FUNDRAISING
We offer a full range of fundraising services from ongoing and in-depth support to one-time projects. Options include
Grant & Prospect Research
Planning — Development Plans, Fundraising Calendar, Move Management Plans, etc.
Grant Writing — The best in the biz. From applications through final reports.
Event and Gala-Planning
Membership and Annual Appeal Planning & Execution
Sponsorship and pitch deck design and implementation
Development and Design of Annual Reports, Impact Statements, and Donor Reports.
All of this is done holistically — matching great projects to flexible funding options, locating and cultivating general operating support so that your organization can be all that it wants to be.
Coaching
We know just how hard staff and boards at nonprofit organizations work. We don’t want you to work twice as much as you are paid to, or to answer emails at 10:30 PM or to feel you have to devote endless emotional labor just to keeping the whole operation afloat.
We can’t solve the whole system, but we can give you important tools and perspective to navigate it with increasing dexterity, resilience, resolve, and even joy. Dare to dream a bit with us and we can give you a velveteen toolkit that won’t let you down.
We offer a detailed leadership development process, that takes into account the daily practices of mindfulness, radical inclusion, and acknowledgment. We will work with you on staff development, management, mentoring and supervision as well as leadership goals. We will delve into problem areas and find a full array of choices that work for your staff culture as it is and as you want it to be.
STRATEGIC PLANNING
Un-Con will lead your organization through strategic planning from A to Z. This necessarily includes
Meetings and research to define and prioritize the elements of the plan.
Assessment of areas within your organization that need attention, and the areas that already shine.
Development of an overarching process, tailored to your specific and its leadership, to prioritize efforts, effectively allocate resources, align board and staff on the organization’s goals, and ensure these goals are tethered to best practices, realistic and achievable success, and your mission/vision.
Collaborating on systems to regularly evaluate and the plan and your progress toward meeting prioritized goals, making adjustments as needed.
The process may also include a mission/vision review, interviews with leadership and one of our famous retreats in Tivoli, New York where fresh air, beautiful surroundings and good food ease you into a robust 2—5 day planning retreat, lead our amazing team of experts. Like everything else that we do, we handle each case, and each retreat differently. If you want to hike, eat vegan food and concentrate on developing a culture of allyship in your workplace, we can do that. Or perhaps you want to dig deep into a mission review over local cider and charcuterie. We can cover broad strokes or delve into problem areas. The only thing we won’t do is go for the easy answers. We want this process to be profound, fascinating and transformative — not something you sail through in order to get more grants.
PRoject, budget & change management
Un-Con can oversee, or train you to oversee:
Development and monitoring of budgets, financial plans, and program budgeting.
Transition planning — from the abstract to navigating changes in leadership as they arise.
Expansion planning , and contraction planning. There is no right way forward aside from what is right for your organization today.
Programming that is mission-aligned and generative.
Crisis planning. The landscape is changing radically day by day, moment by moment. We help you think through plans b, c, d and beyond.
organizational culture:
an ethics
"Culture eats strategy for breakfast." — Peter Drucker
Peter Drucker believed that management was "a liberal art", and he his theories of management included history, sociology, psychology, philosophy, cultural anthrology and theology. He also felt strongly that all organizations had a responsibility to society. "The fact is," Drucker wrote, "that in modern society there is no other leadership group but managers. If the managers of our major institutions, and especially of business, do not take responsibility for the common good, no one else can or will.”
We agree. We will work with you to define and defend an ethical culture for your organization, including creating:
A Code of Conduct that board and staff agree to follow in all that they do.
A clearly defined set of policies that outline how staff and board are evaluated, how they work together, and who takes the lead in which areas.
Policies that guide you in being radically inclusive, working through racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, ageism, transphobia and white supremacy. What are the social mechanisms that assist in this struggle and what are the mechanisms that complicate it?
Systems to regularly evaluate and the plan and your progress toward meeting prioritized goals, making adjustments as needed.
Regular check-ins for accountability, evaluation, and thining-forward.
The process will be collaborative and thorough.