Consulting

Much of our work involves improving the capacity of nonprofit boards to govern effectively – no easy task in today’s rapidly changing environment. Let us be your governance partner – either on a project or retainer basis. Our governance reviews are a good place to start. We can work with your board to improve governance structures and practices, board composition, board member recruitment, leadership transitions, and board performance. We can support your board by developing the materials needed for effective governance such as a board orientation package, officer role descriptions, terms of reference for committees, board and committee work plans, board policies, key governance processes, and board development plans. If needed, we can review and revise your bylaws based on current legislation and the needs of your organization. We can help your board to establish meaningful organizational performance metrics and streamline reporting to the board from senior management. Our governance training is well-regarded by our clients and relied upon each year to guide new board members in their role and build on the strengths of experienced board members.

We are nonprofit financial management specialists. Therefore, all the work we do is informed by our understanding of the financial issues facing nonprofits today. Are you interested in improving your organization’s sustainability? Invite us to work with you to effectively plan and manage your organization’s financial resources, ensure compliance with laws and regulations, and safeguard your organization from unnecessary risk. Is your finance department functioning effectively? We can review your current financial systems, roles, staffing levels, policies, workflows, and processes - and make recommendations for improvements. Does your finance team provide the strategic insights and financial leadership needed by your organization? We can work with your finance staff to digitize your organization’s financial data and processes, so they can spend less time performing transactional-level duties and more time on higher level functions such as management accounting and strategic financial leadership. Also, we can support the professional development of your staff and board by providing training and coaching on nonprofit financial management.

The demands of a rapidly changing environment have put pressure on nonprofit operational models, forcing organizations to re-engineer the way they deliver and administer services and programs. Direct funding options are becoming a more common alternative to direct service options (grants). Nonprofits are generating more revenue from fee-for-service programs than ever before. We can work with you to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of your existing operation, or we can explore alternative models of delivering services and programs. Are you considering a fee-for-service program or social enterprise? Let us perform a feasibility study or develop a full business plan to guide your decisions and ensure your success. Are you interested in exploring a co-location opportunity with other service providers? We have direct experience establishing and developing community hubs with various levels of service integration. Is it time to take a comprehensive look at your entire operation to improve its effectiveness and efficiency? We are highly experienced at performing comprehensive organizational reviews that identify opportunities for improvements across the operation. These reviews included detailed and prioritized recommendations on how to take your organization to the next level. Are you interested in accreditation? We can work directly with your organization to successfully fulfill the requirements for accreditation.

Even the best-laid plans fail if the systems and processes that support these plans are not in place. Not only can we assess your existing systems and processes by department or service area, we can review them holistically to address duplication, fill gaps and improve efficiencies across the organization. Voluntary sector organizations are under pressure to gain efficiencies and make the best use of each funding dollar. We can help by reviewing your current technology suite and making recommendations for improvements so your staff work effectively and efficiently, whether they are in or out the office. In addition, our team can research, recommend and facilitate the implementation of supporting technologies for organization-wide data collection, storage and visualization.

Services and programs must align with your organization's mission, strategy and intended impacts. We can add value by analyzing the viability of existing services and programs so you can make informed decisions about your organization’s mix of offerings and how to best utilize available resources. Interested in developing new services or programs? Our team can perform community consultations and conduct research to inform your choices on design, delivery options, administration, staffing and supervision, and space use. Need an evaluation partner? We can perform your program evaluations, or we can develop evaluation plans so that your staff can perform the evaluations themselves. Together, we can ensure that your services and programs are highly client-centric and consistently achieve client outcomes.

Nonprofit leadership has never been more challenging. It takes place in a changing external environment and a complex internal environment. An organization’s leadership capacity must support its strategic priorities and mission, and provide enough flexibility to respond to succession and unforeseen leadership transitions. It needs to position the organization in the external environment, and it needs to be oriented towards the future to ensure that the organization is sustainable and continues to be effective in the long-term. Historical approaches to leadership development, where the focus was on individual leaders, has not proved to be effective in the current environment. Instead, we recommend a whole organization approach to developing leadership capacity throughout the organization (shared leadership). Based on our Integrated Leadership Development Model, we can create a leadership development plan that will support your organization’s growth, agility and long-term sustainability.

Relationships are core to how the nonprofit sector works. We can help you to assess your existing stakeholder relationships for strategic fit and create a plan to improve them. Are you interested in exploring new ways of cooperating, coordinating or collaborating with other agencies? We can work with you to select ‘best-fit’ partners and the right framework for each relationship. Considering a merger with another charity or nonprofit? We can facilitate the entire process including researching potential partners, negotiating a memorandum of understanding and developing the models for the integrated organization. We will work directly with legal counsel to minimize your costs and ensure positive outcomes for the organizations involved.

Effectively managing risks is essential to the sustainability of a nonprofit organization. Best practices in this area reflect a whole organization approach called enterprise risk management. This approach spans the entire organization, is proactive and continuous, and considers both negative and positive risks. Most importantly, enterprise risk management ensures that you focus on what matters most - risks that have the greatest impact on your organization’s strategy. We can work with you to identify those risks and put risk management strategies in place to minimize negative risks and optimize positive ones. When was your organization’s last risk audit? We can perform a comprehensive review of your organization’s risks and provide a detailed report along with recommendations to protect your organization, its staff, clients, volunteers, finances, and reputation.