Balancing Short-Term Opportunities with Long Term Sustainability
In the coming months, we will be examining a series of topics under the broad topic titled: How We Serve Our Clients. Each topic in the series will dig into one of our service offerings to offer more details about what makes our approach different and how we use our unique tools to help tailor each client’s experience and solutions.
The first service offering we’re excited to share is Financial Strategy. We thought the best way to demonstrate our approach to financial strategy would be to share a case study that examines our project with South Carolina Association for Community Economic Development (SCACED.)
Background
Founded in 1994, SCACED is a coalition of individuals and organizations that supports the development of healthy and economically sustainable communities throughout South Carolina.
While SCACED has been successful in meeting its mission throughout its 25-year history, the organization had grown tremendously in recent years, tripling its budget and doubling its staff.
The leaders felt they were at an inflection point and wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to create and pursue new mission impact and long-term financial sustainability.
The Challenge
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many organizations received an influx of funding from government sources and funders. While this funding was timely and needed, it posed a new challenge for these organizations - how to leverage this funding to seize today’s opportunities and prepare for long-term sustainability.
This was the case for the South Carolina Association for Community Economic Development (SCACED), a coalition of organizations dedicated to building wealth and creating economic opportunities for all South Carolina residents. When SCACED leaders first approached Michael Anderson Consulting (MAC), they knew their environmental circumstances had changed and they needed to adjust and adapt their strategy as well.
When SCACED leaders first spoke with Michael, they had a robust conversation that identified the need for a “strategy refresh” which started with looking at the organization’s most recent strategic plan in the context of the present-day operating environment.
With a strategy refresh in mind, the Michael Anderson Consulting team worked with the board and staff of SCACED to help them gain clarity on their strategic direction and create a complementary financial strategy that allows them to grow and expand their impact.
Our Approach
We worked alongside SCACED leaders to help them gain clarity on their mission, vision, and values and to develop a sustainable financial plan. Through a series of conversations and a focused board retreat, we:
Evaluated the current strategic plan
Assessed SCACED’s current funding streams and future opportunities
Created tools and resources to help them continue to grow through prosperous and leaner times
To this end, our team immersed ourselves in SCACED’s operational details, working closely with the SCACED board and staff to better understand their programs, members, messaging, financial plans and policies, income streams, and other relevant information.
Through this strategy refresh process, our team helped the SCACED board and staff create a sound foundation for ongoing strategic decision-making and set financial strategies for the current year that also support long-term growth.
"Our work is complicated, and Michael Anderson Consulting understood our work quickly and succinctly."-Kate Pratt, COO, SCACEDThe Outcome
With our guidance and expertise, SCACED now has the tools and resources it needs to consider funding opportunities as they relate to its mission and growth. These tools also allow SCACED to be able to weather economic fluctuations and maintain its financial health.
SCACED now has these tools at the ready for future planning:
A reserve policy that clarifies strategic intent for designated resources
A plan to use their resources to meet their mission today -- and in the future
Financial scenarios to provide guidance on future financial decisions
A multi-year financial modeling tool
A 5-year financial trend analysis
Refreshed organizational strategies that provide a clear direction
Through our assessment, we found that SCACED leaders particularly needed a way to evaluate program and funding opportunities to determine if they matched their mission and growth goals.
Our team created a decision-making tool in the form of a simple rubric that helps SCACED leaders decide if they should implement a new program or take advantage of new funding streams. Some of the questions the rubric asked are:
Does this opportunity take advantage of our unique/differentiating strengths?
Will this meet our members’ needs?
Will we be positioned for further strategic growth?
Now, as they consider opportunities to expand their programs or pursue funding opportunities, SCACED leaders have a quick, easy, consistent, and transparent way to assess if these possibilities will contribute to their mission and growth.
"Michael was an expert facilitator and managed the various voices from our diverse board. Any group that works with Michael Anderson Consulting is better off."-Kate Pratt, COO, SCACED