The Consortium exists to support and strengthen the capacity and impact of Florida’s local education foundations. How do we do this?
Our objective in member development is to increase member sustainability over time regardless of changes in leadership, politics and economy. We measure this in our members through:
- Growth in revenue.
- Board engagement and governance.
- Maintenance of adequate staffing through strong leadership.
- Diversified and impactful program mix, including direct support services to teachers, students and families.
Start with Data
To successfully target what members in our network need to be effective, we collect a lot of information about them through:
- Biennial membership surveys. We collect data on board structure, finances, staffing and programs and benchmark over time and across our membership.
- Foundations for Excellence Quality Standards. Developed by education foundation members, these function as a guidepost for building strong, sustainable organization.
- Nonprofit Lifecycles thinking. This assessment points to capacity needs at each stage of the organization and includes a look at programs, leadership, business model, administration and governance.
- One-to-one check ins. These regular meetings with members take the data collected above and pinpoint the needs and barriers that prevent a foundation from becoming strong and sustainable and assess the receptiveness of leadership to change and growth.
Create and Implement Plan for Individual Support
- Determine level of commitment from foundation – What do they want from the Consortium and what are they willing to commit to?
- Create a plan for overcoming barriers to successful change.
- Provide requested supporting documents, make relevant connections among the membership or other consultants and suggest next steps to growth, including timeline.
- Schedule workshops and follow-up meetings directly related to the needs and requests of the member.
Provide Opportunities for Peer-to-Peer Learning
We know that our members learn best with and from each other, so we provide opportunities to do that through:
- Webinars aligned with Quality Standards on topics of interest to several members, e.g., best practices in golf tournaments, 5ks and other community events; why succession planning is crucial for executive transitions; how one member tripled their revenue in a few short years.
- Conferences for group learning and networking opportunities.
- Virtual Learning Communities that meet periodically to learn and share on common programs and topics, e.g., teacher resource stores, senior scholarships, healthcare career academies.
- Online Resource Library to share materials, policies and best practices with one another.
In 2024-25, Consortium lead staff completed a training protocol to identify and understand what the results of the organization’s work were in three areas, including member development. The process outlined above is part of the framework for ensuring we achieve the greatest gains in member capacity across the membership. Changes we made due to this training include:
- Use of common language with the Consortium team and with members.
- More deliberate tracking of member engagement.
- More intentional and less complicated results.
- Capturing of member results, not just member activity.
The Consortium remains dedicated to systematically supporting member foundations through targeted, data-driven strategies, fostering their resilience, growth, and long-term sustainability. By continuously refining our processes and prioritizing impactful outcomes, we ensure our members thrive and effectively meet their mission serving their local schools, teachers and students.
