The basic concept of technical assistance has been a cornerstone of SLHI’s work since 1999. As the changes affecting nonprofits have picked up pace, however, so have the changes to our approach in helping them. In FY2015, we redeveloped our technical assistance approach to sharpen our focus on developing healthy organizations that ultimately help improve community health.

TAP Talks have always helped organizations strengthen skills and create tools to effectively carry out their mission using single day conference sessions. For FY2015, we quickened the pace of TAP Talks, from three per year to five.

• Our first Failure Fest was perhaps the most well-reviewed and innovative topic. The session stood as a celebration of learning that required attending organizations to open up about obstacles and failures as opportunities for growth.
• Strategic Learning: Redesigning the Plane as You Fly It was another strongly received conference. Evaluations revealed that the content of techniques and tools had both organizational and personal development impact.
• The Lean In TAP Talk was focused on productive conversation between nonprofit professionals and funders.  By creating a space for dialogue, the event effectively developed empathy amongst attendees and created new common ground for understanding and shared goals.
• Strong evaluations also came in for key TAP Talks that delved into the Nonprofit Lifecyle as well as an unprecedented gathering of Maricopa County Capacity Builders (SLHI, The Arizona Grantmakers Forum, The Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits and ASU’s Lodestar Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Innovation).

TAP Groups retained their focus on helping nonprofits collaboratively get better at what they do. In FY2015, we chose the most timely and relevant topics based on community input, and then invited our TAP Talk audience to fully commit to a group. Nonprofit staff, volunteers and nonprofit supporters drove the success of facilitator-led groups working on: Strategic Learning, “How to Cover Your Assets,” “How to Launch a Campaign,” Board Development, and Volunteer Management.

What does it take to help create healthy organizations? This year’s evolution of technical assistance represents the answer to that continually-asked question. With respect to our collective learning, we invariably hold any solution equally accountable for building stronger relationships, for sharing relevant and timely topics, and for elevating practical, strengths-based, learning-centered tools and techniques.