Welcome to Charitable Advisors where our mission is: "To support the Board and staff leadership of Indiana and SW Ohio not-for-profits in increasing the capacity of their organizations to respond to the needs of their constituencies and communities."
Spring 2008 Update
Over the next several months, we will be limiting the number of consulting engagements we are involved with as we focus on expanding the Not-for-Profit News to Greater Cincinnati. For the record, we do not intend to take on consulting clients in Cincinnati. We are open to doing conference speaking and standard training.
Special Projects/Project Management - Nonprofit Capacity Building
Our years of experience in nonprofit management, nonprofit consulting, starting peer groups, publishing the weekly Not-for-Profit e-News, and creating the www.NonprofitCareerCenter.org and www.AllAboutBoards.com website resources give us a unique perspective on the way nonprofit organizations work.
We have established a high level of visibility with central Indiana not-for-profits and a reputation for always acting in the best interest of the Indiana nonprofit community. As a result, we have been provided opportunities to work on foundation-funded projects that impact multiple organizations or even the whole community. We would love to talk with you about any initiatives you have in mind to support and improve the nonprofit community in central Indiana or our entire state.
Example #1:Designing and Managing a 12 month, statewide effort - The state office of a large group of related youth-serving nonprofits received a $50,000 grant to increase fund raising, volunteer recruiting, and governance capacity. As they spoke with various consultants across the country, the typical response was that they could get six fund raising assessments for that price but that was about it. The state leader was not satisfied and kept looking until she connected with Bryan Orander of Charitable Advisors.
Bryan suggested partnering with Indiana Youth Institute's Briefcase program(after getting IYIs agreement) to leverage the modest grant dollars plus putting together an extensive set of resources and services available to all 60 of the nonprofits across the state that included:
A special website created specifically for this initiative
10 telephone training seminars on fund raising, marketing, and board topics
Several thousand dollars(total) in printed books and resources were provided to interested organizations from the Grantmanship Center, CompassPoint Nonprofit Services, and www.AllAboutBoards.com , including "Best of Board Cafe", "Asking for Money", and "Welcome to the Board".
Regular e-mails(about every two weeks) were distributed to the whole network to educate them about related topics and share resources.
Six organizations worked with IYI consultants in fund raising assessments, planning and board development
Twelve basic, new websites were created for organizations that did not have a web presence
A Spring Full Day training was provided in two locations to better connect the members, strengthen networking and reinforce information previously shared.
Full year Board Governance Hotline - through Charitable Advisors
Full year Fund Raising Hotline - through Indiana Youth Institute
End Result - Key outcomes included increased knowledge and confidence about fund raising, marketing, and volunteer recruiting/mgmt; increased connection and information sharing between agencies; increasing board actions and engagement around organization/financial sustainability; and increased efforts in outreach, marketing, and volunteer recruiting. The client felt that we were able to squeeze a lot of value out of the funds they had available.
Example #2: Developing a resource to benefit all central Indiana nonprofits - A national foundation contracted with us to take the operational lead role to research and develop an initiative to identify consulting/vendor resources in the central Indiana community with nonprofit expertise, qualify them and find a way to connect those consultants/vendors to nonprofits that can benefit from their efforts. Research was done of similar efforts across the country; discussions and focus groups were held with nonprofits, consultants, vendors, and funders; area nonprofits were surveys to define the size of the consultant/contractor/vendor marketplace; technology specifications were designed and the project was managed through the point of handoff to the newly hired program manager at a local university where the effort will be housed.
Whether you have decided that your organization needs a "Strategic Plan", a funder has presented you with a challenging opportunity to move to the "next level" or the Board feels it is time for reinvigoration or renewal - we can help.
The key to a good plan is understanding where you are beginning, knowing what you want to achieve, and assembling a plan with the accountability and measurable outcomes to achieve it. Having the support of an objective party who has worked with dozens of not-for-profits provides the necessary perspective to ask and address the tough questions and build a plan that will truly make a difference in your organization.
Our process looks at the level of development and maturity of the key components of your organization and supports the Executive Director and Board Leaders in making plans that are challenging, yet realistic for the organization to achieve.
Charitable Advisors views follow-along as an important part of the planning process. Too often, new plans are put on the shelf and key players dismiss their roles in carrying out the directives of the effort. Our follow-along and coaching support helps build and maintain accountability to improve the likelihood of the organization getting a genuine payback for the planning investment. Contact Us
Executive Succession/Transition Services
The resignation or dismissal of an Executive Director is a traumatic time for an organization, its employees, its financial supporters and the Board of Directors or Trustees. Bryan Orander, President of Charitable Advisors, is honored to be among a few dozen consultants who have been trained in Executive Transition by CompassPoint and TransitionGuides with the support of the Annie E Casey Foundation - and the only consultant in Indiana.
The Executive Director/CEO role is critical to the success of every not-for-profit organization. The Board of Directors is typically responsible for hiring the Executive Director/CEO, but is generally not knowledgeable about the day to day operations of the organization. All of a sudden, the Board must oversee the operations of the organization AND search for a new Executive Director/CEO. It is a rare Board that has the time, the energy, and the desire to tackle both of those tasks on their own.
Charitable Advisors can play several possible roles to help support the Board through a successful transition:
Support the Board in assembling a "Plan of Action"
Assist in recruiting an interim Executive Director (considered a Best Practice)
Conduct a short, objective, organizational assessment to assist the board in identifying issues that might best be addressed before a new Executive is hired.
Lead a "board conversation" about the current and future direction of the organization and the type of leader that will be needed for the next stage in the life of the organization.
Support the Board in identifying the desired characteristics of the next Executive
Administer the search or support the Board in its search for the new permanent Executive Director