Board Retreat - Facilitator

[Heather Higgins]

Hello team,

I've had a very encouraging discussion with Jennifer Till this evening about SDV, the board's objectives, our agenda for the retreat, and some ideas from Jennifer about how she could add value and help us come out of the retreat with some meaningful progress.

I've known Jennifer for 13+ years and have seen her work on a number of occasions. She's very talented and I think would be a huge asset to our endeavor. Here's her profile: http://thebridge-ltd.com/about2.php. In addition to her expertise leading up strategic planning, she has a former career as the Development Director for the Alzheimer's Foundation and has done a lot of work consulting with non-profits over the years.  

Her rack rate is $5,000/day. She's generously offered to facilitate for us for $1,500. She suggested that we could reach out to the board and some key donors to see who might be able to contribute "capacity raising" funds.  She also suggested that we check with CACF as she thinks they've made "capacity raising" grants in the past, although a 5 week turnaround might not be their speed.

Jessica, let me know your thoughts on leveraging Jennifer's assistance facilitating the development planning portion of the agenda.

Jennifer offered to hold the date for us for a few days while we discuss amongst ourselves how we would like to proceed. If we can find a way to swing the $1500, I'll work with Jennifer to get more specific about preparing for the retreat and setting expectations for what we'll do during it and what we will come out with.

What do you think of the idea of engaging Jennifer to facilitate the retreat? If you want to contribute (any amount) to support it, please speak up (or tell Kyle directly). Likewise, if you have any ideas for who in the community might be interested in helping us take an important step forward, please let Kyle and me know. 

Thank you!

Heather

[Jessica McCoy]

I think that it's important to have a facilitated strategic planning session, so that we stay on track and we can focus on brainstorming, visioning and problem-solving, and she can write up the notes, organize them, and help us come up with actions and a timeline for implementation.

$1,500 is very reasonable.

In terms of facilitating the fundraising portion, we could skip over the review (assuming that everyone reads the report and comes prepared with questions), and then I could just do 30 min. where we talk about the high level findings and questions. 

After we're done reviewing the assessment and fundraising plan, we could look at how to prioritize our organizational goals/vision based on fundraising goals/benchmarks, and where we need to develop more resources (especially staff/volunteer).

Jessica

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[Rachel Potter]

I think it sounds worthwhile. 

I can make a contribution to offset part of the cost, and will email Kyle accordingly with specifics. Even if, as a board, (or with other specific donations for this purpose) we don't offset the cost, I think it is a worthwhile expenditure for SDV none the less. The rate is generous. 

Rachel 

Dr. Rachel Potter

Director, Graduate Teacher Education Program

Mary Baldwin College

PO Box 1500, Staunton, VA 24402

Edmondson House (221 N. Market St., Staunton, VA 24401)

rpo...@mbc.edu

540-887-7134 phone (540-887-7333 main GTE number)

540-887-7303 fax

[lmor...@gmail.com]

I have to admit this sounds like a lot of money for a small non profit to dish out. I agree we need help with a strategic plan by a professional but I have no way of knowing if this is a good deal or not....except by trusting and taking your word. What can she do for SDV in a 6 hour period that would warrant paying her 1,500. Do you think its possible to find someone who would be willing to donate their time for a non profit with a great cause?

Sent from my U.S. Cellular BlackBerry® smartphone

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From: Jessica McCoy <jessica....@gmail.com>

Sender: sdvb...@googlegroups.com

Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2013 22:01:20 -0400

To: Heather Higgins<belmon...@gmail.com>

Cc: <sdvb...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: [SDVBoard] Board Retreat - Facilitator

[Jessica McCoy]

I would expect that there would be pre- and post-retreat work as well, so it's not just a six hour project.  Pre-retreat, she would need to get background information about SDV and identify goals/deliverables, and post-retreat, I would expect some sort of report with timeline and next-steps.  

It might be possible to find someone to do it pro bono, but most people who do this kind of work are constantly being asked to do things for free, and my experience is that when you ask someone to do it for free, they often do not put in the kind of pre- and post- work that makes it worthwhile, or they may not have the experience to know how to facilitate the process and ask good follow-up questions.

We're not going to emerge with a detailed strategic plan for the next 3-5 years, but we should at least be able to rough in some goals and identify resources that we need to achieve the goals, and start figuring out the timeline and benchmarks.

I think we need to get much clearer about financial/program/management goals.  Not just "raise as much money as we can" or "train as many dogs as well as we can/as quickly as we can."  

Somewhere in this conversation we also have to look at succession planning, organizational staffing structure, sorting out the re-payment for Peggy.  Other things that I'm thinking of: new training facility.  What would it take to eliminate the waiting list? How do we raise the visibility of SDV beyond Central VA? 

Jessica

Jessica McCoy

405 Altamont Circle

Charlottesville, VA  22902

+1 202 657 4307 or jessicamccoy - Skype In number/SkypeID
+1 434 906 6079 - mobile

[lmor...@gmail.com]

Thank you Jessica for taking the time to explain how this works since this is something I'm new at.

Sent from my U.S. Cellular BlackBerry® smartphone

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From: Jessica McCoy <jessica....@gmail.com>

Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2013 03:12:43 -0400

To: Linda Morris<lmor...@gmail.com>

Cc: sdv board<sdvb...@googlegroups.com>; Heather Higgins<belmon...@gmail.com>