Sounding Board

Spot coaching for strategic questions

traIs your nonprofit grappling with a thorny issue and wishing you had someone to bounce ideas and questions off?

MANP offers coaching sessions that pair nonprofits with thought partners with relevant experience. These sessions are a good fit for strategic questions related to governance, planning, fundraising, communications, and technology such as (but not limited to) the following:

How do we get our board members more engaged? (Less engaged? Re-engaged?)
How can we build more trust and shared understanding of board vs staff roles?
How can we build a more inclusive board?
How do we navigate our next stage of organizational growth?
How do we determine if XYZ fundraising strategy is a good fit?
How do we prioritize our technology investments?
How do we develop our communications strategy for our upcoming leadership transition?
and more!

These sessions are not a replacement for consulting services, but offer an accessible and confidential opportunity to informally workshop challenges and/or jump start strategy.

Who Can Participate?

These confidential, free sessions are exclusively available to leaders from MANP member organizations. For the most dynamic dialogue, a maximum of 3 people from an organization may participate in the session.

Cost

These sessions are made available to members at no cost, but donations are welcome. We rely on the support of individuals, foundations, and businesses to offer programs like this one.

How to Sign Up

We are holding sessions approximately every other month on the second Wednesday from 12-1:15pm. We open sign-ups about a month prior to each session. Our April session is closed, and we are currently scheduling for June 12th.

To request a spot in the next session, please complete this brief form.

MANP staff will be in touch to confirm your participation or to request clarification. Space is limited; time slots will be filled first-come, first-served.

What to Expect

A 75-minute virtual session on Zoom with a thought partner who has relevant experience.

MANP will open the session with a welcome to all attendees and a review of the format.
Then, each nonprofit’s coaching session will occur concurrently, but in separate, private virtual breakout rooms.
These are informal and conversational meetings with a focus on surfacing questions, suggestions, recommended resources/tools, and connections that can help with the issue at hand.
No sales pitches for services – just a sounding board for your questions and challenges.

^{Recommendations and ideas shared during these sessions reflect the views and opinions of the peer coaches and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of MANP. MANP shall not be liable for any damages arising from your use of the program, and MANP does not endorse any individual or company participating in this program.}

Become a Coach

Interested in being a thought partner to another nonprofit? Wonderful! Please reach out to Anna Overstrom-Coleman at membersupport@nonprofitmaine.org to set up a time to chat. Coaches are offered an honorarium of $75 per session, with a complimentary Supporter Level Friend Membership ($250 value), or are welcomed to volunteer if they are able.