About the Program

Dear Partners!

 

Welcome to the Action Learning Program for organizations fighting climate change!
 
 

Through this Program you will be able to strengthen various aspects of your organization, according to your priorities. You can work on any topic of your choice, such as Boards & governance, Business models, Business plans, Campaigning, Communications, Financial management, Fundraising, Gender, diversity and inclusion, Hiring and retention, Human resources, Leadership and team building, Legal issues, Monitoring and evaluation, Organizational structure & roles, Safeguarding, Security, Strategy, Succession planning, Technology, and many more. *See: Organizational Development: Core Expertise Glossary

 

The Program is completely free of charge for grantees of the participating foundations, and it is very easy to use!

 

How it works?

 

There are several ways to start using the Platform:

 

1. Use an invite from your Program Officer to register your organization on the Nonprofit Builder Platform and get access to the services. If your organization already has an account, and you want to join as a staff, you may go straight here to access the Platform. 

 

2. If you know what topics you want advice on, explore the consultants profiles on your own, and book a call with the selected few: use the button "Book a meeting" at the consultant's profile. The consultant will get back to you by accepting your request and setting up a call. Once the call is done, you may decide whether you want to work together, and share with us the Statement of Work prepared by the consultant.

 

3. You may reach out to us for recommendation of the best suited consultants for the topic(s) of your choice (via chat box, email, WhatsApp, contact form). We work in close contact with consultants and know very well their expertise, methods of work, and zone of genius.

 

4. You may book an orientation call with us, where we discuss your organizational development priorities in more detail, which will allow us to suggest to you the best suited consultants for the topics of your interest.

 

Feel free to communicate to us your organizational development priorities via this brief form (it would take you just a few minutes to fill it in).

 

All administration and coordination of the work, quality assurance, paying consultant invoices, feedback and reports collecting, etc. is done by the Nonprofit Builder, so that you can focus solely on learning and advancing your organiational goals! 

 

Example questions you may work on as part of this Program:


  • How do we get a simple strategy which works and does not sit on the shelf?
  • How can we find a new business model and diversify our revenue streams?
  • How shall we organise our communications to reach my audiences?
  • How do we find and hire the right people with minimal time and effort?
  • How can we plan our cashflow so we avoid financial droughts?
  • How can we organise our remote team to work in a concerted way?
  • How to make sure that our global team has equity in benefits and compensation?
  • How do we ensure a smooth transition from one leader to another?
  • How do we integrate diversity and gender equity or child safeguarding?
  • Do we need a CRM and if yes, which one?

 

What support can you get?

 

All consultants we work with are full time capacity building experts, working to make nonprofit organizations stronger, more resilient and help them achieve more impact.

 

The support can take different forms and depends fully on your request and the needs of your organization.

 

Available forms of support include:

 

  • Consultation(s). You can book a 60 minute meeting via the Nonprofit Builder platform, and after the meeting the expert will send a helpful follow-up email with advice and suggestions. 
  • Executive and/or leadership coaching (usually a package of 8-12 one hour sessions, bi-weekly)
  • Organizational development advising
  • Facilitation of workshops for the team
  • Tailor made training for the staff
  • Guided projects

 

Executive coaching is ideal if an organization is a startup, or if it is the leader’s first time as an executive, or if they are taking the organization through a complicated transition and need a competent adviser to backstop them. Our coaches and advisors have very strong practical experience on all the important questions leaders may face: strategic shifts, motivating their teams, financial management, working with their board, partnerships, etc.

 

Guided projects last about 2-3 months and include 5-7 days of consultant support. They are ideal for more mature organizations that are ready for deeper dives into organisational transformation: pivots, transitions, growth, succession planning, income diversification, digital transformation, etc. 

 

Some tips on working with consultants can be found here and here.

 

Below is Guided Projects Roadmap (with links to samples) 

Guided Project Roadmap by Nonprofit Builder

 

Training Program

 

We regularry offer a Program of interactive training courses on the most requested topics. The courses are designed to give a comprehensive understanding of the topic, develop skills and get equipped with tools.

 

Each course includes 4 highly interactive online sessions, 3 hours each, spread over 2-3 months, to allow participants to do the homework in between the sessions. Each course will welcome minimum 6 participants and maximum 12 participants to ensure good peer exchanges. 

 

Click here to register for the coming training courses.

 

You can also access the Seminar Library to watch past sessions at your own time and pace. 

 

What can you expect from this Program?

 

The Action Learning Program should help the nonprofit organizations put into place building blocks of a healthy organisation: 

 

  • A well articulated strategy that includes a theory of change, a resource mobilization model, a communication strategy and a set of goals and indicators with which to measure its progress.
  • A solid situation in terms of leadership, governance, team, organizational structure and culture, operational capabilities, and financial management, so it may reach its goals.

 

Additionally, we hope it help you set your organization on a path of continual learning and improvement: 

 

  • Self-awareness: the organization is aware of its position/phase in their OD journey.
  • Intentional: the organization has learned how to set OD goals and priorities, and become intentional in reaching these goals.
  • Results: the organization has laid the foundations in at least three of its OD priority areas.
  • Seeking help: the organization has learnt how to work with OD consultants and coaches.
  • Continual learning: the organization shows interest in adopting a path of deliberate and continual progress in its OD.

 

The working language is English, but our consultants speak Portuguese, Spanish and Bahasa, among other languages. 



How much does it cost?

 

The Program is at no cost to you. All costs and expenses are covered by your funder via the Nonprofit Builder.

 

We recommend a budget of between 5000 and 8'000 USD for each actively participating organization, which should cover the following typical activities, as an example:

  • Five one-to-one consultations (200$ each for a discussion and helpful follow-up email)
  • One coaching package (usually around 2500$ for 10 sessions)
  • One guided project (usually around 6000$)

This amount is pooled, meaning the more active and ambitious organizations get to use more of the funds than the less active ones.

 

Contacts

 

To enquire about this Program, please contact our Team at support@nonprofitbuilder.org 

 

Useful links:

 

 

 

What is Action Learning?  Why is the Program called this way?

 

Action learning involves taking action and reflecting upon the results. It is based on the assumption that truly successful organizations are learning organisations. They are on a continuous path of self reflection, learning, unlearning and evolving into the best version of themselves. 

 

The Action Learning Program (ALP) is an initiative designed to support organizations fighting climate change to achieve their mission and realize their goals. The ALP delivers by facilitating customized access to a curated and diverse pool of high quality organizational development (OD) experts, coaches and resources for organizations and their leaders to address their institutional needs. 

 

As its name goes, the Action Learning Program is built to support organizations both learn and execute with optimal flexibility and cadence. The ALP strives to be adaptable and customizable with a variety of formats for accessing OD support, from light-touch consultations with experts to solve specific problems to longer organisational transformation projects. Furthermore, it is global in its scope, servicing organizations worldwide by connecting them to each other and to experts and resources that resonate with unique linguistic, geographic and cultural needs. 

 

 

ALP Slide Deck

ALP Presentation by Nonprofit Builder

 

Demo of the CRM

 

The NPB CRM: Your account by Nonprofit Builder