Success Story #2: New Sources of Revenue Support Conservation Endowments A collaborative of land trusts received guidance to incorporate long-term gift planning concepts that resulted in major gifts in the first year.

The Client:
The Open Space Protection Collaborative (OSPC) is a cutting edge consortium of land trusts and conservation focused nonprofits that offers services to landowners and conservation planners in over 25 counties in a two-state region.

The Situation:
Partners of the OSPC faced pressures to secure substantial funding from private sources for conservation and land stewardship endowment funds that enable on-going monitoring and protection of permanent easements.

Each of the nonprofit partners is organizationally unique and needed a custom-tailored program of gift planning concepts that could be easily understood and mastered by non-technical development staff and volunteer leaders. The partners of OSPC realized they needed accessible coaching, specialized training, and marketing materials such as newsletter articles and donor testimonials, in addition to board education about the long-term value of planned giving.

The Process:
Jean Long helped educate board leaders about the benefits of planned gifts and designed a training model to incorporate major gift planning techniques into the development programs using non-technical language and practical steps.

The Result:
Jean demonstrated an effective way to open new donor markets and maximize efforts of small development shops.



Success Story #3: Inspiring an Innovative Animal Education and Rescue Program to Take Its Bold Next Step
An executive coaching experience helped clarify strengths, hone leadership and administrative skills, and articulate the mission to confidently take a bold step forward.

The Client:
Cabarrus CARES/ Kitty City is a nonprofit coalition of animal rescue services that launched a new project named Kitty City. This new project combines a learning center dedicated to responsible pet ownership and care, spaying and neutering to reduce overpopulation of unwanted animals, and general education about animal ethics and stewardship, along with an adoption center. Based on its strategy of outreach to parents through dialogue with school children, Kitty City is the first of its kind in the region.

The Situation:
In light of rapidly developing community partnerships as Kitty City made its debut, and the breadth and depth of support from veterinarians, volunteer educators, citizen action groups and government leaders, the need to stabilize operational funding was critical.

By day, the program’s founder and volunteer coordinator, Patsy Beeker, held a full-time job to pay her bills. At 5 pm, she began her “heart work” on behalf of abandoned animals. The big problem: she needed the full-time job to pay her bills but had no time for nonprofit administrative duties of raising funds, activating volunteers and strategic planning, etc., because of the full-time job.

Patsy Beeker had the vision, rescue experience, and the network of animal advocates – to incubate her dream into reality. What she needed was operational support and guidance.

The Process
Jean Long helped Patsy identify her strengths and goals. Jean facilitated brainstorming sessions that generated creative ideas, targeted and prioritized prospective donors, and developed practical cultivation strategies. Then, Patsy was able to clearly articulate the program’s core values and unique characteristics.

The Result
Patsy resigned her full-time job to become the first paid Executive Director of Cabarrus Cares and Kitty City, an opportunity made possible by a generous “venture philanthropist” and animal lover. In her first 3 years of paid executive leadership, over 500 animals are now adopted and Sully, the trainer dog has educated well over 1,000 schoolchildren on animal care and ethics.