The steps towards a healthy nonprofit organization include:
GG&A assists nonprofit entities to establish their initial Board structure, constitution & bylaws, financial reporting framework, executive job descriptions, committee structures, and perhaps most critically, to walk through the process of securing their charitable status. GG&A provided NECCS with this assistance, and they are the only recreational facility operator to have a full Federal Charitable status in the City of Calgary, because of the planning process that GG&A guided them through.
Many nonprofit organizations struggle to develop streams of funding. Programs fail due to lack of resources, or more correctly, lack of sufficient planning to ensure funding sources. GG&A guides these organizations to explore all funding sources available to them including grants research, government funding, fundraising campaigns, and sponsorships. GG&A is pleased to help craft a fund-development plan, and provide appropriate coaching to ensure program funding success.
A nonprofit organization without an active vision and mission is simply marking time. Resources follow vision. People follow vision. Organization rise or fall on the clarity, strength, and implementation of their vision. GG&A considers this one of the most important services we offer. True vision calls the best out of people and rallies many to a particular cause. GG&A guides organizations to the development and implementation of a vision that really matters.
A nice paragraph on a piece of paper simply gets filed away – but true vision will stir the heart and motivate at a much deeper level. True vision is a picture of the end result that everyone can grasp, and then is accompanied by a mission, core values, and a strategic plan that flesh out how those end results will be accomplished.
There are many firms that can provide excellent marketing plans and as GG&A does not suggest that we can compete directly with them. However, GG&A's marketing experience is at a grassroots level, having learned in the ups and downs of the nonprofit world, where it is critical to rise above the "street-noise" to get their story out. GG&A has been very successful over the years at "taking the vision to the streets" including lobbyin effectively all levels of government so that a particular vision is caught, funded, and supported by the general public.
Grant Galpin & GG&A have used a host of methods over the years including telephone campaigns, localized direct mail, internet-based processes, newsletters, and sign campaigns to attract attention for a particular cause. We have also managed to successfully craft lobby materials and make presentations to municipal, provincial, and federal governments so that they financially support causes where they were initially not inclined to provide support.
- Community Survey & Engagement processes
Over the years, GG&A has developed formal and informal ways for nonprofits to connect with local communities. These include formal survey processes, newsletters, creating awareness via the internet, door-hangers with response mechanisms, interactive community meetings, focus groups, and stakeholder interviews. This kind of grassroots community research often provides critical paridigm shift moments for community-based organizations. GG&A enjoys leading these "a-ha moments" and watching the spark for change grow into significant community impact.
- Development of Partnerships & Collaboration
As noted above, for many organizations the wave of the future is clearly one of partnerships and collaboration. With the rising cost of facilities, staffing, and equipment, there is a real benefit to organizations to find and foster healthy partnerships. But even more critical then cost savings on these items, is finding mission-al partners. This is a linking of organizations to share in common elements of their mission and create a greater synergy within the targeted community.
The linking of NECCS & Calgary Soccer Federation noted above developed because the mission of NECCS melded well with CSF’s mission and growing registration in NE Calgary. But even once the shared mission elements were identified, there was substantial effort extended to work through issues that could have caused this partnership to fail. GG&A was pleased to provide the coaching process to ensure that the partnership became a clear win-win for both parties.
For new organizations, once much of the above is established, there is a transitional shift into an on-going operational mode. The operational mode includes ramping up to add executive staff, fund facilities, and launch key programs into the community. GG&A has demonstrated its ability to assist in executive searches, develop initial facility concepts, and create the operational structures. This enables a clean transition for operational leadership to be hired and move forward into the main operational efforts, rather than be consumed by foundational elements of the organization.
For many start-up organizations, their vision is focused around a key facility or program concept that will enable them to realize their vision. Given the volunteer leadership that direct many non-profit organizations, there is insufficient time, energy, and focus to develop the concept to its fullest. GG&A provides an interim leadership role to bring the key concept to development. Project research, concept exploration, and resourcing of the vision all take time and expertise that many volunteer leaders are unable to provide in the early stages of new organizations. GG&A provides the time and expertise to develop their vision and see it become a reality.
