Since its founding
in 1989, Linda Graff And Associates Inc. has been engaged as Consultants
to a wide range of projects by a long list of local, national, and
international nonprofits in Canada, the United States, and the United
Kingdom. The consultation projects and contracts have had a range
of topics as their substance, but, in general, fall into four main
types:
Research
Projects
Writing Projects
Program Evaluation, Review, &
Development Projects
Facilitation Projects
While far from
exhaustive, these project sketches illustrate typical work undertaken
and the kinds of products recently delivered by Linda Graff And Associates
Inc. Click on a project type for details.
Our
Consulting Teams
Linda Graff, herself,
has been the sole consultant on many of these projects, but we frequently
engage one or more of our Associates to
assist with the larger research and program review projects. Each
project we undertake is unique, and the Linda Graff And Associates
Inc. approach is to assemble a consultant team that brings to each
project the specific skill sets and expertise required. We have a
number of Associates with whom we work regularly. They bring their
own specialties in areas such as research, evaluation, focus group
facilitation, key management, fund development, and so on, and they
help to round out Linda’s own specialties. Linda leads each project
team providing overall guidance and project management, and oversees
the administration.
Management
Consultation: RESEARCH PROJECTS
Quantitative research,
including questionnaire design and delivery, and qualitative research
involving, for example, structured key informant interviews and focus
group methodologies, are areas of work we undertake with some regularity.
Linda Graff And Associates Inc. has conducted research in a wide range
of topics in the nonprofit sector. These projects often result in
the production of a manual, monograph, or book for the sponsor. Here
are some examples:
Special Needs Volunteering -
A Directory of Programs In Canada.
This research project, national in scope, involved contact with hundreds
of agencies across Canada to locate and profile innovative attempts
to involve, in volunteering, persons with various special needs and
limitations.
Volunteer For
The Health Of It.
The production of this publication included a literature review combined
with two sets of focus group interviews - representatives of Volunteer
Centres from around Ontario and, from those same cities, special needs
volunteers themselves and the managers of volunteers who work with
them. This publication is still available here.
We still try to follow the research literature on the connection between
volunteering and the health and well-being of those engaged in it.
For a reading list on this topic, click
here.
Volunteer Transportation
Service - Coordinators Manual.
This project required the application of a variety of research methods.
A widely distributed questionnaire and data-collection effort, combined
with a literature review, and a large community consultation event
formed the core of material upon which this publication was based.
Produced for the Office of Seniors’ Issues, Ministry of Citizenship,
this publication quickly became the central resource manual in its
field. It was reprinted several times by the Ontario government, and
always sold out. To our knowledge, it is no longer available.
Ever More Able.
This two-year research and development project explored the current
barriers to involvement in volunteering encountered by persons with
physical disabilities, and looked at the kind of assistance and/or
accommodations needed from both volunteer centres and prospective
placement agencies. Working with two pilot sites, Linda created the
research design (including quantitative and qualitative methods),
coordinated project activities, and developed the plan for up to six
publications and workshop models based on project findings.
Opportunities
For All: Supported Volunteering.
Working with a consortium of mostly disability-service organizations,
Linda Graff And Associates Inc. conducted original research into community
capacity in the Waterloo Region to enhance and develop supported volunteering.
Survey research and focus groups were key components of this project
that produced recommendations for a community-wide model of supported
volunteering in the Waterloo Region. Four separate reports on the
the Opportunities For All project were produced which profile (survey
and focus group) research results, a literature review, and final
recommendations.
survey
• focus group.pdf
• literature
review.pdf • final
recommendations.pdf
Top
Management
Consultation: WRITING PROJECTS
By Definition:
Policies For Volunteer Programs.
Also based on contact with a large number of voluntary agencies across
Ontario, this publication was the first Canadian publication on this
topic, and only the second in the world to explore policies for volunteer
involvement. It too has become a best-seller around North America,
acting as the essential resource for policy development in thousands
of agencies. In 1997 Linda acquired the rights to this publication
from the original project sponsor, and By Definition
is now published by, and available directly from Linda Graff And Associates
Inc.
Where’s
The Serenity?
It is only recently that we have come to understand that women who
are survivors of early childhood sexual abuse have a much greater
likelihood of suffering alcohol and drug addiction issues in adulthood
and, of greatest import, that the dual issues of abuse and addictions
must be treated simultaneously. This project piloted a new group model
of intervention and resulted in a manual for practitioners in the
field. Linda worked with co-therapists from a counselling agency and
an addictions service to conceptualize the intervention model and
wrIte the manual.
Annotated Inventory.
The aim of this project was to produce an annotated inventory of educational
materials on violence against women and children in use in Ontario.
Managing the scope and establishing clear boundaries have been critical
to producing a comprehensive product within the tightly limited time
frame. The final inventory forms the basis of a larger, five-year
materials production project for the Centre
for Research on Violence Against Women and Children in London,
Ontario.
Well-Centred:
Policies For Volunteer Centres.
With increasing demands on the voluntary sector, volunteers have become
essential ingredients in the provision of human, health, and social
services across Canada. Volunteer Centres, as the centres of expertise
and excellence in voluntary action and volunteer service administration,
are moving into key positions in the mobilization of volunteer resources.
This publication identifies the unique program policy issues facing
volunteer centres and other referral and matching services. Written
for Volunteer Canada, Well-Centred
is an invaluable tool with which volunteer centres can identify emerging
liability, values, and service questions in the increasingly complex
world of not-for-profit management.
Generation
V - Curriculum Development.
A complete curriculum in volunteer program management was the product
of this project conducted for Volunteer
Canada. Including both basic and advanced levels, the Generation
V curriculum is currently being identified as the basis for a national
education and certification program in volunteer program management.
Risk Management.
Linda was contracted to research and write a comprehensive chapter
on risk management in volunteer programming for a national health
charity in the United States. The chapter included background on risk
management, a risk management model for the organization’s branches
to apply in all of their fundraising activities, including special
events and volunteer-based client services. Templates, checklists,
sample forms and other risk management and liability reduction related
material were developed as part of this project.
Top
Management
Consultation: PROGRAM EVALUATION, REVIEWS, & DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
Child Safety
Program.
How do youth-serving organizations take all necessary precautions
to keep children safe, including initial screening and ongoing monitoring
of volunteers while at the same time demonstrating appropriate support
and appreciation for the efforts of those same volunteers? A ground-breaking
project for Big Brothers of Ottawa-Carleton allowed Linda to develop
a model volunteer training program that outlines the issues at hand,
delivers the most current information available on child safety and
sexual abuse prevention for trainers, and delivers concrete advice
to volunteers about keeping children safe... and it does all of that
without making volunteers feel like suspected pedophiles.
The products include an agency-wide Child Safety Training Program;
a fully annotated Trainers’ Manual including suggested training
plans, time lines, exercises, trainers’ tips, overheads, and
supporting documentation; the accompanying Participant’s Workbook;
a full-day Train-The-Trainer Workshop for agency staff who will use
this material to train Big Brother volunteers in the future. Second
and third phases of this project have produced integrated child safety
training modules for both Little Brothers/Sisters and Parents/Guardians.
This child safety model has now been adopted by Big Brothers Big Sisters
of Canada and rolled out to Big Brothers Big Sisters organizations
across Canada. In 2002 Linda designed and produced the final modules
in this initiative - a full Adolescent Safety Program - for Big Brothers
Big Sisters Canada.
In Search Of
Excellence.
Many programs and professions establish minimum standards as the basis
for goal setting, accreditation, and certification. The result is
that practitioners are aimed at achieving the minimum, rather than
the maximum in outcomes and performance. As an alternate approach,
why not aim for excellence? What is excellence? What does excellence
look like? These were the questions explored by the Linda Graff And
Associates Inc. consulting team in an exciting new program development
project for the Volunteer Resources Department at a large Ontario
children’s hospital.
Screening Protocol
Development.
In a country where convicted pedophiles are the daily substance of
tabloid headlines, the development of a screening protocol for a volunteer
program that places adults in positions of trust with young children
is an understandably complex and demanding challenge. We have been
consulting on an ongoing basis with a relatively new children’s
mentoring charity in the United Kingdom on an ongoing basis, and in
cooperation with Scotland Yard, to construct the most effective screening
process appropriate to this kind of demanding and risky volunteer
work. We have also been contracted by a national private provider
of services to the elderly in Canada to assist with screening protocol
development for all of their employees.
Volunteer Program
Reviews.
Often based on the volunteer program audit model, these research based
reviews catalogue the strengths and weaknesses of current volunteer
efforts in both service and governance roles, and identify what needs
to be done to maximize volunteer involvement in the sponsor agency.
Our clients include local, government, national, and international
organizations, all seeking to enhance volunteer involvement and volunteer
program management.
Outcomes Evaluation
System Design.
We have developed a key specialty in the area of program and services
evaluation based on the dual models of participant-focused and outcomes-based
evaluation. Participant-focused evaluation places the needs and input
of clients and workers at the centre of the evaluation process in
order to ensure that the products of evaluation are both relevant
and useful to those most closely connected with the service under
review. This perspective both demystifies evaluation and brings it
within the reach and capabilities of front line staff. Most recently
we have concentrated our efforts on outcomes-based evaluation systems,
and have been engaged over the last several years by a large national
children’s charity to develop outcomes, indicators, and a complete
measurement tool system for implementation by their 140+ member agencies
across Canada.
Top
Management
Consultation: FACILITATION PROJECTS
It often happens that we get caught in detail and lose sight of critical
issues. The ability to conceptualize, analyse, and synthesize a discussion
and then communicate the key points back to participants in a clear
and ordered manner is one of Linda’s most striking skills. She
is an excellent facilitator - the one people look to in committee
meetings for the "Tell us what we’ve just said and write
it in a motion" function. In her public consultation work, Linda’s
communications management and respectful facilitation styles have
helped several potentially difficult public sessions both run smoothly
and generate useful public input.
Helping groups to discuss, move to the centre of the issues at hand,
and plan an informed strategy is invaluable in areas such as conflict
resolution, mergers and partnership agreements, consumer involvement,
public participation, values clarification, and strategic planning.
Linda’s straightforward and friendly informality help people
to feel comfortable and safe in sharing their thoughts. Here are a
few examples of the work Linda Graff And Associates Inc. have done
in this field:
Conflict Resolution
Defusing, clarifying, aiding communication, and building models of
constructive conflict resolution. Our interactive approach helps to
build trust in the process and commitment to the model.
Values Clarification
Assisting agency representatives to identify and sort key personal
and organizational values as a base for operations, personnel policies,
service delivery, cutbacks, and strategic planning.
Interim Management
Linda has been contracted on two separate occasions to restore management
functions after program/organizational disruption. In these projects
she has reestablished service standards, financial and/or governance
accountability, and reactivated communication and decision-making
systems. Sensitive negotiations with funders, staff, and leadership
volunteers were critical components to success in these projects.
Mergers And
Inter-Agency Collaborations
Many organizations are making concerted efforts to coordinate and
collaborate on service delivery, and some are taking the even bigger
steps to amalgamate, consolidate and merge programs and agencies.
In the midst of uncertainty, fear, and sometimes mistrust, partnering
agreements can be difficult to work through; the aid of a skilled
and neutral facilitator can be critical to success. Planning the process,
building new structures, redesigning service delivery mechanisms,
and the development of custom governance and management structures
are typical components of these kinds of projects. Linda Graff And
Associates Inc. offers excellent planning, facilitation, and communications
skills to projects such as these. We have worked on several organization-level
mergers and inter-agency service collaboration projects with a range
of local, regional, and provincial organizations.
Public Participation
Design And Facilitation
Bureaucracies and planning systems can be intimidating for many consumers.
We have worked with citizens and service users to facilitate their
input into decisions that will affect them in areas as diverse as
road reconstruction through a neighbourhood, hospital closings, and
abused women communicating to service providers. We have facilitated
the consolidation of two large provincial organizations, and twice
helped through the merger process two sets of local organizations;
these projects included work on ground rules and values development,
communications planning, by-law development, board structuring and
governance system planning, and extensive consultation on both process
and incorporation matters. Change management is usually a critical
component to projects such as these.
