Presentation: The Impacts of True Collaboration and Preparing for Partnerships with Purpose with Ali Carella, Ph.D. of La Piana

Dates: Tuesdays, April 5, 12, 19, and 26

Time: 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. via Zoom

Registration: Free. All are welcome! Did you miss Session 1? Register for Session 2 and a recording for Session 1 will be shared with you before the event. Unable to attend? Register for the recording-only option. You will receive an emailed event reminder from NICNE the day before each session.

Overview: Join Ali Carella, Ph.D. of La Piana Consulting for a series of four 90-minute virtual workshops on the importance of deep collaboration to advance social impact. Ali will share numerous resources as you and other area organizations learn about the benefits of and steps to engage in deep collaboration and partnerships to achieve social impact, advance mission, and work towards solving our most pressing social issues.

Organizations will have the opportunity to share thoughts and ideas with one another as they learn about existing collaboratives that have advanced social impact, assess readiness for engaging in true collaborations, and build a plan to become a stronger partner and to approach identified potential partner organizations. After each workshop, Ali will share resources to guide you in your work moving forward, and NICNE will share session recordings.

La Piana is a top nonprofit strategy consultancy and the national leader in the field of strategic restructuring. La Piana is committed to sharing knowledge and making sense of evolving trends. Learn more about individual sessions below.

(April 5 Recording) Workshop 1 ‒ Stronger Together: The Importance of True Collaboration Unpack what it means to be involved in true collaboration, as opposed to just cooperation, with other organizations. Learn about the revolutionary role of collaboration and community engagement in the advancement of equity from a historical perspective. By revisiting past struggles and victories, organizations can situate themselves in the present to unite around a central shared cause, leveraging unique strengths in collaboration with other nonprofits to achieve social impact and advance mission.

Workshop 2 ‒ Strategic Collaboration: The Role of Partnership in Mission Advancement and Social Impact (April 12) Examine a series of case studies on successful collaborations achieving impact in combatting our most pressing social issues and examine other benefits of collaboration which include protecting staff capacity, avoiding mission creep, and securing funding including grants.

Workshop 3 ‒ Where to Begin: Assessing Your Organization’s Readiness to Engage in Collaboration (April 19) Build upon the knowledge gained in sessions 1 and 2, and answer the question "what does my organization need to do today to become a better collaborative partner?" Learn the steps of assessing readiness and preparing for true collaboration, which include internal capacity "readiness" assessments, awareness of the sector landscape, knowledge of differentiating strengths, establishing and maintaining mission clarity, risk/reward/equity assessments, and confirming the identity of your organization.

Workshop 4 – Collaborative Action Planning: Developing Partnerships with Purpose (April 26) Dig deeper - Build upon the work from session 3 as you walk through actualization of the steps leading to true partnerships with purpose. Leave with a blueprint for collaborative action planning and tools to measure impact and success.

Intended Audience: This presentation is intended for representatives of any organization wishing to learn more about the value and impacts of collaboration, the power of true collaboration to advance mission and achieve social impact, assessing your organization's readiness to engage in collaboration, and planning for development of partnerships with purpose.

About the Presenter: Ali Carella, Senior Consultant, La Piana, (she/her) solves problems strategically as she manages and accomplishes aggressive goals under time and resource constraints. Her experiences in applied and academic research, education, and human rights work help her to support mission-driven organizations in their efforts to lead total quality management efforts, measure and demonstrate impact, evaluate programming, amplify participant voices, build strong evidence-based solutions, develop and test innovative interventions, and ultimately combat systemic inequities.

Ali has worked in nonprofits both domestically and internationally for more than fifteen years holding a variety of roles from direct service to leadership at a $50M organization. She has content expertise in education, immigration, macro poverty, and human rights.

Prior to joining La Piana, Ali worked at the Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights in Chicago, most recently as the Associate Director of QPI with Heartland Human Care Services, and previously as the Senior Project Manager of Evidence-Based Learning for Heartland’s Social IMPACT Research Center. Ali has also worked as an Evidence-Based Researcher for the International Rescue Committee and completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship with the U.S. State Department/U.S. Embassy in Ecuador. Ali completed her graduate work in Educational Curriculum and Instruction, earning a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Chicago focused on Literacy, Language, and Culture and a M.Ed. from Portland State University focused on Language Arts and Humanities. She received her B.A. in English and Sociocultural Anthropology from the University of Kansas and also studied Spanish Language and Literature at the Universidad de Barcelona.

About La Piana: La Piana Consulting is a top nonprofit strategy consultancy and the national leader in the field of strategic restructuring. Our original methodologies have been adopted across the sector, and our commitment to sharing knowledge and making sense of evolving trends is demonstrated in our many books, articles, and resources. Since 1998, we have helped over 1000 nonprofits and foundations leverage organizational strategy, structure, and culture to realize their goals. At La Piana Consulting, we believe in the power of the social sector to transform lives and change the world. Achieving significant outcomes for our client’s mission is what drives us.

About the Northern Illinois Center for Nonprofit Excellence (NICNE): NICNE's mission is to promote, grow and model innovation, excellence and social impact. NICNE has been strengthening nonprofits since August 2004 by providing capacity building, training, technical assistance, resource support and initiative leadership to nonprofit organizations in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. NICNE believes in investing in people and organizations that make communities in our area safer, healthier and more vibrant. We do so by providing training opportunities, which help nonprofits successfully achieve their missions. As the region’s primary resource for nonprofit capacity and movement building, NICNE encourages collaboration and best practices that result in a strong, vibrant nonprofit sector to demonstrating significant social impact.

Please email questions to Billie Callahan, Associate Director, at bcallahan@niu.edu.