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Comprehensive services designed for continuous improvement.

Apter & O’Connor helps you foster fidelity to your mission. As a non-profit, you have a special obligations to be good steward of public trust. Apter & O'Connor builds and burnishes that trust by evaluating your systems and services. That’s the evaluation part, but we don’t stop there. A&O also strives to instill a culture and capacity for reflective problem-solving and evaluation within each organization; we employ data and feedback from a strong performance management system to enable managers to monitor staff activity and effectiveness, assess program functioning, implement needed changes, measure progress toward intended targets and outcomes, and we apply decades of successful, national-scale experience to  nurture healthy, vigorous, and sustainable growth.

A trusted, outside specialist in envisioning, challenging, measuring, facilitating, training, and coaching -- Apter & O’Connor guides nonprofits and others to:

  • make better decisions
  • manage more efficiently -- by saving time, money, or both
  • measure success or failure based on the systematic collection of qualitative and quantitative data
  • improve outcomes
  • demonstrate impact and value -- using data to tell your story!

Want to see our services in action? Check out our Sectors page or Full Client List -- which include several case histories.

 

EVALUATION & RESEARCH

“Evaluation involves assessing the strengths and weaknesses of programs, policies, personnel, products, and organizations to improve their effectiveness.”

The statement is from the American Evaluation Association -- and we agree with it wholeheartedly! With extensive experience and skill in both qualitative and quantitative research methods, Apter & O'Connor offers expertise in survey design and administration, case studies, interviews, focus groups, and statistical analysis with large population data sets. The benefits of such rigorous research and evaluation for you? It gauges your effectiveness, it charts your improvement, and funders value it immensely.

 

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS & NEEDS ASSESSMENTS

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”

That’s what Michael Bloomberg recently tweeted and we fully concur. Apter & O’Connor’s veteran researchers draw upon qualitative and quantitative methods to help organizations be smart about dollars, decisions, and delivery of services. We do this for the real world, not an abstract 'Ivory Tower.' We measure to help you manage: It’s not rocket science, but it is science.

 

STRATEGIC PLANNING & CAPACITY BUILDING

Before constructing a house, it's best to know what sort of ground you're building on. The same goes for building your organization...

Apter & O’Connor can assess your organizational competencies and design a strategic plan to address all of the identified needs. We customize our approach to your culture, budget and timeline. As important, we partner with you to discern and articulate your strengths, challenges, and goals. We roll up our sleeves and sharpen our pencils to come up with a blueprint for improvement. That might mean devising a path to your envisioned future, expanding organizational capacity, developing your board, leadership team, or front-line staff, or identifying funding opportunities to make your plans manifest.

 

GROUP FACILITATION

"The facilitator's role…is to lead the group in drawing out answers, building a vision and developing plans that motivate everybody to achieve agreed upon goals - in short, to win."

Laura Spencer ("Winning Through Participation") says it well -- and not by coincidence, A&O has a long track record of walking the talk! Whether the objective of your assembly is setting a high-level and long-term strategy, brainstorming new programs and services, fostering frank discussions around the merits or shortcomings of existing programming, problem solving around a very particular issue, or team-building in the wake of organizational change like staff adjustments, acquisitions, or mergers... Apter & O'Connor brings a unique combination of objectivity, understanding of the public-sector issues, and sensitivity to your unique circumstances to ensure both a positive group facilitation process and equally positive outcomes.

 

LEADERSHIP & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

"A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don’t necessarily want to go, but ought to be.” – Rosalynn Carter, former first lady of the United States

Whether the contributors in question are your board, your senior leadership team, or your front-line staff...professional development is not about staying current; it’s about staying ahead.  Growing and nurturing emerging leaders within your agency and developing true teamwork are equally important to your sustainability. Apter & O’Connor custom-designs training or professional learning — through workshops, webinars, coaching, technical assistance, or whatever mode best suits your organization. Recent topics include:

  • Logic Modeling and Evaluation 101

  • Leading the Way – Leaders as Visionaries – Decision Makers – Agents of Change

  • Leading in the Classroom

  • Creating a Culture of Teamwork

  • Cognitive CoachingSM

  • Data Driven Decision Making - Building capacity to improve program planning, measure impact, and become more competitive for funding opportunities

 

FUNDS SOURCING

"Finding grants for your nonprofit organization is a lot like shopping for a pair of jeans. They come in all shapes and sizes, require some self-reflection and can be an incredibly time-consuming process. And maybe it’s not your favorite thing to do."

An apt description from the folks at nonprofithub.org  As longtime nonprofit and public-sector grant specialists, we have our ears to the grants ground. Apter & O’Connor helps discover funding opportunities, assists you with your application strategy, messaging, and proposed measurements, can review the proposals you write for quality control before submission, and (of course) can help with implementation and evaluation once funds are secured. The result is a win-win-win for your funding source, for you, and for the community you serve.