Consultants Network Provides Large Array of Solutions for CHHSM Members

One CHHSM agency needs technology and web presence assessment. Another needs some mission and vision fine tuning, while a third needs writing and graphic design assistance. Other CHHSM members look for help examining governance strategies for keeping pace with the times. Often, CHHSM members turn to the Consultants Network to meet their needs.

CHHSM’s Consultants Network is comprised of an eclectic mix of experienced professionals who are excited about assisting faith-based ministries in their work. Their expertise runs the gamut from strategic planning, governance, and finance to fundraising, communications/marketing, IT assessments and strategies, and legal advice. Each consultant has been vetted by CHHSM and offers members reduced fees-for-service. CHHSM members work directly with consultants, negotiating contracts based on their own organizational needs.

The network’s newest member is Rick Stiffney, who heads up Integrated Leadership and Consultancy, LLC. Based in Goshen Ind., Rick’s work focuses on executive development, strategic positioning and planning, affiliation development, values integration, and nonprofit board education and development.

“I am keenly interested in working with organizations and leaders that care deeply about the integration of ‘faith’ or ‘spirituality’ with adaptive practice,” Stiffney says. “This integration of character, competence, and credibility is desperately needed in the world [and] so important as we see the dramatic escalation of consolidation activity throughout the health and human services sector. Large systems can maintain their heart.”

Stiffney already has assisted several CHHSM agencies. At Beatitudes Campus in Phoenix, he worked with its board on governance practice and policy review, adjustments, and improvements.

Plymouth Place in LaGrange Park, Ill., first reviewed governance practices with Stiffney, which “resulted in some redesign of structure and process,” he says. “Now we are working together on growth strategies for their context.”

“I have become a kind of boardroom ‘whisperer,’” Stiffney adds, “able to be present non-anxiously to support and advise a board and senior leadership as they try to make sense of lots of vexing strategic matters.”

The Rev. George Graham, CHHSM’s vice president, sees the Consultants Network as an invaluable benefit for members. “The consultants on our list share a deep appreciation for the missions of our organizations,” Graham says, “and understand their values, which are rooted in faith.”

Another consultant is Tyler Hoffman, whose innovative approach to how nonprofits use technology already has been invaluable to CHHSM’s national office and to several CHHSM agencies. Hoffman helps nonprofits use technology to realize their full potential. His services include IT assessments and strategy, web design and development, and technology training.

“CHHSM member clients are always my favorite clients,” he says. “The staff I encounter at these organizations always prove incredibly dedicated, making huge strides in their field while often overcoming limited resources. Together, we transform their technology into a strategic and cost-effective partner, rather than a source of pain or complexity.”

Other consultants include CHHSM’s communication and marketing consultant Barb Powell, of JLP Creative, a writing, editing, graphic design, and marketing management company; Darchelle M. Garner of Vineland Consulting Group, a strategic planning consultant; governance and fundraising expert Don Hill of Don Hill Consulting; Rion Safier of Rion Safier Accounting; K. Edward (Ed) Holderle III, a partner at Spencer-Fane LLC, which provides legal representation and advice for nonprofits; Jim Schnurbusch, founder of orgstory, who provides constituent relationships, strategic planning, organizational branding, marketing and communications services; and Sandy Lindahl, of Lindahl Consultants, with expetise in fundraising, development, and philanthropy.

Learn more about the Consultants Network.