consulting services

Consultations with a diverse team of expert consultants and Flintridge staff are available for nonprofit organizations. Guidance is offered in most areas of nonprofit management including fund development, proposal reviews, board development, special events, program planning, communications, real estate and human resources procedures.

Curbside Consultations

Professional consultants provide nonprofit organizations with customized support from 3 to 7 p.m. on the third and fourth Tuesdays of the month at Flintridge Center offices. An appointment must be made in advance. During the 40-minute consultation session, individualized assistance is provided on topics such as board development, fundraising, grantsmanship, financial management, planning, staff development and any other issues that will help strengthen your organization.

Curbside Consultants

Lee Draper, Ph.D., President, Draper Consulting Group
Dr. Lee Draper brings a broad understanding of the issues facing nonprofit organizations from over 30 years of experience working in the nonprofit sector. As President of the Draper Consulting Group (DCG), she has provided essential services to more than 200 nonprofits and grantmakers since 1990. She has expertise in strategic planning, board development and expansion, comprehensive nonprofit management, and fund development (including foundation and corporate grantsmanship, individual and major gift solicitation, and capital campaigns). DCG is known for helping nonprofits transform themselves to a higher level of effectiveness and for helping nonprofit leaders navigate periods of change and challenge. Dr. Draper has also held management positions at three major California foundations: The Ahmanson Foundation, the W. M. Keck Foundation and the California Community Foundation. DCG has worked with over 50 grantmakers and is nationally respected in the field of philanthropy. This unique vantage point enables Dr. Draper to bring the funder perspective to discussions of fund development and organizational sustainability.

Linda Eisenhart, M.A. Ed., CFRE, President, Eisenhart & Associates, Inc.
Linda Eisenhart has over 20 years of successful experience in nonprofit organization management, fund development and event management in addition to eight years in corporate marketing and sponsorship sales. Her experience in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors gives her a unique perspective on keeping your nonprofit organization viable in the current economy. She is also a past president of the Florida Suncoast Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and a graduate of the prestigious AFP Faculty Teaching Academy. She earned her undergraduate and graduate degrees at Ohio State University, is a Certified Fund Raising Executive, a past member of the board of the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of AFP as well as currently serving as the 2010 co-chair of National Philanthropy Day.

To schedule a Curbside Consulting session, please submit the appropriate request form:

Consultations with Flintridge Staff

Consultations with Flintridge staff are available by appointment to organizations serving families in Northwest Pasadena and Altadena. Staff specialty areas are as follows:

Facilities (Jaylene Moseley): for help in developing a strategy to meet your facility requirements, whether your organization is looking for space to rent, studying a proposed lease, considering a purchase of real estate, planning to construct a new facility or upgrading an existing one.

Nonprofit Management (Lisa Wilson): for general management assistance in the areas of program planning, proposal writing, board development, volunteer management, strategic planning and fundraising.

Human Resources (Yvonne Taylor): for assistance that ranges from creating an employee handbook and developing a job description to performing a human resources audit of organizational policies and procedures.

Communications (Karen Gerst): assistance with strategic communications, newsletters, brochures, annual reports, website content, news releases and media story development.

Please contact Lisa Wilson for more information.

Additional Consultants Available on Request

Nonprofit organizations that primarily serve families in Northwest Pasadena/Altadena with budgets of less than $1 million may also request individualized assistance from the expert consultants listed below. Eligible organizations may apply for a Community Services scholarship to cover the consultation fee. Please contact Lisa Wilson for more information.

Consultant Roster

Michael Browning provides technical assistance, consultations and executive coaching to community-based organizations and their leaders. While providing support for the Mustangs on the Move program, he most recently served as a senior administrative analyst for UC Berkeley’s Institute for the Study of Social Change, Prevention by Design where he worked with county and community-based alcohol and drug prevention departments and programs. Mr. Browning, a former executive director of a nonprofit anti-drug coalition, has over 20 years experience in the areas of local, state and national youth services; community organization; substance abuse prevention; violence prevention; cultural proficiency development; program planning, development and evaluation; public policy advocacy; and strategic planning. He provided support to President Jimmy Carter’s Atlanta Project, Nancy Reagan’s BEST After School Drug Prevention Program and the Hilton Foundation’s Project ALERT. Mentoring, parenting, coalition building, violence prevention and curriculum development are just a few of the programs that he has developed and implemented. Mr. Browning is a former member of the Director’s Advisory Council of California’s Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs and is a founding member of the California Prevention Collaborative. He was awarded a Join Together Fellowship at Boston University and a Eureka Fellowship, and is a graduate of the University of Southern California.

Diane Burbie is owner of The ASPIRE Group consulting firm. She is an experienced facilitator/trainer who has worked with myriad audiences across the country on the subjects of race relations, diversity, conflict resolution, leadership styles and organizational communication systems. She has worked on projects with the Cornerstone, Looking Glass and Shakespeare Festival LA theater companies addressing themes of race, faith and immigration. She is also a consultant to the National Conference for Community and Justice and the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance. She served as Vice-Chair of the Pasadena Human Relations Commission. Ms. Burbie holds a BA from Stanford University in Psychology and African-American Studies, an MBA from the University of Southern California and certificates in Negotiation (Harvard University Law School) and in Managing Multicultural Work Environments (California State University Fullerton).

Cheryl Cromwell has been in private practice as a management consultant for nonprofit organizations for 20 years. Previously she served as the Director of the State of Florida’s Office of Community Services; Assistant Director of the United Way Kellogg Training Center; and faculty member in Schools of Social Work at UCLA, Cal State LA, Florida State University and the Nonprofit Management Program at the University of San Francisco. Ms. Cromwell has a Master's degree in Social Work from Bryn Mawr College. She has assisted numerous public agencies and nonprofit organizations with the development of culturally responsive services.

Mary Genis founded SINTRA Consulting in 1995 after working for 15 years in fundraising and executive education. Her areas of expertise include executive coaching, leadership, organizational development, major gift strategy, and capacity-building. She earned her BS in Political Science from Bradley University and an MBA from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California. She completed postgraduate work in Educational Administration at USC’s School of Education, earned her Professional Coaching certification at the Hudson Institute in Santa Barbara and has been certified by the International Coaching Federation.

Belinda Madrid-Teitel is a capacity building consultant and trainer with the Center for Nonprofit Management. Formerly the Vice President of Draper Consulting Group, she brings skills from 26 years in the nonprofit, business and governmental sector. She offers expertise in community relations, fundraising and grantsmanship, training and organizational development, marketing and strategic planning. Prior to joining Draper Consulting Group in 1998, Ms. Madrid-Teitel served as Southern California Director for Earth Share of California, a nonprofit federation of 90 local, state and national environmental organizations.

Ron Milam has over 11 years of experience in the nonprofit sector and currently consults for community-based nonprofits in the areas of fundraising, strategic planning, leadership development and campaign planning. He began his career working on policy issues for the Surface Transportation Policy Project, while also teaching bicycle safety for the Los Angeles Unified School District. Mr. Milam then founded the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition and served as its first Executive Director. He later raised over $2 million for Enterprise Community Partners and the Future Leaders Institute Charter School in New York City. He has served as a board member for both Sustainable South Bronx and the Thunderhead Alliance.

Rodney D. Walker is the managing director of Walker & Associates located in Pasadena, CA. Committed to strengthening and encouraging healthier communities through consulting, leadership development and training, Mr. Walker helps executive directors, boards and staff to build their fundraising and organizational capacity by providing sound advice, proven strategies and best practices in the nonprofit sector. His experience includes leadership roles at several nonprofit organizations including Austin Area Urban League and Community Action Network. Mr. Walker holds a Master of Business Administration in Nonprofit Management from Hope International University, a Master of Arts in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary, and a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from Duke University. He and his wife Toni have lived in Pasadena since 2002.

Photo: Sayuri Hanna