraising events this Thursday and another on researching and cultivating a donor base on friday. For more info, check out my calendar. 

Thanks Bike Kitchen!

I’m keeping busy this week with facilitation and am excited to have the opportunity to work with so many groups.  Here’s a quick glimpse of my schedule:

Tuesday:
-Facilitating a subcommittee of Green LA Coalition

-Facilitating a community meeting for the City of Seal Beach

Thursday:
-Leading a seminar at the Center for Nonprofit Management on planning successful fundraising events

-Facilitating a discussion with the Board of Directors of LA Voice

Friday
-Leading a seminar at the Flintridge Foundation on Researching and Cultivating Donors

-Facilitating a discussion with the Board of the Southern California Association of Nonprofit Hosing Developers

I’m thrilled to work with so many leaders of so many organizations working for positive change in Los Angeles. 

The following is an email update about today's scheduled Malibu Beach Safaris hosted by the LA Urban Rangers, a group I'm a part of when I'm not keeping busy as a Consultant: 

Like many, I signed up for a Twitter account and invite you to follow me.  I write about what I'm up to as a Consultant and also retweet posts from others that look interesting.  

One of the "occupational hazards" of twittering, as my friend Mud put it last night, is that there are risks of having your account hacked.  That's exactly what happened to me last night as I was at an event for the LA Neighborhood Land Trust.  

It was actually funny, one of the Board members of the LANLT who I worked with on a regular basis last year as a consultant, showed his phone to me with a suggestive direct message I certainly did not send.  I then quickly got some texts and emails from others with folks who figured out my account got hacked.  It was both alarming and a bit hilarious.  

Anyway, moral of the story is be aware of the risks, and change your passwords every now and then.  Happy Twittering!

I'm excited to lead three of the upcoming "Winning Campaigns" trainings for the Alliance for Bicycling and Walking in 2010 (Burlington, Columbus and Asheville): 

• New Orleans, LA: April 16-18 (Hosted by New Orleans Metro Bicycle Coalition)
• Edison, NJ: June 4-6 (Hosted by New Jersey Bicycle Coalition & East Coast Greenway Alliance)
• Burlington, VT: July 9-11 (Hosted by Local Motion)
• Columbus, OH: Aug 6-8 (Hosted by Bike! Walk!Ohio & Consider Biking)
• Oakland, CA: October 15-17 (Hosted by Walk Oakland Bike Oakland)
• Asheville, NC: November 5-7 (Hosted by Asheville Bicycle Coalition)

Last Friday I attended a town hall meeting hosting by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray Lahood and Barbara Boxer.  I appreciated their willingness to listen to citizens like me, and also gained inspiration from many of the suggestions made by other attendees. 

In the afternoon I attended a session facilitated by Metro.  As the microphone went from speaker to speaker, I jotted down 10 quick suggestions for improving transportation in Los Angeles. 

With a little dose of humor and seriousness, I offer the following to you (to make it fun, I presented these in a David Letterman style top 10 list):

#10.  Real Voices on the Bus:  As a cyclist, I often take the bus when I need to make longer commutes across town.  While the overcrowding doesn’t bother me so much, the robotic voices announcing the various stops sometimes does.  I propose an art project where Metro goes out into the communities surrounding its bus lines and record the names of stops from people who actually live near them.  Imagine taking the Wilshire Rapid from Dowtown LA to Santa Monica and hearing the diversity of voices along the way.

#9.  One ticket One Way:  I also find myself taking my bike on the train to places like Long Beach (where I will be facilitating some focus groups around bicycling for the City of Long Beach).  I wish that the one-way ticket I buy on the Red Line would also work for the one-way trip I’d make on the Blue line. 

#8.  Transit-oriented development:  LA developed around the trolley car and enormous potential exists to develop affordable housing and other buildings that are a short walk to a Metro stop.  I’m excited to see the statewide SB 375 get implemented.

#7:  Fast track bicycle plan implementation:  Cities like New York and Mexico City are transforming their streets so that they are safer and more enjoyable places to ride at a much faster pace than we are.  Why couldn’t the City of LA fast-track implementation of its Bicycle Master Plan in a year?  We’ve got good ideas on paper – let’s allocate the needed resources to make it reality.

#6. Bike Boulevards: My brother lives in Vancouver, Canada, which has developed an impressive network of Bicycle Boulevards.  These are quiet, residential streets that have several design features that make cycling pleasant:  traffic circles instead of stop signs, occasional barriers that limit auto traffic but let bikes through, good directional signage and prioritization when crossing major boulevards.

#5. Transform Parking Lots:  Los Angeles lacks adequate supplies of affordable housing and park space.   Why not convert some existing parking lots into uses that will serve more people and create a more sustainable city? 

#4.  No Free Parking:  For the parking lots we keep, let’s charge a real market rate rather than subsidizing parking.  Professor Don Shoup at UCLA has written extensively about this.  When people pay a higher cost for parking that reflects the true cost of parking, they are more willing to explore transportation alternatives.

#3. Legalize street vending around Metro Stops:  In Mexico and Central America and many other parts of the world, public space is so vibrant because of street vending.  I love how there’s a weekly farmers market right outside the Wilshire/Vermont Red Line Station and would like to see that space used like that on a regular basis. 

#2. Curtail Investment in Transportation Projects that only promote Driving:  The elephant in the room is that the majority of transportation spending still goes towards projects that encourage driving – whether it be highway expansion, new parking lots or new roads.  I would like to see less money go towards these types of projects and more money towards building transit, bicycle infrastructure and pleasant places to walk.

#1.Ciclavia:  Ciclavia will transform LA’s streets by temporarily closing certain major boulevards to automobile traffic and opening it up to people to enjoy on foot, on roller-skates, or bicycle.  It builds community and sparks the imagination for what our streets could be. 

These are just 10 quick ideas – there are so many more and so many passionate folks working throughout the region to implement other innovative ideas for a sustainable and vibrant transportation system in Los Angeles.  I’m pleased to have the opportunity to work with many of them and am excited to see these ideas come to fruition.

Here's a link to my February newsletter - enjoy!

I’m excited to be working with the leadership at LA Voice to create a fund development plan.  LA Voice is an interfaith organization engaging congregation members on a number of social change related issues in Los Angeles, including affordable housing, homelessness and health care.  For an inspiring video about the organization’s work, click here.

Over the years, I’ve worked with many organizations to create a fund development plan, including having recently developed a plan for SOAR Charter School.  A fund development plan helps chart a future fundraising course for a nonprofit organization and contains the following: 

• An assessment of the organization’s current fundraising generated from a fundraising audit and leadership survey
• A review of the organizations fundraising materials, including past grant proposals, cover letters and appeal letters
• Development of an overall goal targeting specific strategies to achieve that goal
• A timeline/workplan to implement plan
• A list of possible funding sources
• A staffing plan
• An appendix with additional resources. 

If you or your organization would like more information about how I may be able to assist you with the creation of a fund development plan, please contact me.

I recently completed a consulting project that took several months for the Green LA Coalition.  Green LA works to build a strong movement to win campaigns that can transform Los Angeles into a sustainable city.

For this project, I collaborated closely with another consultant, Beth Steckler.  For this project, we interviewed over 30 people within the Coalition’s leadership and outside the organization, along with surveying the entire membership with an online survey.  Based on this work, we developed an assessment report and later facilitated a day-long strategic visions retreat for the Coalition’s Steering Committee.  From all of the information we gathered through these efforts, we presented a final report with recommendations for how the Coalition could strengthen itself as it moves forward so that it could have the greatest possible impact in making Los Angeles a more sustainable city. 

I’m pleased to report the Steering Committee approved the majority of our recommendations and has asked Beth and I to continue consulting for them to help them implement our recommendations. 

I also look forward to attending Green LA’s upcoming awards fundraiser on March 15^th, from 6pm to 9pm, and invite you to attend.

I’m very pleased to be working with the leadership at the Southern California Association of Non-Profit Housing (SCANPH).   SCANPH creates affordable housing opportunities for low-income people by expanding the knowledge, capacity and influence of the nonprofit development sector.  Over the years, SCANPH has championed affordable housing in Southern California and helped build a strong network of local affordable housing developers that have generated housing that’s affordable.   SCANPH also has some excited plans to green development in the future, which I’m especially excited to see happen. 

I’m working with the organization’s leadership to build their fundraising capacity so that they’re able to bring in the needed resources to do their good work.  I’m excited to attend their upcoming Board meeting in March to work with the entire Board of Directors on engaging in the fundraising process.  For some tips on how to build a fundraising Board of Directors, check out my recent blog post.

      Much of my fundraising work right now involves working with directly with the Boards of Directors of my clients, including SCANPH, LA Voice and SOAR Charter School.  Here’s a summary of my top 10 tips for building a fundraising Board of Directors.

1.  Everyone Needs to be Involved:  Fundraising works best when the entire board pledges to both raise funds and give to their organization.

2.  Start Early:  When recruiting potential board members, let them know your organization expects them to play a role in the organization’s fundraising.

3.  Orient New Members:  As part of your orientation of new board members, let them know the many ways in which they can get involved with fundraising.

4.  Create a Plan:  Have the entire board play a role in helping shape your organization’s fund development plan.

5.  Find the Right Fit:  Work with each board member to find out which fundraising tasks they are most comfortable with committing to.

6.  Consider a Board Agreement:  Many organizations have their board members sign agreements that list the amount they plan to give and raise.

7.  Follow-up is Key:  Encouraging reminders help keep them on track in case they forget or lag behind.

8.  Talk about Fundraising:  Having a conversation where you ask board members who are reluctant to fundraise why they themselves donate often times gives them a new perspective.

9.  Fundraise Together:  Fundraising is more fun when done in groups.  

10.Celebrate Success: At every board meeting, celebrate the amount of funds raised.

Remember, building a fundraising Board of Directors is an ongoing process.  Sometimes it helps to have an outside consultant to help facilitate Boards of Directors to engage them in the fundraising process.  If you would like to discuss the possibility of me doing this for your organization, please contact me.

Many years ago, I benefitted from the work from an intern while directing the LA County Bicycle Coalition (my intern, Andrew, currently teaches in Mexico City and will someday be the Mayor of Detroit).  I later worked closely with an intern while working for Enterprise Community Partners in New York City (that intern, Matt, is currently in Law School and will someday be the Governor of Florida).   As Principal of my own consulting firm with a lot of work on my plate, I'm once again looking to bring on an intern to help me with my work.  In turn, I look forward to working with whoever I bring on to build their capacity as a leader in the nonprofit sector.  Here's the job description.  Please forward to anyone who you think might be interested:

Intern Job Description

 
Ron Milam Consulting is seeking qualified candidates for the position of Intern.  Ron Milam has 12 years of successful experience in the non-profit sector and has consulted for 40 nonprofit organizations since 2005.  His mission is to provide capacity building support for leaders working to transform Los Angeles into a sustainable region.  Ron specializes in the areas of fundraising, strategic planning and leadership development.  He’s a skilled facilitator, presenter, coach and project manager.   For more info, check out www.ronmilam.com.

This position is ideal for someone wanting to gain real world experience as a consultant working for some of Los Angeles’ leading sustainability oriented nonprofit organizations.  It’s also a good place to build your skills as a leader in the nonprofit sector, particularly as a fundraiser and/or facilitator.  As part of the internship, Ron will identify areas in which the intern wants to build their capacity as a leader and discuss it weekly with the intern.   This part-time position is ideal for current graduate students wanting to gain some real-world experience and additional income on the side.  Specific responsibilities of the intern are as follows:

Fundraising

• Research potential donors for Ron’s clients
• Develop/write/review grant proposals
• Copy-edit proposals Ron develops
• Assist with logistical details of fundraising work Ron does for clients (fundraising assessments, leadership surveys, draft plans, etc.)

Facilitation

• Record notes for meetings Ron facilitates
• Facilitate portions of the agenda
• Assist with logistical details related to meetings Ron facilitates

 Marketing

• Help research and identify new consulting clients
• Assist with social media marketing
• Assist with the development of marketing and training materials
• Data-entry

There may be other projects that come up outside of the areas of facilitation, fundraising and marketing, depending on the needs of Ron Milam and his clients.

Desired Skills and Experience:

• Passion and energy for implementing urban sustainability in Los Angeles
• Experience and/or interest in the nonprofit sector
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Detail-oriented
• Strong leadership ability and an entrepreneurial spirit that thrives in a start-up environment

Compensation:

$15/hour.  Part-time.  Flexible hours.

Application Submission – Deadline February 26^th, 2008:

Please email your cover letter and résumé to rpm@ronmilam.com.

Today is the last day of KCRW’s winter pledge drive. It’s also the last day to listen and learn some really valuable fundraising practices.  As a fundraising consultant, I’ve been listening to their fund drive all week and want to share with you some of the things they do really well that would be valuable to any non-profit organization seeking to raise funds from individual donors through a major donor campaign:

1. They have an overall campaign goal for the amount of money they want to raise.  Not only that, they set goals for each hour and let listeners know the progress they are making towards reaching that goal.  They rally around these goals and folks who donate feel great for their contribution towards that specific goal.  
2. They have clear deadlines – both for the overall campaign and for each hour.  These deadlines give a sense of urgency and compel folks to give.
3. They ask for our support, repeatedly.  If they didn’t ask, most of us wouldn’t just randomly decide to give.
4. They say “thank you” all the time and regularly thank people who have given on air.  “Thank you” are the two most important words in fundraising.
5. They get everyone involved in the fundraising process.  All DJ’s, staff and a bunch of volunteers are involved.  Fundraising works best when all staff and board members are involved in the process.
6. They make a clear case for why their station is valuable, which resonates with its audience. 
7. They stress the individual benefits listeners receive and also throw in some nice give-aways (which were all likely donated from sponsors who wanted to support the fundraising drive and also reach out to a broader audience with their products).
8. They use challenge grants.  When I heard the David Bohnett Foundation would double any gift people made, it inspired me to make another donation.
9. They make giving really easy – it only takes a minute to pledge over the phone or online.
10. They have fun with it.

I encourage you not only to tune in today on their last day to learn some great fundraising practices, but also consider making a gift yourself.  I’m a big fan of “Morning Becomes Eclectic” and “Which Way LA”. 

Good listening skills are essential to anyone who wants to successfully facilitate a meeting.  It’s also my number one tip on my “Top 10 Tips for Facilitators”.

As a facilitator, you need to listen closely to what everyone has to say.  Since you are there to serve the entire group, you must actively listen so you can better understand where everyone is coming from so you can help them accomplish whatever they want to accomplish as a group.  Part of the trust you build with the group you facilitate depends on them believing you hear them.  Not only that, your active listening will help ensure other people within the group listen to each other, and actually hear what they have to say.  When folks within a group listen to each other, they are more likely to understand each other and that helps make it a little easier for the group to come to sustainable agreements.

Here are three quick and easy ways to listen:

1. Mirroring:  When someone says something (that isn’t too long), you repeat the words back verbatim to the person who said it.  This is a tactic I often use when I’m facilitating a br Save ainstorming session with a group.
2. Summarizing:  People often take a minute or two to make their point to the larger group.  If I’m facilitating a discussion, I’ll often quickly summarize what someone says to make sure I heard it right.  The point also gets reiterated to the group.   If my summary is slightly off, the person will correct me and then I’ll summarize it again.
3. Clarifying:  Sometimes someone will make a point that isn’t all that clear, or very general.  Before calling on the next person, I will often ask a clarifying question to better understand where they are coming from.  This helps them hear that their point is made and it helps other people in the group.

I recently used all three of these techniques for a community meeting I facilitated for the City of Seal Beach.  I encourage you to give them a try as you facilitate future meetings and see how it goes. 

I'm pleased to report that last week's Fundraising 101 Seminar I led at the Center for Nonprofit Management in Downtown Los Angeles went very well.  For those of you that missed this introductory course, I'm leading another one on  February 5th from 10am to 1pm at the Flintridge Foundation in Pasadena.  Below is the course description.

At today's seminar, we had a great session with lots of participation in the form of discussion, questions and role-playing.  Some memorable points made:

-be sure to thank your donors
-fundraising is an ongoing process
-think of fundraising as an opportunity for a donor to invest in your organization
-engage your Board of Directors in the fundraising process

Folks shared with me after the workshop they learned a great deal and incrased their confidence levels when it comes to fundraising.

Here's the course description:

Course Description
Need to raise funds for your non-profit organization? Where do you begin? What's the secret to success? This workshop will explore the key concepts that underlie the fundraising process, including the development of a case statement, prospecting, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship. You'll have the opportunity to practice what you learn through interactive exercises, such as practicing the art of asking for a major gift. The workshop will also provide a forum for you to discuss any issues you have with fundraising and connect with leaders from other non-profit organizations.

For more info and to register for the next workshop, check out the Flintridge Foundation.

Both the Center for Nonprofit Management and Flintridge Foundation host a number of seminars on a wide-variety of subjects that relate to the nonprofit sector. I encourage you to check out the many resources each offers.

I have a family member who did well running a successful company.  When I asked him why he succeeded, he said “I’ll tell you what everyone will say – work hard, never give up, have vision, etc.”  He paused for a moment, smiled, and looked at me and continued sharing “There was one thing that played a key role in our success.  Once a month, I would invite everyone in my company for a drink, from the most senior staff person to the most junior.  We’d spend the first part just mingling and socializing.  Once everyone had two drinks, I would bring out a note pad and we would brainstorm solutions to whatever problems we faced.  That’s where we generated our best ideas!”

In that spirit, I’ve hosted/facilitated a monthly happy hour for the last year which are not only a place to generate great ideas to improve the quality of life in Los Angeles, but also meet great people as well.  As a consultant, I interact with phenomenal leaders working on a variety of issues all throughout LA.  This is one way in which I bring everyone together and I welcome you to attend. 

My next happy hour is tonight, February 2^nd, starting at about 5:30pm at 7 Grand in Downtown LA.  The question I’m asking folks to consider is “what will you do to make LA a better place in 2010?”  We generally go until about 8:30 or 9pm. I’m looking forward to seeing who attends tonight and introducing some great people other folks they don’t already know.

The LA Urban Rangers, a group I'm a part of outside of my consulting practice, will host their final Malibu Beach Safaris on February 27th.  I will be co-leading these outings and invite you to attend.  Below is information from a recent Ranger email:

Yesterday, I made a short video giving a tour of one of my many office locations here in Los Angeles.  Occassionally working in beautiful places like Griffith Park is yet another reason why I love my work so much.  Enjoy the video!

I'm leading another Fundraising 101 Seminar this Wednesday from 9:30am to 12:30am at the Center for Nonprofit Management in Downtown Los Angeles and welcome you to attend.  I'm also leading the same workshop on February 5th from 10am to 1pm at the Flintridge Foundation in Pasadena. 

Here's the course description:

Course Description
Need to raise funds for your non-profit organization? Where do you begin? What's the secret to success? This workshop will explore the key concepts that underlie the fundraising process, including the development of a case statement, prospecting, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship. You'll have the opportunity to practice what you learn through interactive exercises, such as practicing the art of asking for a major gift. The workshop will also provide a forum for you to discuss any issues you have with fundraising and connect with leaders from other non-profit organizations.

For more info and to register, check out the Center for Nonprofit Management.

While I love my consulting work and look forward to working with many more organizations this year, I enjoy doing a bunch of other things outside of consulting.  One group I especially enjoy participating in is the Los Angeles Urban Rangers. 

Below is text from an email update the LA Urban Rangers just sent out, in case your interested to learn more about the group and what we're up to these days.  Maybe we'll see each other in Malibu later this month.

* Our Portable Ranger Station is winging its way back from the 2009 International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam en route to Tijuana! Stop by Performing Public Space, curated by Owen Driggs, at La Casa de Túnel: Art Center from February 6 - March 21. Leave your transit behind and just walk across the border. Other artists in the show include Fallen Fruit, Lauren Bon, and Jane Tsong, among others.
http://cofac101.org/casa.htm

* The new year promises new investigations as well. We are currently working with the University of California's Institute for Research in the Arts on a major project for the UC's Natural Reserve System, returning to the Netherlands next summer to build a field guide for our trail system in Almere's favorite vacant lot, and continuing development of a series of programs for our very own Downtown Los Angeles.

* Finally, thanks to support from the Coastal Conservancy, we will be wrapping up our highly successful Malibu Public Beaches program next month! The newly translated Spanish version of our informative map and guide is hot off the presses, and will be distributed throughout LA County and on the Metro 534 line, and of course, available on our website. Our very last public safari is tentatively scheduled for the last weekend in February. Stay tuned!


Ever onward,
Los Angeles Urban Rangers
http://www.laurbanrangers.org

Here's a link to my most recent email newsletter I sent out.  Enjoy!

Enjoy a great holiday season.  I hope our paths cross in 2010.
Peace,
Ron

Here's a link to my December 2009 Newsletter.  Enjoy!
Happy Holidays,
Ron

I'm staring to plan what trainings I will lead in 2010 and would love to get your input.  Please take a few minutes to fill out my short survey on this.  I really value your input and will do my best to tailor my trainings to your needs. Thanks!

For a listing of the trainings I currently lead, check out my Workshops page.  For a listing of my upcoming tranings, checkout my Calendar page.

Happy Thanksgiving.

The Southern California Leadership Network asked me to share a quote with them about sustainabilty for their monthly email newsletter. 

Here's the full quote: