The Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Alameda County provides assistance to the poor and homeless in Alameda County. As Berkeley Board Fellows, our goal was to aid the board of directors in developing a strategic plan to strengthen governance, evaluate programs, and ensure long-term sustainability.

1. Aspire Education Project
Shishir Agrawal www.aspireeducationproject.org
Tobi Hann
Aspire Education Project provides academic tutoring
and standardized test preparation to students in
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their homes, at after-school centers and in
partnership with other organizations.
Aspire also coordinates after-school programs and
manages the Community Reading Buddies literacy
program.
• Develop a funding strategy for 2012 and going
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forward
• Goal to learn from best-practice fund raising
techniques
• Implementable recommendations

2. BAHIA – Bay Area Hispano
Elsita Meyer-Brandt Insitute for Advancement
Manoj Das www.bahiainc.com
Org logo
• Org mission: Provide families with high
quality, nurturing, bilingual learning environments
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where children grow to become successful lifelong
learners.
• Vision: BAHIA will spread its promising practices in
bilingual education, build deeper relationships with
powerful partner organizations, attract a broader
base of institutional funders, and improve systems
on a programmatic and administrative level.
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Draft a Fundraising plan:
• Identify gap between budget and income that will have to be
financed through fundraising
• Develop one document compiling all existing and potential
fundraising initiatives
• Develop action / outreach plan and assign responsibilities within
BAHIA

3. Bay Area Urban Debate League
Hiraa Khan www.baudl.org
Jahnavi Pendharkar
Speak. Learn. Lead.
The Bay Area Urban Debate League is dedicated to
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expanding opportunities for high school students in
the San Francisco Bay Area to join in rigorous
academic competition and become
articulate, informed leaders in their schools and
communities.
• Our project consisted of 2 stages. First, we surveyed
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different non-profit funding models. After
discussing the merits with the Board, we developed
a small donor campaign strategy.

4. Berkeley Public Education
Mike Ciccarone Foundation
Melanie Schoeppe www.bpef-online.org
• Berkeley Public Education Foundation is about
empowering and inspiring teachers to provide an
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extraordinary education for every child in Berkeley’s
public schools!
• BPEF’s work connects donors with the
teachers, students, families, and volunteers who are
engaged in making our schools the best they can
be.
• We created strategic plans for the Berkeley Public
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Education Foundation to engage with the UC
Berkeley community around fundraising both at the
faculty and student level.

5. Buchanan YMCA
Jay Beermann www.ymcasf.org/buchanan
Vivek Bidwai
• The YMCA of San Francisco builds strong kids, strong
families and strong communities by enriching the lives
of all the people in spirit, mind and body.
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• The Buchanan YMCA's vision is to be known as a
community asset, recognized for quality programs that
are responsive to our diverse community needs.
• We offer community programs for youth & teens, and
have extensive outreach programs in the communities
that we serve.
• We partnered with the Executive Director and the Board of
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Directors to provide a marketing plan intended to help boost new
membership and member retention for the branch. This marketing
included a competitor assessment and differentiation analysis, a
customer analysis and target customer definition, and proposed
solutions and implementation plans to help meet the goals
determined by the Executive Director and the Board of Directors.

6. Children’s Council of San
Ed Parillon Francisco
Karrie Tam www.childrenscouncil.org
• Since 1973, Children’s Council has helped
children grow, families work, and San Francisco
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prosper.
• CCSF strives to make affordable, high-quality
child care a reality for all working families.
• Benchmarking study of similar organizations to
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determine available sources of funding given the
current California fiscal context

7. Community Living Campaign
Tina Liang www.sfcommunityliving.org
Abhilash Ravishankar
Mission: The Community Living Campaign
strengthens and mobilizes individuals and
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organizations to assure every person’s right to live
in community. Our strategy is to leverage the power
of relationships to improve services and support.
• Develop a strategy for being more financial sustainable
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and have more fundraising strategies
• Understand CLC’s role in the community, how to measure
social capital, and define the cost structure of the
organization

8. California Poets In The School
Peter Rhee www.cpits.org
Gaurav Agarwal
• Mission: Empower K-12 students in California to grow
their creativity and intellectual curiosity in a multicultural
world through the poetry-writing process, and every
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year, approximately 120 poet teachers reach 25,000
students statewide.
• Vision: Broad access to poetry for all students and
promote creative writing as an important field in
education.
• Understand financial workings of the organization and
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Provide Actionable Insights
• Provide Recommendations on organizational structure
and future strategy
• Assess viability of corporate funding
• Organize a fundraiser event

9. CVE, Inc.
Alicia Chan www.cve.org
Aron Kirschner
• Mission: To provide vocational
skills, training, resources & opportunities to
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empower individuals with employment barriers to
fulfill their goals & achieve economic self
sufficiency.
• Our project was to build a dashboard to provide
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CVE information on its financial and social
performance on a real-time basis.

10. Destiny Arts Center
Christina Gleason www.destinyarts.org
Josh Harrington
• Mission: To end isolation, prejudice and violence in
the lives of young people through performing and
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martial arts
• Vision: Nurturing the physical, emotional, and
spiritual development of young people so they
respond rather than react to situations, practice
love rather than violence, honor people of different
backgrounds and become active participants in the
life of their communities
• Evaluate business opportunities to more fully utilize
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a permanent facility
• Research & prepare a business plan for submission
to the Kresge Foundation Facilities Grant program

11. EarthTeam
Katie DeWitt www.earthteam.net
Reid Spolek
• EarthTeam empowers teens to become lifelong
environmental stewards through experiential
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education, skills development, and the building of
community connections
• EarthTeam’s programs include Eco-Stewards, Aqua
Team, Green News, and more.
• Create a Fundraising Best Practices report based on
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comparable organizations and other research
• Develop a Case for Giving document that articulates
why funders should support EarthTeam
• Facilitate strategic planning session on
programming decisions

12. Easy Does It Emergency
Sandeep Singh Kohli Services (EDI)
Jessica Watterson www.easydoesitservices.org
• Mission: Easy Does It Emergency Services provides
assistance to the elderly and individuals with
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disabilities living independently in the City of
Berkeley.
• Should a disabled person experience an unforeseen
crisis or a temporary lapse in his or her own regular
attendant care, that person can call upon Easy Does
It for assistance at the time of need.
• Develop a Board of Directors Development
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Playbook to provide the board with information on
board member recruitment and board governance
• Assist the board in finding training opportunities for
boards

13. Future Leader’s Institute
David Hirsch www.thefli.org
The Future Leaders Institute (FLI) engages high
school youth in generating and implementing
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visionary solutions for society.
FLI guides and mentors youth across the San
Francisco Bay Area as they develop individual
initiatives and employ social entrepreneurship in the
face of the world’s most pressing needs
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Analysis of strategic options and implementation of
strategic plan to revitalize the organization

14. Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse
Hallie Montoya Tansey www.thefreight.org
Karen Rodriguez Ortega
The Freight & Salvage Coffeehouse (Berkeley
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Society for the Preservation of Traditional
Music) is a nonprofit arts organization
dedicated to promoting the understanding and
appreciation of traditional and roots music.
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Our project supported the Freight’s strategic planning process
by performing an external assessment that analyzes the
competitive environment, trends and community and
performer’s concerns.
We got to interview performers of folk and traditional
music, music venues, agents.

15. Eric Lucking
www.hemofoundation.org
The HFNC serves the needs of people impacted
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by bleeding disorders through enhancing
quality of life by providing
support, education, outreach and advocacy.
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• Financial Education
• Financial Control Environment
• Created a Finance and Audit Committee

16. Huckleberry Youth Programs
Katie Zier www.huckleberryyouth.org
• Huckleberry's mission is to educate, inspire, and
support underserved youth to develop healthy life
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choices, to maximize their potential, and to realize
their dreams.
• We seek to empower young people to develop and
maintain healthy relationships as well as promote
their talents, ideas, leadership and health.
• Assess the agency’s financial reporting for opportunities to
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streamline and standardize them across a variety of
stakeholders.
• Develop a scope of requirements in advance of soliciting
financial software bids, obtain bids and recommend a
provider.

17. Larkin Street Youth Services
Ravi Banda www.larkinstreetyouth.org
Vishal Kudchadkar
Org logo
• Working Since 1984, Larkin Street Youth Services
has been committed to helping San Francisco’s
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most vulnerable youth ages 12-24 move beyond
street life.
• Provides Housing Services, Education and
Employment Services, and Support Services for
Medical, Mental Health and Substance Abuse issues
• Evaluate and Recommend Case Incident Management
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Software to enhance LSYS’ productivity and client services.
• Evaluate the future hardware requirements
(tablets, laptops, network equipment) for LSYS
• Develop a Social Media Roadmap to improve LSYS
outreach efforts with its donors and partners.

18. Leadership High School
Lloyd Noronha www.leadershiphigh.org
Kazimir Brown
Charter School in SF focused on:
• Getting urban youth college ready
• Building critical
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thinking, communication, personal
responsibility and social responsibility
• Set a high bar on leadership for success
Vision:
• Be the leading school in the bay area to
develop urban youth for excelling in college
and life
• Board recruitment
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• Identify a partnership strategy for sustainability and
growth
• Market research on success factors

19. Lindsay Wildlife Museum
Chris Zach www.wildlife-museum.org
Ryan Holtan
• Mission: Connect people with wildlife to inspire
responsibility and respect for the natural world.
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• We encourage and help people to:
o Appreciate wildlife and nature.
o Understand the interconnectedness of the
natural world.
o Act to care for wildlife and engage positively in
the environment.
•
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Develop and implement a process for assessing the
performance of the board.
• Benchmark best practices for succession planning
for board members and committee chairs and for
term limit policies.

20. Mira Scholars Foundation
Kota Fukasawa www.mirascholars.com
Rodrigo Iannuzzi
Mission
- Provide educational opportunities to underserved
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and exploited children around the world by funding
education-related projects.
Vision
- Empower children to reach their academic potential
while inspiring the online community to reach its
philanthropic potential.
• Development of a plan to increase awareness of the
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institution and consequently increase funds to
invest in educational projects in developing
countries

21. Playworks
Tara English www.playworks.org
Borja Carol
• The Playworks Mission: To improve the health and
well-being of children by increasing opportunities
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for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.
• Vision: One day all kids while enjoy a meaningful
play time
• Develop the new training program to teach school
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staff in the Playworks method to play at the
playground usually delivered directly by Playworks
staff

22. Planned Parenthood-Shasta
Linda Alves Pacific
Allison Lauterbach www.pp-sp.org
• Planned Parenthood Shasta Pacific champions
healthy communities
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• And increases access to quality health
care, information and reproductive freedom by
• Providing medical services, education and advocacy
• Educating the Board of Directors on the upcoming
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implementation of the Affordable Care Act and its
implications for all of the region’s health centers.

23. David Felts
Jessamine Chin
www.rootdivision.org
Root Division's mission is to improve appreciation
and access to the visual arts by connecting personal
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inspiration and community participation.
Root Division provides subsidized studio space to working
artists in exchange for their service in creating shared
learning opportunities for the community. Artists develop
creatively and professionally by teaching art to underserved
youth, leading adult education classes, and producing
exhibitions that showcase local emerging artwork
Board Project
• Create an operations manual
• Develop a fundraising strategy for FY12

24. Rubicon Programs
Robert Bogolub www.rubiconprograms.org
Melissa Baily
• Mission: Prepare very low-income people to
achieve financial independence and to partner with
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people with mental illness on their journey of
recovery
• Rubicon has provided
employment, housing, mental health, and other Rubicon Landscape Services
supportive services to individuals who are very low- www.rubiconlandscape.com
income, especially people who are homeless or
have mental illness
• Rubicon’s operates a landscaping business that
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supports the organization’s charitable activities
• We helped Rubicon prepare to form an advisory
board of outside experts to guide the landscaping
business

25. SEEDS Community Resolution
Amit Agarwal Center
Olivia Herbert www.seedscrc.org
• Mission: Cultivate common ground and help people
resolve conflict in our diverse communities through
mediation, facilitation, training and restorative justice:
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Services that Encourage Effective Dialogue and Solutions.
• Vision : We see conflict as an opportunity for positive
growth and transformation in our society. We envision a
future in which all individuals and communities have the
skills and capacity to engage in effective dialogue and
promote peaceful resolution of issues and conflicts.
• Develop a strategy for a Major Gifts Fundraising
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Program

26. South of Market Child Care, Inc.
Brian Feth www.somacc.org
Amanda Hat
• South of Market Child Care provides quality early
childhood care and education programs and
comprehensive family support services to families
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in San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood.
• Founded in 1970, SOMACC offers child
development and preschool programs where more
than 1,000 children, youth and adults are served
each year.
• We have been asked to identify market rates and
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comparables for SOMACC child care 1) worker
compensation and 2) tuition fees

27. Stern Grove Festival
Gordon Chan www.sterngrove.org
Jane Wong
• Founded in 1938 by Rosalie M. Stern, who donated
the land of the Grove
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• Provides the highest quality performances, free of
admissions charge, to Bay Area residents & visitors
• Provide paid performance opportunities for
professional artists and performing groups in the
summer months
• Further enhance the organization’s board
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engagement, interaction, and development with
the purpose of ensuring alignment with best
practices used at other world-class institutions

28. Society of St. Vincent de Paul of
Alison Brock Alameda County
Alex Nisichenko www.svdp-alameda.org
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is a nonprofit
organization that provides direct assistance to needy
men, women and children in Alameda County.
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The organization, celebrating 70 years of
service, exists to meet the needs of the poor and the
homeless. Following the tradition of Frederic
Ozanam, founder of the International Society of St.
Vincent de Paul, SVdP serves anyone in
need, regardless of race, creed or origin.
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Our goal as Berkeley Board Fellows was to aid SVdP
in creating a strategic plan for the next three years.

29. Sweetwater Spectrum
Carolina Ibarra www.sweetwaterspectrum.org
Amit Gokhale
Organization
Mission:
To provide adults with autism an innovative,
supportive community that will challenge each
individual to reach his or her highest potential
Devise a caregiver retention and incentive
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strategy/training program through staff
interviews and academic research to fulfill the
organization’s principle of nurturing long-term
relationships between residents and staff

30. Tenderloin Neighborhood
Easha Anand Development Corp.
Emily Gerth www.tndc.org
• TNDC’s mission is to provide safe, affordable housing with
support services for low-income people in the Tenderloin
and to be a leader in making the neighborhood a better
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place to live.
• At TNDC, we know that housing is the foundation on
which people build their lives. We own and operate 30
affordable housing buildings serving 3,000 tenants in the
Tenderloin and adjacent neighborhoods.
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Provided analysis to support strategic thinking around
affordability in the housing portfolio by examining the
changes in costs of providing housing and in the rents
charged to current and incoming tenants from 2007 to 2012

31. Toolworks
Katie Magrath www.toolworks.org
Nick Jennings
• Toolworks is devoted to helping all people with disabilities
connect with the opportunities in their community. We
provide social services to over 500 individuals with
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disabilities every year. We offer employment
services, vocational training, and the full range of support
that allows individuals with disabilities to live
independently.
• Mission: to provide the tools and resources that promote
independence, equality and personal satisfaction.
• Hayes Valley Bakeworks is Toolworks’ newest social
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venture — a bakery and café serving rustic baked goods
that also employs and trains people with disabilities and
those who are homeless or at-risk.
• We analyzed the opportunity for Bakeworks to extend into
catering services.

32. Vietnamese Youth
Fred Wagner Development Center
Bryan Rieber www.vydc.org
• Mission: To provide direct assistance to
Southeast Asian and other youth; empowering
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them and their families to participate actively
in the development of themselves and their
community.
• Vision: Our youth, families and community
thriving in a safe, supportive and nurturing
environment
• Help the board and executive staff better
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understand the true cost and impact of
various programs as well as create a more
comprehensive picture of the youth
demographics

33. YMCA of San Francisco
Dana Ledyard www.ymcasf.org
Paul Maa
The YMCA of San Francisco builds strong
kids, strong families and strong communities by
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enriching the lives of all people in spirit, mind and
body.
For more than 150 years, the YMCA of San Francisco has
provided comprehensive programs and services to meet the
diverse needs of the Bay Area. Through its 14 branches from
Marin County to the Santa Cruz Mountains, YMCA programs
span the generations to address compelling wellness and
social needs in our communities.
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We supported the YMCA in developing and
implementing a program mapping framework to
assess Y programs from both a strategic alignment
perspective as well as financial sustainability.