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The Details

• Fees

  • Fees are scaled and based on modules chosen, client's special requests and requirements, number of days, and budget size

  • No running meters! The fee is project-based, not hourly

  • Call for a consultation and quote

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• Length

  • Full-day to multi-day depending on scope of work

  • FYI: About 75 percent of our retreats are 1 day; 15 percent are 2-day, and 10 percent are multi-day

  • Note: Much depends on size of the organization, number of locations, number and availability of board and staff members, and the types of optional services selected (e.g., fundraising audit, gala ROI assessment, grant ROI assessment, long-term implementation and monitoring support, etc.)

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• ​Style

  • The planning sessions are high-energy, engaging, fun, practical, and memorable. Tom provides an interactive environment where attendees deepen what they are learning by working in small groups to foster thoughtful, peer-to-peer discussion, collaboration, and team unity.

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• Books

  • Tom is a bestselling author. Each attendee will receive 1 or 2 of Tom’s latest books:

    • First Things First: A Leadership Guide to Building a Gold Standard Nonprofit (228pp)

    • Cloudburst: A Rainmaker’s Guide to Fearless Fundraising and Exceptional Donor Stewardship (186pp)

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• Kickoff the Process

  • Introductory calls to understand your needs, goals, expectations

  • Answer questions and discuss process and fees

  • Submit proposal

  • Choose dates, locations, times

  • Submit invoice

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• Prior to the Retreat

  • Conduct a comprehensive organizational assessment and survey (confidential, online)

  • Review select governance, corporate, compliance, strategic plans, and policy documents

  • Review select fundraising strategies, tactics, and performance metrics

  • Review key donor segments, income channels, donor landscape

  • Review board involvement and fundraising culture

  • Review staff and organizational culture

  • Review select marketing collateral and activities

  • Review mission, vision, and values statements

  • Review efficiency and effectiveness of gala and salon events

  • Review grant writing ROI

  • Interviews with key board members and staff

  • Review financials and budgets

  • Provide thought-starter questions

  • Conduct focus groups or round table discussions with stakeholders/beneficiaries (if required)

  • Conduct environmental scan and/or competitive analysis (if required)

  • Conduct site visit (if required)

  • Selected reading from 1 or 2 of Tom's books

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• Retreat Day

  • Typically includes board and select key staff

  • For large organizations, it's often best to have a full day with staff and a full day with the board

  • Lots of small group work to facilitate thoughtful, peer-to-peer discussion and collaboration

  • Guided journey of exploration, discussion, and action planning

  • Consensus building exercises to foster collaboration, alignment, and buy-in

  • Key insights and advice based on Tom's experience and expertise

  • Breakfast, lunch, and plenty of breaks

  • Fun, team-building exercises to lighten up the day and deepen relationships between attendees

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• Outcomes

  • Clearly defined roadmap of strategic priorities, goals, and action plans

  • A powerful and fun day that creates a shared vision and clarity of purpose

  • Improved culture of teamwork and collaboration

  • Increased engagement, productivity, impact

  • A plan that closes gaps between your current state and desired future state

  • A framework to drive alignment, capacity, and resource allocation between functional areas

  • A process of incremental change plan that won't overwhelm capacity, resources, or staff

  • A system of accountability for the collective work required to achieve success

  • Cleaned up organizational baggage that's been lurking in the background

  • A timeline and a set of specific action plans to achieve stated goals, objectives, and success

  • A renewed sense of focus, vision, innovation, sustainability

  • A set of success milestones

  • Tactics for leveraging strengths, marketplace advantages, differentiation, and potential opportunities

  • A unified strategic perspective of how to view all facets of program and operational capacity with a critical eye on efficiency, effectiveness, performance, and impact

  • Refined mission, vision, and culture statements (if required)

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• Deliverables

  • A comprehensive and realistic strategic plan

  • A high-level executive summary version of the plan (perfect for donors and foundations)

  • A custom dashboard to track, manage, and evaluate all outcomes, strategies, goals, and action plans

  • A detailed engagement process for board and staff that assigns people and teams to specific tasks and action plans

  • A comprehensive accountability process to ensure the plan is implemented, managed, and evaluated on an on-going basis

  • High-quality templates of corporate/governance documents or process documents the organization may lack

  • Tactics for leveraging strengths, marketplace advantages, and branding

  • Key metrics and tracking methodologies to measure progress and success

  • Assign a "master organizer" who is responsible for managing all outcomes and deliverables

  • Assign a "strategic plan champion" who is responsible for making sure all people fulfill their responsibilities

  • An evaluation process to track progress, maintain accountability, and measure success

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• After the Retreat (30 days of support)

  • Debrief call to discuss the session

  • Provide guidance and support to ensure implementation starts and runs smoothly

  • Provide advice on ways to ensure on-going execution and management is successful

  • Phone call and email support, as well as Zoom video meetings