Overview of our 6-Month Mentored Training Program. |
Skills you will Learn:
Great Program Design + New Funding = Increased Services Develop a winning, impact oriented project while learning to:
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Who Should Join?
Advance your Career, Raise Funds and Solve Challenges The program is for non profit staff and job-seekers wanting to successfully solve community challenges. Participants have worked on programs as diverse as social services, community development, education, the environment, and social justice—and decided to enroll in the program because they were:
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What you will Do:
Design your own Solution-Oriented Project & Attract Donors Train & Consult with a private Mentor. The mentoring provides cutting-edge information, time-saving templates, training and expert consultancy—and leads you in developing a real project for your organization. You will:
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“I just want to take this opportunity to complement you on the practical ideas, knowledge and vast experience that you continue to share with us on each assignment. Many times your examples are the solution of choice for our community. I have been provided with constant support, practical solutions suitable for my project, feedback specific to our project submissions and unwavering encouragement.” Gillian Primus
| MORE INFORMATION: Just scroll down for complete, detailed information about the Mentoring Program. |  |
SIX MONTH MENTORING PROGRAM
Detailed Program and Course Information
- Maybe you don’t have enough funding for all of the services you would like to provide
- At times project impact has been less than you had hoped for
- Perhaps your staffing is low and you can’t find enough time to get everything done
- Sometimes projects can be difficult to manage
- It’s possible that your donor communications need to be improved for better donor engagement
I began working pro bono with non profits in the 1980s—and I’ve always enjoyed it. So, after a 25 year successful business career I decided to give back by beginning to work full time with non profits in 2002.
Since then I have worked face-to-face as a project consultant with over 100 non profits, and have led training programs and distance-learning programs with over 500 organizations.
Training is great—but it’s not enough.
What I enjoy more is this blended consulting and mentoring program where we take training one step further. We take a non profit challenge you have identified—and work together for six months to develop a real project that works to solve it. We start off by clearly describing the need—and then we develop a project design, funding support documents, research donor possibilities, and then develop the project management tools to launch the project. Then we launch the project. I supply easy to edit templates for each of the steps—which you keep for developing future projects for your organization.
So this mentoring program is a combination of training, advising, and consulting. I will provide an experienced set of eyes, concrete feedback on your work, and help you to research evidence-based best practices. I will also show you tricks for working smarter and faster during the process.
- Are you considering a non profit career change, a new job search, or vying for a promotion?
- Would you like to boost your proposal writing & project design skill sets to raise more funds?
- Would you like to learn more about designing and implementing non profit projects?
- Would you like to improve donor communications for raising more funds?
Look at what we can do together:
The step by step process.
The program is designed in a progression where each weekly module represents one sequential step for you to take in the process of project design. Each assignment has real tools for you to download, print out, edit, and use as templates over and over again in launching new initiatives. We will take approximately one month for each one of the following steps:
Your Community.
1. Clearly, and in a simple fashion define the community you hope to work with, the challenge you plan on solving, and what program you’re hoping to develop to solve it.
A simple definition of a community could be a rural community of 150 people on a Native American reservation. Your hope would be that they would develop enough ownership of the project and its outcomes that they could make it sustainable once your nonprofit has finished its grant cycle. Other examples of communities for needs assessments may vary:
- For an environmental project you might work with a community of scientists or environmentalists or farmers and ranchers benefiting from ecosystem services on a restoration project.
- In a food bank you might work with people visiting the food bank to better understand their nutritional needs
- For a teen drop-in center you might conduct a needs assessment with the teens themselves—or with their parents—or both.
- For a community development project you might work with a community based organization composed of involved citizens who wish to revitalize a small, rural town.
- In increasing agricultural access to urban farmers’ markets—you might work with a group of small farmers.
Your Plan.
2. Conduct a participatory needs assessment with the community—and develop a simple and straightforward program outline complete with a clearly defined problem statement, underlying causes, solution oriented activities, and project goals.
Your Tools.
3. Develop a set of project management and donor presentation documents which will include an action plan, a project budget, a detailed schedule, and a project fact sheet (Letter of Inquiry).
RESULTS: By the end of the first three months you will have developed a real project based upon real need determined with input from your constituents and colleagues.
You will have updated your blog with new posts describing your project design progress—and you will have sent out the first of several email newsletters with compelling stories about your community members. Most of all, you will gain confidence that you are working on the right things by using tested strategies that have worked for other participants and clients in multiple projects. I’ll show you how to do all of this.
Fully Customized Second Quarter. In the second three month period you will customize the mentoring program’s direction to best fit your community’s needs, your organizational context, and donor interests.
Your Communication.
4. Clearly define which donors are best for you. The donors may be individuals who are already making contributions to your organization inspired by your email newsletters and the donor pages on your website (full of compelling stories!). They may also be private foundations. In either case, I will help you clearly define the donors and identify and write compelling stories for them.
For individual donors, we’ll tune up your blog postings and newsletter to capture donor imagination—and make sure your donation page is effective and easy to use.
For foundation donors—this is not a grant writing course—however, you will be able to adapt the materials you have been developing to best fit donor interests. If applicable for your organization, you will actually select a foundation and submit a Letter of Inquiry.
This program will lead you in developing a winning, impact oriented project to help you:
- increase funding for your program services
- design impact and sustainability into your project
- boost project successes using evidence-based techniques
- engage donors and increase donations with improved communications
Your Team.
5. While waiting for the funding to roll in, you will develop a series of no-cost/low-cost activities which will develop ownership within the community and officially launch the project. You will learn how to harness community and volunteer support through setting up a co-management committee for one of your project’s programs.
Your Launch.
6. You will launch your first no cost/low cost project activity within the community using templates of workshop plans that I provide.
10 People Only. This mentoring program is limited to 10 people. We will have weekly communication through my advice and comments on your weekly assignment modules. I will have a monthly, 60 minute, private telephone consultation with you so that we can be able to work closely together on your project. I will also respond to quick questions that you send me.
- Clearly define which donors are best for you: individuals visiting your website or private foundations
- Tune up your blog post and newsletter to capture donor imagination
- Make sure your donation page is effective and simple to use
- If applicable, explore different ways to identify foundation donors and select one which is appropriate for your organization
- Using the information that you developed about your project, edit a letter of inquiry targeted to a specific foundation
- While waiting for funding to roll in, set up a community co-management committee for one of your programs
- Launch a project activity called out in your project design with volunteers, and/or community members
1. New Project. Design a fundable, sustainable, impact oriented project from scratch.
2. Pre-launch. Fine-tune a project you are about to launch to increase its manageability, its impact, and its sustainability.
3. Projects in process. Fine-tune a project in process to solve challenges the project may have and increase its impact.
Normally, when I work with an individual organization on a project as expansive as this—we might be looking at a hefty consulting fee. But, I have organized this mentoring program so that it is much more affordable: your organization will simply pay $1,200. This will cover the six month program, the 20 template kits and downloadable resources. There are no other expenses.
Two simple steps and you’re in!
If you are not ready to apply for the mentoring program due to its cost—you can enroll in the distance-learning program—Diploma 240—and receive similar course materials but without the private mentoring component.
I look forward to working with you. The application form is just below.
Sincerely,
Tim Magee