Strategic planning answers the question where do we want to go and how do we want to get there for your organization. Note I emphasized the “we” because this is a decision-making process that the entire leadership of an organization needs to make together. This process can vary in length and intensity. As a consultant and facilitator, I really enjoy working with the leadership of organizations to make these key decisions to chart an organization’s future. These decisions often include:

Mission: Describes what the organization will do, who it will do it for and how it will achieve the vision. Your mission guides your work. Usually a mission is one to three sentences. (click "read more" below to read rest of post)

Guest Blog Post from Aurisha Smolarski, Ron Milam Consulting’s newest Associate specializing in Mediation

Are you tired of those same tensions playing out at every meeting? Is your organization or board loosing momentum? Unresolved tension between co-workers, board members or board and staff gets in the way of productive meetings, wastes valuable time and energy and creates unpleasant office environments. These tensions often come from stress, misunderstanding, lack of communication or follow up, differences of perspectives, changes in leadership, and/or interpersonal resentments. Oftentimes when Ron facilitates retreats, some tension arises between participants. In his role as a facilitator, Ron can manage any conflict that arises within a group but in order to truly transform the conflict, Ron recommends the parties in conflict work to resolve their differences outside of a retreat during a mediation session. Click the "Read more" link below to view the rest of this post...

The East LA Netsquared Group invited me to present at their Sept. 27th meeting and I invite you to attend. Below is the talk description and more info on the Netsquared Community.
 
How to Facilitate Nonprofit Boards to Engage with Innovative Social Technologies
Learn about various decisions a board makes such as undertaking a strategic planning process and discuss ways in which to insert technology into the discussion. You’ll also explore various low-tech methods to engage Boards of Directors such as putting an issue on the board agenda, allowing for time for discussion during a board meeting, working to build consensus and ultimately making a decision. Practice what you learn during a mock meeting that Ron Milam will facilitate followed by a group discussion.

Every month, the NetSquared community comes together offline at events to mix, swap stories and ideas, build new relationships, and collaborate. These gatherings provide a chance for all those interested in the intersection of social technologies and social change, whether you're part of a nonprofit organization or a for-profit organization, a funder or a consultant, a developer or an entrepreneur. Subscribe to our email newsletter here: http://bit.ly/N2LAemail

To RSVP, check out the Facebook page for this event. 

(Bike Kitchen 2008 Retreat at Farmlab...breaking out into small groups under the Spring. St. Bridge)

Over the years, I have facilitated numerous retreats and meetings at locations around Los Angeles. Ideally, you want to “get away” for a retreat.  But sometimes, given time and travel restraints, groups need to meet within the city. I have facilitated retreats at the following locations in LA and would recommend them all. I would love to hear any additional suggestions you have for good retreat locations, either within Los Angeles or the nearby vicinity.

Angels Gate Cultural Center: This beautiful site overlooks the Pacific Ocean in San Pedro. They have 4 different rooms available for nonprofits ranging in price from $18-$35/hour. 

Audubon Center at Debs Park:  There’s two meeting rooms that can fit 10-20 people. Located in Debs Park, there’s a trail that starts just feet from the meeting room.

Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook:  There’s an room inside as well as an indoor/outdoor room. Right outside the window are stunning views of Los Angeles.

California Endowment Center for Healthy Communities:  There’s multiple meeting rooms available to health-oriented organizations.  There’s also a great plaza and a delicious cafeteria with affordable, healthy food. In order to use the space (for free), you need to be a health-oriented organization.
  
Farmlab:  There’s an indoor and outdoor space in this industrial landscape bordering the LA river and just a couple hundred feed from the LA State Historical Park. The group I facilitated knew someone who worked at here so I’m not sure if it’s open for general retreats.

LA Eco-Village: There’s a spacious courtyard garden and an upstairs room to use in this transit-accessible Koreatown neighborhood.  The community reviews requests to use the space at their weekly meetings, and usually need to be sponsored by a community member.  

Mercado la Paloma: Just east of USC is Mercado Paloma which has a nice sized meeting form for rent that can comfortably hold 15 people. The best thing is right outside of your door is a thriving marketplace with delicious lunch options for your group to enjoy.

Outpost for Contemporary Art:  This is a small storefront space that can hold up to around 10 people for a meeting.  The group I facilitated knew someone who worked at here so I’m not sure if it’s open for general retreats.

In addition to these, I received several suggestions from friends that include: 

Atwater Crossing: This innovative space brings together a wide spectrum of people, institutions and organizations. It also has a conference room, tasty restaurant, shaded outdoor spaces and a bar.  

Doheny Ranch in Franklin Canyon Park: (suggested by @neighbor2neighbor on Twitter) "The middle of the city, yet tranquil”.

Kings Road Park in West Hollywood: (suggested by Ramon Mendez) “in the city, but miles away in a park setting".

La Casita Del Arroyo in Pasadena: (suggested by Kathy Perez) “Nice, good space with a kitchen.  Great views of the Arroyo.”

LA River Center and Gardens:  (suggested by Chris Tucker) This beautiful site adjacent to downtown LA and close the LA River provides an oasis of gardens and fountains.  Apparently, rooms are free for nonprofits

reDiscover Center: This creative space in Culver City has a good meeting room along with a giant back section filled with ingredients to help any group add some creativity to their discussions. 

Sierra Club Lodges:  (suggested by Matt Cooper) I walked by one of their Ski Hut Lodge during a recent hike up to Mt. Baldy.  This rustic lodge requires a hike of a few miles, but you’re rewarded with stunning views and a remote location.

The Factory in the Arts District: (suggested by Ryan Lehman) “cool potential spot in the Arts District...not sure how the space is set-up, but perhaps you could collaborate with them.”

Miguel Luna and David Pulsipher also suggested Audubon at Debs Park. 

I encourage you to always check with your own organization's leadership - someone might have a nice space they may want to host a retreat in or they may someone who might also have a great space to use. Tap into your networks. 

This year, I'm pleased to serve as the lead trainer and coach for the Liberty Hill Foundation's Wally Marks Leadership Institute Board Development Track. From March 24th to 26th, I led a three day Board Development training focusing on how to engage a Board of Directors in the fundraising process. 

Staff and Board from four organizations attended this training, along with three other coaches in addition to me. We covered six important steps to move a board towards fundraising and also reviewed five fundraising policies in detail. What made the training truly engaging besides the multiple exercises and role-playing I led, was the amount of time each group spent with their coaches to take the best practices they learned and apply them to their own organization.

Through this process, each organization developed three to five specific goals they want to work on that will lead to processes that ultimately strengthen their Boards and organization. Each coach will meet regularly over the next six months to support these organizations as they move forward. 

One reason why I loved leading this training so much is because it combined the three things I love doing for nonprofits into one event: training, facilitation and coaching.  As a trainer, I presented on best practices.  As a facilitator, I led several different discussions where mutual learning took place. As a coach, I listened closely to the leadership of one of the organizations and supported them as they developed a strategy for moving forward.

I’m most impressed with Liberty Hill’s Commitment to its grantees through this comprehensive leadership development program and encourage any social-change oriented organization in Los Angeles to check them out. 

More and more, I’m leading customized trainings for the leadership of nonprofit organizations. Recently, I led an interactive training for an innovative transnational human rights organization – Centro Derechos de los Migrante as part of a board retreat they hosted in Los Angeles.

Having quickly grown from an idea with seed funding from the Echoing Green Foundation into a thriving organization with offices both in the United States and Mexico, they’re dedicated to improving the working conditions of migrant workers in the United States. 

Yet given the scope of the issues they work on, this organization could quadruple in size and still have plenty of work to do which is why they brought me in to lead this three hour training designed to help them and their board develop the skills and tools needed to ensure organizational sustainability.

As always, my trainings give participants the opportunity to practice and then space to reflect together as a group (pictured above). Board members and staff had the opportunity put theory into action, then learn from each other and learn some best practices. This group had one of the key ingredients for leadership – passion for their organization and its mission. By sharing their passion, they will continue to build a base of supporters – an essential ingredient for continued growth. 

Working together with East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice (a leading environmental justice organization in Southern California), I’m thrilled to take my trainings to a new level, directly to the leadership of their organization during their actual meetings. 

It’s an exciting new format for me where at the start of four Steering Committee meetings over the next several months, I will present a 15-minute training that reviews best practices in facilitation. In each presentation, I go over specific tools a facilitator brings to help support productive meetings, such as facilitating a brainstorm or evaluating a meeting. I then ask for some folks to volunteer to practice what they learned during the meeting. 

I attended my first Steering Committee last week and gave my 15 minute presentation. After that, I observed their meeting and took notes. One member of the group facilitated a brainstorming process that yielded a bunch of great ideas. Two other members facilitated a process at the end of the meeting to evaluate what went well during the meeting and what could be improved (pictured above).  I asked each of the folks who facilitated to share how it went for them and also asked the group to give feedback. I then gave some feedback. Altogether, we all experienced a dynamic, hands-on learning experience where participants immediately put theory into action.  

I recently led a customized training for the Board of Directors of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation California Chapter. I covered issues related to fundraising along with general Board member responsibilities. 

After the training, I received the following feedback from one of the participants in the meeting:

“We just wanted to again thank you for such a wonderful, informative and inspiring presentation last night.  You did such an amazing job and reached all of our expectations.”

I really enjoy presenting trainings like this directly for Board of Directors. If your Board needs a training, check out the list of trainings I provide and please contact me if I can be of service to you. 

I recently facilitated a successful Board retreat for the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition.  In just five short hours, the group clarified its vision, strategies and goals. 

As a facilitator, I designed a fun, fast paced, engaging process for the group to develop its vision statement from scratch.  The exercise took two hours and resulted in group consensus around the key elements of a vision along with near-final language.  Here’s how I facilitated the process:

After quickly defining a vision for the group and giving some examples, I asked all of them to write down a few sentences that captured each of their own visions for the organization for five minutes. Based on this, I asked them to write five key words or phrases that captured each of their main points.  To continue the brainstorm, I asked for three volunteers to give a one-minute presentation (as a news reporter reporting on the community 25 years from now).  After each short presentation (which generated a lot of good laughter), I encouraged the other participants to write a word or phrase that came to them.

Next, I asked them all to stand up and post their eight post-it notes on the wall and for five minutes, connect post-its that related to each other in silence. I enjoyed watching them connect their ideas together. For the next five minutes, I encouraged them to continue connecting post-its while also talking with someone next to them.  I then asked the group if any categories emerged and seven key areas arose that the group agreed on (which took about another five minutes).

Based on the categories they develeped, I asked for two volunteers for each group and split the group into seven small groups. Each group’s task was to further digest the information from the category they volunteered for and write one vision-like sentence describing that category. I suggested the one extra person not in a group (the Executive Director) move between groups during this time. The groups met for about 15 minutes.  I ask one-member to write the sentence on the board and the other member to read it for the rest of the group.

We then reflected and commented on these sentences as a group.  Knowing that having a group of 15 to refine the language of a vision statement could take forever and also be a frustrating process to go through, I asked if anyone would be interested in refining the language further and propose some specific language and options at the next board meeting. Four people volunteered. I then asked the group if anyone had any major concerns with the concepts and language developed so far -   none were raised. I read through the draft vision statement and asked people to raise their hand if they supported the general concept and language so far, with the understanding that the group of four volunteers will refine the language by the next board meeting for a final vote.  We reached full consensus!

Having just returned from facilitating a Board retreat, I can tell you first hand there’s something very powerful about assembling your organization’s leadership to make important decisions.  Here are ten tips to make your retreats in 2011 a success:

1. Designate a Planning Lead or Committee:  The Executive Director, Board President and ideally another Board member should meet a couple of times before the retreat to plan a successful gathering. If you bring in an outside facilitator, they should also be involved in this planning process.  

2. Decide a Location:  Ideally, you want to choose a location that feels “far away”. Of course, you have to balance far away with what all of your leadership has the capacity to make it to. Here’s a link to 12 sites in Los Angeles.

3. Decide Who to Invite:  Will it just bet your Board of Directors or will you invite staff, volunteers and/or other community stakeholders? If you bring in non-Board members, be clear up front their role in the decision making process will be.

4. Engage Participants Before the Retreat:  Ask for their input in developing the agenda.  Run the draft agenda by them before the retreat and make modifications based on their input.

5. Develop an Agenda:  While there’s a time and place for informal chatting during a retreat, it’s best to develop a clear agenda with goals and outcomes.  Prioritize the three or four biggest decisions you need to make and give time for them in the agenda.  Here’s a link with more info on planning a successful agenda. 

6. Use Retreats to Make Big, Long-Term Decisions:  Retreats are great for strategic planning – developing your mission, vision, values, strategies, goals and objectives.  They are also good opportunities to discuss/resolve big issues your organization faces.  Avoid routine business at retreats.

7. Plan for Engaging Activities:  Don’t just plan one long group discussion – mix it up with small group work, one-on-one work, various team building activities, games and fun.  Tailor these activities to the folks that will attend.  I’m a big fan of two-day retreats that include an overnight, giving more time for folks to deepen their relationships with one another.

8. Plan for Meals and Movement:  Some of the most valuable time at retreats occurs during informal discussion during meals or physical activities like walks, bike rides or games.  Avoid “working lunches” and instead give folks the opportunity to chat.  Remember to take a 10 or 15-minute break after working for 90 minutes.

9. Allow for Flexibility:  Inevitably, some agenda items take longer and others take less time.  If you’re making good progress on something valuable to your organization but haven’t finished it yet, give yourself the option to work more on it.

10. Designate a Facilitator:  Either designate one or multiple people within your own organization to facilitate the actual retreat. Or, if you have the capacity to hire an outside facilitator, that would give everyone in the organization's leadership the opportunity to fully participate in the decision-making process. Professional facilitators bring a variety of tools and methods designed to provide a space for everyone to participate in the decision-making process. Even more valuable, a facilitator can help your group navigate through the sometimes-challenging territory of making tough decisions. Here’s a link to seven reasons why a facilitator can be of value to your organization. Please contact me if you’re interested in having me facilitate your upcoming retreat.  Thanks and happy retreating!   

Board members play a critical role in fundraising for the nonprofit organizations they govern.  Yet, more often than not, nonprofits struggle to meaningfully and effectively engage Board of Directors in the fundraising process.

On January 26^th I led a 3 ½ hour training focusing on Building Fundraising Boards.  Hosted by the Long Beach Nonprofit Partnership for staff and board members of organizations supported by the John Gogian Foundation, this highly interactive workshop gave participants the opportunity to discuss, role play, observe and reflect on issues surrounding Board fundraising. 

We covered topics such as inspiring a Board member’s passion, reframing what fundraising means, what tools and skills are needed, ways in which to engage members and the leadership/support needed to ensure long term success.  We also talked about steps to enlist new board members over time. For more tips, check out an old blog post of mine that shares 10 quick tips for engaging your Board in fundraising. 

After the training, I received very positive feedback from a number of attendees who both enjoyed the  and learned a lot.  One asked if I lead customized trainings directly for Board of Directors.  I have led customized trainings for Boards and/or staff members of organizations.  Here’s a link to the trainings I provide, which I’m happy to customize for any organization.  Please contact me if you would like to discuss further.

In 2010, I served as a coach to six grantees of the Liberty Hill Foundation as part of their Wally Marks Leadership Institute.  On January 26, 2011, Liberty Hill hosted an event to celebrate the first year of this successful program.  When they asked me before the event if I wanted to introduce one of the leaders I worked with, I responded with an emphatic “absolutely”. 

I introduced Dawn Sanders, President of Black Women for Wellness, one of the organizations I coached for the Board Development track.  I briefly shared how I was impressed with her passion, commitment and leadership.  Dawn then shared how the coaching helped their organization take some important next steps in enlisting new board members. 

I found so many people in the room inspiring and enjoyed connecting with leaders from other organizations I coached as well.  I’m thrilled that Liberty Hill actively supports the leadership development of the organizations it funds.  I’m also excited to continue serving Liberty Hill grantees this year not only as a coach, but as the lead trainer for an intensive, three-day Board Development training.  

(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. 

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 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. 

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’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.

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.

I recently facilitated a day long planning session for the Beverly Vermont Community Land Trust, an organization working to exercise land stewardship as the basis for creating pedestrian-centered neighborhoods that emphasize sustainability-oriented affordable housing.

We had an especially productive retreat.  As a facilitator, I helped create a space for the Board of Directors to decide their organization's long-term goals, short-term goals and the beginnings of a 2009/10 workplan. 

At the end of the retreat, one of the participants shared a list she had been making throughout the day of “Ronisms”: little things I said to encourage the group as they made tough decisions throughout the day. 

Here are some of the things I said:  “Nice”, “Excellent”, “Good work”, “Awesome”, “That’s Great”, “Huge”, “Amazing”, “Lets Rock and Roll”, “Give yourselves a hand of applause”, “You folks have chosen well” and “We have less than 40 minutes people”.

I laughed as I heard this list and was reminded that part of my work as a facilitator is to help ensure full group participation in the decision making process, which is done in part by encouraging and affirming participation throughout the process.  By the end of the day, everyone was very happy with the results of their hard work and thanked me for my hard work as a facilitator. 

I continue to provide a number of capacity building trainings that are open to the public and invite you to attend one of them.  To date, I have the following workshops scheduled and expect to lead several more throughout the year:

·         Hosting a Successful Fundraising Event (3/25)

·         Fundraising 101 (4/2)

·         Winning Campaigns (4/27/-4/29)

·         Introduction to Facilitation (4/28)

·         What’s your Message: Getting Media (5/7)

·         Essentials of Effective Meetings (Date TBD)

In addition to leading trainings that are open to the public, I now also lead customized trainings directly for clients (often for nonprofit staff and Boards of Directors).   Below is a list of trainings I’m able to lead.

 1. Fundraising 101

2. Developing a Strategic Plan

3. Developing a Fundraising Plan

4. Finding Funders: 

5. Tapping into the Wealth of Individuals

6. Crafting a Successful Annual Appeal Letter

7. Introduction to Grant Writing

8. Advanced Grant Writing

9. Hosting a Successful Fundraising Event

10. Building a Strong Board

11. The Art of Cultivation

12. Fundraising Infrastructure

13. Balancing Fundraising with your other Responsibilities

14.  What’s your Message? Getting Media

15. Campaign Planning 101

16. Finding, Engaging and Thanking Volunteers

17. Introduction to Facilitation

18.  Running Effective Meetings

Please contact me if you would like for me to create a customized training for your organization.   I hope to see you at a future training!

Greetings,
Welcome to my new website! In addition to describing the services I provide, background on my experience and my past clients, I’m excited to launch a blog where I will share with you valuable lessons I’ve learned about nonprofit management over the last 11 years.  Every week, my goal is to capture a bit of wisdom I’ve learned that will hopefully be a resource to you and your organization.  Over time, I hope to build an online library that you can access anytime, on a series of different topics.  If there are certain areas you would like for me to address, or questions you have, please email them to me.  If you would like to discuss any of these areas in greater detail, please contact me.  Thanks and keep up the good work!
Cheers,
Ron