Author Archives: Amanda Lopez

Collaborative Grants Lead to Greater Impact

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, more children and youth have had anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and distress due to social isolation and economic conditions. Remote learning has led to learning loss across the country, which shows up in the drop in test scores and chronic absenteeism.  In response, the Lilly Endowment committed to…

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Strategic Plan Step 3: How to Reach Consensus

We are continuing our blog series on strategic planning by focusing on Step 3 of our 4 Step Strategic Planning Process: Facilitate Consensus. Read more about our previous strategic planning blogs in this series here, here, and here.  The main purpose of this third step is for the strategic planning team to start to reach…

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Strategic Plan Step 2: Analyze

At Transform Consulting Group (TCG), data informs everything we do when working with clients. It should be no surprise that our #datanerds will spend a majority of our engagement assessing your data to inform the overall direction of your plan. It’s a critical step in the process! We shared a quick overview of our 4…

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4 Steps of Strategic Planning

We have the privilege of working with several organizations every year to help create their “road map” or strategic plan for the next 3-5 years.  In the course of completing these strategic plans, we have developed a formula that guides the process by following four key steps.   1. Collaborate Good strategic plans are not…

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How to Develop Data and Evaluation Competencies in Your Staff

More and more organizations are working towards building a data-informed culture. We talked about what it means to be a Data-Informed Organization in this blog. As we have been working with organizations to build and strengthen their culture to be data-informed, an essential component of this work is building the capacity of their team. All…

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What is a Data-Informed Organization?

Over the last decade, data has become a big deal and is showing up more in our everyday lives and work environment. Over the past 18 months, with COVID-19, we have all been using data to track incident rates, exposure rates, deaths, and vaccination rates. Data has equipped our leaders and the public with information…

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How Do I Start Fundraising?

Did you know a majority (90%) of non-profit organizations report that they have one source of funding and that one source accounts for 90% of their total funding? When we work with clients to help increase their funding, we typically recommend that they diversify their funding.  When an organization is strongly reliant on fees for service or…

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4 Steps to Complete a Feasibility Study

Too often non-profits and government agencies immediately begin implementing a new program or service area. They see a need with their clients or a gap in the existing services, so they elect to help meet that need. This all sounds good, right? The challenge is that there has not been enough time to complete a…

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3 Tips to Use Your Data to Drive Program Improvement

Nationally, only about half of students who start college actually complete and earn college degrees, according to the National Student Clearinghouse. It is much worse for students who start at a community college or 2-year degree program. This means many students are increasing their debt (from student loans) and not reaping the financial benefits of…

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