Country: United States

Organization: Alliance for Women's Equality (AWE)

3) Strategy Summary:
A capacity building program that enhances the sustainability and growth prospects of grassroots organizations by providing pro bono consulting services in the areas of fundraising, strategic planning and communications.

Many nonprofit organizations lack the necessary strategic planning, fundraising, and communications expertise they need to be truly effective in their programming and to build sustainable organizational growth. The AWE Advantage program fills this void by providing nonprofits with vital capacity building services. AWE s goal is to help women and girls worldwide by strengthening existing grassroots organizations that provide front-line programming. AWE is currently the only nonprofit organization providing vital fundraising capacity building services on a pro bono basis to sister nonprofit organizations that promote and protect women and girls rights.

4) How the Strategy Works:
AWE works with professional organizations to recruit long- term volunteers for our AWE Advantage partnerships. By working with professional groups, volunteers have the requisite industry experience to provide knowledge strategic advice in their area of expertise. Three volunteers (a communications professional, fundraiser, and project manager) comprise each client team. Each volunteer is placed on a client team and matched with an AWE Advantage partner based on the volunteer s area of interest in women s rights, i.e. domestic violence, global micro finance, or sex trafficking.

Each client team member makes a 12-month commitment to working with an AWE Advantage partner. The exact consulting services for the year-long relationship are dictated by the needs of the nonprofit partner, so each AWE Advantage relationship is tailored to the specific situation of the nonprofit organization and the skills of the client team members. At the end of the year, each AWE Advantage partner receives a three-year, step-by-step implementation plan on how to improve the sustainability and increase growth prospects for their organization.

AWE, in turn, uses the first-hand information gleaned from the year-long consulting relationships to create a research report on organizational capacity building: AWE Capacity Building Case Studies: 2005. This report is targeted to help the universe of nonprofit organizations providing women and girls nonprofit programming better understand the funding and communications milieu in which they operate.

AWE Capacity Building Case Studies: 2005 aims to provide an in-depth look at the fiscal challenges faced by grassroots human rights organizations, and how these organizations solved sustainability and growth challenges. The report is a vehicle to share the knowledge gained through intense one- on-one relationships with a wider nonprofit audience. AWE s goal is to provide specific examples of lessons learned and best practices to benefit the wider sector of organizations providing women and girls programming.

A two-year old organization, AWE has just completed it first year-long AWE Advantage partnership and is currently working with two new partners. In 2005, we anticipate recruiting an additional 4-6 AWE Advantage participants.

Our first AWE Advantage partner was ECPAT-USA, an organization that works to end child prostitution and trafficking in the United States. AWE volunteers created a public relations media plan and a 3-year development plan for the organization, specifying direct action in eight areas of fundraising. Carol Smolenski, ECPAT-USA executive director, said this about the program:

Alliance for Women's Equality is leading the way in bridging the gap between small nonprofits doing good work and the professional communications and development fields. Young nonprofits like ECPAT-USA do not have the resources to develop the fundraising strategies and communications campaigns that are crucial in the initial stages of an organization's growth. These are precisely the kinds of services that AWE provides to grassroots groups; and it is incredibly important work.

As a pro bono partner for the past year, AWE has been instrumental in expanding our knowledge of fundraising and in helping ECPAT-USA better position ourselves to take advantage of communications opportunities. In fact, we have launched some major strategic initiatives based on the advice and tools provided by AWE, including board evolution, communications messaging, and corporate fundraising. If AWE were expanded, many more organizations would benefit from these unique and valuable services.

AWE is now working with The Transition Network, which seeks to re-engage women as they near retirement, and Girl s Inc- NYC, a local affiliate that works to provide girls in Harlem with increased opportunities. Each AWE Advantage nonprofit partner completes a grant application and finalists are interviewed by the AWE board of directors. A small earnest fee is requested.

Volunteer client teams are recruited through professional organizations such as Women in Development (WID), Women Executive in Public Relations (WEPR) and Women s Financial Association (FWA). Each volunteer agrees to serve as a client team member for one year and is matched with an organization based on expressed interest.

This strategy of providing pro bono consulting services through industry professionals has proven successful and is easily replicated in other industries and sectors. The key is to match up volunteers with organizations about which they feel passionate and to provide volunteer opportunities that are an extension of their professional life. Program metrics are also key, providing valuable feedback on the capacity building relationships by measuring the quality of advice, the flow of the working relationship, and the volunteers experience.

5) Key Strategy Elements:

i. Mobilizing Citizen Support:
AWE provides an opportunity for industry professionals to use their well-honed skills when volunteering. AWE creates clients teams that provide 12 months of one-on-one consulting for qualified nonprofit organizations. By working through established professional membership associations, we reach a rich pool of talent and provide association members with a volunteer opportunity that fits their specific skills and volunteer parameters. In turn, our AWE Advantage nonprofit partners reap the benefits of tapping into a valuable reservoir of specified industry knowledge of fundraising, strategic planning and communications.

ii. Generating Financial and Nonfinancial Resources:
AWE Advantage nonprofit partners receive a pro bono consulting relationship that is valued at $50,000 per annum. This consulting relationship is focused on increasing the viability of the nonprofit partner and establishing income-generating programs, cost-saving systems, and a detailed, tailored development plan for increasing and diversifying funding. Each plan is created based on that partner s specific sustainability needs. The end result is oftentimes very real financial improvements, as well as streamlined and more efficient systems to boost the nonprofit partner s mission and programs. AWE s goal is to help women and girls worldwide by servicing existing nonprofit organizations already providing vital services in this sector.

iii. Establishing Relationships with Strategic Partnerships:
Based on a system of strategic partnerships, AWE works with well-regarded professional membership organizations to recruit talented, dedicated industry professionals as volunteers. We also form strategic partnerships with the nonprofits we serve through the AWE Advantage program. The grassroots nonprofit organizations that participate in the program become long-standing friends and business partners of AWE. In addition, AWE Advantage participants become part of AWE s Affinity Program: a membership program offering capacity building training, independent research, and coalition-building opportunities for the sector. Through these strategic partnerships, AWE seeks to strengthen the entire sector of women and girls nonprofit programming.

iv. Engaging and Managing Volunteers:
The AWE Advantage program works to recruit, engage, and recognize our invaluable volunteers. To manage this program, AWE has a two-tiered volunteer management system in place and a designated Volunteer Director, who is responsible for ensuring volunteers have a positive, worthwhile experience. The Volunteer Director recruits both AWE Experts--volunteers serving on AWE Advantage client teams--and general AWE volunteers. Each volunteer tier has specific time and skill parameters, and subsequently has specific recruitment and recognition procedures in place. AWE is dedicated to creating an organizational model through which individuals can volunteer their time and talent to help improve the lives of women and girls worldwide.

6) Increasing Self-sufficiency and Social Impact:
The value of the AWE Advantage program is the compounding effect it has on the individual organizations we serve and the nonprofit sector as a whole. AWE has taken a behind- the- scenes strategic approach by helping those nonprofit organizations that already exist become more efficient and effective. We realize that this capacity building role will help the greatest number of women and girls by leveraging existing resources without duplicating programs. Not only do we serve individual organizations, but we serve the entire sector by using our partnership experience as the basis for case study research and seminars. By packaging sustainability best practices, we can leverage our guidance and advice throughout the entire nonprofit sector. AWE seeks to use our collective expertise to further the mission of the scores of grassroots organizations providing vital women and girl empowerment programs.

8) Organization Mission and Vision:
AWE seeks to provide capacity building services to human rights organizations that protect and promote women and girls economic, political and reproductive rights. We envision expanding the AWE Advantage program nationally in 2005 and internationally in 2006.

Looking Forward to the Next Three Years:
AWE now serves 3 AWE Advantage partners. In 2005, we will recruit 4-6 new clients and publish a new research report: AWE Capacity Building Case Studies: 2005. This year, AWE is also launching its AWE Affinity membership program, as well as additional public education programs. In 2006, we hope to extend the AWE Advantage program to include international organizations and will publish our second AWE Report: 2006, a base-line study on the state of women and girls nonprofit programming in NYC.

Contact Information:
Erin  Michelson
President
Alliance for Women's Equality (AWE)
320 7th Avenue, #295, Brooklyn, NY 11215
United States
Tel: 718.788.8811
Fax: 801.340.7545
Email: esm@womensequality.org
Website: www.womensequality.org