Strategic Plan

Request for Proposals

Release Date: June 1, 2017

Proposals Due: July 1, 2017

Overview

The South Mountain regional collaborative is seeking a consultant with experience in network building, facilitation, organizational assessment, and fundraising consultation to engage South Mountain Collaborative in a participatory planning process to design a strategic plan for the South Mountain Partnership, the regional mechanism for large landscape conservation in south central Pennsylvania.

We seek an individual or team to carry out a process likely to include the following phases:

• Phase 1 - Information Gathering on other large landscape conservation groups and models;
• Phase 2 - Organizational/Strategy Assessment for evaluating South Mountain Partnership's current organizational structure, most significant barriers, and possible models to apply (informed by Phase 1); and
• Phase 3 – Development of an Operational Plan to calculate the resources needed to accomplish the strategy identified in Phase 1 and Phase 2.

The individual or team must have a unique skill set that includes strong communication, team building skills, experience working on large landscape conservation/regional level work collaborative impact/network development, and highly specialized organizational development in the non-profit world. In addition, the individual or team should be familiar with the challenges and opportunities inherent in forming and carrying out large landscape conservation work within Pennsylvania. Coordination with the Chesapeake Bay Trust/Funders Network as part of this Regional Capacity Building Initiative is required.

Contractor

South Mountain Partnership/Appalachian Trail Conservancy

About

South Mountain Partnership is a conservation organization that encourages collective strategic investment and actions around sustainability, conservation, community revitalization, and recreational projects in the South Mountain landscape located in south central Pennsylvania. Launched in 2006, South Mountain Partnership is a product of the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (PA DCNR) Conservation Landscape Initiative. It is funded by grants from the PA DCNR that are administered by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, as South Mountain Partnership is not a non-profit.

The South Mountain landscape is comprised of portions of Adams, Cumberland, Franklin, and York counties. The region contains rich natural assets and important public lands, as well as a unique character and 'sense of place.' South Mountain Partnership is the regional mechanism that gathers community leaders, state agencies, local governments, philanthropies, nonprofits, and citizens to engaged on common conservation goals – motivated by a strong 'sense of place.' The emphasis is on local partners collaborating in conservation and community revitalization, thereby ensuring community engagement and empowerment. It is through this process that we believe effective conservation and community revitalization is easier and more sustainable.

South central Pennsylvania is the third-largest region in the state by both population and number of businesses. The South Mountain landscape encompasses four of the eight counties of south central PA and is central to this growth. According to U.S. Census data, Cumberland County is currently the fastest-growing county in Pennsylvania.

South Mountain Partnership identifies the following as the significant barriers to achieving conservation success:

"Institutional and cultural inertia" - the belief that things have just always been a certain way and are out of our control to change. This inertia has led to the disengagement of the vast majority of community residents in development and planning processes at regional and local levels;

Implementation of Land Use Planning - Despite the comprehensive county-level planning that is done in the region, the region still struggles with sprawl and the loss of landscape and community character. In Pennsylvania, implementation of land use plans and ordinances occurs at the municipal level. While there are efforts to achieve consistency between the County and municipal plans, land use controls remain with the local elected and appointed officials. Priorities and strategies often change.

Many of our communities are small rural villages that are not without their challenges. Some struggle to retain residents and may be more likely to grant zoning variances. Community leaders often welcome development as a way to expand the tax base, but may be less selective than conservation organizations would like. Small businesses see customer growth potential and farmers and landowners see opportunities to sell a portion of their land for capital creation and/or retirement. Although farm consolidation is considered by some to be the natural maturation of the region, it could lead to a domino effect of agribusiness destabilization. In addition, the trends of this type of development, along with farm consolidation, have contributed to job markets that are not very diverse – the majority of opportunities are in blue-collar jobs, with fewer opportunities for the professional and creative classes (U.S. Census Bureau 2013b). Current development trends have also reinforced the region's reliance on the automobile, fragmented communities, eroded community walkability, and impacted transportation with increased traffic volume and speed through communities.

Uniting individuals from throughout the four county region uses a great deal of time and resources. At minimum, South Mountain Partnership staff and Leadership Committee struggles to:

• Travel to bi-monthly meetings, sometimes held monthly;
• Represent and please a diverse group or organizations;
• Balance the real-time needs of communities, opportunities that arise, and core activities with one staff person to coordinate and facilitate across all of the partners and projects;
• Gauge the effectiveness of the current committee structure;
• Stimulate all Leadership Committee members and Partners to engage in conservation action

South Mountain Partnership works with all collaborators to identify and support:

• Projects and initiatives that improve the quality of life and unique sense of place within the South Mountain landscape region by promoting and preserving the region's Landscape Resources (Natural resources, Cultural/Historical resources, Agricultural resources, and Recreational resources);
• Sustainable Growth and Economic Development. The Partnership has over fifty committed Partners. Many local jurisdictions have been receptive to working with us, including municipalities, county government, state and federal government, non-profits, businesses, and residents over the last decade.

Currently, South Mountain Partnership is staffed by one employee who is assisted and guided by a volunteer Leadership Committee. The Committee is a 14-seat body consisting of Municipal, County, State, Federal, Academic, Non-Profit, and Business representatives from the region.

Planning Needs

We desire a process that will include the organization's staff, Leadership Committee, the South Mountain regional Collaborative, and key stakeholders to create a plan to address the following:

1. Information Gathering – both research and discussion.

• Collaborative and consultant will research and discuss which organizations, regions, and groups exist that may be modeled not only in the northeast but throughout the field of large landscape conservation. Those we know of so far: Berks Nature, Hallowed Grounds, Pine Barrens, PA Wilds, Susquehanna Heritage, landscape conservation zones of New England. Explore Large Landscape best models and examine with respect to Organizational structure, funding, staffing, products, reach, communications;

2. Organizational/Strategy Assessment –

• Assessment of the South Mountain Partnership organizational structure to identify our most significant barriers and if we are engaged in a strategy that is likely to overcome those barriers (this process should be broad and incorporate a cross-section of our organization and our communities as well as South Mountain Partnership staff and Leadership Committee);
• What models could we apply to SMP;
• What is the best organizational structure for executing the collaborative impact model of SMP;
• Are we using the appropriate strategies to accomplish our goals;
• Integration of South Mountain Partnership work plan and South Mountain Collaborative 3-year Work Plan;

3. Develop an Operational Plan – What resources do we need in order accomplish the most effective strategies identified through Phase 1 and 2?

• How do we staff it;
• What is the best organizational structure;
• How do we fund it and become more financially resilient

Deliverables

At minimum, the deliverables should provide thorough and thoughtful feedback to each point under the Planning Needs section.

Phase 1

• Findings and comparative presentation and analysis;
• Best practices and best practice models;
• Top three model recommendations (as of Phase 1);
• Presentation and discussion/workshop to discuss these findings;

Phase 2

• Assessment findings;
• Options – what organizational models are best options for SMP;
• Are we using the appropriate strategies to accomplish our goals;
• Single Strategic Plan integrating Work Plan from the Capacity Building Initiative and South Mountain Partnership
• SMP Organizational Assessment including advisement on strategies;
• Presentation and discussion/workshop to discuss these findings;

Phase 3

• Operational Plan for SMP;
• Presentation of plan

Consultant Qualifications

The South Mountain Collaborative, part of the Chesapeake Bay Trust/Funders Network "Regional Capacity Building Initiative," is seeking a consultant to lead the Collaborative through a planning process with the process described above in "Planning Needs."

The consultant must have a unique skill set to get the information and lead the process that we need; someone with information gathering and planning skills, prefer someone with experience working on large landscape conservation/regional level work and collaborative impact/network developer, and adept at highly specialized organizational development in the non-profit world. In addition, the Planner should be familiar with the challenges and opportunities inherent in forming and carrying out large landscape conservation work within Pennsylvania. The planner will coordinate with the Network Builder provided by the Chesapeake Bay Trust/Funders Network as part of this Regional Capacity Building Initiative.

Specific qualifications: Facilitator, organizational assessment, fundraising consultation, strategic planning.

Response requested/Proposal Format

Interested individuals or teams should include the following in your proposal by July 1, 2017. We encourage you to ask questions - contact Katie via phone at 717-258-5771. Proposals must be submitted via email by 5:00pm on July 1, 2017 in pdf format to Katie Hess at khess@appalachiantrail.org.

1. Qualifications: Knowledge and experience in large landscape conservation efforts/regional level work and the inherent challenges and opportunities of this work in Pennsylvania; Knowledge and experience in collective impact and network development; Knowledge and experience with highly specialized organizational development in the non-profit world; Describe prior work experience that uniquely qualifies you for this role; Individual/team qualifications, resumes, and approach to planning (for each individual);
2. Approach: Processes and tools that you would use;
3. Schedule: Description of the proposed timeline and schedule of deliverables occurring between September 2017 and September 2018
4. Budget not to exceed $43,500: Present the total proposed cost to complete the project and list your hourly fees with number of hours estimated or flat rates;Note: Our organization will cover the cost of refreshments and use of local facilities;
5. Biographies for key individual(s) assigned to this project;
6. References, including the type of work provided for each and date of completion. Include contact information;

We will review responses in early July and will schedule interviews for August. We encourage you to call Katie at 717-258-5771 with any questions and to discuss this process.