Our Clients

Our clients span the range of type, focus, and location. They are commonly nonprofit groups, public agencies, educational institutions, and foundations. They can be found on both coasts and in nearly all states in between. They do have at least one thing in common – a dedication to serving a public need and leaving their communities and the larger world better as a result.

Our clients generally fall into one of three categories: individuals, organizations, and networks.

Individuals include community leaders and organizational executives who seek training or coaching from us to grow their skills and increase their impact.
Organizations ask for our assistance in a variety of areas, such as strategic planning, board development, fundraising and communications strategy, succession planning, executive search, and mergers.
Networks include alliances or associations of organizations that share a common purpose and role in their communities. We engage with network leaders in multi-year initiatives to help them grow the individual and collective capacity of their member organizations. We also work with network leaders to grow their own capacity to serve members.

We’ve supported clients in numerous segments of the nonprofit and public sectors. We’ve worked extensively in several areas. These include individuals, organizations, and networks affiliated with land and water conservation, affordable housing, public health, national park systems, and historic preservation.

Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast

A land trust heeds its community’s call to lead

Learn More

Habitat for Humanity

Merger of two Oregon affiliates leads with culture

Learn More

National Park Foundation

Boosting Friends Groups boosts Natioanl Parks

Learn More

Who We Work With

CLOSED TABS TO START

Advocacy / Public Policy

Center for Community Progress

Children First for Oregon

Elders in Action

GA Environmental Nonprofit Network

Grist

Oregon Labor Candidate School

Oregon Solutions

Oregon State Legislative Policy and Research Office

SEIU Local #49

PSU Candidate Boot Camp

Washington County Vision Action Network

Animal Welfare / Support

Cat Adoption Team

Dogs for Better Lives

Fences for Fido

Arts and Culture

Alliance of Artists Communities

Artichoke School of Music

Britt Festivals

Chamber Music NW

Glass House Collective

Middleman Jewish Community Center

Oregon Repertory Singers

Oregon Country Fair

Oya No Kai

Playa

Presbytery of the Cascades

World Pulse

Zimmerman Center

Associations

American Bar Association

American Kinesiotherapy Association

American Lung Association

Business for a Better Portland

Clark County Association of Realtors

International Ombudsman Association

King County Bar Association

Los Angeles County Bar Association

Lloyd Transportation Management Association

Missouri Bar Association

National Association of Social Workers

NW Multiple Listing Service

Oregon Nurses Association

Oregon State Bar

State Bar of California

State Bar of Nevada

University of British Columbia

University of California Merced

University of Utah

Village School

Washington REALTORS

Washington Society of Association Executives

Winthrop Music Association

Conservation Districts

California Association of Resource Conservation Districts

East Multnomah Soil and Water District

Inland Empire Resource Conservation District

Lake County RCD

Napa County RCD

Placer RCD

RCD of Greater San Diego County

RCD of Monterey County

RCD of Santa Cruz County

RCD of Santa Monica Mountains

Sonoma RCD

Tahoe RCD

Western Shasta RCD

Yamhill County Conservation Association

Yamhill Soil and Water Conservation District

Conservation Education

Black Rock Forest Consortium

Center for Humans and Nature

Colorado Foundation of Water Education

LandPaths

Yale School of Forestry

NW Earth Institute

Land Conservation

Aquidneck Land Trust

American Friends of Canadian Land

Aspen Valley Land Trust

Athens Land Trust

Bainbridge Island Land Trust

Barnstable Land Trust

Bayou Land Conservancy

Bear Yuba Land Trust

Blue Ridge-Berryessa Natural Area Partnership

Bluegrass Conservancy

Brentwood Agricultural Land Trust

Buzzards Bay Coalition

CA Council of Land Trusts

Canadian Land Trust Alliance

Central Valley Farmland Trust

Chelan-Douglas Land Trust

Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts

Columbia Land Conservancy

Columbia Land Trust

Connemara Conservancy

Conservation Foundation for the Gulf Coast

Conservation Law Center

Desert Foothills Land Trust

Driftless Area Land Conservancy

Dutchess Land Conservancy

Eagle Valley Land Trust

Eastern Sierra Land Trust

Five Valleys Land Trust

Franklin Land Trust

Gallatin Valley Land Trust

Galveston Bay Foundation

Golden State Land Conservancy

Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy

Grant-Kohrs Ranch Foundation

Great Land Trust

Great Pond Mountain Conservation Trust

Green River Valley Land Trust

Greenbelt Land Trust

Hawaiian Islands Land Trust

Hudson Highlands Land Trust

Ice Age Park and Trail Alliance

Inland Northwest Land Trust

Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation

Jefferson County Farmland

Jefferson Land Trust

Jo Daviess Conservation Foundation

Katy Prairie Conservancy

Kauai Land Trust

Kentucky Land Trusts Coalition

Kestrel Trust

Klamath Lake Land Trust

Land Conservancy of Southern

Land Trust Accreditation Commission

Land Trust Alliance

Land Trust Alliance of British

Land Trust for Santa Barbara County

Land Trust for Tennessee

Land Trust of Santa Cruz County

Land Trust Accreditation Commission

Land Trust Alliance

Living River Trust

Lowcountry Land Trust

Marin Agricultural Land Trust

Maryland Environmental Trust

Maui Coastal Land Trust

McKenzie River Trust

Mendocino Land Trust

Merwin Conservancy

Mountain Area Land Trust

Montana Association of Land Trusts

Montana Nature Conservancy

Mojave Desert Land Trust

Mt. Grace Land Conservation Land Trust

Muir Heritage Land Trust

Napa Land Trust

Nature Conservancy of Canada

Nevada Land Trust

New Jersey Conservation Foundation

Nisqually Land Trust

North Coast Land Conservancy

North Olympic Land Trust

North Shore Land Alliance

Northcoast Regional Land Trust

Northeast Wilderness Trust

Open Space Institute

Openlands

Oregon Agricultural Trust

Oregon Rangeland Trust

Pacific Island Land Institute

Piasu Nature Reserve

Prickly Pear Land Trust

Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy

PCC Farmland Trust

Raritan Headwaters Association

Rensselaer Plateau Land Trust

River Fields

Saratoga PLAN

Sequoia Riverlands Trust

Shasta Land Trust

Solano Land Trust

Sonoma Mountain Institute

Southern Oregon Land Conservancy

Stowe Land Trust

Summit Land Conservancy

Sycamore Land Trust

Tecumseh Land Trust

Tejon Ranch Conservancy

Tennessee River Gorge Trust

Teton Regional Land Trust

Texas Ag Land Trust

The Nature Conservancy Montana

The Nature Conservancy Oregon

Tri Valley Conservancy

Trust Montana

Washington Association of Land Trusts

Weantinoge Heritage Land Trust

Westchester Land Trust

Whatcom Land Trust

Whidbey Camano Land Trust

Wood River Land Trust

Water Conservation

Alliance for Water Efficiency

Calapooia Watershed Council

Columbia Slough Watershed Council

Curry Watershed Partnership

Freshwater Trust

Johnson Creek Watershed Council

Kentucky Waterways Alliance

Long Tom Watershed Council

Marys River Watershed Council

Network of Oregon Watershed Councils

Rickreall Watershed Council

River Alliance of Wisconsin

River Network

Sierra Streams Institute

Siuslaw Watershed Council

South Santiam Watershed Council

Tillamook Estuaries Partnership

Tualatin River Watershed Council

Upper Deschutes Watershed Council

Willamette River Initiative

Species Protection

California Native Plant Society

EcoAdapt

Ecotrust Forest Management

Ecology and Environment Inc

Houston Audubon Society

Oregon Zoo Foundation

Other Conservation

Conservation Advocacy

Montana Wilderness Association

Oregon Environmental Council

Trails

PATH

Pacific Crest Trail Association

Education

Beaverton School District

The Collaboratory

Columbia Gorge Community College

Edison Community College

Foundations for a Better Oregon

German American School

Grantmakers for Education

Hillsboro School District

Lewis & Clark Montessori

Living School

Multnomah County Early Learning Council

Oak Hill School

Open Meadow

Oregon Education Association

Oregon Health Sciences University

Oregon Outdoor Education Coalition

Playworks

Portland Jewish Academy

Portland Metro STEM Partnership

Portland Public Schools

Portland State University

Reach Out and Read Oregon

Summit School

Stanford University

Trillium Charter School

University of Kentucky – Sanders-Brown Center on Aging

Vermont Law School

Energy and Sustainability

Energy Trust of Oregon

Bonneville Environmental Foundation

Clean Energy Works Oregon

Climate Solutions

Climate Trust

EPEAT

Geos Institute

Green Building Services

Green Electronics Council

Green Hammer

Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance

Oregon Wave Energy Trust

Smart Growth America

Equity / Justice

Center for Equity and Inclusion

Coalitions of Communities of Color

George Wright Society

Grounded Solutions Network

Groundwork USA

Immigration Counseling Service

Let’s Talk Diversity Coalition

Living Cully Collaborative

Oregon Commission for Women

Oregon Latino Agenda for Action

Oregon Women’s Equity Coalition

Quimper Unitarian Universalist

Saving Grace

Food Security

Chester County Food Bank

Childhood Hunger Coalition

Global Response Management

Harvest Time

Heifer International

Hillsboro Farmers Market

Portland Farmers Market

Montavilla Farmers Market

Oregon Food Bank

Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon

Portland Farmers Market

Seeds to Plate

Friends Groups

Anchorage Parks Foundation

Friend of Ridgefield Refuge

Fort Vancouver National Trust

Friends of Tryon Creek State Park

Friends of Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park

Friends of Leach Botanical Garden

Grand Canyon Conservancy

Haleakala Conservancy

Mississippi Park Connection

National Park Foundation

Oregon State Parks Foundation

Rock Creek Conservancy

Santa Monica Mountains Fund

Yellowstone Association

Yellowstone Park Foundation

Yosemite Conservancy

Youth Consortium

Government Leadership

City Councils

Beaverton

Bend

Coos Bay

Lake Oswego

Oregon City

West Linn

County Commissions

Clackamas County

Hood River County

Lane County

Lewis and Clark County

Washington County

Grantmaking Foundations

S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation

Chesapeake Bay Funders

Collins Foundation

Community Foundation of Teton

Geraldine L. Dodge Foundation

Estacada Community Foundation

Humboldt Area Foundation

John P Kendall Foundation

Meyer Memorial Trust

NW Health Foundation

NW Osteopathic Health Foundation

Rotary Club of Portland

Sangham Foundation

United Way of the Columbia-Willamette

Women’s Foundation of Oregon

Health / Human Service

Archdiocese of Portland

Artz Center

Asante

Asian Health Service

Bradley-Angle House

CARE, Inc

CASH Oregon

Cascade AIDS Project

Cascadia Behavioral Health

Cedar Sinai Park

Family Promise of Beaverton

Free Clinic of SW Washington

Health Share of Oregon

Healthy Beginnings

Human Rights Commission

Human Solutions

Indiana University School of Medicine

Innovative Changes

Jewish Agency Council

Jewish Family & Child Service

LeadingAge Oregon

Lions Eye Bank

Lutheran World Relief

Macdonald Center

Meals on Wheels

Oregon Criminal Defense Lawyers

Oregon Foster Parent Association

UCLA Medical Home

NW Catholic Counseling

ODA Farm Mediation

OR Health Quality Corp

Oregon Health Care Interpreters

Oregon Health CO-OP

Oregon HEAT

Oregon Opportunity Network

Oregon Physical Therapy

Oregon Primary Care Association

Oregon Public Health Advisory

Oregon Public Health Association

PHN Home Visiting

Project ACCESS NOW

Project Access NOW – CCHC

Q Corp PCPCI

Quechua Benefit

Raphael House

Relay Resources

Resolutions NW

Rose Villa Foundation

Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital

St Andrew Legal Clinic

Susan G. Komen for the Cure

Sustainability in Prisons Project

Tillamook Family Counseling Center

Transition Projects

Upstream Public Health

Willamette Valley Community Health

WinterSpring

Worksystems, Inc.

Historic Preservation / Downtown Revitalization

Bosco Milligan Foundation

Historic Preservation Association of Oregon

Cleveland Main Street

Heritage Ohio

National Trust for Historic Preservation

James Madison’s Montpelier Foundation

Main Street Ohio

Oregon State Historic Preservation Office

Oregon Main Street

Westcott House

Wisconsin Main Street Program

Housing / Community Development

California Community Land Trust Network

Great Valley Center

Habitat for Humanity International

Home Forward

Homestead Community Land Trust

Housing Authority of Clackamas County

Housing Partnership Network

Housing Works

Lakeview Community Partnership

Na Hale O Maui

National CLT Network

NW Housing Alternatives

Northwest Neighborhoods

Oakland Community Land Trust

Oregon Housing and Community Services

REACH Community Development Corp.

Portland Community Reinvestment, Inc.

SOLV

Street Trust

Southwest Neighborhoods Inc

Willamette Neighborhood Housing

Wisconsin Partnership for Housing

Public Agencies (multiple bureaus and departments)

City of Portland

City of Corvallis

Clackamas County

Deschutes County Health Services

Metro

Multnomah County

Oregon Department of Environmental Quality

Oregon Parks and Recreation Department

Oregon Public Utility Commission

National Park Service

Portland Development Commission

Portland Police Review Board

Portland Progress

SAIF

Tri-Met

U.S. Forest Service

Social-Purpose Businesses

Lincoln Electric

Lyme Timber Company

New Seasons

Pacific Continental Bank

PGE – Portland General Electric

Potlatch #1 Federal Credit Union

Powell’s Books

Pyramid Communications

Sokol Blosser

SRG Partnership

Strategies 360

Tompkins Benefit Group Inc

Youth and Family

Aviators for Children

Black Parent Initiative (BPI)

Camp Blue Spruce

Children’s Health Foundation

Children’s Center of Clackamas

Children’s Specialty Care Coalition

Community Cycling Center

Coalition of Advocates for Equal Access for Girls

Democracy Lab

Foster Care Reduction Initiative

Friendly House

Friends of the Children

Family SkillBuilders

Harper’s Playground

Home Life Inc

Homeless Youth Continuum

Multnomah County Commission Children and Families

NAYA

Oregon Youth Soccer Association

Pangaea Project

Portland Children’s Museum

Portland Youth Philharmonic

Portland YouthBuilders

Oregon Alliance of Children’s Programs

Oregon Child Development Coalition

Street Yoga

Land trust heeds community's call to lead

About Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast

Communities and natural resources are under increasing strain along the Florida Gulf Coast, one of the fastest-growing areas in the United States. The ongoing pressure endangers the delicate balance of people and nature across the region.

This is where the Conservation Foundation of the Gulf Coast comes in. The group’s mission is to protect land and water in Southwest Florida for the benefit of people and nature. Working with landowners, businesses, and government, Conservation Foundation protects the special natural lands that make the Florida Gulf Coast extraordinary.

The Project

In 2019, Florida maintained its status as the second most popular migration destination within the U.S. All the while, threats of rising sea levels and more powerful storms loom over the Gulf Coast region. The Conservation Foundation’s existing strategic plan was coming to a close in 2019. Something more than an update was needed.

In replacing the plan, the Foundation wanted to step boldly into the future, reflecting the growing urgency of protecting the Gulf’s land and waterways. As it did in the past, the Foundation asked Solid Ground to lead the organization through the process of developing its new three-year plan.

The Work

The Conservation Foundation sought to hear from as many diverse voices as possible across the five counties in its operating area. Partners, government officials, youth leaders in predominantly Black communities, conservation professionals, donors, community members, and more turned out for listening sessions and community forums.

After deep listening, Foundation board and staff explored a new strategic direction. A consistent and profound message from friends and partners ran through all of their planning conversations: Our region needs a visible conservation leader to step forward. And that leader should be you, the Conservation Foundation.

It was a message the Foundation took to heart. The organization titled its 2020-2023 strategic plan The Call to Lead. The plan is led by a new vision and mission illustrating a core promise to Southwest Florida: in the Foundation’s protection of land and water, all in the human and natural worlds will benefit.

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The Outcomes

The Conservation Foundation’s new strategic plan emerged into public view in 2020 just as Covid-19 began its spread into Florida and beyond. As a testimony to the strength of the organization and its plan, the Foundation saw an almost immediate return on its planning investment, even as it navigated a disruptive and dangerous pandemic.

Well before the end of the plan’s first year:

The Conservation Foundation had saved 6,241 acres in less than a year. That compares to a self-described “audacious” goal of saving 11,000 acres in three
Two counties (Manatee and Collier) overwhelmingly passed dedicated land conservation taxes. That was in support of a goal of getting communities the Foundation serves to identify with its work and values.
The Foundation began work on three community-relevant conservation projects, all while it was finalizing its definition and criteria for community-relevant conservation, a cornerstone of its strategic plan. Just communicating a desire to solve community problems drew a rapid and enthusiastic response.

And while the Foundation did not have a goal for increasing its donor base, it was confident it would happen if it focused on “the right things.” By the end of its fiscal year 2020, the donor base increased 70 percent. An exclamation point on a memorable year!

Strategy & Planning

At the beginning of “Shadows In the Rain,” you can hear Sting in the background saying – “Wait! What key is this in?” – just before launching into the song.

Sometimes organizational leadership feels like that: not knowing the score (or even the key) before starting the performance. Worse, it can feel like you’re in the van headed for your next gig but you’re not sure which city, what venue, how well it’s been promoted, or whether your show is going to wow the fans.

You don’t have a roadmap and you may not have enough gas to get there.

Solid Ground will help you draw a roadmap for your future and support you in defining what you need to get there. We’re your partner and guide as you step back to reflect, assess opportunities and challenges facing your organization, and consider outside perspectives to inform your direction.

Solid Ground planning brings vision and action into alignment. Our work together results in:

Enhanced relationships with your most important partners, supporters, and other key stakeholders
Situation analysis that defines external trends and opportunities as well as internal capabilities and capacity to respond
Plan documents that summarize decisions on goals, priorities and strategies
Benchmarks for success
Tools and guidance for implementation

People have something to say. And it could be spot-on.

It’s all too easy to talk about public engagement but do little to actually engage the public. The purpose of asking for community opinions is not to check a box; it’s to benefit from diverse perspectives, to stir up a recipe of ideas so that the best rise to the top.

People become jaded very quickly when they sniff out public involvement as a mandate and not a commitment. Or worse: People take time to offer input, only to have it become clear that a decision has already been made.

If we want community support, the community has to see its fingerprints on the plan.

Solid Ground cares enough to do public engagement right. In our view, participation equals ownership – if we want community support, the community has to see its fingerprints on the plan. To that end, we invite people to participate, we listen deeply, and then we play our findings back to be sure we heard it right. Whether we’re conducting surveys, doing personal interviews, leading small group conversations or running town-hall meetings, we’re equally at home in the board room and the community room.

In the spirit of authentic engagement, ideas need to be gathered, tested, challenged, and strengthened. And then, stirred some more, cooked, tasted, refined (more salt?) and served up.

Branding and marketing among innovative, mission-driven organizations are essential to organizations that are, more than ever, faced with staunch competition for attention, support, and funding.

At its core, a brand is the experience you promise each and every stakeholder of your organization. It’s who you are. If people experience your organization (and they do), you have a brand. The question is whether you manage it or neglect it.

At Solid Ground, branding and marketing are tools for good.

Far more than designing a logo or look and feel, branding is a management practice – standing right next to strategic planning, leadership development, and other organizational development necessities. Branding’s objective is to ensure that the promise your organization makes is the experience others have. That doesn’t involve just marketing; it includes everything you do – from the culture you build, to the people you hire, to the products and services you provide.

We make sure your branding covers all the bases by:

Carefully assessing your organization and competition
Leading brand identity workshops
Producing compelling brand statements
Planning and implementing branding strategies internally and externally

Why marketing matters

Marketing is the obvious companion to branding. It finds the people who matter to you, listens to them, and draws them closer. It explains and demonstrates what your brand stands for, what you do, how you are different, and why others should care.

Marketing finds the people who matter to you, listens to them, and draws them closer.

Like branding, marketing is a strategic practice. Our team helps you develop marketing plans and programs that:

Align with your strategies and brand
Reflect your team’s skill levels and availability
Identify and maximize tactics with the largest ROI
Live within budgets
Advance your mission

“Money is like manure: it’s not worth a thing unless it’s spread around encouraging young things to grow.” – Thornton Wilder

When working with nonprofits, we recognize how difficult fundraising is for many people. We hear, “I feel like I’m begging.” “Asking for money feels intrusive.” “I can’t hit up my friends to support my cause.” Nobody wants to be in the position of groveling for funds to support a good cause.

We look at fundraising differently. It isn’t about begging. It’s about offering people an opportunity to make a difference in an area they care about, by making an investment.

We have a lot of experience helping leaders get clear on how best to secure the funding their groups need. What’s more, we’ve personally been in the position of asking people to invest in organizations we care about. We are familiar with the logistics and details of successful fundraising efforts. When working with clients to design fundraising plans, we can imagine ourselves implementing them…because we have.

We give our nonprofit clients sticky ideas and toolkits for fundraising.

Our approach to strategic planning reflects the three constants of any good planning process: gather good information, make strategic decisions, and ensure implementation.

We believe a plan is most likely to succeed when broadly supported by those it affects. This is true whether you’re involving thousands of constituents in a community-wide planning process or getting input from a few key stakeholders.

We also believe that difficult decisions lie at the core of a great strategic plan. We love helping groups unravel knots and focus on the most fundamental decisions that define direction, affirm beliefs, and ensure good ideas take root. Our range of decision-making approaches helps reveal issues that often have too much heat.

Difficult decisions lie at the core of a great strategic plan.

We invite people to consider an issue from various perspectives:

Why would this be a great idea?
Why would this be a terrible idea?
What information do we need in order to decide?
What else is possible?

We encourage groups to consider all the possibilities before narrowing choices to a set of strategies that help you reach your goal. We partner with our clients to translate their strategies into actionable plans to define success and measure it.

We work hard to ensure you have the tools and commitment to put action behind aspiration.

Contact Solid Ground Consulting

Merger of Habitat affiliates leads with culture

About Habitat for Humanity

A decent place to call home. Habitat for Humanity has become a global force for housing and family stability by putting that vision into action every day, in communities in every state and in 70 countries. Habitat for Humanity Portland Area is one of more than 1,500 local Habitat affiliates across the nation, and a powerful partner in Portland’s affordable housing community. The legacy of this group’s impact begins in the early 1980s. It has evolved as Portland’s housing conditions deteriorate, through merger and growth, to emerge as one of the nation’s most effective and influential affiliates. It is positioned to meet a growing housing crisis, with expectations to triple the number of people they serve every year.

Solid Ground has worked with this incredible organization over many years at many levels. Over the last two decades, we’ve worked at every level: we helped define a shared vision and goals for collective action with the 100 top national affiliates; we’ve also helped all-volunteer affiliates with their basic strategic plan. One project in particular stands out.

The project

In 2019, the Portland-Metro East and Willamette West affiliates of Habitat – both working in the metro region of Portland, Oregon – actively explored the potential for merger. This wasn’t a new conversation, but the extension of years of collaboration and a direct response to an exploding housing crisis that forces everyone to challenge the status quo.

Both organizations had a defined culture and strong constituency that was committed to Habitat’s mission. While different in size, the two affiliates were borne from the same organizational DNA, and both were stable, effective organizations – just at different scales. Most importantly, the two groups served very different communities in a common region. Determining the best way to serve these communities – through a merged, regional organization or a collaborative multi-local approach – was an open question. They needed answers, and a plan to follow-through.

The work

In support of Willamette West and Portland Metro East, Solid Ground helped outline a merger process that answered the three questions at the core of every merger decision:

Why would we? What are the benefits of merger that would suggest this transformation? Where is the promise of greater impact, greater sustainability, or both?
Why wouldn’t we? What are the costs of merger, including the opportunity costs of the decision – what opportunities are we leaving behind? What due diligence is needed to understand the risks and possible responses to a merger?
How should we? Understanding the full benefits and costs of the adventure, the right way to combine two organizations often emerges. Form follows function. How groups will merge – and there are many different ways to combine – defines the merger plan.

Though a culture-first process, Solid Ground facilitated multiple function-area teams in their exploration of each of these three questions, leading to the development and adoption of a resolution by both groups to merge and a merger plan to guide the follow-through.

The outcomes

The process of exploring together the potential and promise of merger did more than overcome potential cultural barriers that often hinder collaboration. The shared-team model yielded immediate benefits.

The process galvanized the importance of the organization’s mission and the critical urgency to step into a housing crisis.
The dovetailing of teams across the two staffs was seamless, with relationships preceding integration and positive energy throughout the organization.
Community support has been prompt and powerful. Political and philanthropic leaders expressed appreciation for the clarity and increased impact that benefits everyone who cares about housing in Portland.

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A history with Habitat for Humanity

This wasn’t our first rodeo with Habitat for Humanity, just the most recent ride. We have provided support to the organization over several decades, including:

Helped lead Portland Metro Region through a previous merger process, an early step in a regional consolidation that has been culture-focused from the beginning.
Supported Habitat Oregon’s investment in an equity roadmap, with assessment, training, and coaching to support the emergence of this essential plan of action.
Guided the merger of the Seattle area’s top two affiliates in a merger process similar to the one in Portland – and yet uniquely suited to the Emerald City.
Helped establish a shared vision and aligned goals for Habitat for Humanity International’s Leadership Council of top 100 affiliate leaders nationwide.
Conducted strategic planning processes for many different affiliates small and large to define their growth priorities and strategy for sustainable impact.

Boosting Friends Groups boosts national parks

About the National Park Foundation

Wallace Stegner called them America’s “best idea.” For thousands of families, they are the exciting, shared doorways to nature’s wonder and our nation’s history. They have always been a reason to celebrate something much bigger than ourselves. They are America’s National Parks.

The National Park Foundation takes seriously its responsibility to connect every person – including and especially those typically left out – to their national park or monument. Working with a growing community of passionate park champions, NPF strives to ensure all people are able to discover their personal connections to national parks, because they don’t just stand for what America has been – they inspire where America goes next.

The project

More than 400 places and treasures make up the national park and monument list. About half of these sites have dedicated Friends Groups to support them. Friends Groups play a critical role in the national park ecosystem, providing vital community-based lifeblood and funds to support the needs of the National Park Service. NPS bears the huge responsibility for maintaining and curating our natural, cultural, and historic treasures.

Even with the invaluable contributions of Friends Groups, enormous potential for support remains untapped among the millions who love their parks. As with all networks, there is great variation in the capacity and capabilities of individual Friends Groups. NPF’s goal: help Friends Groups harness, and then translate, people’s love affair with our nation’s parks and monuments into generous personal and philanthropic support.

NPF made a core strategy of building the individual and collective capacity of these diverse Friends Groups to ensure the groups could meet the audacious promise of partnership with NPS. The capacity-building strategy was also a central element of a collective campaign to raise half-a-billion dollars nationwide* to meet the growing capital needs of the nation’s parks and monuments.

The work

Building the capacity of a network of Friends Groups included investments from the top-down and bottom up. As a partner with NPF and the Friends Groups, Solid Ground led several key efforts to grow the network’s impact:

Working with the Friends Alliance – the collaborative leadership of these groups – we defined a shared purpose and areas of collaboration that helped every Friends Group thrive in a community of like-minded leaders.
Working with emerging leaders in the network, we developed the Friends Leadership Institute to build the leadership muscles throughout the network.
Working with individual Friends Groups, we guided individualized investments in their success, including assessments, training workshops, planning sessions, coaching and other means to help them transform to the next level of impact.

Though it all, we helped groups weather a pandemic, economic shutdowns, wildfire and hurricane disasters, and widespread social unrest. Friends Groups emerged more ready than ever to connect people to their park and build a lasting relationship that benefits both.

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The outcomes

Those groups able to participate in the process face their ongoing challenges with greater sense of confidence and optimism.

Leaders in the Friends Leadership Institute relied on each other for strategic and personal support during some of the most difficult times of 2020. Those relationships will support their leadership for decades.
Individual groups that invested in planning and organizational development prior to or during the pandemic were prepared to pivot and respond, supported by experienced allies and coaches available to them during the most challenging of these times.
The Friends Alliance leaned heavily on the galvanized network they had developed and found ways to support each other and move through the individual crises Friends Groups were facing across the nation.

* Prior to the pandemic, it is important to note, NPF met their audacious fundraising goal, raising more than $550 million for collective and individual investments in our nation’s parks and monuments. More importantly, that money represented hundreds of investors across the country who were committed to America’s “best idea.” They are each able to celebrate their part of that great idea. Their love of our parks and monuments lives on, and will ensure our best places flourish along with the people who grow up with them. The Foundation is prepared for the next great chapter of support, looking at how it can help Friends Groups rebound immediately and completely.

 

Dori Rosenblum

Business Manager

Dori has been with Solid Ground since it began in 2008. She wears many hats but the largest one is Business Manager. She diligently cares for the finances and keeping best practices throughout the company, as well as being the contract manager and following the proposals to signed contracts.

Dori thrives on the strong and close relationships at Solid Ground. She believes in showing her true self all along the way.

Family, fitness, and fun are her favorite pastimes.

Building a strong board is not a question of luck.

People have time to give. They don’t have time to waste.

We know leaders need to understand their roles and responsibilities and have the authority to carry them out. They need options for involvement, structures that support them in their governing functions, and tools for effectiveness and accountability.

Building a strong board is not a question of luck. It is the result of an intentional focus on recruiting, orienting, training, evaluating, and recognizing board members. We bring tools and a thoughtful and practical approach to groups that see effective governing leaders as a precious resource, informed by our own experiences as board leaders.

Contact Solid Ground Consulting