Research

In 2013 Corral Consulting worked with the National Council of La Raza (NCLR) to develop and implement a workshop on fundraising and evaluation for their California nonprofit affiliate network.  Taking place over February and March, the all-day training sessions were held in Northern and Southern California.  The first half of the day was spent laying down the basics of grant writing, while the afternoon was dedicated to strategic planning and evaluation.

Founded in 1968, the NCLR is the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States.  The group works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans, particularly around education, health, and civic engagement, through its network of nearly 300 affiliated community-based organizations throughout the country.

Corral Consulting’s CEO and Principal Consultant Richard Corral sees working with NCLR as a great opportunity, “Partnering with NCLR and its nonprofit affiliate network to address key issues facing CA’s Latino communities is a significant milestone for our firm.”  He continues, “As a leading advocate for the Latino community both nationally and locally, it was an honor to assist NCLR to improve nonprofit’s efforts to fundraise and evaluate their work.”

To learn more about NCLR, please call (202) 785-1670.

In April 2014, Corral Consulting proudly participated in Funding Our Futures, a four day long retreat in Harpers Ferry, Maryland hosted by The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.  The event aimed to build the fundraising skills and capacity of LGBT people of color and was attended by 15 LGBT fundraisers working at nonprofits throughout the nation. The Task Force acknowledges that inclusiveness is essential to the LGBT equality movement’s success and strategically designed Funding Our Futures to enhance the visibility, effectiveness, and voice of LGBT people of color by building their fundraising skills.

The Task Force contracted Corral Consulting to facilitate a day’s worth of activities that focused on fundraising.  The first part of the day was dedicated to strategic planning and all attendees produced logic models that clearly illustrate their program’s resources, activities, and intended impact. The second part of the day focused on harnessing the inherent assets and strengths of each organization to drive decision making around fundraising.  Attendees developed and shared lists of funding sources specific to each organization’s unique strengths and assets.  At the end of the day, everyone left with a whole new list of funding sources as well as tools to assist with grant writing and scheduling.

Lex Kennedy, Funding Our Futures attendee and Artistic Creator of Me&MyBois, discusses the many benefits of the retreat, “Richard hooked us up with tools and language that enabled us to map out our production logic model to secure finishing funds for our documentary.”  In addition, “He assisted us with formulating stock language that we could use when applying for different grants for the documentary.  Richard broke it down for us in a completely accessible manner that was not only informative but useful for our fundraising goals.”

“Working with the Task Force and Funding Our Futures was a rewarding experience for both personal and professional reasons”, reflects Corral Consulting’s CEO and principal consultant Richard Corral.  “As a member of both the LGBT and Latino communities, I understand the need for skill building, especially around fundraising, and its centrality to the success of LGBT people of color leaders and the LGBT movement as a whole.  I’m impressed and thankful to the Task Force for working to address this need.”

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force was founded in 1974 and works to build the power of the LGBT community by training activists, organizing broad-based campaigns to defeat anti-LGBT referenda and advance pro-LGBT legislation, and by building the organizational capacity of the LGBT movement.  For more information please contact (202) 393-5177.

In 2014, Corral Consulting facilitated the Board of Directors at the Montebello-Commerce YMCA to collaboratively develop a strategic plan for the 2014-2015 fiscal year.  The project culminated in a day long retreat facilitated by Corral Consulting on March 21st, at the Quiet Cannon in Montebello, California.  Attended by board members and YMCA executive leadership, the retreat’s attendees prioritized goals, identified strategies and revamped the mission of the Montebello-Commerce YMCA.

 Prior to the retreat, Corral Consulting collected information from the attendees and summarized it to produce a SWOT analysis.  The analysis informed the Board’s perspectives on how to leverage its inherent resources and strengths to achieve its newly defined objectives as well as how to reorganize its existing committee structure to meet those objectives.  Also, feedback from retreat attendees was used to produce a logic model that graphically summarizes the Board’s next steps, activities, and expected short, medium, and long term outcomes over the next fiscal year.

In discussing the benefits of working with Corral Consulting, Executive Director of the Montebello-Commerce YMCA, Mike Newton says, “Corral Consulting’s services provided an extensive strategic planning session for my Board of Managers.  [Corral Consulting] Helped identify our priorities and focus our attention and resources.”

Corral Consulting’s CEO and Principal Consultant, Richard Corral reflects, “it’s an honor to continue our long standing partnership with the YMCA by supporting local branch leadership to positively impact and serve the community.  I am proud of the commitment and leadership of the Montebello-Commerce YMCA and I’m excited for the roll out of their 2014-15 strategic plan”.

The Montebello-Commerce YMCA is open Monday-Saturday and located at 2000 West Beverly Blvd., Montebello, CA 90640.  For more details, please call (323) 887-9622.

Beginning in 2013, Corral Consulting worked alongside Infinity Business Solutions to help evaluate  Mastering Business Growth (MBG), an innovative and ground breaking training series sponsored by the Southern California Gas Company’s (SoCalGas ) Supplier Diversity Department.  The Supplier Diversity Department is charged with identifying, contracting, and educating Diverse Business Enterprises (i.e. women, minority, service-disabled, and veteran-owned businesses) to successfully secure contracts with SoCalGas.

MBG is a ten-part, modular training series conducted in San Diego, Orange, and Los Angeles counties that targets Diverse Business Enterprises with the potential to serve SoCalGas as well as other large corporations and utilities.

Corral Consulting’s first step was to develop an evaluation methodology that would not only inform SoCalGas on MBG’s success, but communicate the new program’s value and impact to the California Public Utilities Commission.  Corral Consulting drafted evaluation questions and methodology, updated existing data collection systems, pay stub creator as financial tools and surveys, and provided Infinity Business Solutions with technical assistance to execute the evaluation.

Once the data was collected, Corral Consulting lead the data analysis, produced data findings, and graphs, and delivered reports that updated SoCalGas on MBG’s effectiveness.  Furthermore, Corral Consulting is pleased to announce that SocalGas refunded MBG for 2014 and starting this March, the training series will initiate again.

Lily Otieno, President and CEO of Infinity Business Solutions , explains the benefits of working with Corral Consulting, “It is great working with Richard, he is very professional and a pleasure to work with. He has excellent knowledge in designing surveys, and most importantly, he understands the clients’ requests and implements them flawlessly.”

For more information about Supplier Diversity, please visit Sempra Energy, or its subsidiary, SoCalGas.

Beginning January 2010, Domus Development contracted Corral Consulting to aid in the planning and development of Garvey Court, an affordable housing complex for low income seniors. Located along Garvey Avenue in El Monte, CA, Garvey Court is a county and federally subsidized redevelopment of a formerly vacant lot and is the first wellness focused housing for low income residents in LA County.

Corral Consulting initiated the project by facilitating a series of community forums to identify local health and wellness needs as well as researched innovative health and wellness programming.  Guided by the information collected, Corral Consulting facilitated local service providers to collaboratively plan, budget, finance and manage a Wellness Center and Federally Qualified Health Center at Garvey Court.

The Health and Wellness Center at Garvey Court (The Center) partners the site’s developer, Domus Development, with local service providers such as the Community Health Alliance of Pasadena, Cleaver Family Wellness Clinic and Tzu Chi Medical Foundation. The Center offers enhanced and coordinated health and wellness services to Garvey Court’s residents as well as to the surrounding community and works to address the health needs of a medically under served area while alleviating the financial strain on county health programs.

The developer of Garvey Court, Jason Hobson, explains his initial obstacles and the role Corral Consulting played in bringing this project from development to completion.  “My challenge was bringing a team to provide comprehensive services to the low income residences of Garvey Court.  Corral Consulting assessed the needs of the residents and the surrounding community, convened a team to meet those needs, and developed a service plan and an operating budget for the facility.  Corral Consulting was able to align the interest and visions of a lot of different stake holders.”

“I consider the Center at Garvey Court to be one of our signature projects” said Corral Consulting’s CEO and Principal Consultant, Richard Corral, “…it offers an innovative and sustainable model to improve community health and well being by partnering low-income housing developers with the expertise and resources of local of health and wellness providers. Moreover, the partnership was developed and sustained by leveraging public funding from the LA Homeless Services Authority with private contributions from Domus Development and the California Community Foundation’s Community Building Initiative.”

Visit Domus Development’s website for more information on Garvey Court or other facilities.

In 2013, Corral Consulting partnered with the Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA Youth Institute (YI) to develop a sustainability plan that enhances the YI’s impact through fundraising, entrepreneurship, and strategic partnerships.  Based in Boyle Heights, the Youth Institute is a year round, technology program that promotes youth development, leadership, academic, and career enrichment.  Youth are trained in a computer lab setting on an array of digital and social media skills such as graphic design, web design and basic film making.

Corral Consulting assisted the YI to develop a logic model that visually communicates the program’s activities and goals, researched best practices from similar multimedia institutes, wrote grants to fund the program, and helped forge a pathway to the entertainment industry’s creative work forces.

Next month, the YI will achieve a milestone when it moves into its new space at the recently constructed, state of the art, Wellness Center at General hospital.  YI alumni will staff a high-end, Production Studio on site complete with media equipment, editing bays and a sound booth.  The Production Studio will create original, high quality content for partners, contracted firms, and agencies, while cultivating the area’s creativity.

Corral Consulting’s CEO and Principal Consultant, Richard Corral is excited for his firm’s continued partnership with the Youth Institute, believing, “Their vision to positively impact the lives of local teens is innovative…it has the potential to diminish the barriers to creative and academic achievement and affect local change.”

When David Valdez, Youth Institute Program Manager, comments on the benefits of working with Corral Consulting, he points out the personal touches, “Richard has a friendly and warm working personality…he is always caring and compassionate about the work he is doing.”

The Weingart East Los Angeles YMCA Youth Institute is located at 2900 Whittier Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90023.  For more information, please contact David Valdez at (323) 260-7005 or at DavidValdez@ymcala.org