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Rebecca Schueller Training & Consulting delivers hand-on services and practical advice designed to help your organization create strong working relationships and healthy organizational culture. Becky supports organizations in building capacity and resiliency. Services help Boards of Directors, CEOs, and staff build on existing strengths and develop strategies that effectively address areas for improvement. Ask Becky for a free consultation to discuss how your organization can create a board/CEO designed alliance, enhance strategic collaborations, develop the next generation of program directors and managers, build stakeholder investment in your organization, and explore new approaches and resources.
About Consulting With Becky
Contact Becky for a free initial consultation and bid. Becky protects your confidentiality and will let you know if she believes she can help. If she can’t help, Becky will suggest other resources.
Email Becky@bemidjiconsulting.com to set up a time to talk. Provide your full contact information and a call back number. Or, reach out on Becky’s landline: (218) 333-3832.
Individualized Scope of Services
Each organization has different needs and is at a different stage in its development. Your board and staff may only need help with a few components of your work…or you may need more intensive support. Becky works to respect these differences in designing a Scope of Services and bid. When you review this, you decide which services your organization wants to accept and decline those you don’t need.
When we partner to advance your work, Becky commits to the following:
+ Advice and support are practical and hands-on. The goal is to help you develop solutions and a plan that will address your specific needs and provide both immediate benefits and longer-term results.
+ Becky will be direct and transparent in communicating with you. She will ask hard questions as kindly as possible, give feedback, and propose options for your consideration.
+ You will work primarily with Becky. On occasion, we may involve an associate who has a different skill set if it will provide more benefit to your organization. This associate’s time will usually be included in your initial bid. If not, you will always be informed if this time will involve additional costs. You have the right to decline additional services that were not in the initial bid.
+ If Becky believes another consultant may be a better fit for your organization or your needs, she will tell you.
+ Your organization’s confidentiality is always protected. While Becky sometimes shares stories to help other organizations learn, she never shares identifying details.
Scheduling Time
Your questions are welcome. Becky is generally available M-F 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. or at other times by appointment. Because an evening or weekend may work best for some boards, send Becky an email to let her know you need time & suggest times that work for you. Becky often responds faster to email than voice mail.
Becky is available for weekend and evening retreats. Just let her know what works best for your organization.
Projects developed by Rebecca Schueller Training & Consulting, LLC
- Northwest Minnesota Continuum of Care: Coordinated Community Plan for the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Project (March 2019) – the plan covers Beltrrami, Clearwater, Hubbard, Kittson, Lake of the Woods, Mahnomen, Marshall, Norman, Pennington, Polk, Red Lake, and Roseau Counties. Note: Thanks go to the entire Northwest Minnesota Continuum of Care and our federal consultants who assisted with writing and editing portions of this document. Northwest Minn. YHDP-CCP-Final-March 1-2019
- Leech Lake Head Start Community Needs Assessment (2018) LLEC Community Assessment 2016 FINAL 3-12-18
- Anishinabe Legal Services – Strategic Plan 2019 DRAFT – ALS 2019 Consolidated Strategic Plan – March 9
- You’ll receive a bid for future services that fully outlines all costs and deliverables. Your organization does not incur any costs until after the bid is accepted. You choose among the services proposed according to your needs and budget.
- No surprises. If there will be additional costs for other services you request after we begin our work, Becky will let you know in advance.
- All deliverables identified will be provided on time and within budget.
- Becky provides free, phone and/or email follow-up advice and support for up to 3 months after the contract is completed.
- You are welcome to contact Becky by phone between 9:00 a.m. & 6:00 p.m. central time M-F or by appointment. You may contact Becky by email at any point. She often responds faster to email. If you’re facing an organizational crisis, Becky can be available on a weekend, early morning, or evening.
Invest in Your Organization
Nonprofit leaders, staff, and volunteers deserve support yet often believe they shouldn’t spend money on their own capacity. Paradoxically, building organizational capacity often benefits your clients and constituents in the long-term. It’s an honor to work with organizations which confront the painful reality that they can’t continue as they have previously. The goal is to help organizations recover the costs they invest in capacity-building.
Make a fully informed decision for your organization. Contact Becky for a free consultation and then bring a bid and proposal to your board of directors to review.
Areas of Consulting
Board/CEO Working Relationship & Governance Partnership:
An effective board/CEO partnership is essential in resilient and effective nonprofit organizations. It provides the leadership cohesion that ensures delivery of excellent services to improve quality of life and community well-being over a sustained period. Becky will work with your board and CEO to define expectations and and a matrix of responsibilities and to help your new and existing board members fully understand their governance responsibilities. Effective boards also need strong working agreements that outline values and expectations. One of Becky’s foundational board training resources is The Nonprofit Board Designed Alliance.
Board Assessments: Does your board need to reorganize? Feeling as though something isn’t working quite right? Becky can conduct a board assessment, using a survey tool and individual interviews, and then present findings to your full Board and discuss strategies to move toward better processes or perhaps a reorganization.
CEO/Executive Director Annual Evaluation: Becky will work with your Board to develop an annual CEO (and board!) evaluation process. While the annual CEO evaluation is a basic board responsibility, fully effective boards benefit tremendously from constructive feedback that develops the strengths and builds the capacity of each partner. Contact Becky to discuss a basic process for the CEO/Executive Director evaluation that allows your board to conduct this duty with professionalism and mutual respect.
New CEO/Executive Director Onboarding & Mentoring. Request customized services to help with hiring the right CEO and successfully onboarding that individual. Becky has trained and consulted with several hundred senior staff and executives throughout Minnesota in the past four years. Utilize her connections to benefit your organization.
CEO Exits: When a board and CEO need to discuss ending a working relationship, they can often benefit from structured support to end the partnership in a way that promotes the best interests of the organization and the well-being of the individual leaving.
Your initial consultation is always free. Contact Becky to discuss your needs.
Need Help with Organizational Transformation or Pivots? Contact Becky when your organization needs to plan how it will move in new directions to respond to community needs, operations challenges, or to improve sustainability. Or, consult with Becky when you need to re-evaluate the effectiveness or sustainability of a long-term program that may not currently provide the impact needed.
The continuing Covid-19 pandemic is an important time for planning. The sheer pace of change and resulting uncertainty are unnerving. Our nervous systems weren’t designed for ongoing fight/flight/(or freeze!) responses. Planning can help. During these difficult times, effective organizations will engage all of their committed staff and stakeholders in identifying the most important opportunities for their clients and communities. Resilient organizations create strategic plans that establish both priorities and limits and build on strengths while “confronting the brutal realities.” Strategic planning should be rewarding…not a chore. It should leave board members and staff re-energized and re-invested in the essential, life-changing work of your organization. And it should give everyone, particularly the Executive Director, a short-term direction for the next 12 months and a longer-term direction for the next 3 years. Design and implement a process and plan which reconnects stakeholders with your mission and vision, builds your organization’s capacity, and creates energy and momentum to advance your mission that can be communicated to the larger community. Funders get more invested when they are supporting projects and initiatives that result from high quality strategic planning which involves multiple stakeholders.
Your initial consultation is always free. Contact Becky to discuss your needs.
Becky is available to coach managers and supervisors who seek additional support for their roles. Becky also facilitates difficult conversations between employees and supervisors, including those regarding performance improvement plans, behaviors that need to change, and more.
Becky rarely writes grants for organizations. She believes you’re paying primarily for her learning curve on your organization. You already have committed staff who know your organization and client needs the best. And, grants work best when there’s a team effort among your staff. Consider the many roles required to write competitive grants (see image). Instead, hire Becky to support your team’s capacity to write successful grants. With a successful, multi-year track record of Federal, State, and private foundation grants totaling several million dollars, Becky can help you analyze whether a funding source is right for your organization and what focus area(s) will be most compelling to funders. Becky will engage with your staff to capture your program and service expertise. Becky is available to review, comment, and score grants or lead an internal review and scoring analysis with your organization’s volunteers and staff.
Your initial consultation is always free. Contact Becky to discuss your needs.
With private foundation, national campaign, special event, and local nonprofit resource development expertise, Becky understands the funding challenges faced by nonprofits, tribes, and small public agencies in rural communities. Let Becky help you explore options, plan events that raise both money and agency friends, and help your team (or lonely Executive Director!) develop competitive grants.
Your initial consultation is always free. Contact Becky to discuss your needs.
“Not Another Spaghetti Dinner”
Becky has a track record and expertise in delivering high quality events and conferences that generate public awareness and raise money. Whether your goal is community awareness raising, donor recognition, stakeholder onboarding, or raising money, use Becky’s expertise to help your team plan and develop events that will build relationships, credibility, and funder goodwill. Plan a “signature” event that will make your organization stand out from the crowd, while raising funds to support your mission and work.
Your initial consultation is always free. Contact Becky to discuss your needs.
Let Becky take the stress out of business writing for your organization. Use Becky’s expertise in creating and editing brochures, annual reports, presentations, and other documents.
Your initial consultation is always free. Contact Becky to discuss your needs.
Consulting
Testimonials
Evergreen expanded in many different areas over the years of Becky’s leadership and it was her insight, thoughtfulness, attention to detail and willingness to work as a team player and team leader that allows us as board members to proudly hold up our heads for the reputation that Evergreen has, not only in our local community, but throughout the entire state.
November 2, 2020
Becky has been a strong leader at Evergreen and created a capable team that will carry on their important work. I always admired Becky’s willingness to “tackle” the hard and heavy issues. She has my utmost respect and admiration! Miigwech for all she’s done for the community!
November 2, 2020
I have had the privilege to work with Rebecca as an Evergreen board member and community professional over the last nine years. During that time our agency went through a tremendous amount of growth and change. During Rebecca’s tenure with the agency she was responsible for obtaining, organizing and leading the agency through millions of dollars in funding to provide programming and services to the highest risk and most vulnerable youth in our community. Rebecca has many strengths, most notably her selfless determination, integrity and heart to put clients and her community above all else.
November 2, 2020
It was an honor to work for Evergreen and to have Becky as my supervisor. I had the opportunity to work under her supervision at Evergreen Youth & Family Services from 2006 through 2010. She worked tirelessly on multiple grants that enabled Evergreen to serve many youth and families in the Bemidji area. Her grant writing skills are superb, detailed and effective.
November 2, 2020
Becky’s leadership successfully revamped the YMCA of the USA’s single most important international funding raising project, a national annual campaign that involved the coordination of field divisions in 7 cities, and which ultimately benefitted YMCA youth and community development work worldwide. Her efforts demonstrated the ability to lead and motivate high powered corporate individuals as well as an untiring persistence and a commitment to detail and meeting deadlines. … Most notable perhaps is Becky’s ability to work effectively and respectfully with people of diverse backgrounds and experiences. Such people ranged from corporate leaders, YMCA CEOs, and board and campaign volunteers to staff colleagues, international counterparts and program beneficiaries.
November 2, 2020
In 1996, as a pro bono Consultant, Becky provided her expertise to help successfully launch a non-profit organization for our fledgling nature center in Lynchburg, VA and create an environment for successful collaboration. Becky guided our group through the process of creating a strong mission, and developing core values and goals. We were very grateful for Becky's ability to help our group understand the importance of each member's role. I have known Becky for over 40 years, as a friend and as her nonprofit client. She is professional in every manner and is very intuitive in working with group dynamics.
November 2, 2020
"Rebecca Schueller served as the coordinator for the Northwest DAC Cooperative. Rebecca secured a site for the event, arrangements for all meals and break times. She researched and secured speakers for the event. She coordinated and produced all the agendas and registration process. She was phenomenal in her ability to prepare for every detail of the conference. She truly was amazing in her dedication. … Greatest strengths for Rebecca would include her organization, attention to detail, dedication, and ability to work with a variety of individuals." Jo Bittner, Director, Polk County DAC
November 2, 2020
"I was very impressed by the fact that although she was one of my youngest staff, she handled the responsibility of a major campaign well and was highly effective at building strong working relationships with national YMCA board members and major donors, CEOs from multi-million budget YMCAs around the country as well as very small YMCAs, YMCA retirees, and other volunteers and donors who were critical to the campaign’s success." Sam Evans, Director-International Division, YMCA of the USA
November 2, 2020
"Becky's success in the YMCA was based not just on excellent organizational, communication, and planning skills, but also on sheer hard work and persistence. She has a strong personal commitment to “making things happen” and “getting things done.” And she does. She was also highly flexible and could adapt to the changing priorities in our fast-paced and sometimes hectic, International Division."
November 2, 2020
"Becky is a top notch staff person and my advice is 'don’t let her get away.' You can rely on the fact that she is 100{fc6ceb31d80ec6fabac42d0f5acbad593f1794ee702287db734e3a34db1da57f} committed to her work, and she is highly dependable. As a former bank manager and current executive manager of an organization with several hundred staff, I always say there are no “risk free” employees. But I think Becky comes pretty close." Sam Evans, Director-International Division, YMCA of the USA
November 2, 2020
Becky has an exemplary work ethic and high standards for productivity. She can process an incredible volume of work. Her grant writing skills are among the best in the non-profit business. As driven as she is, she did not go it alone. Becky is adept at project management. She cultivated her colleague's strengths and delegated tasks to achieve great outcomes. Becky adhered to a team model and encouraged healthy debate and consensual decision-making among the board of directors, management team, and program staff. Becky welcomed constructive criticism to enhance the quality of her work.
November 2, 2020
"Becky is incredibly organized, extremely knowledgeable about all aspects of the agency, and deeply committed to the mission of Evergreen. Becky has taught me so much over my years with Evergreen, and has been an inspiration to me both professionally and personally.”
November 2, 2020
The step-by-step components of grantwriting are easily laid out. You are very knowledgeable and this was educational. You know your stuff, Becky! Thanks for everything!
November 2, 2020
I have a much better understanding of the verbiage and time put into a grant. If my supervisor asks me a question about a grant, now I feel I’d be better able to answer and assist them.
November 2, 2020
I really liked going through the scoring sheets and budgets, the lists of resources, and that there were a lot of tips on writing grants. Thank you for your knowledge. This was very informative and could have been a two-day training.
November 2, 2020
I learned that grantwriting involves steps prior to the start of writing. I think previous grants were hard for me because I started writing too soon - before I had gathered data and before I even fully read the grant info. and requirements. Lesson learned…
November 2, 2020
I was overwhelmed with helping write my first grant. Now I look forward to writing the next one with all the knowledge I gained from today. It was nice having things explained. The examples provided are great! Thank you – this was very helpful.
November 2, 2020
Knowing the basics of how grants are scored is very helpful. I feel like I was given all of the tools to write a successful grant and now it is up to me to do the work. Thank you so much for coming to Detroit Lakes. This was a great, informative training!
November 2, 2020
This was a wonderful training. It was easy to listen to with good handouts and practical ideas.
November 2, 2020
I am taking home a better understanding of common grant terminology and the benefit of a workplan and logic model. Thank you – it is evident that you are a content expert with this!
November 2, 2020
The staff grant review group will be very helpful. Very good seminar…more actual hands-on information than other workshops I have attended.
November 2, 2020
As a newbie to grantwriting, the course was very informative, beginning with the basics through how to complete grant attachments. The handouts will be a super helpful resource. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise!
November 2, 2020
Great opportunities to ask questions and share stories. I appreciated your teaching style.
November 2, 2020
"Becky, thank you for this training. It was excellent. It had great content, resources and instruction. The role plays on difficult conversations were a great learning tool." Jared Bostrom, Progress Valley
November 20, 2020
"Rebecca Schueller has provided outstanding support and guidance to our local food shelf. She is smart, gracious and brings a world of practical experience to her work. We were looking for help in re-organizing our board structure and Becky provided the tools and wisdom to guide us through our transition. Her warm and friendly style make her a pleasure to work with. It is a pleasure to recommend her without qualification." Jim Fretheim, Board Chair, Bemidji Community Food Shelf
Jim Fretheim President, The Bemidji Community Food Shelf Board of Directors November 23, 2020
“If I would have had this training when I started working in the grant world, it would have made a world of difference. I am going to take all of this very valuable information, the plethora of resources, and ideas and make major changes to the way I do my work as a grant writer, project developer, and team leader.” Deb Baer, 9th Judicial District Domestic Violence Court
December 10, 2020
Thank you very much! I really enjoyed your training. I will use these tips and skills to better communicate with my co-workers and supervisor. I have had issues in the past where these would have helped. Kayla Bender, Beltrami County Health & Human Services
December 15, 2020
"This grant writing training is a must for anyone who is thinking about grant writing or is actively grant writing! This training is practical, well planned and has a balanced format of presentation, practice, Q&A, and additional resources. You will come out motivated and with the right tools to get the job done. I did! From researching opportunities to getting funded, everything is in there-including the kitchen sink (aka ideas on forming your team and other considerations). Worth the investment!" Juanita Reopelle, Project for Change (Bemidji, MN)
December 15, 2020