A: Shelley has spent the past 15 years as a nonprofit consultant and professional grantwriter and has seen this time and time again, which is exactly why she created Nonprofit I.Q. Here’s a crucial distinction between consulting and coaching.

Consultants typically assess your organization and make changes for your nonprofit. While this can be very beneficial in some capacities, it can also create a dependency on that consultant. When that person leaves for whatever reason, progress often stops (and in some cases, can actually reverse) if the consultant hasn’t worked closely with staff and/or board members to create a solid strategy and action plan to continue growth and progress.

As a Nonprofit Success Strategist, Shelley coaches you how to assess your organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and obstacles so you can identify exactly where you are now. She then helps you and your team determine where you want to go and by when. Then she helps you create a solid strategy and action plan to get you there. We don’t do the work FOR you, we teach you how to do it YOURSELVES so you are not dependent upon her (or anyone else) to sustain your progress and grow according to your own goals.

Shelley has developed a step-by-step process to help nonprofits do this very thing. This process focuses on improving the “fundability” of your organization. The purpose is to help you to create a more efficient, effective and fundable organization and to position your organization for ongoing success and sustainability. Check out this blog post on Nonprofit Fundability that explains this concept and the rationale for this approach in greater depth.

A: That’s an excellent question that I’d like to address with a question back to you. If you continue the way that you’re currently operating, what will improve? So many of us continue doing the same things for years that don’t get us the results we want, and yet we continue doing them. We ALL do it!

My job is to help you identify where simple, yet effective changes can be employed with the specific purpose of achieving YOUR goals and creating positive lasting change in your organization to address your specific challenges. I absolutely recognize that leaders like you are already overloaded and often overwhelmed. That’s why my training and coaching programs are done in a virtual environment via phone and/or computer.

When we work together, you don’t have to waste time or money driving to meetings, parking, etc. Our time is focused on the specific objectives that are planned for that meeting with a few simple, but powerful action items for you and your team to work on prior to our next meeting.

Over time, you’ll actually SAVE tons of time by learning how to invest your time and energy doing only the things that lead you toward efficient, effective achievement of your goals.

A: Absolutely. When clients sign up for my programs, I provide information and resources to help you and your team learn how to raise the funds needed to work with me and to create some critically important organizational improvements. There are various fundraising strategies that are simple to get up and running immediately and very effective.

Keep in mind that the the whole purpose of our training and coaching programs are to teach you how to attract more funding and support for your organization. You will eventually be attracting more funding and committed support for your organization and programs with less effort and much greater success.

A: In order to determine if and how we might work together through a coaching relationship or through upcoming online training opportunities, we first need to have a phone conversation to determine your particular needs and goals. Only when I get to know you and your organization’s needs can I determine whether or not I’m the best option for your organization's growth. If not, rest assured I have lots of resources to direct you to that may be able to help you get moving in the exact right direction for you and your organization.