The Strategic Restructuring Self-Assessment Tool

Introduction

Pre-partnership assessment is an important part of preparing for a successful collaboration, helping nonprofits to learn about various partnership options, to clarify what they want from (and can bring to) a collaboration, and to examine their readiness to engage in a strategic restructuring exploration.

Often organizations are curious about strategic restructuring, but do not have the resources to invest in seeking customized support to answer their questions. At this early stage, they may only need some initial, but specific, feedback to help point them in the right direction and identify next steps.

The Strategic Restructuring Self-Assessment Tool (SRAT) is a resource developed by La Piana Consulting with funding from four foundation partners[1] to help nonprofits learn more about integrated forms of partnership in a way that is informative and unintimidating. Designed as an automated survey and report, the tool allows organizations to conduct their own assessment and supports internal conversations, then meets them where they are at with a customized set of recommendations.

How it Works

The SRAT is currently available to funders and federated nonprofit organizations who want to provide it to their grantees or use it within their networks.

Organizations accessing the tool are encouraged to walk through the 25 questions with a group of staff and board members, manually recording their answers together before entering them into the online questionnaire. (A downloadable version of the questions is made available for this purpose.) This step supports valuable internal discussion and understanding of where goals and expectations are aligned — and where there may be differences. After submitting their answers, the organization immediately receives a customized report pointing to resources on topics most relevant to the organization’s unique needs, which may include readings, websites, podcasts, and ideas for next steps.

The tool is administered in conjunction with some consultant engagement to provide critical context, to help organizations to understand the concepts and language in the assessment, and to prepare them to make the most of the resulting recommendations. For more information, contact La Piana Consulting at info@lapiana.org or 510-601-9056.