Services Methodology

 

Segments Tailored to Client Needs

Over the past ten years, the Executive Service Corps in Aspen has learned a great deal about how to work in partnership with our nonprofit clients to achieve the positive change they want and need.

Time and again, organizations make similar requests and have the same needs.  For this reason, we shape our services so that engagements can be professionally managed while making the best use of the wide range of our consultants' capabilities and experience.  ESC offers services in segments of related consulting services, depending on the needs of the client.

After we meet with a potential client to help assess the client's needs, we communicate our recommendations and explain the various segments of our consulting services.  Then, with the client, we decide which segment is the top priority and will therefore become the client's first (or only) project.  If appropriate, we will add components from other segments to the segment we agree to do.  Each segment is designed to take about two or three months. 

In some cases, an organization may need only one or, at most, two components of a segment.  This can often be handled as a targeted short-term service by one consultant.

If an organization requests more than one segment, we will conduct a joint review at the end of the first to ensure that we are aligned on the way ahead.  When we engage in more than one segment with a client, the project leader will often remain the same for all segments, but team members may change from segment to segment, depending on availability and capability.   

Engagement Segments and Their Components

Organizational Development  (more detail)

  •  Leadership Development
  •  Relationship between Board Chair and Executive Director
  •  Mission, Vision, and Guiding Principles
  •  By-Laws
  •  Task and Goal Management

Governance and Administration  (more detail)

  • Board Composition – New Member Nomination and Orientation
  • Board Structure – Committees and Work Groups
  • Board Processes – Meetings, Goal-Setting, and Goal-Monitoring
  • Roles and Responsibilities of Board and Staff
  • Board/Staff Relations 
  • Board Member Behavior and Commitment 
  • Board Culture

Strategic Planning   (more detail)

  • Identification of Key Strategic Issues
  • Review of Current Status
  • Developing Goals and Objectives (and Related Financial Goals)
  • Making The Plan and Gaining Approval
  • Implementing And Monitoring the Plan

Financial Management   (more detail)

  • Treasurer and Finance Committee
  • Budget Process
  • Financial Statements;  Audits
  • Managing Cash Flow
  • Systems, Controls, and Bookkeeping 
  • Developing a Business Plan

Marketing   (more detail)

  • Developing a Marketing Plan
  • Community Relations – Telling Your Story
  • Website Strategies
  • Evaluating and Measuring Marketing Effectiveness
  • Marketing’s Relationship to Fundraising

Revenue Generation   (more detail)

  • Who Is Responsible for Generating Revenue
  • Annual Fundraising 
  • Major Gifts
  • Special Events
  • Grants
  • Corporate Sponsors
  • Capital Campaigns
  • Endowments
  • Earned Income

Outcomes and Impacts   (more detail)

  • Achieving your intended mission and goals
  • Demonstrating achievement of measurable results and impacts
  • Developing an outcome measurement system
  • Identifying tools to use to track and measure success
  • Telling your story with quantitative and qualitative data
  • Using objective and subjective facts for future program improvements