Achieving Success with Limited Resources

Achieving Success with Limited Resources

Heather YandowThird Space Studio@3rdSpaceStudio

Today’s Agenda

• Understanding your organization’s core strategies, outcomes, and impact

• Clarifying your indicators of success• Creating and testing an opportunity screen

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Strategic Framework

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Opening assets to the public:

hikes, trail building, etc.

Legislative and administrative

advocacy

Landowner outreach and

education activities

STRATEGY

A general public that supports our

mission and is aware of our work.

Landowners who support our

mission and are aware of our work.

An administrative and policy

environment favorable to land

conservation.

To protect important

open space in our region.

ENABLING OUTCOMES IMPACT

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IMPACT

• What change do you want to see in the world?• If this impact was present, your organization

could cease to exist.

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ENABLING OUTCOMES

• What are the conditions that have to be present for your desired impact to be possible?

• What are the key outcomes of your strategies?• Outcomes are focused on the world outside of

your organization• Outcomes are typically nouns and adjectives

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CORE STRATEGIES

• What are the activities that we focus on to advance the conditions that will yield our desired impact?

• What are the most strategic ways to use our organization's strengths and assets to achieve our impact?

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Putting It All Together

Use “so that…” to link each piece together.

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Indicators of Success

• Your challenge: focus on outcomes, NOT activities

• Key question: How will you know you’ve been successful at creating the enabling outcomes you desire?

A general public that supports our

mission and is aware of our work.

Landowners who support our

mission and are aware of our work.

An administrative and policy

environment favorable to land

conservation.

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Indicators of Success

• For each of your outcomes, fill in the blank: In two years, we will know that we’ve been successful at creating OUTCOME if _______________________.

• Think about information that you already track.

• Consider measures that you could realistically track with the resources you have now.

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Opportunity Screen

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Creating Your Opportunity Screen

Does this opportunity:• Align with our mission of …?• Help us achieve our outcomes, namely …?• Contribute to our goals of …?• Fit within our strategies of …?

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Creating Your Opportunity Screen

Does this opportunity:• Build on our strengths, namely …?• Build relationships with key partners?• Help build community support?• Positively impact our ability to fundraise for

the organization?

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Creating Your Opportunity Screen

Do we:• Clearly understand what is required of our

organization? • Have the human resources needed?• Add value to the effort?

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Creating Your Opportunity ScreenDoes this opportunity:• Align with our mission of …?• Help us achieve our

outcomes, namely …?• Contribute to our goals of …?• Fit within our strategies of

…?• Build on our strengths,

namely …?• Build relationships with key

partners?

• Help build community support?

• Positively impact our ability to fundraise for the organization?

Do we:• Clearly understand what is

required of our organization? • Have the human resources

needed?• Add value to the effort?

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Using Your Opportunity ScreenGreat American CleanupLocal chapter of Keep America Beautiful wants you to be part of a one-day cleanup of a local park on the water. They expect you to recruit and manage 50 volunteers for the day.

Climate Change Lobby DayStatewide environmental organization wants you to travel to the state capital, bring a carload of activists, and speak at a rally about climate change.

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• What else do you need to know?• What does your opportunity screen tell you about

your response to this request?

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Thank you!Heather Yandow

919.780.4117@3rdspacestudio

heather@thirdspacestudio.comwww.thirdspacestudio.com