Maximizing a Consultant Relationship from the Outset

Consultants are a dime a dozen. However, when you establish a functional relationship with a great consultant, you’ve struck gold! By definition a “consultant” is one who gives professional or technical advice, or, one who consults another. Sounds generic right? This works to your benefit. You can source a consultant, or a group of them, for any organizational need. There are multiple advantages when hiring a consultant. They can have flexible work schedules, broad networks, and integral knowledge of the local community. Consultants also pay their own business taxes and insurance fees and can offer an outside opinion without the bias or lack of experience that has been presenting an obstacle to your organization.

To maximize the time and money spent between your organization and the consultant, it’s important to consider a few key elements prior to signing any contracts. Here’s a brief snapshot of what I recommend taking into consideration on your side and from the consultant side as well as tips to getting started on the right foot:

When considering hiring a consultant, know the answers to the following questions:

· What specific area(s) of your organization have the greatest weaknesses? Strengths?
· What is your budget for hiring outside services?
· What outcomes are you expecting?
· Have you discussed this idea with your Board? (Suggested reading from The Nonprofit Consultant Blog, Continuous Improvement for Nonprofits)

Keep in mind the challenges from the consultant side:

· Not working in-house, or daily, with an organization can present drawbacks.
· Short-term projects have a higher risk of returning lower results (dependent upon project).

Tips to building a solid relationship from the beginning:

· Make sure you have a feasible communication system established. Are you a phone or email person? Should meetings be held weekly, monthly, or face-to-face?
· Outline a schedule for progress reports and establish openness around feedback, both negative and positive.
· Establish project milestones and timelines and put it all in writing.
· Should a project go well, consider keeping the consultant in the loop on your organization’s progress either via emails, lunch meetings, or even board meetings. This will keep them connected and will allow for less ramp up time down the road once a new project arises.

Consultants can seem expensive and sometimes they can be, which is why it is important to establish a solid plan of action and clear communication in order to allow the project an opportunity to succeed! Consultants are typically worth what you pay them, but there is responsibility on both sides. If done correctly, working with a consultant on certain projects can prove to add tremendous value. To ensure your dollars are well spent, take the above points into consideration and feel free to add to the discussion below.

More on "How to hire a freelance grant writer" here!

The Nonprofit Consultant Blog: Get Seen By Private Foundations

Free registration to increase your visibility toward private foundations who don't accept unsolicited proposals...free before Oct. 1...worth a quick gander and possible sign up before they start charging...

The Nonprofit Consultant Blog: Get Seen By Private Foundations: "If you've done any sort of prospecting for new foundation grants, either using one of the resources from the Foundation Center or any other ..."

Despite a Dwindling Economy, In-Kind Donations Rise Above

As a result of the economic downturn, many companies cannot afford to give monetary donations to the nonprofit organizations they support. This year alone sixty-eight companies decreased their cash donations from $4.3-billion to $3.9-billion according to a report from USA Today. That’s the bad news. Now for the good news: Corporations are increasingly substituting cash with in-kind donations including equipment, software, and employee time.

In this recent study conducted in collaboration with The Chronicle of Philanthropy, USA Today concluded that although cash donations from US-based companies have dropped 7.5 percent in 2009, non-cash contributions have experienced a 5 percent increase. Many companies are looking to make up for their decrease in financial assistance to nonprofits by encouraging their employees to volunteer and donate more time.

So who’s donating in-kind locally?

• Avista Corp. is encouraging their employees to donate to community school supply drives.


• Microsoft Corp. is providing technology skill training to out-of-work people.


• The Make-Up Studio owner, Julie Farley, invites customers to donate new or gently used makeup for local charities supporting low-income women such as The Hope House, Our Place, and Women’s Hearth. Farley has titled her mission Project Beauty Share.


• The Sandpoint Fire Department offered auction items for Holly Eve, an event that raises funds for several nonprofits. The items included firefighter memorabilia, a birthday party at the fire station, and six firefighters working two days at the winning bidder’s home (see full article from the Spokesman here).


• Numerica Credit Union employees raised $16,000 to donate between Hospice Services in Spokane, North Idaho, Tri-Cities and Wenatchee.

What local companies do you think should be recognized for their philanthropy?

2nd Annual One Night One World Celebration

Join us for the 2nd Annual One Night One World Celebration taking place during Sustainable September on the 10th on Isabella’s rooftop downtown Spokane.

Starting at 5pm until 9pm, we’ll serve 3 courses of organic cuisine (mingling-style), local wine & beer, host a silent auction, music, and some light comedy to raise funds for One World Spokane. Individual tickets are $45 each and include dinner and a drink. Limited tickets and sponsorship available at www.oneworldspokane.com.

Any questions or donations for silent auction, contact Andrea Estes at andrea@ae-consulting.net, or (206) 355-7514.

Social Media and Search Engines Unite

According to a recent blog post by Top Rank Marketing Blog, search engines are starting to enhance their relationships with major social media sites. Currently, the major data sharing is between the social sites Facebook and Twitter and the search engines Google, Bing, and Yahoo. These search engines are taking this a step further, working to create a sort of symbiotic relationship by cross-sharing data across both platforms.

In the past, search engines relied on different sources and even each other to compile their search results. Now, these search engines are updating their data sources to pull from social media sites as well, which allows them to include real time search (Learn more about real time search) and social search (Learn more about social search) into their results. This opens up a world of opportunities for businesses participating in social media to gain more online exposure.

As real time search and social search become more prevalent in search engine results, participation in social media will gain even more importance in business marketing. Content shared through social media will be not only noticed by those who follow your company by way of social media, but will also have a higher chance of being noticed by those conducting an online search relating to your product or service.

AE is curious. What type of social media are you using to boost business and search engine visibility?

C.A.S.T. awarded $27,000 from Wal-Mart Foundation

AE Consulting recently won a $27,000 grant from the Wal-Mart Foundation's State Giving Campaign that will go toward supporting the Fishing Kids Program through the C.A.S.T. for Kids Foundation! This is wonderful news for the program and foundation. And as always, great timing. Thank you Wal-Mart Foundation!

Establishing an Online Presence for Your Small Business, Part 3 of 3

Americans conducted 15.4 billion searches in the month of March according to comScore, a company that tracks U.S. search engine market share. Approximately 65.1% of these searches were done through Google. These statistics further prove the necessity for businesses to establish their presence online to take advantage of the large number of consumers using the Internet to find products and services.

In parts 1 and 2 of our series we explained that the ideal form of online presence is a website, which you can have developed professionally or you can create one yourself. If your company does not currently have the financial resources or time to develop a website, your next best option to establish your company’s online presence is to claim your business using Google Places, a simple and free service offered by Google. Regardless if you have a website or not, every business should take advantage of this service. In this article we will go over the basics of Google’s local search and how you can use it to your advantage to attract customers in your area who are searching for the products or services your company offers.

Understanding Google’s Local Business Search
Here’s how it works: whenever someone uses Google’s search engine and looks up a business name or key words/phrases along with a geographic phrase (i.e. Italian restaurants in Spokane, Washington), they are provided with local business listings (LBL) and a map and phone number for each listing. Notice that the first results displayed are seven local businesses, which are known as the Google 7-Pack – the top seven listings for a local product or service. You can view all local results by clicking the link below the 7-Pack.

What makes local business results different than regular search listings is that they are derived using Google maps. This means that if your business has a spot on the map, then more likely than not it will be included in Google’s local business results.

The Benefits
Claiming your business is free, simple, and rewarding. As mentioned above, most likely your business is already listed through Google, but by registering you are able to edit and update your business listing yourself. Not only can you ensure that the information provided is correct, you also have the ability add more information about it such as your website, services, hours of operation, photos, coupons and much more. You can visit Google Places anytime to update your business’ information or to see how many people have clicked on your listing.

Getting Started
Before you begin you must have an account with Google (Sign up here). Next, check to see if your business is already listed with Google by searching [your business name in your city, zip code]. If your business is included, click on the listing and you will see a link titled, “Business Owner?” in the top right corner of the listing page. Click on this link and go through the process of validating your business, which can be done by phone or mail. Once you receive confirmation that you are validated as the business owner, you can proceed to edit and modify your business’ listing. If your business is not already listed with Google, visit the Google Places homepage and click on the link titled, “Add new business.” Go through the necessary steps as instructed. To learn more about this process and for troubleshooting, visit the Google Places User Guide. You can also learn more about Google Places by tuning into this helpful webinar.

Once your business is registered with Google Places, you can start modifying your places page to meet your company’s advertising needs. There are multiple factors that enhance your business’ ability to rank higher in Google’s local business results. David Mihm, a professional SEO consultant based in Portland, Oregon, has teamed-up with others in the Internet marketing field to compile an excellent list of these factors, listed by importance. To see his list, go here.

This concludes our 3-part online presence series. We hope that you have found this information useful and encourage you to contact AE Consulting should you have further questions on how to establish your business’ online presence.