of Capacity Building for Californias RCDs C a l i f o r n i a A s s - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Relevant, Excellent, and Visible: Five Years

• f Capacity Building for California’s RCDs

C a l i f o r n i a A s s o c i a t i o n o f R e s o u r c e C o n s e r v a t i o n D i s t r i c t s a n d S o l i d G r o u n d C o n s u l t i n g

Karen Buhr

Executive Director California Association

• f Resource

Conservation Districts

Sara Schremmer

Capacity Building Program Manager California Association

• f Resource

Conservation Districts

Mandy Parkes

Executive Director Inland Empire Resource Conservation District

Amy Stork

Project Lead Solid Ground Consulting

Building District Capacity

• What does “capacity building” mean to

you?

• What are some of your district’s or your

state’s most important capacity needs?

Building District Capacity

• Board recruitment and development
• Strategic planning
• Staff leadership
• Collaboration between districts
• Communications
• Advocacy at the local and state level

California’s Resource Conservation Districts

• 98 RCDs
• 10 regions
• No baseline allocation from state
• Some districts have local tax base funding

The Need

• Proposition 68 funding expired – districts had been overly

dependent on one funding source

• Need for a new funding model for districts
• Growing environmental need – drought, wildfire, etc.
• Agencies starting to think more regionally

VISION AND STANDARDS

• “There was serious variation in capacity to complete projects

and that put us in such a horrible position to seek statewide funding… We had to circle the wagons in terms of who we were, who we wanted to be, and how to get out partners engaged.”

• Mandy Parkes

Inland Empire RCD

VISION AND STANDARDS

• High-performing RCDs discussed ways to

strengthen the statewide network.

• Group developed a vision:

“RCDs will be Relevant, Excellent, and Visible ‘go-to’ hubs for natural resource conservation and agriculture on public and private land at the local, regional, state, tribal, and federal levels”

• Standards developed for RCDs: Tiers 1, 2, and 3

Capacity Building Program Partners

Capacity Building For RCDs

5-year Capacity Building Program

• Survey to determine needs
• RCD leaders participated in design of program
• Program design
• Trainings
• Customized assistance for individual RCDs
• Collaborative planning
• Internal work for CARCD – planning, revenue, board
• Knowledge Transfer

“ F o r m e , i t b r o u g h t g r e a t e r a w a r e n e s s – I r e c o g n i z e d m y s e l f i n a l e a d e r s h i p r o l e , o u t a n d a b o u t r e p r e s e n t i n g t h e R C D . A n d a f t e r g o i n g t h r o u g h t h e t r a i n i n g , I s e e l e a d e r s h i p c o n c e p t s a t p l a y i n v a r i o u s o t h e r a s p e c t s o f m y l i f e .”

• B r i n G r e e r, R C D o f Te h a m a C o u n t y

Group Trainings: Leadership Academies

• For district managers and board

members

• Goal: develop leadership mindset

and specific skills

• Intensive retreat followed by

distance learning and peer support with 4 – 7 months of cohort calls

“ T h e A d v o c a c y A c a d e m y i n c r e a s e d m y c o m f o r t l e v e l i n t a l k i n g w i t h l e g i s l a t o r s .”

• G o r d o n L o n g , D i r e c t o r, C a l a v e r a s R C D

“ T h e s k i l l s c o n t i n u e t o b e p a s s e d o n … I e v e n c o n d u c t e d a ‘ m i n i - A c a d e m y ’ h e r e a t t h e o f f i c e . E v e r y o n e u n d e r s t a n d s t h a t w e a r e a l w a y s l a y i n g t h e g r o u n d w o r k f o r f u t u r e p r o j e c t s w h e n e v e r w e t a l k a b o u t w h a t w e d o .

• S a r a L e t t o n , W e s t e r n S h a s t a R C D

Group Trainings: Advocacy Academy

• For district managers and board

members

• Goal: develop understanding and

comfort with outreach to elected officials

• One-day learning experience
• Followed by immediate legislative visits

Group Trainings: Communications Academy

• Goal: Build RCDs’ ability to think

strategically about communications

• Series of six online webinars
• Based on a statewide message

platform developed for RCDs

“ S a n M a t e o R C D h a s b e e n t o a f e w c o m m u n i c a t i o n s w o r k s h o p s a n d g o t t e n a l o t

• u t o f t h e m . O u r c o m m u n i c a t i o n s h a v e

d e f i n i t e l y i m p r o v e d a s a r e s u l t … ”

• K e l l y x N e l s o n , S a n M a t e o R C D

Group Trainings: Annual Meeting Capacity Day

• For district managers and board

members

• Goal: “Choose your adventure”
• rganizational skill building day
• 8-10 sessions offered for all levels
• Held day before annual conference

“ F r o m a p e r s o n a l p e r s p e c t i v e , I f e e l I h a v e a m u c h s t r o n g e r c o n n e c t i o n t o t h e B o a r d a n d p e r s p e c t i v e o f B o a r d M e m b e r s t h a n k s t o o u r m e e t i n g s .”

Individual RCD Assistance

• Goal: Engage board and staff to

improve key organizational practices

• Assessments
• Strategic planning
• Board development
• Staffing plans/team building

Lessons Learned

• Differing capacity levels require

different trainings

• Volunteer board members require

different follow up than staff

• Power of face-to-face
• Even with attempts to make

everything accessible, sometimes hard for very low capacity

• rganizations to participate

Durable Collaborations

• Goal: Strengthen the entire RCD network by

developing a scalable model for collaboration that reduces unnecessary competition & improves the ability of districts to meet their objectives

• Voluntary and accessible application process
• 7 cohorts ranging from large (11 RCDs) to small

(2 RCDs) with a spectrum of trust, ambition, and capacity

Durable Collaboration Examples

• Information sharing
• Cooperation on discrete projects
• Equipment sharing
• Staff sharing
• Consolidation
• Pursuit of joint funding opportunities

Collaboration Process

• Pre-work to outline individual needs,

hopes, and concerns

• Facilitated quarterly all-day meetings and

monthly conference calls to reach agreement around key decision points and next steps

• Each RCD’s Board of Directors reviews and

approves collaboration plan

• Legal review of any formal agreements
• Implementation of collaboration plan

“I wasn’t engaged with the other RCDs, or with CARCD in general, at that time. But I knew inherently that engaging with the larger group. thinking at a larger scale, would be helpful. Thinking on a regional, watershed scale, you can get more collective bang for your conservation buck by

• collaborating. You see funders moving

to work at a regional scale.”

• Jill Demers, Humboldt County RCD

CARCD’s Role

• Provide staff time for research, coordination,

and other forms of support to the seven RCD cohorts

• Seek diversified funding to cover costs of

facilitation services and provide stipends for RCD participant staff/travel time

• Review drafts of collaboration plans and legal

contracts

• Conduct outreach to partner agencies about

funding opportunities for RCD regional entities

Results

• At minimum the cohorts will produce a plan

clarifying how they will work together

• Improved trust amongst RCDs
• For the first time, 2 RCD cohorts are pursuing

funding opportunities as regional entities

• 2 RCD cohorts have a formal contract currently

under (or close to) legal review

• Multiple rounds of match funding secured to

support the RCD durable collaborations

• Paradigm shift from competition to

collaboration

“ W h e n i n o n e p h o n e c o n v e r s a t i o n y o u h a v e n i n e d i s t r i c t m a n a g e r s s a y i n g , ‘ I ’ l l d o w h a t e v e r I c a n f o r t h e g o o d o f t h e w h o l e ,’ t h a t ’s a b i g t u r n i n g p o i n t f o r t h e s e c t o r.” — D e v i n B e s t , E x e c u t i v e D i r e c t o r U p p e r S a l i n a s - L a s Ta b l a s R C D

Lessons Learned

• Clear and consistent communication is

everything

• Funding is critical
• Flexibility and inclusion are essential
• Participant leaders must be willing to

step forward to help drive the process

• Project organizers must be willing to

seek external support as needed

Capacity Building for CARCD

• 5-year goals for board

development, advocacy, staffing, and revenue development.

Strategic Planning

• Facilitated conversations led to

re-thinking who serves on the board

• Established positions for some District

Managers and outside partners

• Revised board member job description
• Identified skills and connections

needed on the board.

Board Development

• Developed a functional budget
• Built the case for support through

increased membership dues

• Outlined targeted grants and pass-

through funding from state agencies.

Revenue Plan

• Messaging for use with key

audiences (funders, legislators, member districts)

• Outline of outreach strategies,

tactics, and tools

Communications Platform

Knowledge Transfer

• Goal: Build CARCD capacity to

continue the work

• Training CARCD staff
• Developing training resources for use

at regional meetings and elsewhere

• Creating opportunities for peer-led

training at future conferences and regional meetings

“This capacity building program has identified CARCD’s

• role. Through this process, they’ve heard from the districts

what RCDs need. They are way more responsive now: they have gone out on our behalf and advocated for our needs.”

— N I C O L E C A R T W R I G H T, E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R , TA H O E R C D

Inland Empire RCD

• Large, relatively urban district east of

L.A.

• Programs in weed abatement,

wetlands mitigation, agriculture

• Education program serving dozens of

schools

• Participated in group trainings and

collaboration planning

Keys to success

• Clear need and goals
• Funding source(s)
• Participation by districts in program

design

• In-house capacity to manage the program
• Flexible, iterative approach
• Collaborative consulting partner(s)

Thank You & Questions

Info@carcd.org facebook.com/californiaRCDs Karen Buhr, CARCD Sara Schremmer, CARCD Mandy Parkes, Inland Empire RCD Amy Stork, Solid Ground Consulting