A strategy is an integrated plan or process developed to ensure you achieve your bold goal…but it’s never quite that simple. More often than not, nonprofits seeking to fulfill their mission to make the world a better place often get stuck in the day-to-day work of responding to client needs, submitting funding proposals, paying the bills, and managing personnel. It is challenging — if not impossible — to develop and implement an actionable plan to achieve the social impact you seek to make. SHG Advisors has the knowledge and experience to think creatively and strategically about program design from concept to implementation, as demonstrated by this example:
Situation:
- Nonprofit organization received a multi-million dollar grant from the September 11th Fund, almost quadrupling its annual budget
- Expectation was to sub-grant the monies to the populations most impacted by 9/11
- Organization needed to simultaneously understand the community need and put additional controls and infrastructure in place to ensure that funds were distributed appropriately, and with integrity
Approach:
- Interviewed funder to ensure there was clarity on their expectations
- Conducted community assessment to understand the greatest impact and associated need
- Developed strategy to meet community need and released Request for Proposals
- Studied organization’s existing control practices
- Established new policies, tools and procedures to enable funds to be distributed quickly and efficiently
Outcomes:
- Organization successfully worked closely with several sub-grantees to provide expansive wrap-around services to over 700 people in need
- Audit indicated that all monies were spent wisely and effectively, as noted in the September 11th Fund’s final report
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