Encore Louisville convenes experienced leaders who have spent decades of their careers in leadership roles and want to give back to the community as they transition out of the workforce. Participants form teams and provide pro-bono consulting services to a wide variety of nonprofits in the region. The impact of this work has benefitted over 116 nonprofit organizations, which receive strategic guidance and support in furthering their missions.
Encore Class of 2021 Impact at a Glance:
19 nonprofit partnerships
Over 1,760 hours volunteered (109 average)
$190,000 in project value estimated ($13,648 average)
We are so proud to share the individual outcomes for a sampling of this year’s teams. Click the organization below to jump to its results, or feel free to scroll through them all.
If you work at, serve on the board of, or just happen to know a nonprofit who could benefit from pro-bono nonprofit consulting, applications are open for Encore Louisville and Ignite Louisville teams.
2021 ENCORE LOUISVILLE NONPROFIT PARTNERS & TEAMS
Adelante Hispanic Achievers
Change Today Change Tomorrow
Code Louisville
Cycle Breakers Breaking Chains, Inc.
DELTA Foundation
GEDDI
Homeless Coalition of Southern Indiana, INC
Inside the Lines
Junior League of Louisville
Kentucky Chess Ambassadors
Louisville Climate Action Network
Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness
Louisville Pride Foundation
Louisville Youth Group
Pillar (formerly Apple Patch) Community
Volunteers of America Mid-States
Wesley House
West End School
Wilderness Louisville
Adelante Hispanic Achievers
Encore Louisville Team Members:
(from left): Susan Zepeda (facilitator), Steve Ellis, Angela Thompson Howard, Edie Nixon, Linda Winlock
Adelante Hispanic Achievers’ initial ask was for an updated Policies and Procedures Manual (which we drafted), we also were able to work with them on issues of Board governance, program and financial oversight, and increased transparency.
In addition to a draft Policies and Procedures Manual, which will need further customization to Adelante’s needs, we shared documents from Board Source on Board governance and reading financial statements.
“As the newly elected Board President, the Encore Louisville team provided additional support and suggestions for Adelante Hispanic Achievers. The team provided support to the Treasurer and the Strategic Finance Chair on areas to track budget and expenses. They reached out to their contacts as the organization started our search for a new Executive Director. This whole process gave the board an eye-opener to make some changes and reach out to the other nonprofit organizations for support. These areas are part of the strategic planning session scheduled in March to help/assist once the new ED is hired.”
Margarita McAtee, Board President, Adelante Hispanic Achievers
Code Louisville
Encore Louisville Team Members:
(from left:) Beth Dlutowski (facilitator), Nadine Brewer, Sandra Dodge, Ed Dudley, Pam Greenwell, Paula Hale, Rick King, Karen Philley
The Code Louisville (CL) team requested an Encore Louisville team to: 1) Develop an easier path to employment for students completing CL programs; 2) Create a more diverse community of students/graduates. Our team talked to many people who hire tech grads in Louisville and other cities; reviewed CL processes, spoke to CL team members, and watched zoom recordings they held with students.
Through analysis and review, the Encore Louisville team identified four themes for CL to focus on. Within each of those four themes/areas, the Encore team developed suggested process and organization changes. They presented feedback from the many people with whom they spoke. The team provided two final deliverables: 1) a summary of suggestions for the organization; and 2) an “Appendix” with all of the materials and interviews. The Encore team offered to meet with CL leaders again once they’ve had time to digest the materials provided.
“The Encore Louisville team is fantastic. Far more research, outreach, and consideration were given to evaluating our challenges than I expected going into the process. The members leveraged their skills and professional networks to identify appropriate parties to interview and create a plan of action for many ways for us to continue to grow the program. Specific action items include an employer advisory committee, re-evaluating our class offerings and pre-program assessment, and some of our in-class activities and services offered”
Brian Luerman, Director of Technology Programs, KentuckianaWorks/Code Louisville
Cycle Breakers Breaking Chains, Inc.
Encore Team members:
(from left): Beth Dlutowski (facilitator), Al Cornish, Chris Hermann, Barbara Michael
Cycle Breakers Breaking Chains, Inc. is a new organization. Their ask was “To have Cycle Breakers name broadcast within the community, to be in a building, to hire staff to have the organization up and running, and most importantly to expand the Board of Directors”.
The team’s focus was on setting priorities for the organization and making introductions to key leaders who have similar missions within the community.
Project accomplishments were:
- Held a priority setting workshop to identify and sequence activities for the CEO
- Developed an elevator speech for the CEO
- Created an agenda template for the CEO to use when meeting with contacts in the city; also provided “preparation steps” for the CEO prior to each meeting
- Made introductions with key contacts within this space for the CEO; set up multiple meetings as well
- Connected CEO with CNPE; and secured a free one-year membership to CNPE
- Identified multiple resources for further investigation by the CEO
- Created a summary document with all meeting notes and resources as a “leave-behind” for the CEO
- Delivered project recommendations and summary to the CEO
DELTA Foundation
Encore Team members:
(from left:) Tom Monahan (facilitator), Cindy Adelberg, Alan Engel, Leo Hauber, Joe McCullum
DELTA Foundation, based in the Portland neighborhood, offers reading and literacy tutoring and basketball skill training to young men ages 8 to 15, mainly from the West End of Louisville. Founder Wes Hinton has created a dynamic program that has drawn numerous participants, volunteers, and donors. Wes reached out to Encore knowing that he needed more structure and organization to continue the growth of DELTA. Our Encore team was able to help create a roadmap to guide the ongoing development of DELTA. We helped Wes refine his bylaws to better fit the organization. We also helped him with his budgeting and financial reporting process. And we showed him the type of board members he needs to succeed.
Although very successful thus far, Wes realizes DELTA has been a seat-of-the-pants operation since its beginning. The board is made up mainly of friends Wes made during his coaching career. Although they are passionate about DELTA’s mission, they lack many essential skills for directing a non-profit. The team provided job descriptions for board members and suggested the board create Governance, Finance, Fund Development, and Program committees. They gave him a spreadsheet template to better track his expenses and revenue. They also modified his generic bylaws to better reflect the needs of his organization.
Junior League of Louisville
Encore Louisville Team Members:
(from left): Stephanie Bateman (facilitator), Steve Ellis, Angela Thompson-Howard
Junior League of Louisville (JLL) requested Encore Louisville’s help with creating a sustainable annual giving campaign. As the team explored their request, they learned the organization needed to build a fundraising infrastructure in order to significantly increase its annual giving goals.
The team asked the JLL leadership to complete a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) analysis that clearly identified areas of need as well as strengths and opportunities. The Encore team focused on the fact that the 100+ year organization does good work but not enough people know about it. They emphasized that JLL’s public image is a critical piece of effective fundraising.
The team provided four deliverables:
- Conducted a survey with current Ignite Louisville and Leadership Louisville classes to determine what people knew about JLL and its work
- Provided an outline listing the elements of an effective annual giving plan
- Provided a list of fundraising activities of other Leagues across the country including Leagues in Louisville’s peer cities
- Provided lists of local foundations and grant-making organizations as potential funding sources. Provided other resource materials on fundraising
“Our Encore team provided us with a comprehensive review of not only our internal and external fund development opportunities, but a holistic look at how elevating our public profile, connecting with new and existing donors, and expanding our communications outreach will be vital components to our future success in fundraising and new member recruitment. The review included tactics and recommendations on how we can implement their findings to create a sustainable annual giving campaign. It is truly the fund development playbook we have been needing to help us reach our goals as a 100% volunteer organization. Thank you!”
Michelle Black White, President, Junior League of Louisville
Kentucky Chess Ambassadors
Encore Louisville Team Members:
(from left:) Beth Dlutowski (facilitator), Cindy Adelberg, Joe McCullum
The mission of the Kentucky Chess Ambassadors, led by Corbin Sievers, is to teach young people in West Louisville to develop critical thinking skills through the sport of chess. Their after-school sessions and summer camps serve K-12 youngsters. Specifically, organization had four needs: 1) To pull together a workable budget; 2) To develop a single page summary of funding needs; 3) To set annual fundraising goals; 4) To secure an agency to complete taxes.
The Encore Louisville team was able to:
- Identify priorities, short- and long-term for the organization
- Set up a bookkeeping process to track income and expenses
- Create a budget for the rest of 2021
- Identify a firm that filed their taxes pro bono
- Develop an elevator speech
- Identify other chess resources in the city, the state, and the country
- Identify potential funders and funding organizations
Louisville Climate Action Network
Encore Louisville Team Members:
(from left): Ginger Wallace (facilitator), Doug Butler, George Demaree, Chris Hermann, Sr. Janet Peterworth, Trudy Wheeler
The Louisville Climate Action Network (LCAN), with Executive Director (ED), Sarah Lynn Cunningham, and Board member, Monique Tilford, requested the Encore Louisville team’s assistance in transitioning LCAN from an all-volunteer staff and Board to a paid staff. LCAN made considerable progress during this period as they continue to be in high demand as the city’s leading expert on climate change, its impacts, and solutions. The Encore team acted as a sounding board for LCAN to help them focus on expanding their work in two key areas: offering classes to non-profits to help them improve their energy efficiency and working “hands-on” with non-profits and houses of worship to improve energy efficiency in their facilities, as they transition to a paid staff.
The Encore team stressed the importance of having a business plan to ensure the sustainability of a paid staff. They suggested a capacity-building grant to provide the initial funding. Doug Butler linked LCAN with Kentucky’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to assist them with the business aspects of the expansion and SBDC has agreed to work with LCAN. Additionally, LCAN has requested George Demaree continue to work with them on their marketing plan once this Encore session is over. The Encore team is providing LCAN with a report documenting all their recommendations.
“We very much appreciate the connections we made with our Encore Louisville team and look forward to working together with several of them into the future. We are also grateful to the Encore Louisville team for its frank assessment that we needed to focus our time better and delegate projects so that we can expand our programming more effectively.”
Sarah Lynn Cunningham, Executive Director, Louisville Climate Action Network
Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness
Encore Louisville Team Members:
(from left): Pam Greenwell (facilitator), Michael Bateman, Harold Butler, Ed Dudley, David Fennell, Bette Anne McCullum, Edie Nixon, Angela Thompson-Howard, Linda Valentine, Susan Zepeda
Metro Health has been starved for decades and all of a sudden was expected to step up to deal with a pandemic, while simultaneously doing the other things required of a large city health department. The pandemic required the hiring of large numbers of employees and made large sums of money available. As they tried to integrate those employees, and supervise those employees, they worked long hours and not surprisingly suffered from extreme stress. As the world improves, however, they are unfortunately finding that memories can be short indeed.
The Encore team formed into four sub-teams each working on a different aspect the Metro Health’s needs. One team helped with reframing their strategic plan, one helped with skill assessments for employees, one helped them deal with the extreme stress employees were and are facing, which was diagnosed by a U of L study as PTSD in 80% of employees, and one dealt with salary disparities between Metro Health and the private sector. The audience for some of our information is the Union and Metro Human Resources, and hopefully beyond.
Louisville Pride Foundation
Encore Louisville Team Members:
(from left): Ginger Wallace (facilitator), Steve Ellis, Diane Kyle, Sr. Janet Peterworth, Michael Shaikun, Donald Whitfield
The Louisville Pride Foundation’s (LPF) Executive Director (ED) requested the Encore Team’s assistance in establishing an LGBTQ Center. This Encore team spent a great deal of time in discussion with LPF’s Executive Director about the work involved to open a new Center. Additionally, they researched the resources provided by LPF and reached out to other LGBTQ Centers in the region to gather information on how those Centers operate, how they are sustained, and which of their programs are most popular. The team talked to center leaderships in Lexington, Columbus and Dayton, OH, and Birmingham, AL.
This Encore team believes the discussions they had with LPF’s Executive Director helped focus their efforts in preparing to open the LGBTQ Center. They are submitting a written report to LPF and are prepared to present the report at their next Board meeting on Aug 19th. They do think LPF is a viable candidate for an Ignite Louisville team in six months to a year, once the Center is up and running and has been operating for a while.
Louisville Youth Group
Encore Louisville Team Members:
(from left:) Joe Mitchell (facilitator), Margaret Handmaker, Kiane Kyle, Ginger Wallace, Donald Whitfield
Louisville Youth Group (“LYG”), has a 30-year history of service to Louisville’s LGBTQIA+ youth yet in many ways operates like a start-up organization. There are almost as many board vacancies as members, and members are, for the most part, inexperienced. Board members demonstrate a passion for the organization but that does not translate to long-term board service. There is high turnover of board members. There is no leadership path, hence leadership roles are difficult to fill or remain vacant. LYG recently engaged an outside consultant to develop a Strategic Plan so The Encore team was able to focus on board effectiveness.
The Encore team presented to the board its observations with respect to board operations and recruitment, along with a series of recommendations for improving operations so that the board can successfully transition from a “working board” to a more traditional ”governing board”, which should enhance board recruitment and retention.
“This is Louisville Youth Group’s second time working with a Leadership Louisville Center team. Both our Encore and Ignite teams were filled with amazing, intelligent people whose service moved the agency forward in impactful ways.”
Jason Peno, Executive Director, Louisville Youth Group
Pillar (formerly Apple Patch) Community
Encore Team members:
(from left): Bill Hensler (facilitator), Lynn Ashton, Ed Dudley, Steve Ellis, Bette Ann McCullum, Sr. Janet Peterworth
The needs Pillar outlined were to help them create a vision for the care of the disabled residents of their group homes and to help decide the disposition of undeveloped property that Pillar owns in the community of group homes. The Encore team identified the need for the board to take on traditional board roles as it moves from focus on near-term operational issues to long-term planning and objectives. The extent of the team’s help was bringing the Executive Director’s attention away from the land development toward being a catalyst for board development and strategic planning.
The first outcome was to freeze any sale of or development of the property. Only until the board goes through the exercise of long-term planning and vision creation should they consider what to do with the property. The second outcome was a commitment on Pillar’s part to go through a board development process, as well as a strategic planning process. The team’s deliverable was simply a summary of recommendations and a discussion with the Executive Director, who is considering engaging Leadership Louisville again to help with their next steps.
Volunteers of American Mid-States
Encore Team members:
(from left): Joe Mitchell (facilitator), Ed Dudley, John Fleming, Jim Gravitt, Diane Kyle, Donald Whitfield
VOA asked for assistance to determine the “fit and feasibility” of expanding their veteran services to include moral injury remediation for both veterans and first responders. The Encore team contacted veterans groups and first responders to gauge interest in such a program. The team discovered that the concept of moral injury does not resonate with either group. Once explained it was instantly categorized as a mental health program similar to PTSD (which is accurate) and while interested in such a program, cautioned that it would have the usual stigma and “fit for duty” concerns associated with any mental health intervention. Also cautioned that providers would have to be “culturally competent” to deal with their members.
Provided VOA the results of our research, conducted a SWOT analysis with them, and gave recommendations to consider if they decide to move forward with the idea. It seemed clear that VOA could “own” moral injury as no one else is operating in that space. Advised that the VA Medical Center would welcome collaboration with VOA on a moral injury program.
Wilderness Louisville
Encore Louisville Team Members:
(from left): Karen Philley (facilitator), Nadine Brewer, Doug Butler, Pam Greenwell, Paula Hale, Angela Thompson Howard, Michael Shaikun, Kevin Wardell
Wilderness Louisville (WL) was founded with a mission to be champions for Louisville’s natural areas, from Jefferson Memorial Forest, the nation’s largest municipally-owned urban forest, to the ones in your neighborhood. WL works with Louisville Metro Government’s Department of Parks and Recreation to promote the development, stewardship, and community awareness of these important public spaces.
WL requested an Encore Louisville team to assist in advancing the development of a Business Model to operate the Shawnee Outdoor Learning (SOL) Center at Shawnee Park. This model was to include the following:
- Comprehensive cost projections
- Market analysis of the Shawnee-Chickasaw neighborhood and surrounding areas
- Possible revenue streams which are realistic and relevant to community needs
- A staffing plan that is equitable and representative of the community
Additionally, they wanted the team to provide a framework to a University of Louisville MBA team for a second phase of work.
The team’s initial work focused on the market analysis, revenue streams, and creation of diverse workforce portions of the WL project request. However, their interviews and research of approximately 30 organizations led to more questions about and issues with the Shawnee Outdoor Learning Center project. As a result, their work then pivoted to perform a detailed and ranked SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) assessment of the SOL Center project itself. From this analysis, they made recommendations to WL regarding both the SOL Center project and the WL organization.
If you work at, serve on the board of, or just happen to know a nonprofit who could benefit from pro-bono nonprofit consulting, applications are open for Encore Louisville and Ignite Louisville teams.
