You have the idea and the 501(c)(3). Now design the organization.
The Innovation Incubator is for people who have received their nonprofit status, or are planning to, and need to think through everything from mission to the nuts and bolts. We help you be specific, build on what you already have, and write it all down so it can be funded and run.
Be very specific
Most new organizations know what they care about. The work is turning that into something a board can govern, a funder can read, and a community can recognize as its own.
Mission, vision, goals
One mission sentence. One vision of the changed community. Goals, objectives, and outcomes that can actually be measured.
What you want to do
The programs, written as programs: who they serve, what happens, how often, who runs them, and what changes.
The plan
Strategic planning for the first three years, then the nuts and bolts: calendar, roles, policies, budget, and reporting.
What you are capitalizing on
The assets you already hold: people, relationships, places, knowledge, trust, and reputation. We map them before we plan anything.
The communities you work in
Which neighborhoods, which populations, which partners are already there, and how you fit beside them instead of on top of them.
An online presence
Whether you need one, what it should do, and the simplest version that works: a page, a form, a way to give, and a way to show the work.
We work with nonprofits, not businesses. If you are starting a business, the people who specialize in that will serve you better. In Cleveland, start with SCORE Cleveland, the Ohio Small Business Development Center network, and JumpStart.
From asset discovery to sustainability
Need evaluation on its own? Evaluation services can be hired separately.
Discover
We assess where your organization is today and map the assets you already hold.
Design
We reorganize those assets around a clear purpose and design programs, partnerships, and structures that fit.
Pilot
We test the design in the real world, start small, and build momentum from the first win.
Measure
Process and outcome evaluation from day one, with measures that capture what matters to the community.
Sustain
Braided funding, donor systems, and leadership capacity so the work lasts beyond any single grant.
How to get a grant, why AI cannot do it for you, and what to do after
A full course on grants for community organizations, built from Get That Grant and twenty-five years of writing and managing them. Twelve sessions, online, with worksheets, including what AI can and cannot do for you. In development; the slide decks are being assembled now.
How grants work
Government, foundation, corporate, and individual money. What each one wants and what each one costs you.
Finding foundations
Candid, the Form 990, state registries, and your own board's networks. Building a prospect list that fits.
Reading a foundation
What to look for: who they funded last year, at what size, with what words, and whether they take calls.
The letter of inquiry
One page that gets you invited. Need, idea, assets, ask.
The proposal
Need, goals, objectives, outcomes, activities, timeline, evaluation, and the story that holds them together.
The budget
Budgets that match the narrative, indirect costs, in-kind, and the braided-funding map.
Grant management
After the award: tracking, spending responsibly, reporting, and keeping the relationship.
Sustainability
Renewals, diversifying, donors, earned income, and knowing when to say no to money.
Understanding your community
Listening, hearing, being the eyes, interacting, and exploring ideas with the people you serve. A needs statement that a neighbor would recognize.
Why AI cannot write your grant
A funder is buying your relationships, your knowledge of the block, and your track record. AI has none of them, and reviewers can tell.
How AI can help
Reading a 990, summarizing guidelines, drafting a budget table, checking a timeline, and tightening your own words. The line between help and fabrication.
Your first proposal
Write a real letter of inquiry in the course and get it read by two reviewers before it goes out.
Services
Organizational build-out
- Capacity and readiness assessment
- Strategic planning
- Board and leadership development
- Program and partnership design
Evaluation and analytics
- Process and summative evaluation
- Predictive analytics and risk modeling
- Social return on investment
- Data systems and reporting
Funding and sustainability
- Grant development and writing
- Braided funding models
- Donor systems
- Teaching teams to use funds responsibly
Training
- Social and political determinants of health
- Recognizing bias and its impact
- Trauma-informed practice
- Evaluation for community organizations
Youth and education innovation
- HPAC and student-led projects
- Pathway and pipeline programs
- Curriculum design
- Self-organized learning approaches
Licensing
- Citizenship Health framework
- HPAC facilitator training
- Tailored implementation support
Built for many kinds of communities
The Citizenship Health model has been tailored for a hospital system (University Hospitals, Cleveland), a city (Buffalo, New York), the State of Ohio, medical schools, K-12 schools, and community-based organizations, including violence intervention programs, congregations, and youth development groups.
Some of the organizations we have helped build are our partners today. Each one remains its own organization. Our role is to help them see their strengths, think through where they are, and find ways to succeed at the next level.
Ready to start?
Tell us about your organization, what you are trying to build, and what is getting in the way. We will start with what you already have.
Contact usLeadership Foundations and AI for Neighborhood Leaders
Two companion series written for Neighborhood Leadership Cleveland participants: ten sessions on the foundations of community leadership and five on using AI without losing the human work of organizing. Sample decks below; the full series is available to partners.
Leadership Foundations 1: Personal strengths and self-awareness
Four layers of self-awareness, free strengths assessments, a values card sort, and a one-sentence leadership statement.
Leadership Foundations 4: Understanding systems
Who decides what in Cleveland, how an ordinance becomes law, five ways to be heard, and a civic scavenger hunt.
Leadership Foundations 8: Projects, goals and evaluation
SMART goals, a plain-language logic model, and six evaluation steps a small group can run with sign-ins, short surveys, photos and stories.
AI for Neighborhood Leaders 4: AI for community organizing
Organizing is relationships; AI clears time. A power-map prompt, a testimony prompt that keeps the speaker's own words, and the line between what AI can do and what only people can do.