Canyon Wren .Org LLC
Where People, Environment, and Learning Converge
CONSULTING
Serving Schools, Social Profits, & Government Organizations
Curriculum Development
Robust learning doesn’t happen by magic. But well-designed learning experiences can be magical for both student and teacher. Curriculum has to work in the real world of: academic standards; individual education plans; cultural, social, and individual complexities; as well as within time and financial restrictions.
We each have more than 25 years of experience as classroom teachers developing, implementing, and adapting curriculum. We are also leaders in collaborating with others to create and run award winning educational programs at the classroom, school, regional, and national levels. We design curriculum to be relevant, impactful, and student-centered and support educators to be confident in program delivery, evaluation, and adaptation.
Educator Training
If you are thirsty, a sandwich is not what you need. You need a drink. You can squeeze a bit of water out of the sandwich’s lettuce, but it’s not worth the effort. Educator professional development should not consist of trying to squeeze a drop of relevance out of something one doesn’t need and did not ask to receive. Meaningful professional development should, generally, be tailored to the educator’s needs, have direct relevance to their teaching, and if at all possible include time for planning how to incorporate the material into one’s educational practice.
We have led several hundred teacher and non-formal educator training events, mostly on environmental and science education topics, but also on general education topics. These learning experiences have run from semester long classes to one-hour short sessions. First we find out what educators need and then we match our professional development to support them. We also model hands-on, learner-centered, inquiry based teaching practices.
Grant Writing & Fundraising
Effective fundraising starts with building trust and accountability between recipient and funder. It includes clearly telling two stories; what is and what can be. Most importantly, the funds raised and wisely stewarded can change the trajectory of lives.
We have been primary fundraisers and proposal writers for over $10 million dollars of awarded gifts, grants, and contracts within both programmatic and capital campaign efforts. From several hundred dollar classroom grants to million dollar contracts, we have written the proposals, made sure that deliverables were provided, complied with funding requirements, maintained donor/funder relations, and met reporting obligations on time.
Our experiences in executive and board positions in a variety of educational, community, environmental, and faith organizations gives us a broad perspective on effective fundraising for social profit entities. We can help you prepare strong proposals as well as plans for meeting obligations created by funds received. Money generally comes with strings attached. We support you not getting tied up in the strings while you keep your primary focus on doing the work you originally sought funding to accomplish.
Our services include any combination of grant writing, post award planning and implementation, compliance with funder requirements, evaluation of program effectiveness, as well as final report writing.
Social Profit Organizational
Support & Planning
Some folks call them, “Not for Profits,” we call them, “Social Profits.” No matter what you call them, helping people create and grow more resilient, mission focused organizations is central to who we are and what we do.
We have each served for more than 10 years in leadership capacities at both the executive and board levels, in both volunteer and paid positions. We have stuck with organizations we believe in, through both good and bad times. We understand that social profit management involves navigating, supporting, and providing clear expectations for often idiosyncratic staff while still providing stated social benefits to the community at large.
We can help on both sides of the leadership equation of getting the job done and keeping the group together. We have facilitated long term planning for many different stakeholders and we have held command responsibilities on emergency fire and rescue scenes. Sometimes leaders in social profit organizations have to listen to everyone before moving a comma in a sentence and sometimes they have to rapidly be the one to make the declarative sentence, “Now we do this.”
Wherever your organization is in its life of service, we stand ready to serve your social profit organization. We can provide long-term guidance, coaching, and strategic planning or short-term assistance with addressing a specific challenge or taking advantage of a limited opportunity.