RON MILAM CONSULTING  

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Category :: Board Development

Week of Facilitation

Monday, 01 March 2010

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. 

Comments: 0 | Categories: Facilitation Board Development Sustainability Clients |

Creating a Fundraising Plan

Monday, 15 February 2010

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. 

By investing time to create an overall fundraising strategy, an organization is in a much better position to realize its fundraising goals.  Rather than reacting in a haphazard way to fundraising strategies that may sound good but yield weak results, it stays focused on strategies that have the highest chance of building strong donor relationships that lead to sustainable fundraising in the long term.  The process also engages staff and the Board of Directors in the process of creating the plan, which helps ensure they’ll be engaged when it comes to implementing the plan.

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.

Comments: 0 | Categories: Leadership Fundraising Board Development Clients |

Working with SCANPH

Wednesday, 10 February 2010

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.

Comments: 0 | Categories: Fundraising Facilitation Board Development Sustainability Clients |

Top 10 Fundraising Tips

Tuesday, 12 January 2010

Earlier tonight, I met with several folks from the Bike Kitchen and helped them brainstorm some fundraising strategies for their fantastic organization.  They were already on the right track because they had five folks from the organization there ready to roll up their sleeves and help raise funds, including some volunteers, a board member and their staff person.  During our time together, I mentioned some of my top 10 tips for Fundraising and want to share a summary of this list for you:  

1. Ask:  Your job is to ask. The person you ask – their job is to decide. 

2. Thank:  The most important words in fundraising are “Thank you”. Thanking donors affirms their gift.

3.  Build relationships:  People give to people. Remember to build relationships with your donors.

4.  It’s an ongoing process:  The folks who are most likely to give large gifts to your organizations are folks who already give. 

5.  You might get nine “no’s” before a “yes”:  Don’t be afraid if someone you ask says no. Thank them for considering.

6.  Develop your case first:  Before you start asking for money, it’s important that you have a strong case for your organization.

7.  Research, Network and Cultivate:  Constantly work to develop potential new donors.

8.  Diversify your funding base:  Seek to raise funds from multiple sources: individuals, events, foundation grants, government grants and earned-income.

9.  Diversify your fundraisers:  Fundraising generates the strongest results when lots of people in the organization are involved in the process.

10.  It’s an ongoing learning process:  We learn fundraising by doing it. I wish you the best as you move forward.

I will elaborate on these in future blog posts and wish all of you the best as raise funds for whatever organizations you are affiliated with in 2010.  I also welcome any suggestions you have to raise money for nonprofit organizations.  Thanks!



 

Comments: 2 | Categories: Leadership Fundraising Board Development Top 10 Tips Clients |

2009 Year in Review

Sunday, 13 December 2009

I’m pleased to report on what kept me busy in 2009 – consulting for 18 nonprofit organizations, which included facilitating nine groups, managing three projects, leading 20 trainings and coaching for several nonprofit leaders. 
Below is a short summary of my work as well as an accomplishment of the organization. I look forward to serving even more organizations in 2010 and hope you’ll contact me if you think there is a role I might be able to play for your organization.
Facilitation
Green LA Coalition – I facilitated a visioning process based on an organizational assessment that another talented consultant, Beth Steckler and I did for them. The Coalition sponsored numerous events that brought together the environmental community in LA and also supported many policy initiatives. 
Southern California Leadership Network– I planned and facilitated two learning-seminars for the Leadership LA and Leadership Southern California Programs. This leadership program built the capacity of 50+ leaders over the year.
Los Angeles Audubon– I facilitated a day-long board/staff retreat that helped them make some important decisions. The group sponsored many bird walks that raised awareness of the many birds in the region.
Ballona Creek Renaissance – I facilitated several meetings with their Board to prioritize a fundraising and board development strategy. The group recently celebrated the opening of a new gateway to the Creek.
Beverly Vermont Community Land Trust – I facilitated a day-long board retreat that help the group clarify some strategic goals. The group has continued to make progress on its first land purchase that will ensure long-term affordable housing.
Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition – I facilitated a day-long board/staff retreat where they prioritized their annual goals. The group has been working to ensure the City of LA develop a quality Bicycle Master Plan, among other things.

Hispanic Outreach Taskforce – I facilitated an afternoon session that developed a short-term strategy for raising funds. The group has continued to provide numerous programs for the community.

Urban and Environmental Policy Institute – I planned and facilitated a number of pre-meeting to the first annual Bike Summit which brought together 300+ advocates from the region.

Bikestation– I facilitated numerous project management meetings that led to the development of an implementation study for a new Bikestation. The group recently opened a new Bikestation in Washington D.C. and is expanding throughout the country.
Project Management
Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust – Working with a Steve Cancian, a landscape architect doing fantastic work, we evaluated their current practices and developed a handbook for developing new parks in the future. The group recently hired a new Executive Director, Alina Bodke, who is has a strong track record in the environmental community.
SOAR Charter School – I created a fund development plan and secured a grant for $150,000. The school is in the process of launching and will open in the fall of 2010.
Behavioral Health Services – I worked with the organization’s leadership and developed a fundraising assessment for the organization. The group has provided needed social services for thousands of people over the year.
Trainings
Liberty Hill Foundation– I led a four-part fundraising series for their grantees working on numerous social change issues in Los Angeles
Alliance for Biking and Walking– I led three weekend “Winning Campaigns” trainings for them in Toronto, Denver and Little Rock. Participants developed campaign strategies that they took back and began implementing throughout the Country.
Center for Nonprofit Management – I led four trainings on fundraising at this great local center that provides numerous resources for local groups in LA.
Flintridge Foundation– I led three different trainings on fundraising, media and volunteer recruitment for this fantastic center that also provides nonprofits resources in Pasadena
L.A. Eco-Village – I led two trainings on facilitation for the CRSP Institute for Urban Eco-Villages, an exciting demonstration project for sustainability in LA.
My Own Fundraising Series – I hosted my own four-part fundraising series that sharpened the skills of folks that attended.
Coaching
I provided coaching for several environmental leaders throughout the year and helped build their capacity as leaders, fundraisers and facilitators.

I really enjoyed working with so many different leaders working on a variety of sustainability issues throughout our region.  I learned a great deal about so many different, but interrelated issues and greatly appreciate the work they are all doing. I look forward to serving even more organizations in 2010.
For more information about the services I provide as a consultant, check out any of the following pages: facilitation, project management, trainings and coaching.
 
 

Comments: 2 | Categories: Leadership Fundraising Facilitation Board Development Sustainability Clients |

What trainings do you want?

Tuesday, 24 November 2009

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.

Comments: 0 | Categories: Leadership Fundraising Board Development |

Fund Planning Tip #1

Saturday, 17 October 2009

Fund Planning Tip #1:  Engage your Board of Directors in the Process of Creating a Plan
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. Successful implementation of fund development plans depend on board involvement.
I’ll be talking about this and lots of other topics relating to creating a fund development plan this Tuesday, October 20th, from 9:30am to 12:30pm at the Center for Nonprofit Management, which you are more than welcome to attend. 
I’ve worked with multiple nonprofit organizations and a general rule is that if the board is involved with fundraising, then the organization has a much higher likelihood of being successful at fundraising. Those that don’t’ have involved board often struggle with fundraising.
My workshop on Tuesday explores the steps necessary for creating a fund development plan. Too often, when organizations do engage in fundraising, they do in a haphazard, unplanned way which often leads them frustrated, exhausted and without much success in raising funds. This workshop will discuss the timing of a plan, the overall process, who you need to have involved, what a strong plan consists of and ways to evaluate your organization during the process.  As always, my workshops will be fun, fast-paced and interactive. 
The workshop is designed for folks new to fundraising or for folks that have had some experience and want to brush up on their skills, please RSVP with the Center for Nonprofit Management if you would like to attend. 
As usual, I have a number of other workshops also coming up and invite you to attend. For more information, check out my calendar page.

Comments: 0 | Categories: Leadership Fundraising Board Development |

Facilitation and Flying

Thursday, 27 August 2009

I recently had the pleasure to facilitate a one-day board retreat for the LA Audubon Society. Throughout the day, the group made important decisions about its budget, board, fundraising and their long-term vision.
One thing I like to do as a facilitator is a have everyone introduce themselves at the start of the retreat. I usually ask one fun question and for this group, I asked everyone if they could be a bird, what kind they would be. The diversity and beauty of answers was really wonderful (I answered that I would be a pelican for both their grace while flying over the ocean and goofiness when you look at them up close). 
After everyone introduced themselves, it occurred to me that at retreats like this we bring a wide diversity of perspectives, experiences and knowledge into the room, like the many species of birds folks mentioned. While we ranged from hummingbirds to eagles, the common denominator is that we all fly! I told the group that my role as a facilitator was to help ensure we all fly the same direction during this retreat, which is exactly what we wound up doing over the course of the day.
I especially love facilitating groups and am repeatedly told by clients that I’m an excellent facilitator. If your organization needs to gather its leadership to make important decisions, build a stronger team or set long term goals, please contact me to discuss how I might be able to help. For more information about my work in this area, check out my facilitation page. I also welcome you to attend my upcoming Introduction to Facilitation workshop on September 29 if you want to learn how to become a better facilitator yourself.
 

Comments: 0 | Categories: Leadership Facilitation Board Development |

Words of Encouragement

Tuesday, 28 April 2009

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. 

Comments: 2 | Categories: Leadership Facilitation Board Development |

Upcoming Trainings

Thursday, 12 March 2009

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!

 

 

Comments: 0 | Categories: Fundraising Facilitation Board Development |

Where to Retreat?

Monday, 22 September 2008

Last weekend, I had the honor of facilitating a planning retreat for the LA Urban Rangers. It went really well! One thing the Rangers did which is often overlooked in planning these retreats, is that they selected a site outside the City of Los Angeles. We met at the Sedgewick Reserve, which is part of the UC Natural Reserve System, and is about 20 miles north of Santa Barbara.
While we worked hard during the day to define mission and new projects, we all had the opportunity to unwind during a sunset hike. We also had time to chat by the campfire and enjoy the beautiful landscape that surrounded us. By balancing the busy workload with being in a faraway place, we managed to get a lot of work done. 
For any organization planning a board or staff retreat, I recommend picking a site that feels far away from the day to day stresses of Los Angeles. While it means more work logistically, it usually leads to stronger results in accomplishing whatever your agenda is, as well as providing the space for participants to build stronger relationships with each other.

Comments: 0 | Categories: Leadership Facilitation Board Development |

The Value of Values

Saturday, 16 August 2008

Earlier in the week, I facilitated a portion of a strategic planning process with the board and staff of Cultivating Sustainable Communities, an organization working on transforming Los Angeles into a sustainable City. Having already worked with the group to develop a new vision and mission, we then took some time to discuss and decide what the collective values of the organization were. 
 
Everyone comes to an organization with their own set of values, which guide them in their actions and decision making. What’s important is for an organization’s leadership to decide on what their common values are. Why? Because these values will play a key role in guiding the organization as it moves forward. The values will help them decide how to prioritize their work, and help them with the process of making difficult decisions. It will also shape how they interact with whoever they come into contact with.
 
After a brainstorm, we listed about 30 different values. We then combined like values and boiled them down to six general categories. From this list, we decided the key value for each category and came up with six values. From this list, they whittled it down to five guiding values for Cultivating Sustainable Communities, which everyone was really excited about.  I’m inspired by their choices and am really excited to see how these values shape the future work of the organization.

Comments: 0 | Categories: Leadership Facilitation Board Development |

Decisions: Big vs. Small Group

Saturday, 12 July 2008

Mission and Vision statements are critical pieces to any successful nonprofit organization.   After all, everything else the nonprofit does flows from these two all important questions.
 
An organization’s leadership can spend countless hours brainstorming, refining and deciding its mission and vision. Earlier this evening, I worked with one of my clients, Cultivating Sustainable Communities, to craft a new vision statement.
 
After working with the organization’s leadership to brainstorm different aspects of what should be included in the vision, we narrowed it down to four major themes. Given that we had already been working together as a group for more than an hour, I suggested we break up the larger group and have each small group work on creating a sentence for one of the major themes identified. 
 
This worked quite well! Within fifteen minutes, each group developed a proposed sentence which we combined on a sheet of paper for everyone to see. Together, we then refined the vision and explored one more theme to work on. At this point, I suggested we split the group into two, one to refine the sentences we had already posted and one to add a new sentence. Fifteen minutes later, we came back together as a group and after reviewing it, agreed unanimously in concept that folks were excited about this vision, and that the only work left was some final language refinements.
 
As a facilitator, I’m constantly looking for the best structure to assist with the decision making process. I believe that breaking up the larger group into smaller groups not only led to a decision made in less time, but that it also creating an even more engaging space for all board members to participate in the decision making process. Both the board and I are very pleased with the results.  

Comments: 0 | Categories: Leadership Facilitation Board Development |

The Art of Facilitation

Friday, 06 June 2008

I recently had the honor of facilitating a board/staff retreat for the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition. After a day and a half, the organization’s leadership not only decided its annual goals and objectives, but they also built stronger relationships with each other that will fuel their work as they work to improve the bicycling environment and quality of life in Los Angeles County. 
 
Why have a facilitator? First, having an outside facilitator gives everyone else in the organization’s leadership the opportunity to participate in the decision making process. Second, a facilitator helps the group stay on track and make the key decisions it needs to make. Too often, a group can stray from it’s agreed upon agenda. While a group may have had a good discussion, if no key decisions were made, then the time could have been used more effectively.  While my role is to help the group reach a decision, at no point am I ever telling the group what decision to make. That’s the group’s role. My role is to help get them to that point.
 
By the end of the Bike Coalition retreat, everyone was excited to move forward. They worked hard during the entire retreat and at the end of the day, came to consensus on how they should move forward. I wish them the best and also look forward to writing more about more detailed aspects of facilitation in future blogs.

Comments: 0 | Categories: Leadership Facilitation Board Development |

Welcome to my Blog!

Thursday, 15 May 2008

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

Comments: 0 | Categories: Leadership Fundraising Facilitation Board Development |
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