ABDALE Consulting offers a range of interactive workshops. Below are descriptions of some of our most popular and well-received.
2000 Characters or Less - Grant Writing for Online Applications Online applications are becoming ubiquitous. Although the core elements of successful grant writing remain the same, the need to edit oneself and communicate succinctly is greater than ever – and more time consuming. This workshop and grant clinic explores what's different about online applications and what's the same. The presenter has worked with several foundations to design on-line applications and written many successful grants. Bring your lates proposal or boilerplate and work with the presenter and fellow attendees to hone your product and leave with more powerful and concise grant language.
What attendees have said: "The presenter was engaging and knowledgeable. I felt encouraged to continue honing my skills in the sometimes daunting field of proposal development."
Becoming an Effective Advocate
What makes an advocate effective? How do we make our case rise above the general clamor for attention? How do we get from vision to policy? This interactive workshop answers these questions – and more – as we explore both the personal and professional development, and tools, needed to become an effective advocate.
We will discuss how to prepare and present a compelling argument, the distinctions between advocacy and lobbying, the relationship between grassroots and national advocacy and the essentials of coalition building. Participants will develop a broad strategy for their own specific policy issues and leave the workshop with practical tools for successful advocacy, including a copy of We The People… ANSA’s Guide to Grassroots Advocacy (developed by the presenter) as well as a sense of empowerment and confidence in their own ability to advocate.
Expanding and Sustaining a Diversified Development Effort
The healthiest and most sustainable nonprofits are those with multiple funding sources. This highly-interactive workshop explores what it takes to launch, expand and sustain a diversified development effort. Topics will include how to mine existing relationships and identify new opportunities. In addition to the significant investment of time and energy, we will review the infrastructure necessary for success including: money, materials, staff, board, technology, etc.
Participants will have the opportunity to reframe their current development effort and leave with a plan to expand and diversify in viable and appropriate ways. Each attendee will receive a free copy of "Practical Abundance: A Comprehensive Guide to Fundraising and Development for Nonprofits" co-authored by the presenter Frank Abdale.
The Power of Collaboration
“The social problems that nonprofits are tackling are growing in both magnitude and complexity, funding is failing to keep pace. Networks do not require more resources, but rather a better use of existing resources. And so networked nonprofits are uniquely poised to face the perennial challenge of the nonprofit sector: achieving lofty missions with decidedly humble means.”
- The Networked Nonprofit, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Spring 2008
Mission-driven, values-based collaborations can expand an organization’s reach and deepen its impact – even in a boom economy. Successful collaborations can raise an organization’s profile among funders, donors, volunteers, clients, legislators and other stakeholders, thereby creating increased communication opportunities and strengthening the organization’s development and advocacy activities. This interactive workshop explores the best practices of collaborations that can make an organization more effective in Fundraising, Advocacy, Program Delivery and/or Administration. Participants will identify issues on which they can collaborate and potential partners with whom they can work.
Advocacy and Development - The One/Two Punch
Development, Advocacy and Communications are all critical components of a coordinated External Relations effort and essential to any nonprofit’s health and sustainability. In today’s economy, and the emerging new paradigm for nonprofit management of leaner, more efficient organizations, the need to coordinate and streamline internal functions has never been greater. However, Government Affairs and Development Departments can sometimes operate in unintentional vacuums that can result in situations where one effort overshadows or undermines the other, or worse, operate in actual competition with each other.
Understanding the complimentary relationship between Advocacy and Development, and the key role of Communications in both efforts, can help nonprofits weather this current economic storm and position them for long-term survival and growth.
This interactive workshop explores the relationship between Advocacy and Development, how these two efforts compliment and support an organization’s fundraising activities, and the key, cross-over role played by Communications in both arenas. We also discuss the infrastructure required for success and explore the participants’ relationships with money and power.
Strategic Planning – Building A Road Map To Your Future
From brainstorming to implementation, this interactive workshop covers the essentials of successful strategic planning. We examine the process that offers every stakeholder a voice in the agency’s future and discuss the role that an agency’s culture plays how development can work with program and administration to bring a strategic plan to life. Know where you’re going how you’re going to get there and how you’re going to pay for it all
Fundraising Concepts and Practices
An overview of the diverse opportunities through which you can successfully raise funds including: Foundations, Corporations, Direct Marketing, Individuals, Events, Social Enterprise and Government Contracts. We also discuss the basic principles of ethical and effective fundraising and the process by which you establish and deepen long-lasting relationships with donors.
Expanded Mission
An expanded mission can mean expanded resources and long-term sustainability. It can also mean a significant change to the existing paradigm and great upheaval within an agency’s culture. This workshop explores the pros and cons of expanding your agency’s core competencies to new populations. Using case studies of successful transitions, we cover the entire process from conception, needs assessment, feasibility and stakeholder buy-in to pilot project, roll-out, communications, and full integration.