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Issue Summary

FAIRFAX COUNTY NONPROFIT ORGANIZATONAL DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE

Meeting of Nonprofit Organizations, Fairfax County, and Clifton Gunderson

On August 9, 2001, representatives of Fairfax County (FC), Clifton Gunderson (CG), and nonprofit, community-based organizations (CBO) gathered to launch the county's organizational development initiative. The initiative is intended to strengthen the organizational capacity of CBOs providing services to Fairfax County residents. Through a collaborative, participatory process, CG will utilize a tested preliminary self-assessment tool to develop the needs for technical assistance and training that meet the diverse needs of the nonprofit provider network.

Following opening participant introductions and project and agenda review, the entire group of participants discussed, through small group breakout sessions and collectively, their expectations and suggestions for the initiative. From almost 200 recorded expressions, they selected and ranked what they believe are the most significant issues. The ranked items (total votes in parentheses) are:

1. Centralize public information resource center in Fairfax County for funded and non-funded CBOs (22)
   
2. Developing and maintaining a board of directors (20)
   
3. Simplicity of the reporting requirements (20)
   
4. Business planning and development (20)
   
5. Fundraising (20)
   
6. Address the needs of a multi-cultural/multi-racial community (18)
   
7. Collaboration, joint ventures, partnering on common issues and service delivery (15)
   
8. Simplicity of the RFP (11)
   
9. Consider organization size and area of business in determining need (9)
   
10. No "one size fits all" strategy (8)
    
11. Outcome measurements (7)
    
12. Best practices and tools (6)
    
13. Effective use of technology (5)
    
14. A general organization representing non-profits for insurance and other benefits (5)
    
15. Incentives to attract and keep personnel; employee benefits (4)
    
16. Centralized sources for fundraising (4)
    
17. Easy access to resources (Internet and CG consultants going to CBOs)(4)
    
18. Improve the connections (coordination, planning, and operations) between the county services and CBOs (4)
    
19. Simplify marketing and outreach (4)
    
20. Implementation of current organizational strategy (1)
    
21. Onsite visits (0)
    
22. Minimize the need for audits (0)

Subsequently, in three separate groups, CG task group leaders discussed the components of their assessment area (Accountability - Productivity - Service Delivery) to further define questions to be answered during the assessment phases.

For more information about the Nonprofit Organizational Development Initiative contact Peggy Schultz, project manager from Clifton Gunderson Consultants, at (301) 931-2050 (email: kagreen@erols.com).