2012 Implementation & Communication Plan

Table of Contents

Introduction
Next Steps for Implementing Special Hope’s Advocacy Strategy. 2
Step 1: Commit to the new strategy and a plan for strategy review.. 2
Step 2: Build and manage the Foundation’s networks. 3
Step 3: Ensure that the Foundation’s grant-making processes support the new strategy. 3
Recommended Activities for Implementing the Selected Approaches. 5
Approach #1: Champion the growth of local support networks to empower self-advocates. 5
Approach #2: Encourage specialists to raise awareness and spur action among their peers. 6
Approach #3: Make research accessible. 7
Approach #4: Create sustained learning opportunities for donors. 8
Approach #5: Convene cross-sector audiences for increased communications and collaboration. 9
Key Messages for Target Audiences. 10
APPENDIX A: Sample Guidance on Decision Making. 12

Introduction

As the Special Hope Foundation begins to execute its ambitious strategy to improve access to quality healthcare for developmentally disabled adults, it will need to follow a series of strategic, operational, grants management, and communications steps that will set the Board up to achieve its advocacy objective. These steps include building relationships with stakeholders, identifying and managing grantees and partners, and creating learning opportunities for the Board.

Through facilitated discussions, the Board has agreed to an advocacy strategy with one primary objective and five key approaches (see Figure 1, below). The Special Hope Foundation’s objective is to increase awareness of current gaps in healthcare access for developmentally disabled adults among parents, healthcare providers, policymakers, and funders, and to empower these groups to use their positions and resources to improve care. As described in the Strategic Advocacy Plan and demonstrated in the graphic below, the five approaches all contribute to the objective and help reinforce each other.

Figure 1: Special Hope Strategy

This document provides step-by-step guidance on how the Foundation can implement this strategy and communicate about it to key stakeholders. The first section focuses on critical steps Special Hope should take to prepare for the new strategy that are not specific to the five selected approaches. The second section provides clear and specific guidance on how the Foundation can begin implementing each approach. The third section offers key messages for Special Hope to use with its target audiences.

Next Steps for Implementing Special Hope’s Advocacy Strategy

Successful implementation of Special Hope’s new advocacy strategy will require that its brand, communications, and grant-making processes all align with that strategy. To ensure such alignment, the Foundation should take three steps:

• Commit to the new strategy;
• Build and manage the Foundation’s networks; and
• Ensure grant-making processes support the new strategy.

Step 1: Commit to the new strategy and a plan for strategy review

Now that the Board has agreed on Special Hope’s new strategy, it should formally commit to making grants and focusing members’ energies toward the furtherance of this strategy. At the same time, it should recognize that a strategy should be a living document. As conditions change and new opportunities arise, the Foundation will need to have a plan for regularly reviewing and refining its strategy.

• Finalize and formalize strategy: The Special Hope Board should meet to review and finalize the strategy, either on the phone or in-person. During this meeting, members should discuss the objective and approaches, ensure that they agree with these priorities, clarify any points of confusion, and vote to confirm their consensus. Members should understand that by voting for this strategy, they are committing to using it to guide their allocation of grants and other resources, including their own time, pending future revisions.
• Stay engaged and informed: With the recent addition of new Board members and the creation of a new strategy, Special Hope has an opportunity to capitalize on its momentum by creating a plan to keep the Board engaged and involved. This plan should: outline a process for regularly updating the Board on grantees, short-term wins, and changes in the field; provide a means for Board members to share what they are learning; and include suggestions for participating in shared learning opportunities, such as inviting speakers or attending conferences. The goal of this plan is to ensure members have the tools they need to engage in thoughtful, efficient decision making when they do come together for Board meetings and workshops.
• Regularly review and revise strategy: As the landscape evolves, the Board’s networks grow, and the Foundation accomplishes short-term wins, it will likely need to revise its strategy to keep it up-to-date and ensure that it continues to drive the desired impact. We suggest that the Foundation make strategy review and revision an intentional part of its implementation process by scheduling annual Board discussions about strategy. During these discussions, the Board can ask itself questions including:
  • Are our goals still the same or have they shifted?
  • How has the landscape changed? How do these changes affect our work?
  • What have we learned from the approaches we have implemented? How are we building this learning into our future work?

  The facilitator for this discussion should summarize proposed changes to the strategy and put them to a Board vote. Special Hope can then formally build these changes into a revised version of the strategy.

Step 2: Build and manage the Foundation’s networks

Success in advocacy depends in part on the Foundation’s ability to share its vision in an engaging, inspiring way that spurs its audiences to action. This ability includes expanding the Board’s networks, strengthening its existing relationships, and using effective messaging.

Talking Points on Special Hope’s Strategy

• Special Hope believes everyone can play a role in improving healthcare for adults with developmental disabilities. We connect, raise awareness among, and empower our key stakeholders. We aspire to:
• Drive system-wide change to address educational, financial, and policy obstacles to high-quality care.
• Encourage and empower parents to unite as a community for sharing and advocacy.
• Enable expert healthcare providers to raise awareness of unmet needs among their peers and become a voice for change.
• Make research more accessible so that policymakers make better-informed decisions.
• Convene funders to encourage collaboration, close funding gaps, and draw more attention to this issue.

Announce the new strategy: Transitioning to an ambitious new strategy provides Special Hope with an opportunity to energize the field by using its talking points (see box) to announce its strategy externally. We recommend using a combination of the following channels to announce the new strategy: updates to Special Hope’s website, an email to its listserv, an op-ed in a local newspaper or relevant industry publication, and letters to and meetings with existing partners and grantees.

Engage existing and new partners: One of the Foundation’s key strengths is its existing relationships and interest in building new and productive partnerships. It can strengthen its networks through regular communications that keep stakeholders abreast of the Foundation’s ongoing activities and the roles partners can play. These communications can take a variety of forms, including the creation of a new publication that covers stories relevant to the Foundation and its partners; the development of conference sessions, panels, or other learning opportunities for local stakeholders; or regular in-person meetings with partners to brainstorm new areas for collaboration.

Step 3: Ensure that the Foundation’s grant-making processes support the new strategy

Implementing a new strategy will be a transition for Special Hope, and the Foundation should take this opportunity to examine existing practices and consider whether they need to be revised to better support new goals and priorities. Arabella recommends that the Board, with Lynne’s leadership, examine how it currently designs grants, relates to grantees, evaluates its work, and learns – all with an eye toward identifying the systems and process that are most effective for a foundation prioritizing advocacy.

• Determine and implement a process for soliciting grant proposals: Foundations typically identify potential grantees and solicit proposals via open or closed RFPs. Distributing an open RFP can introduce the Foundation to new organizations and ideas. However, it can be time-consuming to identify channels for distributing the RFP and to review a large number of submissions. Opening submissions up to a wide range of organizations can also yield unfocused or irrelevant grant proposals. By sending targeted invites to desired applicants, even during an open RFP process, Special Hope can pursue suitable partners. Closed RFPs, which are sent only to invited applicants, limit the number of applications received, but do not expand the Foundation’s networks. Directly inviting applications can also prove time-consuming and resource-intensive, if significant research is needed to identify the right organizations.
• Develop and implement a process for evaluating proposals and making decisions: Arabella recommends that Special Hope develop a set of criteria and a decision-making process for evaluating proposals and selecting grantees. Criteria and a standardized process will help the Foundation adhere to its strategy. (For further guidance on decision making, see Appendix A.) In addition to strategic criteria, the Foundation should ask a series of due diligence questions of any potential grantee to determine whether it is a good fit with Special Hope’s priorities, addressing topics such as:
  • Mission, objectives, and strategy
  • Programs and activities
  • Achievements and track record
  • Monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL)
  • Governance, leadership, and staffing
  • Financial health
  • External communications, relationships, and partnerships

  As an advocacy funder, Special Hope will likely look to fund groups with advocacy experience, deep and broad networks in healthcare, a defined niche, strong ability to adapt, effective leadership, and an understanding of how to collaborate across sectors. The Foundation can gather information on these topics through a variety of means, including: grant proposals, conversations with an organization’s staff, an organization’s website, its annual reports, 990 forms, GuideStar or Charity Navigator, or conversations with other funders.

• Develop and implement a process for communicating decisions and disbursing grants: Once the Board uses its criteria and decision-making process to select grantees, it will communicate these decisions to applicants. Applicants should understand up front the timing for the Foundation’s decisions and the types of information they should expect to receive (e.g. a simple yes/no answer, feedback and guidance for submitting a stronger application, an invitation to move to the next phase of application, etc.). The Foundation should provide all grantees with a formal award letter and grant agreement, outlining expectations regarding the length of the grant period, guidelines for use of the funds, expected activities and outcomes, and reporting requirements. With regard to reporting, we encourage Special Hope to establish clearly defined and agreed-upon metrics up front, so that expectations are clear for both parties.
• Invest in monitoring and evaluation to create a culture of learning: Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is one of the most effective learning tools a Foundation can employ and is a critical part of strategy. Prioritizing M&E is an important way for Special Hope to build its understanding of which approaches and activities are most effective. The Foundation’s M&E plan should have two components: requirements for grantees (e.g. to collect and analyze data and build lessons learned into their future work), and requirements for the Foundation’s own self-assessments and course corrections. The Foundation should develop a standard set of metrics up front to facilitate its measurement of outputs, outcomes, and impact. In addition to self-assessment, the Foundation should also periodically solicit feedback from its stakeholders: grantees, beneficiaries, partners, and others, for a more comprehensive vision of its impact. Finally, we recommend that Special Hope have a process in place for incorporating what it learns through evaluation into its strategy, systems, and processes.

Recommended Activities for Implementing the Selected Approaches

In addition to the considerations and adjustments described above, successfully implementing the new strategy will require action within each of the five approved approaches. The Foundation can pursue all five approaches simultaneously, but Approach #5 – which involves convening the right cross-sector groups – may prove easier to implement after Special Hope has worked on the other four approaches and further developed its networks.

Our implementation recommendations below outline key steps that build on Special Hope’s existing knowledge and relationships. We organize recommended activities into phases – assess, plan, and implement – to help the Foundation understand both what Board members should do immediately to start building momentum towards short-term wins and productive partnerships, and how they can analyze results to inform future efforts.

Approach #1: Champion the growth of local support networks to empower self-advocates

Support networks connect individual and parent advocates within a community to each other, and facilitate the sharing of advice and resources. As these networks become stronger and more formally organized, they help individuals and parents interact with other stakeholders–such as NGO advocates and large service providers–and to voice their needs and challenges. By working with strategic partners, Special Hope can provide more opportunities for shared learning and peer awareness-raising among parents, empowering these communities to become venues for shared advocacy.

Recommended Activities

Assess

• Map connections to parent networks, based on Board members’ existing relationships.
• Poll parents on the Board about their experiences with parent networks to identify common strengths and weaknesses of these groups.
• Determine whether any of the Foundation’s existing grants further this approach.

Plan

• Learn from your parent networks where strong support networks exist and what activities they are pursuing.
• Provide funding to an NGO to map out the existing support networks and parents groups in the Bay Area.
• Meet with the Arc of San Francisco (given its expertise in self-advocacy) to learn about existing efforts to encourage self-advocacy among parents.

Implement

• Solicit grant proposals for NGOs to survey parent networks on their needs and challenges.
• Solicit grant proposals for NGOs to develop trainings for existing parent groups to fill identified gaps related to knowledge and resources.
• Provide funding to help existing support networks improve their outreach; for example, through a website or doctors’ offices.
• Build relationships with more advanced parent networks, and help them share their best practices and lessons learned with more fledgling networks.

Approach #2: Encourage specialists to raise awareness and spur action among their peers

Most adults with developmental disabilities seek care from providers who do not specialize in treating this population and who would benefit from additional training and skills development. Specialists who are passionate about caring for adults with developmental disabilities and who have joined together in membership organizations, such as the American Academy of Developmental Medicine and Dentistry (AADMD), can help raise awareness among their peers and inspire them to enhance their skills and become advocates for this population. Special Hope can help experienced providers raise awareness among non-specialists, and encourage their colleagues to seek out additional training and advocate for better care for adults with developmental disabilities.

Recommended Activities

Assess

• Map the Board’s existing connections to healthcare providers, beginning with Dr. Crain’s professional networks and the providers that the parents on the Board know.
• Hold informal conversations with healthcare providers about their level of awareness about this issue and the ways in which they most commonly advance their skills.
• Determine whether any of the Foundation’s existing grants further this approach.

Plan

• Learn from healthcare provider contacts which institutes, programs, websites, or print materials they reference to learn about trends and enhance their expertise.
• Meet with a provider membership group, such as AADMD, to identify current efforts to connect with non-specialist providers and provide training.

Implement

• Provide funding to a provider membership group, such as AADMD, to increase its outreach to non-specialist providers.
• Convene a panel of specialist providers to share their experiences with non-specialist providers.
• Provide funding to an educational institution, such as a University Centers of Excellence on Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD), to revise training materials for a wider (non-specialist) provider audience.
• Distribute revised training materials through Special Hope’s networks, including on its website and through conferences that members attend.
• Solicit grant proposals for NGOs to train specialist providers on advocacy efforts.

Approach #3: Make research accessible

Policy decisions related to healthcare for this population are more likely to lead to effective, financially sustainable solutions when they are based on research; and policymakers are more likely to use research to inform their decisions when it is in an accessible format. Special Hope can partner with research institutions and advocacy NGOs to meet this need by funding the translation of research into policy guidelines and recommendations. Supporting the creation of translated research will also help the Foundation build its credibility with new partners that do not know its history and experience.

Recommended Activities

Assess

• Map the Foundation’s existing relationships with research institutions, such as universities, think tanks, and NGOs that work on healthcare and disability rights policy.
• Consider how to parlay relationships held by individual Board members into relationships held by the Foundation.
• Determine whether any existing grants further this approach.

Plan

• Work with networks to identify recent research that could be translated.
• Through conversations with researchers and NGOs, identify opportunities for NGOs to provide communications and advocacy training to researchers.
• Identify gaps within the Foundation’s researcher and NGO relationships to fill.

Implement

• Solicit grant proposals for NGOs to provide researchers with communications and advocacy training.
• Solicit grant proposals for NGOs and researchers to partner to translate research
• Build relationships with new researchers and NGOs to fill identified gaps.
• Distribute translated research through the Foundation’s networks.

Approach #4: Create sustained learning opportunities for donors

Few funders prioritize this issue or population in their grant making because of a misperception that public funds address all needs. Special Hope can build awareness and encourage more private funding on this issue by working with philanthropy organizations and affinity groups, advocacy NGOs, and other peer funders to help other funders understand the role they can play in addressing this issue.

Recommended Activities

Assess

• Determine Special Hope’s goal with donor education (e.g. increase funding on this issue, build a donor collaborative, etc.).
• Review the September 2011 landscape scan funded by the Foundation, and determine where Special Hope has existing relationships.
• Identify philanthropy organizations that could partner with Special Hope to engage funders.
• Determine whether any existing grants further this approach.

Plan

• Meet with identified philanthropy groups to discuss potential partnership.
• Build upon the existing funder scan to identify funders that may be interested in learning more.

Implement

• Solicit grant proposals from advocacy NGOs to develop (or modify existing) educational materials about the needs and opportunities for funders on this issue. Ensure that proposals include a plan for distributing materials.
• Fund the creation of an outreach plan for engaging donors.
• Fund a philanthropy conference or organization to hold a session on this issue.
• Tap the Board’s networks to invite funders to speak at and attend a conference session on this issue.
• Develop a prioritized list of foundations whose strategies align with Special Hope’s, and reach out to determine interest in sharing or collaborating.

Considerations for Donor Collaboratives

Special Hope should consider parlaying its awareness-building among donors into a donor collaborative. Donor collaboratives can be powerful tools for increasing overall funding and attention directed at an issue, but their execution can be complex. If Special Hope pursues this approach, it should consider the following points:

• Donor collaboratives can take a range of forms, including: a commitment to sharing lessons learned, an effort to align strategies, or the creation of a pooled fund.
• They are most effective when they have clear goals, structures, and decision-making rules; and when all members understand what they are expected to contribute.
• Benefits of collaboratives include: increased information sharing, scale, efficiency for grantees, and the pooling of non-financial resources (e.g. networks).
• Challenges include: the need to give up some individual decision-making power and control, shared credit for impact, time and energy required to run the collaborative, and perceived or actual power imbalances within the group.

Approach #5: Convene cross-sector audiences for increased communications and collaboration

Cross-sector convening can spur information sharing and collaboration, and prevent actors with similar end goals from acting at cross-purposes. Special Hope can use its growing networks among parents, healthcare providers, funders, and the policy community to convene the right people and identify shared interests and goals.

Recommended Activities

Assess

• Determine whether the Foundation has the networks to bring a cross-sector group together or whether more relationship-building is needed.
• Determine whether any existing grants further this approach.

Plan

• Identify a clear goal or set of goals for convening.
• Identify audiences that will be mutually interested in working toward that goal.

Implement

• Convene the Foundation’s grantees for information sharing on a periodic basis.
• Fund a philanthropy organization to have a healthcare provider, NGO advocate, and/or parent speak at a conference session.
• Fund an advocacy NGO with a grassroots network to partner with a grasstops NGO to create convening opportunities for their networks.
• Continue building the Board’s networks among its four main audiences.

Key Messages for Target Audiences

Critical to the success of Special Hope’s advocacy strategy is a set of messages that describes the Foundation’s work in a consistent, inspirational, and action-oriented way. The Foundation will use these messages to help its audiences understand the challenges in this sector and the role they can play to address the challenges. Most importantly, the Foundation will use them to inspire and spur its audiences to act.

In the chart below, we present four sets of messages, tailored to each of the Foundation’s audiences. These are the messages you want the audience to receive, whether they are delivered by the Foundation or by a strategic partner. Each set has four components to appeal to the audience and make it easier for them to take action:

• The audience’s need or challenge
• A potential solution
• Actions that the Foundation encourages this audience to take to address the need
• How Special Hope will help the audience take action