Action Learning Organizational Development Program

A 6 month OD ‘collective impact’ experiment among a closed group of funds with pre-selected key grantees from each fund participating individually and as a cohort.
Organizational development on critical organizational competencies along with targeted expert support and accompaniment to resolve grantee specific challenges.
Participants are a cohort of up to 21 nonprofit organizations Lays out the foundations for a set of common core competency requirements of nonprofit leaders and social entrepreneurs; Offers opportunities and expert support for nonprofits to work on key organizational challenges in real-time through guided projects that convert their learning into action; Is it expected that the chief executive will attend the Seminars? Shared learning, monitoring and evaluation metrics for tracking impact among participating nonprofits.

From September 2021 to February 2022

The Program includes three components:

  • Learning Events / Seminars
  • One-to-one consultations
  • Guided Projects

A series of Seminars of 90 minutes each:

The Schedule

Module Training Events Trainers Date
Kick-off Session
Welcome and Induction
for all grantees
Action learning,
impact thinking and change theory
8-Oct-2021
Strategy & Business
Planning
Business planning fundamentals
The sharp end of strategy
15-Oct-2021
20-Oct-2021
Communication
& Fundraising
Building A Strong Social Brand –
The Four A’s Brand Framework
Fundraising
canvas
5-Nov-2021
12-Nov-2021
Human Resources
Recruitment
Building successful
teams, talent retention
26-Nov-2021
3-Dec-2021
Impact Assessment;
Monitoring, Learning
and Evaluation
Impact assessment fundamentals
The Strategy Circle: facilitated
coaching session on organizational challenges
14-Jan-2022
Data based decisions Data based decision making Development Gateway 21-Jan-2022
Financial Management Nonprofit budgeting,
accounting and financial reporting
John Cammack 4-Feb-2022
Security and Risk Mitigation Security risk assessments Open Briefing 11-Feb-2022
Using technology Choosing the right technology Svarya 18-Feb-2022

The Schedule is subject to last minute modification.

The idea of the Seminars is to introduce you to the elements of organizational development, which can be well beyond your attention or knowledge. So we strongly recommend attending all Semanard which shall help you expand your horizons beyond what you already know and to make connections between various elements of organizational development. For example, defining your theory of change or learning how to measure and communicate about your impact can substantially help you attract new funders. Or, knowing what technology to use can help you automate certain workflows, which could allow you to use available human resources in a more focused way.
Ideally each organization should attend as many sessions as possible, as there is also a peer dimension to this programme and you can share experience and advice with each other, especially when you are strong in a particular topic, and even maintain the peer connections once the programme is over. Also, as is a pilot project, the feedback from all participating organizations is very valuable.

The chief executive does not have to attend every Seminar and may delegate to other members of the team as most useful.

The Program is structured in a way that you may join any time - the recordings of the sessions will be available, and we will be repeating the key topics (strategy, impact, etc.) at least every 3 months.

The guided projects are to be seen as the opportunity for you to implement a priority change you were planning to do anyway, but accompanied by highly qualified experts and at no cost. You are expected to complete at least one change project, on a topic of your choice, e.g. to introduce a monitoring system, hire new talent, diversify your fundraising, improve your financial planning, or update your business model.

A project is expected to take 2-3 months to complete and require between 5 and 10 days of support from the expert. This expert support may come in the form of training, coaching or consulting.

We will have regular check-ins throughout the OD projects and in case collaboration between you and an expert is not going in the right direction, we will help to find a better match and continue with another service provider. We make sure to protect the interests of all the parties.

You may contact any of the participating experts, at any time, in order to ask specific questions or apply the consultant's expertise to your organization. It is usually a one hour call with a helpful follow up email by the expert.

The Expert Service Providers participating in the Program are identified by Growald Climate Fund and participating funds and are part of the Nonprofit Builder’s own network of vetted experts.

Nonprofit Builder implements the Program. The coordinator Anna Kondratyuk will be in close contact with you before and during the program to ensure that you reach your goals and that you get the most out of it.

- The program is free of charge for your organization so that you may focus on learning and results. The cost is covered by your funder.

- 9600 USD per organization as a budget for all expert support, training courses, coaching sessions, one-to-one consultations, as per interest of your organization. It is expected that each organization will complete one major Guided Project estimated at around 6000 USD. We will ensure that you get the most out of your budget, by negotiating the cost of the consulting services for you, and also encouraging several organizations to form groups so you can book common training activities at a lower cost per organization.

If you need more expert support than it was budgeted for, let us know and we will try to get the approval of your OD budget extension from the participating funds.

Anna Kondratyuk, Action Learning Program Coordinator, anna@nonprofitbuilder.org; WhatsApp +41 79 555 06 41