Featuring The Water Conservation Garden
The Water Conservation Garden is an indelible resource to San Diego, offering numerous opportunities for education and inspiration to conserve water and sustainably use natural resources. In a region as dry as ours, the nonprofit’s education programs and exhibits are not only beautiful, they are also life-preserving. This past fall, The Water Conservation Garden reached out to SVP for pro bono consulting support. On the heels of a strategic planning process, and poised to grow their geographic footprint, Executive Director Jennifer Pillsbury, knew that The Water Conservation Garden needed strong leadership to execute upon its strategies to achieve its newly defined goals.
The SVP team, including Lead Michael Dowlan, Joyce Ross, and Louarn Sorkin got right to work alongside the executive director and board members to support the small working board in transitioning to a larger governing board aligned with the organization’s strategic plan. SVP supported the nonprofit in reviewing roles and expectations to ensure board members had what they needed to help the organization achieve its new vision, thereby increasing existing members’ engagement. With improved board governance practices in place, the SVP team next set out to help prepare The Water Conservation Garden to grow its ranks, empowering them to recruit new board members with applicable documents and recruitment strategies. Pillsbury reports that she has successfully recruited five new board members with the relevant skills and capabilities to help The Water Conservation Garden achieve the revenue and operational goals of its new strategic plan.
This already strong organization is even more resilient thanks in part to a team of Partner consultants.
“SVP was incredibly helpful with tools and templates. [They] knew exactly what my board needed, and I could relate so easily. Our updated and bolstered board governance practices will take our organization to the next level,” -Jennifer Pillsbury, Executive Director (The Water Conservation Garden)
The stronger their internal organization, the more they are able to turn their resources into impact. We’re happy to see this pillar of the community - and beacon of hope for San Diego County’s constant drought concerns - renewed both in leadership and vision.
"This is the SVP multiplier effect. Our consultants volunteer their extraordinary support. For this reason, a dollar invested in SVP returns $8 in impact to the community." - Sierra Visher Kroha, CEO (San Diego Social Venture Partners)
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