Stories of Impact

During the two and a half years that Anna worked with the Enough Project, she managed the spin-off of The Enough Project from the Center for American Progress to its new fiscal sponsor, the New Venture Fund, and worked with the founder to refine the organization’s mission and vision. Creating operational systems and processes needed to support the growth of the organization was a major focus of Anna’s work. She led the development of a staffing strategy, increased employees by 35 percent, established a performance management process, and improved role clarification. In finance, Anna supported a 35 percent increase in the budget, strengthened internal controls, and synced business systems with program delivery needs. She also led the creation of programmatic objectives and tied program outcomes to the performance review process.

“Anna addressed our issues with a customized approach, which made her work much more impactful than if she had come in and said: this is how it is done,” said John. “She said: let’s get the problems out on the table. And then, she began iteratively working with staff to find solutions. She quickly gained staff confidence so they were comfortable with the kinds of processes that she was introducing.”

A few weeks after Anna completed her work with The Enough Project, the organization officially launched The Sentry, an investigative and policy team that has become highly respected for its efforts to hold war criminals accountable. “Anna helped lay the foundation for this development,” said John. “She supported us in taking the organization to another level, essentially unlocking potential that had existed but was repressed due to administrative and managerial challenges.”

“Anna joined us when we were moving from one type of organization to another, in terms of operations and management,” said Trevor. “We needed someone who understood the evolution of organizations and could help us set up processes. For example, as a 12-person organization, we often made consensus decisions by email. When you are bigger – we are now 65 people – that approach no longer works. Anna helped us figure out what we needed to do and how we needed to do it.”

CLC decided to hire a time-bound change leader at this inflection point, rather than a permanent COO, because the organization did not know what functions and roles it needed to support future success. “This approach gave us time to figure out what staff we needed without making a long-term commitment to a role that might ultimately not serve the organization,” said Trevor. “The Term Executive model provides the short-term interjection of expertise in an organization at a critical stage of its development. Because Anna had worked with organizations that were growing and in transition, she was able to help guide our organization through this phase.” The organization ultimately hired a Senior Vice President of Programs and a Senior Vice President of Operations.

Trevor sees the Term Executive as an effective model for addressing organizational transition – providing an opportunity for strategic thinking and development in between leaders. “It gives the organization the time to explore who it is, who it wants to be, and who should lead it.” The CLC has evolved into a nonprofit with an annual budget of $15 million that has successfully employed litigation, policy advocacy, and other tools to help create a more transparent, accountable, and inclusive democracy.

When Anna joined the organization, the work involved “all hands on deck” to address the rapidly changing landscape. She helped the organization interpret a strategic plan that another consultant had created, defining what aspects of programming would remain, what would be discontinued, and how to navigate from the present to that future. As the landscape shifted, the organization expanded its approach from working primarily through law enforcement to engaging more frequently through communities – which required a different set of skills and competencies. Anna collaborated with staff to determine what roles were needed (and in what priority order) and developed an equitable pay scale, job descriptions, and a plan for recruiting new talent.

The organization had a team with strong management experience, but limited nonprofit executive expertise, so Anna devoted a great deal of time to guiding leaders and bringing the executive team together as a cohesive unit. “Anna was a fantastic coach to me and others – helping us to understand how nonprofits should work and how we should structure the organization,” says Dr. Goff. “It can be hard to come into an organization where people have been working together for 10 years and know when to listen and when to push. Anna excelled at understanding the pulse of our organization and managing the cadence of our growth.”

Dr. Goff had an ongoing sense that what CPE was going through was unique, but Anna – with her years of nonprofit expertise – assured CPE staff that they weren’t alone in their challenges, and helped the organization translate problems into best practices. “Anna was a great thought partner for me and CPE,” says Dr. Goff. “She was the arrow on the GPS of where we are going.” During Anna’s tenure at CPE, the organization grew fivefold, and it is on the trajectory to double that expansion. Most importantly, CPE has an important message to deliver about equitable public safety, and with its new focus and strong operational and leadership foundation, it has taken its rightful place on the national stage.