Business Experts Offer Free Consulting to Nonprofits
Can the Stanford Alumni Consulting Team (ACT) help your nonprofit?
By Alex Lilley, Stanford ACT member since 2005
Stanford ACT is a team of seasoned business consultants who joined together to offer local nonprofit organizations pro bono consulting so they can better serve their communities.
Stanford ACT was started by alumni of the Stanford Business School in 1987 and has been active in the San Francisco Bay Area ever since. In 2005, a group of five alumni started this same activity in the Monterey Bay area in partnership with Community Foundation for Monterey County.
Consultants with Varied Experience
Stanford ACT in Monterey Bay is composed of individuals with decades of executive experience and significant expertise in many fields, including finance, planning, sales and marketing, HR, operations management and more.
Our team
members have worked across a wide range of industries in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors, some with Fortune 500 companies. We bring our diverse experiences and offer the organizations with which we work the unique advantage of a team-based consulting approach.” – Alex Lilley
Types of Consulting Provided
In 2016 we worked on projects with nine organizations in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.These projects included:
- Strategic Planning
- Business Planning
- Marketing, Financial Analysis
- Project Planning
- Organizational & Board Development
We work closely with an organization’s leadership to assure that our work fits the organization’s needs, and over 75% of our recommendations have been slated for implementation.
Anna Foglia, CEO of Sun Street Centers, a Salinas-based drug and alcohol recovery services provider, says she has been able to apply recommendations and is grateful for insight gained through participation.
I cannot thank you enough for the rich analysis, spot-on recommendations and all-around useful tool you developed for us!” – Anna Foglia, Sun Street Centers CEO & Stanford ACT participant
“I know the Board is really impressed and appreciative of your work. We will be reviewing this plan a lot over the coming months,” she said.
How to Apply
If you are a nonprofit interested in working with Stanford ACT in Monterey Bay, please apply online at www.cfmco.org/StanfordACT. Consulting is offered in partnership with the Center for Nonprofit Excellence of the Community Foundation for Monterey County. Applications (very brief) are due January 26, 2018.
Projects are selected in February and March and implemented between March and October.