Summer Newsletter

It’s hard to believe that summer is almost over. At Schonfield Consulting, we’ve had a busy summer, with some fun adventures, several new clients, and a new team member. See more below.

Please reach out if you have a project you want to discuss or just to fill us in on your news and updates. We’d love to hear from you!

In partnership,

Anne and the Schonfield Consulting Team

Fundraising support for Northern California Land Trust

In spring 2023, we started working with Northern California Land Trust (NCLT), a Bay Area nonprofit that develops and manages permanently affordable housing. NCLT is in the pre-development stage for the innovative Woolsey Gardens project, which will build greatly-needed housing and community space for extremely low- to moderate-income households in South Berkeley. The Trust has raised approximately $2 million in initial funding from state and city sources, and hired Schonfield Consulting to help raise additional funds from foundations and other supporters. We’re working closely with NCLT leadership to identify new funding prospects, on foundation outreach and other fundraising strategies.

Starting Your Strategic Plan

Since 2016, we’ve worked with a wide range of clients on strategic planning – from national and international environmental organizations, to Bay Area faith-based agencies, outdoor youth leadership centers and others. Across this range of clients and issues, we’ve found that successful strategic planning should start with several key questions, including:

• Clarify the problem: Many clients want a strategic plan but are unclear why they need one. We start by working closely with each client to understand: what are your goals, what problem are you trying solve, why now, who will implement the plan, who is your audience, and other key questions.
• Staff, Board buy in: We then work closely with organization leaders to understand who will be involved in the plan and their roles. We suggest creating a steering committee early on, to help staff and Board drive the process and “take ownership” of the new strategies.

Strategic plans are very important tools, but you need to start with a good foundation and clear goals to get them “right.” Watch for future newsletters with more ideas and tools for strategic planning.

Welcome Ben!

We’re thrilled to welcome Ben Woo Poretzky as our newest Associate Consultant. Ben is a community organizer and strategist, and co-founder of Kinhood, a new nonprofit dedicated to men’s wellness and community-building. Prior to consulting, Ben was a product manager at Intuit, Facebook, and other technology startups in the Bay Area. In his varied roles, Ben also serves on the board of Chochmat HaLev Synagogue. Ben is working closely with Anne on multiple projects and is already a valuable member of our team.