Description:

As nonprofit leaders, we often skip over the problem. We are masterful designers of solutions. Homeless veterans: better access to mental health services. Deforestation: public will building toward climate solutions. Public Education: improved resources for high-quality instruction. However, start-up entrepreneurs teach us that the best products are designed by people who are students of the problem and the nuances within it. Organizations that can convert a generic problem (barriers to employment) into a more nuanced problem (the way employers reinforce barriers to employment through antiquated hiring practices) have the potential to move the needle in their area of expertise. 

 

In this workshop, we will identify the nuanced problem we are each working to solve. 

Remarkable Idea: Strategic planning is simply the design for your organization’s latest solution to the problem.

 

Description: 

In January, we identified the problem your organization is set up to solve. In February, we will outline a lean process for planning your approach to the solution.

 

Strategic planning has a reputation of being an obligatory process that extracts resources from an organization rather than generates meaningful progress. If simplified, it can be a season that everyone looks forward to.

 

Flying Whale will share our lean strategic planning framework. In this way, you may conduct your own strategic plan without a long drawn out process. We will provide cost and time saving tips for each stage of the process: research, planning, operationalizing, and communicating the plan.

Remarkable Idea: You can measure and communicate the impact of your work, even if your work seems intangible.

 

Description:

Many organizations achieve outcomes that are difficult to quantify. Or seem to require a long- term research effort to collect the data. At Flying Whale, we believe intangible outcomes like “changing community behavior,” “developing sense-of-self,” or “forming an improved family bond” can be measured.  

 

We will first articulate the importance of measuring outcomes: the way lives, land, and minds are transformed. This is different from measuring outputs: how many lives, acres, or ideas you spread. In this workshop, we will identify the difference between how “busy” you’ve been and how “effective” you’ve been. We will then create the building blocks of an evaluation plan for goals that seem impossible to measure.

 

Next we will generate ideas for how to measure outcomes. We answer the question, ‘We’ve chosen the right goals, now how exactly do we measure them?’ 

Remarkable Idea: An organizational culture that prioritizes innovation must also value failure and iteration.

 

Description:

“Failing fast” is key to Flying Whale’s formula for solving impossible problems. Program staff, operational/administrative staff, development staff all have the potential to invent the next breakthrough for your organization. The necessary space to do so requires a margin that only leaders can protect. In this workshop we will explore methods for encouraging team members to innovate through trial, error, and learning.

Remarkable Idea: Your next leadership role can be filled internally if you are able to articulate the learning gap and work toward closing it.

 

Description:

“Build versus Buy” summarizes the constant dilemma of a hiring manager. Can I build someone’s capacity to fill a needed role or do I hire an external candidate? Flying Whale will share their insight from several years of developing leaders from within organizations. We will provide a framework for identifying the learning gap and evaluating the progress of employees you are working to empower. This workshop supports leadership who is making hiring decisions and front line supervisors who are trying to become better teachers.

Remarkable Idea: Ambitious organizations are not always scaling.

 

Description:

Nonprofit leaders are often asked when and how they will “scale.” Grant applications, major donor meetings, even their own staff, want to know about the next bigger thing. Another location, another population, another 100 acres, another division, another product or solution. In this workshop we will discuss how to answer questions about scaling. We will evaluate different types of scale and how to know when it is time to scale. We will create an answer to this question that satisfies us during seasons when traditional forms of scale are not appropriate for our organization’s season.

Remarkable Idea: Donors will look forward to meetings that are centered around a topic on which they are an expert.

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Description:

We have too many meetings on our calendar that we are not looking forward to. We are not quite sure how they got there. We invite other people to meetings that we are not looking forward to. Donors will not look forward to meeting with you unless you create an agenda that adds value to their calendar. In this workshop, we will create an outline for a donor meeting that everyone will look forward to. It will be based on a topic you know the donor has expertise in and that is connected (however loosely) to your organization. As a result, you will have more donor visits and more visits that energize you.

Remarkable Idea: A winning proposal hinges on a clear path toward impact.

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Description:

Both nonprofit and for-profit organizations are tasked with the work of raising capital through proposal writing. These may come in the form of grant applications, major gift proposals, or investment pitches. A winning proposal of any kind hinges on a clear promise of impact.

 

This workshop will help you evaluate the effectiveness of the proposals you’ve been writing. We will offer key features of effective proposals and review case studies. As a result of this workshop, you will be able to:

• Evaluate the key ingredients of winning proposals.

• Evaluate your organization’s proposal writing using this list.

• Identify one change you can make that will improve your proposals holistically.

Remarkable Idea: Shifting from a mass communication strategy to a journalism strategy will compel your readers to share the content with a friend.

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Description:

Most appeal writing follows a common formula: urgent need, followed by success story, followed by an ask. Readers are becoming desensitized to this formula. In response, nonprofit communication trends toward sensationalism. A nonprofit communication calendar can feature the expertise of your organization through journalistic reporting and storytelling. This adds value to your readers’ inbox. In this workshop, we will examine a style of intellectually stimulating appeal writing.

Remarkable Idea: Annual reports can create a narrative arc that holds the reader’s hand from problem to solution.

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Description:

Most nonprofit annual reports are colorful pages featuring miscellaneous facts. It succeeds at reviewing the organization’s activities from the year. It falls short of demonstrating cohesive impact. 

 

We understand impact when we understand the problem the organization is trying to solve, why it matters, and what dent they made in the larger problem. We celebrate impact when the story is clear as to how we are breaking the mold from what most organizations do. In this workshop, we will outline a format for annual reports that provide a compelling narrative arc. It begins with  outlining the traditional way organizations like yours approach the problem. It convinces readers that the problem matters. It ends with illustrations of how you are breaking the mold. 

Remarkable Idea: Executive Directors can create the board they want to be on by offering meeting frameworks, annual priorities, and strategic questions.

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Description:

The board you want to be on is one that trusts the Executive Director, listens with curiosity, understands that there are complexities to the organization they will never understand, works to build relationships with one another and with staff, and ensures accountability. The Executive Director can lead a board to that level of excellence. In this workshop, we will explore how Executive Directors can strategically lead their board. We will also explore how board members can encourage their Executive Director to do so. We will outline practical steps that can happen now as you prepare your 2025 board meeting calendar.

Remarkable Idea: Perhaps our best learning happens when we’re quiet.

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Description:

We began the year by considering a test-and-learn environment. In December, we evaluate our learning and make plans for iteration. In this reflective workshop will provide a format for analyzing qualitative and quantitative data from your previous year and setting your team up to learn and iterate. Program, administrative, and development staff can implement the format from this workshop into their team meetings.