PRAISE FOR CARYN, RICK & INTERSECTOR PARTNERS, L3C
The quality of interSector’s work was great. Great facilitation skills and ability to get to the point of discussions to move the work forward. I was also impressed with the level of follow-through and documentation which made for successful outcomes as well as how you initiated the necessary authority when needed to individuals in order to keep the process moving to meet critical deadlines.
We could have never accomplished the outcomes reached without your support. You also allowed us to save lots of money in this process. This process could have easily gone on longer adding costs, stress and frustration. You saved us money as well as reduced stress and frustration which could have led to different outcomes.
Your ability to facilitate difficult discussions, reach consensus and recommend options allowed for successful outcomes that could not have been achieved had we tried doing it ourselves. Your flexibility and ability to refocus when needed were keys to achieving our outcomes and are a sign of how you exceed your goals.
I was also impressed with your ability to keep the conversations at a high level without the challenge of also documenting the conversations. Your process allowed us to move quickly through our process which resulted in the following organizational impacts: 1) save money; 2) ability to share information in a manageable way to make good sound decisions; 3) learned from your experiences; and 4) challenged us to be strategic in how we approached this work.
Sometimes I feel that I am the one managing consultants to achieve our desired goals where with Caryn and Rick it was the opposite - precisely why you hire consultants to help you manage the work and make good decisions. They completely understood the outcomes of the work at hand and little education on our behalf was needed to achieve our goals.
Carlos Martinez
CEO
GLBT Community Center of Colorado
Denver, CO
Rick Zwetsch and his organization interSector Partners, L3C have been instrumental in educating techJOYnT L3C and supporting our launch as a first L3C operating in Oklahoma. We express our deepest gratitude to Rick for orienting and on-boarding us on a social entrepreneurship journey.
When our nation has a 45% unemployment rate among young adults, we want our initiative to make a positive impact in a lot of talented young graduates by opening employment opportunities for them. The public education system is taking a beating on the world stage. We want to make a difference by fostering innovation at an early age and make STEM learning both exciting and rewarding.
Rick was there with us hand-holding and his guidance from formation to launch was terrific. We could not have pulled this off with out Rick's help. Thank you for your generosity, you have been very kind. We will pay this favor forward by helping the next tier of Oklahoma L3Cs!
Ray Shaik
Founder & Executive Director
techJOYnT L3C
Oklahoma City, OK
1st L3C operating in Oklahoma
Serving as the Chair of the Steering Committee for this project, I was fully satisfied with the quality of your work. I knew what I was getting ahead of time and you met all my expectations. You provided a Community focus with a structure that got us what we needed. You walked into a tough situation, managed all the conflict and delivered a great final product. Not sure how we could have gotten a higher quality of services.
I also really enjoyed how you brought a great mix of professionalism with a personal touch to the project. I've learned quite a bit from watching you facilitate and Caryn handles conflict and difficult people better than anyone I've seen.
Matthew Bennett
Partner
Diverse Management Solutions, LLC
Denver, CO
interSector Partners had a profound impact on our visioning process. The process was highly successful because of your leadership and input. The final vision statement and report will help define the town's decision-making for years to come. In addition, participants in our community summit will remember that day for years to come and hopefully have a clear vision for how the community can come together and be both productive and respectful.
We very much enjoyed working with both of you and really appreciate your dedication to and investment in our town's future. Your work was outstanding: thorough, detailed, insightful and very well-suited to our organization's needs.
interSector Partners met and exceeded our expectations by negotiating a very contentious and challenging climate in our town and creating a process where participants really felt heard.
We had a tight budget and a difficult task and you met our expectations with grace and generosity.
Sumaya Abuhaidar
Having worked with several consultants in the past, interSector Partners exceeded all expectations by facilitating the conversation at a higher level, and to a greater outcome, than experienced previously. The quality of their work was fabulous!
The level of professionalism and the resulting document were exactly what we hoped for and will serve as a strong foundation for our work over the next few years. Caryn was skilled at facilitating the conversation, ensuring all voices were heard and that we remained on task. Her candid presentation of data led to informed conversations and her guidance was remarkable and led to a very successful retreat.
I also loved the survey and data collection prior to the retreat. This saved a tremendous amount of time while capturing important information.
The team at interSector Partners was highly professional and demonstrated great expertise in facilitating our board retreat. Our retreat and its outcomes were very productive and more than what we hoped for. Their work exceeded expectations.
Megan Wilson
Executive Director
Reach Out and Read Colorado
Denver, CO
interSector was able to work with both funders and nonprofit partners to develop a business plan to help with fundraising for the project and to serve as a baseline of understanding between numerous nonprofit groups as well as their foundation funders. The quality of the work was fantastic. The principals were able to anticipate and solicit the right questions to make a coherent and logical case, understood by different primary audiences.
Their non-defensive approach to feedback, ease and promptness of follow-through are wonderful traits in consultants. As important, interSector’s partners are very knowledgeable about how to craft a business plan and corresponding budgets. A superb product.
Christiano Sosa
Senior Program Officer
The Denver Foundation
Denver, CO
The quality of work for this project was excellent, especially given the short time frame and turn around time we needed. Synthesizing the thoughts of all the executive directors and funders into a cohesive business plan could not have been easy! The salient points for why this process is beneficial to the sector were pulled out and highlighted and this was the most important goal of the business plan.
I was able to go to my boss and provide him with a plan that he feels comfortable presenting to other CEOs of foundations. InterSector Partners were able to give me (us) a tool to promote the project in a succinct, rational way as opposed to assuming others will inherently understand why this process is the best option. And this is what I felt all the executive directors were banking on, rather than a rational argument and explanation.
We did not consider other consultants to pull together a business plan. Both Rick and Caryn were easy to work with, open to ideas, were flexible and available whenever I needed to reach them. They both had a great ability to take all of our thoughts and piece these together into a concise plan.
Their work exceeded my expectations.
Julie Voyles
Program Officer
The Gill Foundation
Denver, CO
Caryn and Rick were able to develop and execute a process that engaged the board and facilitated trust with our staff, particularly with the new executive director. The organization learned about the HOW and WHY behind the process and nonprofit best practices which will help us in our long term leadership and impact.
Emily Davis
Executive Director
NHF Colorado (formerly Hemophilia Society of CO)
Denver, CO
The process of working with Caryn and Rick at interSector Partners was absolutely fabulous. They helped drive the strategic planning process from the beginning discovery phase all the way through to action planning. As a start-up non-profit, we did not have the time nor the expertise to manage this process and our organization has seen tremendous maturity throughout the process.
Rob Smith
Executive Director
RMMFI
Denver, CO
Caryn and Rick provided thoughtful facilitation and oversight during the strategic planning process. They came to the table prepared with tools that facilitated meaningful discussion and provided push-back when necessary. Our time together was productive AND fun!
Stacey Saggese
Development Director/Co-Founder
RMMFI
Denver, CO
A great start last night - I feel like it is a new beginning! Many thanks to all of you!
Graham Hill
President
eGo Carshare
Boulder / Denver
I have been a part of many and varied organizations and never before have I seen the kind of commitment and ACTUAL progress towards betterment. It's a testament to all of you. It's a great honor to be working with you and I look forward to building an even better organization in the coming months.
Mary Young
Treasurer
eGo Carshare
Boulder / Denver
Rather than creating the typical 5-year strategic plan that is never used or returned to, iSP's real-time strategic planning approach continues to engage our entire staff, board, and committee system in big picture thinking about BCAP's future. Thank you Rick and Caryn for helping us come together and point BCAP to our future!
Mike Henry
Board of Directors
Boulder County AIDS Project
Boulder, CO
Thank you so much for facilitating YNPN Denver's strategic planning process. Your efforts really helped us in creating a vision for the organization's future and then developing a realistic plan for getting there. The process worked very well within our culture and really worked for us. It was a great mix of innovation, creativity and forward momentum. Thank you so much for your efforts!
Sarah Fischler
ynpn\DENVER
Rick and Caryn are professionals who first listened to what our organization's issues are, and then crafted a solution that met our needs within our budget. We were very impressed by their work and would recommend interSector Partners to other organizations.
Marcia Donziger
Executive Director
MyLifeLine.org Cancer Foundation
Denver, CO
I would just like to say that we very much enjoyed working with interSector Partners on our Capital Campaign planning project. We really enjoyed your personalities and you all were very professional, on time and well prepared.
You helped give us the overall vision of where we were, where we wanted to go, and how to get there. Without helping us find our vision and guiding us to that point, we couldn't have gotten as far as we have.
I'd say you met, possibly exceeded our collective expectations. There were some in our group who felt that you should have done more to help us raise funds...even though it was clear (to me anyway) from the beginning that you weren't fundraisers. You did give us lots of tools to help us fundraise and those are very much appreciated.
As one of board members stated, “You can tell this is not your first rodeo!”
Susie Donaldson
Golden Retriever Rescue of the Rockies
Golden, CO
interSector Partners worked with me on two projects. As a result I have been able to streamline a complicated emergency preparedness program, increase the effectiveness of communications to our members, and objectively see the achievements of the program.
interSector also worked with me on three regional meetings that were extremely successful. As a result of interSector's facilitation, each meeting met the needs of the specific audience in a way that I had not expected. Busy CEOs that struggle to find time for meetings are now requesting that we do this at least once a year. Because of interSector I was able to relax and participate in the meetings rather the worry about logistics and schedules.
Nancy Gilbert
Emergency Preparedness Manager
CCHN
Rick and Caryn are a pleasure to work with. They have engaging, professional and complimentary personalities and skill sets. The executive director search process and the end result exceeded my expectations for quality, creativity and thoroughness. Their work significantly exceeded my expectations.
Ben Brahinsky
Colorado CASA
Caryn and Rick were very professional in helping our organization with the recruitment of a new Executive Director. They helped our search committee not only behind the scenes and communication with the candidates but in facilitating tough discussions about candidates. It was a pleasure to work with them.
Steve McBride
Board Director
Colorado CASA
Denver, CO
I cannot say enough good things about Caryn and Rick...they know us so well and have really helped us define our path for organizational development. The board and I feel incredibly indebted to them for their contributions to our growth and development since we first started working with them in the summer of 2009.
Crystal Echo Hawk
Executive Director
Notah Begay III Foundation
In these times of "economic uncertainty," the rise of the L3C spells out a new vision of the future for those of us in the helping professions. It is time to overcome the gap between the "non" and the "for" profits, and see how an integration can lead to better outcomes for all. interSector Partners has the vision, the background and the skill to help you do just that, and they care and are sincere to boot!
I highly recommend them given the experience in planning that my Board and Staff are going through at this time.
Ernest Duff
Executive Director
Howard Dental Center
Denver, CO
interSector Partners provided Howard Dental Center with all the tools needed to hold a meaningful and beneficial organizational retreat with Board members and staff. Careful pre-planning and skillful execution of the day's agenda proved enormously fruitful. We are having interSector Partners back again this fall to assist us in creating a strategic visioning for Howard Dental Center.
Joe Mauro
Past Board President / Board member
Howard Dental Center
Denver, CO
Groundwork Denver hired interSector Partners to help our board of directors understand our stakeholder needs and improve their skills to be as effective as possible. Caryn and Rick were extremely resourceful and skilled at providing this assistance. More than that, I can truly say they were 100% engaged at every step of this process. They brought great ideas to the table, but listened to everything we said, adjusted as needed, and helped us come away with extremely useful information and a real action plan.
We felt like we were working with consultants who really cared about the success of our organization in the long term. Their combined experience from the business and non-profit sectors provide a fresh perspective on non-profit sustainability, management, and fundraising. We highly recommend them and look forward to working with them again in the future.
Wendy Hawthorne
Executive Director
Groundwork Denver
I just wanted to send you a quick note to really underscore how great it has been for us to work with you. The two of you bring such enthusiasm and expertise to the table, such an ability to simultaneously listen and lead…it’s really impressive. So thank you so much for being more than consultants! I am already looking forward to our next collaboration.
Emilie Baratta
Board Chair
Groundwork Denver
Rick and Caryn have helped us evaluate and structure our social business. They worked closely with us to organize as an L3C and adapt our business model to most effectively balance social impact with sustainable revenues. Rick presently serves on our Advisory Board, a testament to their capacity and willingness to go above and beyond in service of clients' goals. Their attention to our strategic needs as a start-up company has helped us remain focused and driven.
Further, Rick and Caryn are accomplished and trusted professionals whose resumes are overshadowed only by their personal commitments to client success. Their innovative approach to business embraces the strengths and assets of stakeholders across the spectrum of nonprofit and for profit business.
We hope their existence suggests a trend in business toward collaboration and multi-bottom-line business. If so, we're part of this trend, too. We trust them; we trust their networks; and we trust their capacity to make strategic, mutually-beneficial connections.
Brendan McCrann
Sporting Philanthropy, L3C
Denver, CO
interSector Partners has been amazing to Women's Health. We won a contest and they donated their time and experience to help us make our programs better. They spent time with our materials beforehand and were truly engaged around our mission, our opportunities and our challenges. It was so refreshing to have a consulting group with compassion. While scheduling our appointment they were very responsive and worked to nail down a date and time that worked for all of us in a timely manner. Caryn and Rick were wonderful to work with and I'm looking forward to the next time we get the chance to work with them.
Boulder Valley Women's Health Center
Caryn and Rick from interSector Partners, L3C facilitated a focus session for the Broomfield Community Foundation's Board of Directors that was very informational and beneficial for the Board members. The topic focused on making the most of your connections in order to benefit the Foundation. It was an interactive session and that resulted in a great discussion. Caryn and Rick also presented material that was helpful to the Board members. Information always seems to mean more when coming from "consultants". We won this session from a contest on Tuggl and we are very happy that were introduced to Caryn and Rick. They spent time in advance to plan for this focus session, customizing it to our specific needs. They were also flexible in scheduling the session. We would highly recommend them.
Broomfield Community Foundation
Caryn Capriccioso was instrumental in helping design and lead a group retreat for our staff that allowed us to give honest and fearless feedback so we could identify and resolve workplace dynamics and be more efficient as a work team and organization.
Mark Kling
Executive Director
FRCA
