Relevant, Excellent, and Visible: Five Years of Capacity Building for California’s RCDs

C a l i f o r n i a A s s o c i a t i o n o f R e s o u r c e C o n s e r v a t i o n D i s t r i c t s a n d S o l i d G r o u n d C o n s u l t i n g

Karen Buhr

Executive DirectorCalifornia Association

of Resource Conservation Districts

SaraSchremmer

Capacity Building Program Manager

California Association of Resource

Conservation Districts

Mandy Parkes

Executive DirectorInland Empire Resource

Conservation District

Amy Stork

Project LeadSolid Ground

Consulting

BuildingDistrict

Capacity

• What does “capacity building” mean to

you?

• What are some of your district’s or your

state’s most important capacity needs?

BuildingDistrict

Capacity

• Board recruitment and development

• Strategic planning

• Staff leadership

• Collaboration between districts

• Communications

• Advocacy at the local and state level

California’s Resource

Conservation Districts

• 98 RCDs

• 10 regions

• No baseline allocation from state

• Some districts have local tax base funding

The Need

• Proposition 68 funding expired – districts had been overly

dependent on one funding source

• Need for a new funding model for districts

• Growing environmental need – drought, wildfire, etc.

• Agencies starting to think more regionally

VISION AND STANDARDS

• “There was serious variation in capacity to complete projects and that put us in such a horrible position to seek statewide funding…

We had to circle the wagons in terms of who we were, who we wanted to be, and how to get out partners engaged.”

• Mandy ParkesInland Empire RCD

VISION AND STANDARDS

• High-performing RCDs discussed ways to

strengthen the statewide network.

• Group developed a vision:

“RCDs will be Relevant, Excellent, and Visible ‘go-to’ hubs for natural resource conservation and agriculture on public and private land at the local, regional, state, tribal, and federal levels”

• Standards developed for RCDs: Tiers 1, 2, and 3

Capacity Building Program Partners

Capacity BuildingFor RCDs

5-year Capacity Building Program

• Survey to determine needs

• RCD leaders participated in design of program

• Program design

• Trainings

• Customized assistance for individual RCDs

• Collaborative planning

• Internal work for CARCD – planning, revenue, board

• Knowledge Transfer

“ F o r m e , i t b r o u g h t g r e a t e r a w a r e n e s s – I r e c o g n i z e d m y s e l f i n a l e a d e r s h i p r o l e , o u t a n d a b o u t r e p r e s e n t i n g t h e R C D . A n d a f t e r

g o i n g t h r o u g h t h e t r a i n i n g , I s e e l e a d e r s h i p c o n c e p t s a t p l a y i n v a r i o u s o t h e r a s p e c t s o f

m y l i f e . ”

- B r i n G r e e r , R C D o f Te h a m a C o u n t y

Group Trainings:Leadership Academies

• For district managers and board

members

• Goal: develop leadership mindset

and specific skills

• Intensive retreat followed by

distance learning and peer support

with 4 – 7 months of cohort calls

“ T h e A d v o c a c y A c a d e m y i n c r e a s e d m y c o m f o r t l e v e l i n t a l k i n g w i t h l e g i s l a t o r s . ”

- G o r d o n L o n g , D i r e c t o r , C a l a v e r a s R C D

“ T h e s k i l l s c o n t i n u e t o b e p a s s e d o n … I e v e n c o n d u c t e d a ‘ m i n i - A c a d e m y ’ h e r e a t t h e o f f i c e . E v e r y o n e u n d e r s t a n d s t h a t w e a r e a l w a y s l a y i n g

t h e g r o u n d w o r k f o r f u t u r e p r o j e c t s w h e n e v e r w e t a l k a b o u t w h a t w e d o .

- S a r a L e t t o n , W e s t e r n S h a s t a R C D

Group Trainings:Advocacy Academy

• For district managers and board

members

• Goal: develop understanding and

comfort with outreach to elected officials

• One-day learning experience

• Followed by immediate legislative visits

Group Trainings:Communications

Academy

• Goal: Build RCDs’ ability to think

strategically about

communications

• Series of six online webinars

• Based on a statewide message

platform developed for RCDs

“ S a n M a t e o R C D h a s b e e n t o a f e w c o m m u n i c a t i o n s w o r k s h o p s a n d g o t t e n a l o t

o u t o f t h e m . O u r c o m m u n i c a t i o n s h a v e d e f i n i t e l y i m p r o v e d a s a r e s u l t … ”

- K e l l y x N e l s o n , S a n M a t e o R C D

Group Trainings:Annual Meeting

Capacity Day

• For district managers and board

members

• Goal: “Choose your adventure”

organizational skill building day

• 8-10 sessions offered for all levels

• Held day before annual conference

“ F r o m a p e r s o n a l p e r s p e c t i v e , I f e e l I h a v e a m u c h s t r o n g e r c o n n e c t i o n t o t h e B o a r d

a n d p e r s p e c t i v e o f B o a r d M e m b e r s t h a n k s t o o u r m e e t i n g s . ”

Individual RCD Assistance

• Goal: Engage board and staff to

improve key organizational

practices

• Assessments

• Strategic planning

• Board development

• Staffing plans/team building

Lessons Learned

• Differing capacity levels require

different trainings

• Volunteer board members require

different follow up than staff

• Power of face-to-face

• Even with attempts to make

everything accessible, sometimes

hard for very low capacity

organizations to participate

Durable Collaborations

• Goal: Strengthen the entire RCD network by

developing a scalable model for collaboration that

reduces unnecessary competition & improves the

ability of districts to meet their objectives

• Voluntary and accessible application process

• 7 cohorts ranging from large (11 RCDs) to small

(2 RCDs) with a spectrum of trust, ambition, and

capacity

Durable Collaboration

Examples

• Information sharing

• Cooperation on discrete projects

• Equipment sharing

• Staff sharing

• Consolidation

• Pursuit of joint funding opportunities

Collaboration Process

• Pre-work to outline individual needs,

hopes, and concerns

• Facilitated quarterly all-day meetings and

monthly conference calls to reach

agreement around key decision points and

next steps

• Each RCD’s Board of Directors reviews and

approves collaboration plan

• Legal review of any formal agreements

• Implementation of collaboration plan

“I wasn’t engaged with the other RCDs, or with CARCD in general, at

that time. But I knew inherently that engaging with the larger group.

thinking at a larger scale, would be helpful.

Thinking on a regional, watershed scale, you can get more collective

bang for your conservation buck by collaborating. You see funders moving

to work at a regional scale.”

-Jill Demers, Humboldt County RCD

CARCD’s Role

• Provide staff time for research, coordination,

and other forms of support to the seven RCD

cohorts

• Seek diversified funding to cover costs of

facilitation services and provide stipends for

RCD participant staff/travel time

• Review drafts of collaboration plans and legal

contracts

• Conduct outreach to partner agencies about

funding opportunities for RCD regional entities

Results

• At minimum the cohorts will produce a plan

clarifying how they will work together

• Improved trust amongst RCDs

• For the first time, 2 RCD cohorts are pursuing

funding opportunities as regional entities

• 2 RCD cohorts have a formal contract currently

under (or close to) legal review

• Multiple rounds of match funding secured to

support the RCD durable collaborations

• Paradigm shift from competition to

collaboration

“ W h e n i n o n e p h o n e c o n v e r s a t i o n y o u h a v e n i n e d i s t r i c t m a n a g e r s s a y i n g , ‘ I ’ l l d o

w h a t e v e r I c a n f o r t h e g o o d o f t h e w h o l e , ’ t h a t ’ s a b i g t u r n i n g p o i n t f o r t h e s e c t o r . ”

— D e v i n B e s t , E x e c u t i v e D i r e c t o rU p p e r S a l i n a s - L a s Ta b l a s R C D

Lessons Learned

• Clear and consistent communication is

everything

• Funding is critical

• Flexibility and inclusion are essential

• Participant leaders must be willing to

step forward to help drive the process

• Project organizers must be willing to

seek external support as needed

Capacity Building for CARCD

• 5-year goals for board development, advocacy, staffing, and revenue development.

Strategic Planning

• Facilitated conversations led to re-thinking who serves on the board

• Established positions for some District Managers and outside partners

• Revised board member job description

• Identified skills and connections needed on the board.

Board Development

• Developed a functional budget

• Built the case for support through increased membership dues

• Outlined targeted grants and pass-through funding from state agencies.

Revenue Plan

• Messaging for use with key audiences (funders, legislators, member districts)

• Outline of outreach strategies, tactics, and tools

Communications Platform

Knowledge Transfer

• Goal: Build CARCD capacity to

continue the work

• Training CARCD staff

• Developing training resources for use

at regional meetings and elsewhere

• Creating opportunities for peer-led

training at future conferences and

regional meetings

“This capacity building program has identified CARCD’s role. Through this process, they’ve heard from the districts what RCDs need. They are way more responsive now: they have gone out on our behalf and advocated for our needs.”

— N I C O L E C A R T W R I G H T, E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R , TA H O E R C D

Inland Empire RCD

• Large, relatively urban district east of

L.A.

• Programs in weed abatement,

wetlands mitigation, agriculture

• Education program serving dozens of

schools

• Participated in group trainings and

collaboration planning

Keys to success

• Clear need and goals

• Funding source(s)

• Participation by districts in program

design

• In-house capacity to manage the program

• Flexible, iterative approach

• Collaborative consulting partner(s)

Thank You & Questions

Info@carcd.org

facebook.com/californiaRCDs

Karen Buhr, CARCD

Sara Schremmer, CARCD

Mandy Parkes, Inland Empire RCD

Amy Stork, Solid Ground Consulting