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Strategic Planning

Plans are often useless, but planning is indispensable. Part of a Board’s duty is to oversee the strategic direction and oversight of the organization. PDX Nonprofit Consulting can help your nonprofit evaluate your programs, assess your staff capacity, and envision the future. Through surveys, stakeholder interviews, coordinated focus groups, and facilitated board meetings, we will work to ensure that your board has done their due diligence to put your community’s needs first. PDX Nonprofit Consulting approaches strategic planning with the mindset that your constituents are the experts in their own lives.

PDX Nonprofit Consulting prioritizes these concepts during strategic planning:

  • Data Driven and Evidence Based Decisions: ensuring your program and your mission are actually serving the needs of your community
  • Avoiding “solutions in search of a problem”
  • Action planning: creating specific, measurable, realistic, and time-bound goals and assigning them to specific people to make sure they get done. Your strategic plan should be living, flexible, and present thing in your organization. It shouldn’t be stuck on a shelf, gathering dust.

Fundraising and Communication

Whether you are sending an annual year-end appeal to a few dozen people, launching your first major donor program, or embarking on a multi-year capital campaign, PDX Nonprofit Consulting can help. We support community centric fundraising principles which center fundraising pitches on the community you serve. We can help you with:

  • Major Donor Prospecting, Cultivation, and Stewardship
  • Email campaigns
  • Direct mail campaigns
  • Year-end or other annual campaigns
  • Event fundraising (see event management below)
  • Peer-to-peer and board fundraising strategies
  • Social media fundraising and engagement strategies
  • Fundraising platforms & CRM support
  • Strategic and Emergency Communications

Event Management

Event coordination is a chore, and one your staff might not have time for. The headache of planning, organizing, printing, advertising, and managing software can be overwhelming. With over a decade of experience running all sorts of events, PDX Nonprofit Consulting can help make your next event effortless. Contact us for assistance with:

  • Volunteer work days
  • Fundraising events, such as galas, breakfasts, luncheons, and dinners
    • Selecting and managing the right event-based CRM to track RSVPs, event donations, pledges, items, seating, and meal choices
  • Board retreats
  • Outreach and appreciation events
  • Education events and outings

Board Governance & Training

Your board members are your visionaries, entrusted with the public trust to govern and oversee all aspects of your organization with wisdom and foresight. But maybe they don’t know how to do that, or they are struggling to understand all of the lingo and jargon around their supposed duties. with a background in nonprofit legal support, PDX Nonprofit Consulting can help your board understand their duties, work better as a team, and improve their relationship with the Executive Director and Staff.

Trainings are available on these perennial topics and more:

  • Conflict of Interest
  • The Three D’s of Being a Fiduciary: Duty of Care, Duty of Loyalty, and Duty of Obedience
  • Time, Treasure, and Talent: Serving with distinction
  • Planning Your Exit: How to ensure board members and founders leave a legacy, not a mess
  • Board Fundraising

Bylaws and Articles of Incorporation

When is the last time you actually read your bylaws? Does your Secretary actually keep a copy of them on-hand and refer to them during board meetings? If not, your bylaws are probably boring, dry, outdated, unhelpful, or all of the above. Bylaws should be legally rigorous, but they should also be informative, written in language that anyone can understand, and should comply to recent changes in state law.

PDX Nonprofit Consulting offers reviews and entire rewrites of bylaws.

As an extension of your bylaws, your policies and procedures inform the structure of your organization. PDX Nonprofit Consulting can review your policies and procedures for efficacy, readability, and compliance.

PDX Nonprofit Consulting is not a law firm, and cannot and does not offer legal advice. Clients and prospective clients are encouraged to present materials to a lawyer for final review prior to adoption. PDX Nonprofit Consulting cannot and does not accept liability as a result of the adoption of any bylaws, articles, policies, or procedures.

Formation and Incorporation

FREE SERVICES: For anyone seeking to start a new nonprofit, please reach out. The decision to incorporate and pursue tax deductibility is a serious one. Whether you are an individual, an established mutual aid or affinity group, or have been under a fiscal sponsorship model, PDX Nonprofit Consulting can help you assess your next step, and we offer these consultations for free.

If you decide to incorporate and pursue a 501(c)(3) charitable status, we offer affordable paid services to help you get your bylaws in order, your 1023 filed, and your founding board off to a flying start.

Database Selection, Management, & Migration

PDX Nonprofit Consulting has over a decade of experience managing fundraising and volunteer management databases (CRMs). We have worked with all of the databases below, and have completed over a dozen database migrations. Whether you need extra training on how to use these services, a clean-up, help with year-end reconciliation, or a complete migration, PDX Nonprofit Consulting can help.

Executive Coaching & Review

Retaining staff is far, far more cost-effective than replacing them, and professional development and support are key considerations for staff retention. PDX Nonprofit Consulting has coached brand new Executive Directors in topics such as:

  • The delicate Board Chair <-> Executive Director relationship
  • Getting more comfortable as the de-facto fundraiser
  • Managing expectations and setting healthy boundaries with the Board
  • Planning for staff capacity changes and preparing to hire new staff
  • Running an equitable and equal-opportunity hiring process

Additionally, we are happy to help with these specialty services regarding Executive and other key staff positions:

  • 360-degree Executive Reviews: As a third party, PDX Nonprofit Consulting can act as a neutral facilitator during a staff review process, gathering confidential written and verbal feedback from external partners, board members, and direct reports which can be awkward to gather internally. We can then synthesize that feedback into a report for the a review committee and the staff to review while respecting the confidentiality of those involved. This is an especially popular option for Executive Directors.
  • Succession Planning, planned and unplanned: Accidents happen, and lives change quickly for all sorts of reasons. If your Executive Director, Board Chair, or Secretary is no longer able to fulfil their duties, do you have a plan for keeping your mission moving forward? Passwords and access to digital files is just the beginning. Creating a succession plan is a vital piece of preparation we can help you with to ensure your organization is emergency ready.
    • Transition Planning and Facilitation: If you are aware of an impending staff transition, a succession plan is a key part of ensuring the transition goes smoothly.

Website & Technology Services

PDX Nonprofit Consulting has experience creating and managing websites through services such as Wix, Squarespace, WordPress, and others. Most nonprofits can (and we think should) use these services rather than try to host or rent their own server, hire a website developer to create and maintain a website and all of the security certificates and patches needed to keep a website secure and functional 24/7/365.

We have helped clients migrate or re-create their websites several times, and with our experience in graphic design and fundraising best practices, we can help you create a website you can edit yourself, use to accept donations, and keep people engaged with your mission.

If you need assistance with managing other technology services like the ones listed below, please do not hesitate to reach out! We are committed to providing accurate estimates for our services, and we will always be frank and honest with you if your needs exceed our expertise.

  • Google Drive and Google Workspace
  • Team Communication, task, and project management software (Asana, Todoist, etc.)
  • Webforms and communication platforms (MailChimp, Constant Contact, etc.)
  • API Integrations and Process Streamlining (Zapier, etc.)
  • Generative AI Tools, and how to best use them

Specialty Services

Temporary, Seasonal, Interim, or Fractional Staff

PDX Nonprofit Consulting has a strong track record of interim appointments, especially in seasonal fundraising roles. If your organization needs temporary, fractional, or interim staff, we can help.

Land Trust Accreditation

PDX Nonprofit Consulting is currently assisting Bear River Land Conservancy in pursuing national accreditation through the Land Trust Alliance Accreditation Commission. If your land trust needs assistance with accreditation, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Lobbying and Advocacy

YES, 501(c)(3) organizations CAN lobby within limits and can advocate on behalf of their mission without limits. PDX Nonprofit Consulting can assist you with understanding these limits and engaging in strategic, carefully planned lobbying and advocacy to advance your mission.

  • 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations get to choose which “test” the IRS applies to determine your lobbying limits. The 501(h) election is the preferred test as it allows higher limits on lobbying. Please reach out if you need assistance determining your lobbying limits or filing the 501(h) election.

501c4 Organizations

An increasing number of c3/c4 sister organizations are being formed. If you are a 501(c)(4) organization, or are considering adopting this model, PDX Nonprofit Consulting can help you evaluate and determine if this decision is right for you.