One of the most important aspects of leading an organization or team is the skill of facilitation. According to ESC Consultant and facilitation expert Jack Smith there are three essential components to facilitating effectively: planning the meeting, managing the tools, and managing the meeting. Planning the meeting is the process that ensures the groups interactions […]
ESC Blog
The 21st Century Volunteer
Volunteer recruitment has changed over the years—not just from the development of new techniques and technology, but in the way that people perceive and take on service opportunities. ESC President & CEO Bethany Kendall breaks down the key characteristics of the modern volunteer in her workshop on volunteer management, based upon material by Thomas and […]
Assessing Your Burnout Risk Factors
Employee burnout is one of the greatest risks posed to a nonprofit’s success. ESC consultant Sue Ogle teaches leaders to assess the following factors when reviewing their organization’s risks: Workload When assessing employee workload, nonprofit leaders should reflect on influences that may make the employees they manage unable to perform to their highest capacity. First, […]
Meet Our Consultants: Hungwah Yu
As an ESC consultant, Hungwah Yu has applied her experience and expertise in academic operations to numerous strategic planning and business planning consulting projects. She attributes her professional managerial experience and ability to work collaboratively with various stakeholders as a major strength she has been able to transfer to nonprofit consulting; additionally, Hungwah notes that […]
Encore Fellows: Now in Boston!
A New Source of Talent for Nonprofits– Encore Fellows Program: Now in Boston! As nonprofits continually strive to meet a growing demand for services at a time of diminishing resources, an innovative solution successfully employed across the US has come to greater Boston: The Encore Fellowships Program– a source of highly skilled and experienced talent […]
The Nonprofit Merger Process: A Dating Game
Embarking on the road to a nonprofit merger may not strike nonprofit leaders as the most romantic endeavor, but it does mirror qualities of a very common practice: the modern dating game. In their workshop on mergers for nonprofits, ESC consultants Mike Stauff and Bob French use an analysis from CompassPoint Nonprofit Services’ The M […]
Use Storytelling to Report Nonprofit Outcomes
Nonprofit leaders may tend to associate storytelling with marketing efforts, but creating a narrative for your organization is equally helpful in outcomes measurement for nonprofits. ESC Consultant Barry Seltser breaks down what an organization’s story should include, and how nonprofit leaders can collect the necessary information to build an effective narrative for reporting outcomes. Whether you are […]
How to Make Nonprofit Content Stick on Social Media
Some nonprofits are in a better position than others to create compelling content, especially in social media marketing. For instance, the number one tip we come across is to post compelling photos, but let’s explore that for a moment: how can a nonprofit offering management consulting services compete with another working to find homes […]
Meet the ESC Consultants: Sue Ogle
One of ESC’s greatest assets is our ability to offer internal workshops and trainings to clients as part of any consulting project. Our trainings have proven to increase productivity among staff, build communications skills within boards, and strengthened executive teams at nonprofits of all sizes. We owe a great deal of our ability to […]
5 Tips for Emergency Succession Planning
In nonprofit management, succession planning is an absolute necessity. Executive transition—no matter how long a leader holds his or her title—is inevitable over time. In her Succession Planning workshop, ESC Consultant Sue Ogle teaches that board members must be mindful of the possibility: What would happen if our Executive Director was not available to work […]
