Request for Proposals: Nonprofit Strategic Planner & Management/Operations Consultant

The National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel (NCCRC) seeks to contract with a person or entity capable of providing strategic/tactical planning and management operations guidance. About the NCCRC Formed in 2003 as an unincorporated project of the Public Justice Center, the NCCRC works to ensure individuals have a right to effective counsel when facing the loss of their basic human needs in the civil legal system. We work nationally to accomplish this by:

Envisioning and advocating for the right to counsel:

Supporting, connecting, and coordinating federal, state, and local efforts to a) enact, litigate, implement, and evaluate right to counsel programs; and b) engage in social science research projects that demonstrate the impact of counsel; Establishing guidelines and best practices;

Identifying and supporting a variety of funding sources for the right to counsel;

Growing and diversifying our participant and partner base so as to help grow the larger
national movement;

Responding to dangers to the movement while facilitating work to plan its future.

Educating about the right to counsel:

Tracking and reporting on right to counsel litigation, legislation, education, and social science research efforts around the country;

Maintaining a comprehensive right to counsel research repository and status map;

Planning and/or presenting at convenings, educational sessions, and public events, and speaking with the media, in order to raise awareness/understanding of, and enthusiasm for, the right to counsel.

The NCCRC supports over 600 participants and partners in 45 states, all of whom are committed to exploring how the right to counsel in civil cases can best be advanced in their particular jurisdiction. Since 2020, the NCCRC has expanded from one staff person to five. You can learn more about the NCCRC staff on our staff bios page.

The NCCRC seeks strategic planning around the following issues:

Evaluating whether the NCCRC should identify as a “coalition” vs. some other type of structure (think tank, association, etc.);

Helping the NCCRC staff and Steering Committee determine the NCCRC’s proper leadership role in the national civil right to counsel movement;

Identifying ways to effectively engage with the individuals and organizations within the NCCRC’s network, including:

Consideration of a membership structure, eligibility requirements, voting, and governance;

Evaluation of the potential for regular network-wide meetings and the purpose of such meetings;

Development of common principles or a policy agenda;

Development of a survey to gather input from network members;

Strategizing ways to increase listserv and meeting participation.

Assistance in developing short- and long-term goals for the organization, including quarterly, yearly, and 5-year project planning;

Evaluating the NCCRC’s effectiveness across the subject areas it works in/on;

Determining whether and how to monetize our assistance:

Helping the NCCRC staff shape the purpose, role, and operations of its Steering Committee, as well as evaluating the need for subject-specific advisory committees;

Determining the most feasible and effective ways to grow staff;

Effectively incorporating race equity guidance from a consultant into the NCCRC’s external operations;

Evaluating the relationship between right to counsel and other justice movements.

Management/Operations Consultant Needs

Strategies related to staff expansion and remote work:

Building a supportive, collaborative culture for fully remote employees;

Identifying and defining staff roles;

Establishing effective workflow processes for fully remote employees;

Evaluating whether staff are making effective use of Trello, if our goal is to use it for project management and not task management;

Providing suggestions for effective meetings;

Developing strategies for following through on short and long-term planning (including review periods, staff appreciation, processes for bottlenecks, etc);

Identifying ways to recognize staff accomplishments.

Strategies related to the NCCRC (as a whole):

Helping determine the proper intake process for new requests for assistance, including evaluating the requests against the impact on existing priorities/ projects;

Priority setting and decision-making models (with the goal of helping the NCCRC identify where all staff make decisions vs. project lead decisions);

Evaluating staff and 1:1 meetings for effectiveness;

Evaluating proper relationship and division of labor between the NCCRC and the Public Justice Center.