springstrategy_onepager_11.16.15

springstrategy_onepager_11.16.15

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  strategy + communications Weall live lives of motion and movement - our work changes, context shifts, new challenges arise. SPRING Strategy and Communications exists to give meaning to the movement, to find direction and purpose for it, to measure progress, to tell the stories that define the shifts. We embrace the power and potential of movement and help our clients do the same. W H O W E A R E Carol Rava - I have spent the past 20 years helping organizations make a difference as change-makers, investors, educators, and even technology evangelists. Whether as a strategist, researching the highest leverage entry point for an investment; a collaborator, bringing together diverse parties to find a shared purpose; an implementer, working on-the-ground to build relationships and execute plans; or an analyst, collecting stories, reviewing data and presenting the picture of impact - I love to solve problems and advance ideas, change and betterment. And I’ve had the privilege of leading teams in a start-up non-profit, for a large, urban school district, at the world’s largest private foundation, and solo, as a parent and community advocate. SPRING is where I - and other super stars in strategy and communications - build on our experiences for an array of clients, sharing what we’ve learned to best support and move forward their priorities. S E R V I C E S STRATEGY COMMUNICATIONS!!! ... Launch/start up | Setting up operations (legal, HR, finance), technology, program, and communications structures and processes for non-profit organizations or initiatives, and supporting initial execution Constituent engagement | Understanding who to involve, how and when for long-term sustainability as well as short-term success Performance management | Goal-setting for projects or organizations; drafting metrics that are measurable, aggressive, achievable, and appropriate; aligning systems so that goals cascade and connect people and departments Programmatic | Designing or refining programs that tap into an organization’s strengths and are keyed into desired outcomes/metrics Technology | Employing technology to ease process, improve reach, and better measure impact Research | Helping organizations understand a new field, body of research, specific sector, issue, players, or history to best inform a strategy Press | Outlining a media strategy, building press lists (traditional and new/social), serving as spokesperson, and writing releases, advisories, backgrounders Social | Knowing which social channels, influencers, approaches (paid, earned, partnered) to use depending on desired impact and ultimate audience Grants | Writing grants (public and private) that tell a story compelling and are aligned with the seeker’s core mission Writing | Drafting a variety of presentation or communication materials - messaging frameworks, essays, one-sheets, brochures, presentations, infographics ADVOCACY Policy analysis | Researching and outlining the possible effects, opportunities, and risks of specific policies Political situational analysis | Mapping how different influencers affect which levers and investment entry points High leverage entry points | Identifying the ‘most likely to have impact’ entry points for specific goals IMPACT SUBJECT EXPERTISE Education is what we know and where we have logged miles. So while our skill set is applicable across sectors, our subject matter expertise is in education - particularly secondary. We know the players, the history, and where to find the opportunities. Goal-setting | Leading conversations to determine right metrics for work, from system-wide performance management to one-off program or individual goals Measuring, analyzing, reporting | Creating manageable ways to track impact, review data and summarize it Story-telling | Sharing impact as a combination of stories and numbers
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  O U RW O R K I N A C T I O N How do you get a large urban district to set achievement goals from the classroom to the boardroom? In Seattle, I lead the effort to unite the 7K employee district around student performance metrics with each department (from principals to facilities) having goals that rolled up to support the district’s student-focused metrics. We started by engaging diverse stakeholders (unions, electeds, staff), setting multi-tiered goals (district, school, central office), and adopting technology to facilitate accessible goal-tracking. And we wrote and secured grants totaling more than $25M (public and private) to support the work. Six years later, the impact is still felt as 2000 teachers can access reporting tools to help them better track progress of 54,000 students, and 30,000 families (my own included) better understand the quality of their child’s school through annual school reports. REPORT CARDS FOR ALL I had never delved into technology until I was asked to lead non-profit, Get Schooled’s tech strategy. We had a big idea: use innovative business technology such as recommendation engines and gamification to create a personalized and wholly entertaining experience to help low-income students navigate the path to college. The result is one of the most dynamic, direct-to-teen sites that exists - with the data to support its impact (it’s sticky - students stay for long periods, consume a variety of educational content, and keep returning). AMAZON MEETS COLLEGE-READY While working for a large foundation, I thought we could work around, through or over political and policy barriers put up by a teachers union on the strength of our good ideas and better investments. The California Teachers Association made it clear that if we couldn’t play with them, they would ensure we didn’t play at all. I’m nothing if not a quick-study. There are no investments large enough to change local context; sustainable impact comes from finding common ground among key stakeholders and moving forward together. The big changes realized in California’s education system in the 2000s (college-prep classes for all, transparent data, and innovative school models) were because of this very collaboration. And a dozen years later, every December I still receive a box of holiday cookies from my friends at the CTA. A STORY OF HUBRIS AND THE UNION [email protected] | Seattle, WA | 206 . 854 . 0372 | springstrategy.net M O R E T H A N O U R W O R K At SPRING we believe that a full life is a good life. When we are not helping our amazing clients we focus on other passions. Carol spends her free time trying to stay…current with tween/teen pop culture and all things Lego, fit by swimming or running her oversized dog along the lake, and satiated from cooking delicious meals and devouring great literature. Carol graduated from Harvard with a BA in History and Religion, and from Stanford with an MA in Education Policy. CAROL RAVA | Principal