Services
At Carrington, Holland, and Leigh, we are committed to the success of your organization. We offer many diverse services and will cater to your unique organization's needs.
Whether you are just starting out and need help establishing your nonprofit, or your established organization that needs help with donor campaigns, executive director coaching, compliance audits, we've got you covered.
Contact us today for a consultation!
What we offer
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501(3) Nonprofit Start Up Assistance
We offer comprehensive assistance to nonprofits in their early stages.
Our consultants give step by step assistance on writing effective mission, vision and core value statement, as well as guidance on how to recruit and select new board members. We also assist with:
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Securing Federal EIN
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Assistance in navigating the Articles of Incorporation process
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Direction on how to select a donor centric nonprofit website and what content will need to be included
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Board orientation and training for new board members
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Preside over 1st Initial Board of Director meeting and to ensure that compliance requirement are met
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Provide board of director training resources to ensure board members comprehend their fiduciary role and responsibilities
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Provide board of director compliance documents during the 1st initial board meeting
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Create bylaws to ensure that they include the necessary language needed for IRS compliance and protect the organization
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Assist board members in securing additional funding by working with board members.
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General counsel during this process
Bronze Plan (Good)
The IRS 501 © 3 Streamline Version for smaller organizations who plan to have a projected budget of $50,000 or less for a combined 2-3 years. Should not go over $50,000 to qualify for this structure. Client will be responsible for Form 1023 EZ filing fee of $275 and Secretary of State filing fee in your state.
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Secure Federal EIN via IRS online
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Drafting Secretary of State additional language as required by IRS
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Completion of Form 1023 EZ Online Application
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Comprehensive Bylaws to include language to protect the Founder and have a legal document to govern by
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Assistance with the mission, vision and core values statements
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Assistance with name of the organization if needed.
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Strategy on how to select board members to your organization
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One 30 Minute Strategy Session
$1600 for Bronze Plan
Silver Plan (Better)
The IRS Form 1023 which has no revenue limitation will be use for this plan. For this plan, client will be responsible for Form 1023 filing fee of $600 and Secretary of State filing fee in your state
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Secure Federal EIN via IRS online
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Drafting Secretary of State additional language as required by IRS
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Completion of Form 1023 Online Application
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Comprehensive Bylaws to include language to protect the Founder and have a legal document to govern by
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Assistance with the mission, vision and core values statements
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Assistance with name of the organization if needed
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Strategy on how to select board members to your organization
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Conduct One Board Compliance Orientation Training for Group
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Assistance with strategically selecting a nonprofit website to generate funding for nonprofit
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Facilitate 1st nonprofit board meeting as required by the IRS
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Prepare all required documents for 1 st Board Meeting
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Develop 1st Board Meeting Agenda
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Develop Board Application, Board Nominee Form and Board Commitment Form
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Participate in one additional board meeting after the 1st Initial Board Meeting (2 total board meetings)
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Two 30 Minutes Strategy Session with Client
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To assist with setting up fundraising platform for Client to raise additional funding and mange their donors through their website.
$3200 for Silver Plan
Gold Plan (the best)
The IRS Form 1023 which has no revenue limitation will be use for this plan. For this plan, client will be responsible for Form 1023 filing fee of $600 and Secretary of State filing fee in your state
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Secure Federal EIN via IRS online
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Drafting Secretary of State additional language as required by IRS
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Completion of Form Online Application
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Comprehensive Bylaws to include language to protect the Founder and have a legal document to govern by
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Assistance with the mission, vision and core values statements
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Assistance with name of the organization if needed
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Strategy on how to select board members to your organization
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Conduct One Board Compliance Orientation Training for Group
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Assistance and guidance with strategically selecting a nonprofit website to generate funding for nonprofit
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Facilitate 1 st nonprofit board meeting as required by the IRS
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Prepare all required legal documents for 1 st Board Meeting
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Develop 1 st Board Meeting Agenda
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Develop Board Application, Board Nominee Form and Board Commitment Form for new board members
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Four (4) one hour strategy sessions for one month
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Assist board members in securing additional funding by working with board members. This will require client identifying and recruiting 15 board members to begin the process. The goal would be to generate $30,000 in 30 days or less
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Assist Client in setting up a $10,000 Facebook Campaign with their board members and volunteers
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Assist Client in securing a fundraising platform for securing new donations and managing their donors through their website
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Assist Client in modeling their fundraising efforts similar to Charity Water to secure additional funds by providing assistance on creating a fundraising video to raise money similar to Charity Water’s The Spring
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Provide Robert’s Rules of Order Cheat Sheet for conducting Parliamentary Procedures for Board Members
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Strategically assist Clients with seasonal campaigns such as Giving Tuesday and End of The Year Campaign
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Develop donor strategy on how to build donor base. The goal is to get to 100 donors in 90 Days or less
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Facilitate with annual budget and fund development plan for the organization
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Provide board resources for professional development assistance
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Draft Key IRS Governing Policies Documents all nonprofits should have in placed
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Provide board governance resources to assist board members
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Draft board officers and board members job descriptions
$6400 for Gold Plan
Strategic Planning
We help your organization create goals and make decisions about how you’ll reach them.
Nonprofit strategic planning is the process of identifying elements of a blueprint that will help organizations accomplish their goals. It requires your organization to create goals and objectives, then to make decisions about how you’ll reach them.
Creating your strategic plan isn’t a linear process. Rather, it's more similar to a flow chart with each element connected to another and leading to a different outcome.
For example, your organization can increase email outreach after you’ve finalized your website and started collecting email addresses through lead capture forms. You can only expand your programming after
you’ve improved your fundraising. And, you can only improve your fundraising by stewarding donors and developing relationships with marketing tools.
Please see below to take a look at the various strategic planning models we offer.
Standard Strategic Planning Model
The standard strategic planning model, also known as the basic planning model, the vision-based model, the goals-based model, and the conventional model, is the most common nonprofit strategic planning model.
This model is especially effective when your external surroundings are generally calm. The economy is probably stable, your community and country are probably at peace, and your organization is well-established. Generally, this model follows these steps:
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Define your organization’s overall mission and goals.
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Set specific, short-term goals you would like to reach to get you closer to that mission.
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Create a clear plan to reach those short-term goals, including who is responsible for the success of each goal.
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Write these actions down
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Create a schedule to complete each action
Issue Based Strategic Planning Model
An issues-based strategic planning model can be used when your organization’s internal operations are in more turbulent conditions. For example, if you’re undergoing frequent staff turnover, a change in leadership, or an understaffed time-frame, you may find an issues-based strategic planning model to be the best choice. This nonprofit strategic planning model is designed to help your organization get back on track if you seemed to have slightly strayed from the path to success.
To implement this strategic planning model, you should conduct the following steps:
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Brainstorm the elements that are holding your organization back from success.
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Decide how to address each of those elements in order to get back on track.
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Carefully monitor your progress
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Adjust the strategy accordingly
Organic Strategic Planning Model
The organic or nonlinear nonprofit strategic planning model is best used when there are uncertain external factors. If you’re unsure or feeling unsteady about what the climate will look like in the near future, this model might be a good choice for your organization. Using this model, your team comes together to solidify their understanding of the organization’s mission and goals. Each person then comes up with actionable next steps to help get closer to that goal by the next time the group meets.
Generally, this model looks something like this:
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You and your team members go out on a retreat to unify your understanding of the big-picture goals for the organization.
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Each individual team member examines their own strengths and decides on an actionable goal they can achieve based on that strength by a certain date.
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The team meets together again either quarterly or annually (or as frequently as you’d like) to discuss the progress toward each goal and how it’s impacting the mission.
Real-Time Strategic Planning Model
The real-time nonprofit strategic planning model is best used when your nonprofit is in the midst of a crisis, like an economic recession or national/global catastrophe. For instance, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many nonprofits may have found use for this strategic model.
This model relies on extreme focus for short-term goals that aim to help you weather the storm. Your nonprofit staff members might meet as frequently as every week to discuss your progress for these short-term goals. The model usually looks like this:
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Your organization meets frequently as a large group to define short-term objectives for individual team members.
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In these team meetings, you discuss whether these goals are met, the day-to-day progress, and any roadblocks your organization members face.
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After the period of crisis ends, your organization can take inventory of the progress made or damage done, thank team members for their hard work, and create a new strategic plan using a different model.
Alignment Strategic Planning Model
The alignment nonprofit strategic planning model is best used when your organization has great individual departments or team members, but has trouble when it comes to communication between these departments.
This model tends to look something like this:
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Your organization meets together to learn about the issues each team member faces in their position.
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Re-establish the common mission that everyone on your team is working towards.
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Come up with little tweaks that can be used to improve the processes of communication at the organization.
Compliance Audits
We help your organization create goals and make decisions about how you’ll reach them.
All too often, whether a nonprofit corporation is legally compliant in its operations receives attention only after a conflict or issue arises. Instead, a nonprofit corporation can better prevent such conflicts and protect itself through regular legal audits of its corporate governance, federal and state tax exemption, other federal tax law matters, employment and volunteer issues, intellectual property, and facilities. Financial audits alone, while important, will
sufficiently account for the larger issue of overall compliance with federal, state, and local laws.
A legal audit will include a wide range of information-gathering and reviewing. In auditing the following areas, questions should look both backward (i.e., have we done what is required?) and forward (i.e., what else can we do?). Nonprofit should keep accurate and organized files so that various organizational documents and financial statements are up to date and easy to access.
The following areas and documents should be reviewed for compliance when conducting a legal audit:
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Corporate Governance
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Articles of Incorporation (and any amendments)
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Bylaws (and any amendments)
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Meeting minutes (board, membership, annual, special, committee, etc.)
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Copies of governance-related policies
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Copies of financial statements
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Copies of any contracts for services
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And More
Grant Writing
We offer both comprehensive grant writing services and research of potential funding opportunities.
Call today to set up an initial grant readiness consultant assessment conference. Please note that consulting firm’s members will not work on a contingent basis or for a percentage of the funds raised through its grant writing or fund development efforts. The additional retainer fee for grant writing services will vary depending on the scope of services and the targeted number of grants that will be identified and applied for.
Gift Campaigns
Set up major gift campaigns for fundraising, donor development, and retention strategies.
Ensure that your nonprofit organization is maximizing its fundraising opportunities. We will assist you in setting up major gift campaigns and equip you with donor retention strategies. This will include working with clients to set up major gift campaigns for fundraising, donor development and retention strategies and special events campaigns such as Giving Tuesday and The End Of The Year Campaigns for nonprofit organizations.
Peer to Peer Fundraising
Increase the awareness of an event with Peer-to-Peer fundraising strategies.
Peer-to-peer fundraising is a fundraising strategy that empowers individuals to raise money on behalf of a cause via online fundraising pages. This method leverages existing social networks to maximize the impact of a fundraising campaign.
Peer to Peer Fundraising is a social/team/personal fundraising method in
which your supporters fundraise on your behalf. Your Nonprofit Organization can utilize Peer to Peer Fundraising to increase awareness of an event (like bikeathons & walkathons), get supporters involved with your mission, and raise more money!
How does peer-to-peer fundraising work?
The overall process involves the following steps.
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The nonprofit determines its goal
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The nonprofit sets up its main campaign page using a peer-to-peer fundraising platform
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Recruit volunteer fundraisers to set up individual campaign pages.
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Provide volunteer fundraisers with resources to promoting their pages.
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Volunteer fundraisers share their campaign pages on variety of platforms
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Track the campaign’s progress and offer continued support to volunteers
Other Services
Board Retreat and Training
Board retreat and training for nonprofit board members and key staff can be provided for nonprofit organization.
Please call for quote and consultation.
Policies and Procedures
This includes developing a comprehensive personnel’s manual, accounting policies, and procedure manual.
Cost determined by number of documents.
Executive Board Coaching
One on one coaching for executive director or board chair new in their position or in need of professional development.
Please call for quote and consultation.
Business Plans
Comprehensive business plans costs will vary based on the amount of required time by potential client.
Average cost is $3,200 and up.
Business Formation Setup
This will include LLC formation and LLC Operational Agreement which governed the business.
Average cost is $550.
Infrastructure Development
We work with board personnel to ensure that organization is in legal compliance according to the IRS and nonprofit best practices.
Please call for quote and consultation.